Before I fill everyone in on how things are going over here in Gent, thanks for all the comments, positive or negative. The training and racing over here has been really good so far. The road season just ended today so we were able to get in a couple of races before the kermesse season wrapped up. My flight arrived late afternoon on Monday October 8th. Dirk Van Hove, a regular fixture here in Ghent, picked Jackie and I up at the airport. Dirk usually looks after the Australian riders racing over here. He has worked with Nic Sanderson, who I’ve been told will be going to Jelly Belly next season, as well as many of the other riders out of the Australian Institute of Sport. It was great to get a ride from the airport. In the past I have always hopped on the train from the Brussels Airport to the Gent train station. It was never a huge hassle, but after flying all the way from Los Angeles with my whole right side torn up it was nice to have Dirk waiting at the airport.

Dirk helped to get us situated as well as get us a few additional invitations to some prestigious one day track events here in Belgium. Since he dropped us off at our new home in Gent, though, things have really been a whirlwind. Tuesday was our first day of training here and almost instantly Jackie and I ran into Darren Young, an Australian teammate from when I raced here a few seasons ago. Darren, better known amongst cyclists as Dasher, has been a huge help to us. I am pretty familiar with the roads around Gent but he knows tons of good rides in different areas that I have rarely ridden. It’s great not to be stuck going up and down the canals around Gent day after day which, needless to say, gets to be a little tedious and tiresome.

Besides the training Jackie and I have, as I said before, raced twice on the road. The first was a kermesse in Lotenhulle. Lotenhulle is a little town outside of Gent. The town center was classic Belgium – a few cafes lined the street along with an old stone church as the town’s centerpiece. After blasting through the town, riders made a sharp left-hand turn onto what I could arguably be called a goat path. We twisted along this road for a few miles before emerging in the town once again. All in all, it was 110km and full-on the entire time. I attacked in a crosswind section about a third of the way through the race and rode away from the peloton on the narrow uphill stretch of road. I was away for about one lap before a group of three bridged up to me. Things were playing out perfectly. Belgians, though, are never keen on having a foreigner show them up. Consequently, when the three Belgians rode up to me two of the riders pulled through, but the third tried to sit on my wheel. I wasn’t putting up with any of his shouting or gestures so I sat up and the front two riders immediately had a hundred meter gap. At this point the Belgian behind me thought the best idea was to sling off my hip and get across to the others. He quickly realized this wasn’t a good idea though. As soon as his hand touched my hip I put all my weight behind my right elbow and drove it into his forearm. His shouts let me know it had worked and, amazingly, he then decided to just ride across the gap. The best part, though, was how when all four of us started working together he apologized! The break last only a few laps but I was more than happy with the effort. My legs were just filling up and I couldn’t flush them out. The crash and the fourteen hour trip the day before had tired me out so I pulled the plug after 70 kilometers or so. I had hoped to ride better but the end result wasn’t entirely unexpected either.

The next few days were spent training and getting the last loose ends tied up. All the six day events are invitational so we have had to talk with a number of people about our entries. Patrick Sercu runs the majority of the six days so we have had to speak with him about confirming our participation in certain events. At the same time, Ferdi van den Haute runs the Blaarmeersen velodrome. This will be our “home” track while we are over here so we have also needed to organize training times, see about races at the Blaarmeersen, and if we can store our bikes there as well. All these things are straightforward but since we don’t have a car or regular internet access each task has become a little more complicated.

The most exciting thing so far, though, was the criterium we raced last Sunday. It was the GP Roger De Vlaeminck. Sunday was Roger De Vlaeminck’s birthday and his hometown of Eeklo throws a huge party for him every year. The party consisted of closing down the town center, setting up a fast two kilometer criterium circuit and, most importantly, having an enormous beer tent by the start/finish for all the spectators. Jackie and I raced well. We were both very active in the race and I took second in the bunch kick for 11th. It doesn’t sound spectacular but since the Belgian champion was there, along with a number of solid professionals, I was happy with my ride. More exciting, though, was the race help immediately before mine. It was the ex-pros event and the field was compromised with some of the greatest names from cycling’s past. The start list included names like Eddy Planckaert, Lucien van Impe, Johan Musseuw, Eddy Merckx, and Roger De Vlaeminck. Growing up these people were always just photographs in magazines that were accompanied by articles describing another amazing feat. They were always myths – names I dreamed about while training hoping that one day I could also storm over the roads of Europe to a countless number of victories. The victories haven’t come yet, but I’m certainly in the breeding ground for them.