Last weekend Piet fulfilled one of his long standing wishes: cycling on the roads of the legendary Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders), the highlight of the Belgian cycling season, and one of the most important days in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium.
Piet's cycling mate Renaat happens to be Belgian, and he has a family house in the area of Oudenaarde, which is the centre of this race. So it was decided several months ago to spend a weekend there: to cycle the organised tour on Saturday and watch the professionals on Sunday. They left on Friday after work, for an early start next morning, in grey, cold, but dry weather. The tour they did (with another 15,000 cycling enthusiasts) was 135 km long, passing most of the famous roads in the area. The last stretch was the same as the pro race, with the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg as main obstacles. These are short, but very steep climbs, on cobblestone roads, and for a lot of people it is difficult to cycle up. For Piet the ride went fine, he managed to stay on the bike, and only struggled to keep up with the very strong Renaat.
In the mean time Renaat's family had arrived, and the rest of the day was leasured away in recovery mode. Next morning the sun was out in full force, and most of the day could be spent outside. In the afternoon the pro's passed nearby on their 3 final loops of the race, and they saw them twice, the third time (and the finish) was watched on television. National hero Tom Boonen won the Tour of Flanders, so everybody was happy. A long drive home followed, for school and work early next day.
And some news on Beau: after his stint in horse hospital he had a minor relapse, and is back on the road to recovery again. Mary and the girls are very active with him, and will start riding again soon. The main focus in the next months is trailer training, as they really want to take him along to France this summer!
An impression of the organised tour on the Paterberg
The first pro's passing the top of the Oude Kwaremont
Belgian champion Philippe Gilbert leading a group over the Oude Kwaremont
One of the groups descending towards the Paterberg
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