Donkelope Bikes Blog

What a trip! Belgium is awesome. I highly reccomend going there. Especially if you're into cycling. We probably would've stayed longer, but we missed Raz too much. The riding in the Flanders region is so good. We had some local ex-pros to show us around. Eric Van Lancker and Eric de Clercq(in photo). They both know the area very well, and took us on some amazing rides. Thank you! The Ronde de Vanvlaarden is one the most amazing races ever. I've always loved the spring classics, but after riding 140km of that course, in true Flanders weather(upper 30's to low 40's w/rain and wind), it's unbelieveable how fast the pros go. Check the photo of Jill on the Muur! We rode a lot of the country side and in and around Ghent. Which is a beautiful city. So old, so many people on bikes, so many people dressed nicely. Americans are pretty damn lazy when it comes to that(I'm guilty). We also watched, and rode, parts of Ghent-Wevelgem and Paris-Roubaix(photo on the cobbles). We rode 6 or 7 sections of pavé, including the Tranchée du Arenberg. That section is completely ridiculous. Many of the sections we rode were the pavé you would think. Somewhat uniform, flat, but hard to ride. But the Arenberg is made of huge holes and sharp jagged stones. And it's a long section(2.4km). After the pavé, we rode the finish in the vélodrome(me in photo). Watching the races was crazy as hell. The Belgians are die hards. So every good/cool section of a race was crowded with people freaking out. Check the photo of the donkelope flag flying. I can't wait to get the dvds of all the races. There were a lot of Australians in our group. So one day, we went to Ieper(photo of church) and the surrounding area to ride and visit some war cemetaries. Belgian soil is very bloody. A lot of battles were fought there in both world wars. We also visited the Tour of Flanders museum. Tons of cool photos and pieces. You could stay there a whole day checking everything out. Or at least I could. I had one hell of a good time, and would do it every year if I could swing it. Bikestyle Tours did an amazing job. Our guides, the Eric's, were awesome. And the group was tons of fun to ride and hang with. It was freakin' sweet!! G