One Rider's Loss, Is Another Rider's Gain...

Finally a warm and sunny day has passed through this town. The California weather finally showed up, a couple weeks late, but at least it is here. Hopefully it won’t be too quick to leave. Its great not having to bundle up to go for a ride. Since there was no threat of rain, we road further out of our “comfort zone” of nearby cities and ventured into the Belgian country-side toward France. Passing patchwork farms, hedge groves, and the occasional church steeple in the distance, today’s ride was good reminder as to why I ride bikes. It was one of those perfect rides that you dream about in the States while you are at work or school.

The unwanted sickness is slowly passing out of the house. If one person gets sick here, it usually spreads from one person to the next. The trouble is, everyone wants to keep riding, so the sicknesses take a while to end.

The past couple nights have been great because I am the only one in my room. There is nothing like having your own room- you can go bed earlier, you don’t have to worry about mixing up clothes (since we all wear the same jerseys), and you don’t have to listen to the MTV channel on the TV (which I liked for the first day, until I realized that they played only ten songs over and over). Usually there are four guys to a room. Two of the guys in my room flew back to the States, and the other guy is in the hospital with a broken rib, collar bone, maybe jaw, busted teeth, and maybe a broken wrist. He crashed really hard, and upon seeing him, I prayed that nothing like that would ever happen to me. His season is over, and there is no telling when he will be back riding. We bring him magazines and Coca-Cola, and hang out with him as long as possible. He says the Belgian hospitals are brutally boring, but the nurses are hot, so…. you know….

We are all just trying to get our legs rested up, which takes much longer over here it seems like, and preparing for the next race.