Thursday, September 9, 2010

Day 8 - Friends in Diest



Written by Stephen Hall with Brett Schnitzerling & Glenn Harris

We all agreed to have a sleep in after our long journey home from Paris the night before so no one bothered to set an alarm. I slept fairly comfortably until I woke up to Glenn tickling my feet and projecting ultraviolet light into my retinas. The scales weren't kind to some after our holiday in Paris so breakfast was very low key especially when you confuse the sugar with the salt container. The discovery channel tried its best to keep us on the couch but we conquered procrastination and eventually rolled out. We headed for Diest to catch up with a few of Glenn's friends who'd been kind to him on previous visits. Our first stop was at the elegant La Bas cafe owned by Stijn & Brenda with the beautiful barista Laura helping to make the finest coffee in all of Belgium. We were also treated to a Belgian delicacy popular with professional bike riders called "cookie tart" (cake to us Aussies). The coffee more than made up for the horrible attempt in Turnhout days earlier. We stayed for a chat but then it was time to continue our ride so we said our goodbyes with the intention of returning very soon.

Our next stop was to visit a good friend from West Australia in Michael Simms. Michael moved to Belgium many years ago to pursue his cycling career and only last year retired from competition to marry his sweetheart Annalise. He now resides in Belgium and is in the process of creating a wholesale business including the sales of his own brand of bicycle (Velos Deluxe). We stayed for a chat and a perve at some of Michael's bikes on display while Glenn & Mike reminisced days of old. Our good luck finally ran out with the weather and we enjoyed a wet ride back to Dessel through Turnhout. A couple of solid efforts on the way home got our hearts beating in preparation for tomorrow's kermesse in Schriek. A few hundred laps around the washing machine turned our vermarc kits back to their original colour while the rabbit diet made its comeback in the kitchen. The rest of the night was spent on the couch chatting and looking forward to tomorrow's action.



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