With not much on the agenda for today we had a sleep in and eventually got out of bed to kit up and head out on the road. We came up with the genius idea to skip breakfast at home and instead ride into Geel and have some Pannenkoek (dutch pancakes) at the cafe from Friday. The weather was chilly but the rain held off for the majority of the morning. We each ordered a warm Cecemel to have with our Pannenkoek which arrived shortly after. Glenn and Matt went with the pancakes with ice cream & chocolate while Brad and I got ours with syrup (jam). We thoroughly enjoyed our breakfast and procrastinated for awhile before we jumped back on our bikes. Originally we planned to ride 40km into Diest to visit the guys at La Bas but luckily we remembered they were closed Sunday/Monday so we saved ourselves the trip. We altered the route and followed Glenn out of Geel.
We passed through Turnhout and were trying to find the same canal which lead us into the Netherlands a few days earlier but somehow we got lost along the way. For about 20km the followed the road we thought was running parallel to the canal which actually wasn't. When we finally admitted defeat we stopped at a supermarket in a small town (most likely in the Netherlands) to gather our bearings. A young lady walking past pointed us in the right direction and we were back on our way shortly after. With a bit of back tracking and a few left-rights we flew through the town of Arendonk and suddenly we started to recognize where we were. We had a bit of fun on the way home chasing some trucks and seeing how fast we could go on our 2cm tyres before we cruised through Mol and arrived back at Martijn's at about 4.30pm. Matt fixed up some tuna pasta and I handed Glenn another defeat in Chess. Monday is Martijn's day off so we had a chat with him and planned to have dinner later on.
Martijn took off for a few hours while we showered and got ready for dinner. When he returned he picked us up and took us to a nearby warehouse to look at a few floats being prepared for an annual street festival held in Mol on Saturday night. About 30 people were frantically working on several different displays throughout the warehouse, all equipped with various lighting and high tech hydraulics. After exploring the warehouse we head to 'Hanger 31' in the centre of town for a drink and to decide where we'd go for dinner. We agreed on a restaurant across the street (Glenn and I had been here previously with Brett in 2010) which we sat down at and promptly ordered our meals. Martijn assured us we'd be very satisfied with a meal on the menu which basically translated to Steak with frietjes. Glenn, Matt and Martijn all went with this dish while Brad and I chose the Steak with Kroketten (deep fried balls of mash potato) and salad.
When the meals arrived we were shocked. The guys who were ordered the Steak with frietjes were stunned when the entire plate was piled high and completely covered in thin fries you couldn't even see the salad or steak beneath! Brad and my plate's almost looked bare when they arrived with a large piece of steak, a bowl of salad and on a separate plate the Kroketten with dipping sauce. The steak was beautifully cooked and the Kroketten was lovely. After shoveling most of the fries aside the guys were able to find their steak and cut a piece. They commented that the food was incredible but I honestly believe no one could consume an entire meal that size! After dinner Martijn and Glenn planned to see a movie in Turnhout so they dropped us off on the way (with the race tomorrow afternoon in Tremolo we needed a good nights rest so we declined on the offer.).
We washed our cycling clothes then headed upstairs to watch a DVD. Tomorrow's race in Tremolo is just around the corner from Wim Dejonge's house so we've planned to meet up with him beforehand. All of us are looking to have a good race tomorrow after the disappointment of missing the split in Hove yesterday. Every result becomes important for the guys looking to find a team to ride for in 2012. It has been difficult in the beginning as both Brad and Matt had never experienced anything like the intensity and race strategy of Belgium whereas I had but had to nurse a broken collarbone and was very restricted in my preparation. Fingers crossed tomorrow we can put our heads to together and produce a good result.
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