We lounged around a bit in the morning and watched a DVD before heading to the famous bike shop 'Van Eykes.' To give you a indication of how big this store is, it used to be a supermarket! The best of the best cycling equipment from bikes and wheels to clothing and nutrition lined the aisles of the massive shop. Matt & Brad wandered around like kid's in a toy store while Glenn picked out a pair of pedals and some tyres to rebuild the Jonesman. We also grabbed a few tubes each as Belgium is notorious for punctures. On the way back to Mol Glenn showed us a cobble section we'd probably ride over later that afternoon and we popped into Tim's apartment in Dessel to say hello.
We spent a good fifteen minutes catching up on all that had happened in our worlds since the last time we saw him in January. Lucky for us Tim was also about to fix himself and his girlfriend some lunch so we arrived at just the right time! He made all of us Pannakoek (Dutch pancakes) with his own home made syrup (jam) and different types of sugar. We were starving so we certainly ate our fair share. By this time it was late afternoon and we hadn't gotten out for a ride yet so we rushed off and organised to have dinner there on Wednesday night. When we got back to Martyn's Glenn built his bike while the rest of his got kitted up and met him outside ready to roll. It was getting late so we left the cobbles for today and instead found a good 2 hour circuit through Mol-Geel-Turnhout so rode that throwing in a few efforts along the way to help get our legs pumping for our first kermesse tomorrow in Booischot. We had organised with Martyn to have dinner with his parents later that evening so we had a quick shower and were out the door less than fifteen minutes after we got home.
The restaurant Martyn picked was beautiful with a cosy cottage-like feel. Martyn's parents were very friendly and curious about both us and our distant homeland Australia. We spoke slowly in English to help them understand and they returned the favor by translating the parts of the menu we were stuck on. Glenn, Matt & I went with a delicious 350g piece of prime steak with mushroom sauce while Brad chose the spaghetti carbonara. The meat was cooked to perfection and there was barely a word spoken during our meal! Martyn chose a Dutch dish which simplified is bread & meat while his parents shared a large bowl of Mussels. We also shared a bowl of fritz which were great as always here in Belgium. Martyn's parents wished us well for our race tomorrow and invited us to visit anytime to say hello and borrow their pool. The restaurant was only 15km or so from Mol but we got lost on the way in so we hopped in our van and followed him home, making sure we thanked him for dinner.
Matt, Brad and I were in bed shortly after while Martyn and Glenn head off to a local bar where they were meeting a few friends. Tomorrow the race will be between 110-120km which will most likely consist of laps of a 7-8km circuit. The race begins at 5.30pm with registration between 4.00-5.00. Martyn promised us he'd find a Garmin to held us navigate to our races but regardless we're planning on leaving at about 3.30. All the boys are prepped and ready, looking forward to their first European race!
(We didn't have many photos to show off so we threw in some of Martyn's pet snake!)
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