Tony text first thing in the morning and decided to postpone our training ride as they weren't sure what time and where they would be heading out! The weather looked like it would hold up so Glenn went back to sleep and let us do the same. Eventually we woke and after a few nervous moments of thinking we overslept, we went downstairs for breakfast and then set out on the road. Since we arrived, coffee at La Bas has become the highlight of our Wednesday so we rode the familiar roads down to Diest. The local markets delayed us a few minutes but we zig zagged our way through the school children and the elderly and arrived at the door of La Bas just after 11.30am. Stijn & Brenda found us the best seat in the house next to Miss Belgium. We sat down in the warm cafe to our standard order of 4 fantastic Chocolate Coffees and some of the best cake in Belgium. Stijn was quite excited to show us a newspaper clipping that we had featured in; declaring us "local celebrities" as are all Australian cyclists who make it to the start line...
When our coffees were well and truly licked clean we stayed for a long time chatting and keeping out of the cold. Eventually we looked at the clock and decided to get a wriggle on otherwise we'd still be there in time for the dinner menu! We took a longer route home, with the guys throwing in a few efforts to get their hearts up while I tonked along still recovering from my run in with a car last Friday. My leg is still swollen so I decided I would go for an xray later that afternoon to rule out a possible fracture or crack in my fibula. Turnhout hosted lunch for the boys with a small sandwich bar definitely hitting the spot. The weather looked threatening but we managed to be safe inside Martijn's house before the rain poured for 15 minutes then cleared. Glenn and I quickly showered and got changed before heading out the door to go to Turnhout Police Station to chase up some more details of the driver for insurance reasons as well as to visit the hospital to get an xray to ease my mind.
The police officer was much more helpful than the one who 'helped' us on Friday and we were able to get a contact number for the woman driver. We already had all her insurance details but had found it hard to get the ball rolling without actually speaking to her. Tomorrow we will go to the Kasterlee Police Station and organize to have a meeting with her so we can resolve all the insurance issues (notably the large crack in my Eddy Merckx). After the police station we were back at the hospital and sitting in the waiting room. Twenty minutes later I was seen by a friendly nurse who checked me over than took me through for an xray. I was sent back to the waiting room and sat with Glenn flicking through 20 year old magazines until I was once again called through to see the nurse.
A slight lack of communication lead to a different nurse asking me which arm was sore (neither) before he got his folders right and returned to wrap my leg. The male nurse wrapped my leg tight with bandages and didn't tell me the results of my xray or speak at all for that matter. I scratched my head and waited nervously wondering whether this was good or bad until the friendly nurse from earlier returned and told me I was in the clear. The car actually hit ME not my bike so the blunt trauma to my leg has obviously caused a lot of damage to the muscle fibres (not the bone) which is why it is still very swollen and tender. She assured me everything would be fine just to ice it as frequently as possible until the swelling subsided. There still isn't any bruising so I presume I have that to look forward to. While I was there I got her to change the Fixamol on my palm (which is healing, albeit slowly) and she swipped a few rolls for me to take home.
By this time Glenn and I were starving and we couldn't have dreamed for better timing when we arrived back at Martijn's and dinner was 2 minutes away. Matt had cooked up another healthy dinner of vegetables which we leapt into, moving chess pieces between mouthfuls. Tomorrow we are planning an early ride so we can be home in time to meet with the DS of a Belgian team that Matt and I are planning on racing for next season. After the meeting Glenn and I will most likely head into Kasterlee to keep working at the insurance business as it is pivotal we try and solve it before we return to Australia. On a positive note well done to all the juniors for their fantastic results at the Junior Road Nationals, we were thrilled with all the updates that came flooding in and made it all the way to Belgium. Also best wishes to all the young rider's and officials off to Hong Kong for the Pacific Youth Track Tournament. I raced this event twice as a junior (Bangkok and Perth) and had an absolute ball, fingers crossed for all the riders and good luck!
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