Finally flats and a super fantastic nature tour
The end of our Euro August tour finally finished on some flats. It was great to find that form that had been building up of the course of a month. The difference between racing at the beginning of the trip and at the end was like night and day. The team started to gel and people where filing the roles better and better. Personally it has left me excited to head back in the spring. The gains I made in my road skills on this trip are probably greater then any I have made in my career.
But enough about that blah blah cycling blog. This blog is more about the side of our team that makes us a little different. Before our last 2 races in Belgium we went back to a little area in the farm country. We headed out for a recovery ride through the country.
The ride started off like a normal spin. The young guys full of piss and vinegar rode off goofing around and dropped the rest of us pretty quickly. So the ride ended you being Will, Svein, Ryan A, Mark and myself. Turns out this combo was the perfect balance of interested parties and educated individuals to create an impromptu nature tour. We basically went in little spurts between 800M and 2 or 3 km between stops. Each stop was triggered by something edible. First Will spotted a sugar beet the size of a pumpkin. Shortly after he found some plumbs on the edge of a property and started to sample. This led to the owner of the property coming out. Instead of accosting us and sending us on our way he said. “You hungry? Come in and look.” The friendly farmer took us into his back yard which had more produce growing than you could find in the average super market. Standing there in our bike shorts we saw tomatoes, figs, peaches, pears, 2 varieties of plums, apples and honey bees.
We tasted and asked questions and explored and then where off. This visit peaked our curiosity so much a that virtually any time we saw something edible we stopped and at the very least discussed something about the free foods.
This is the part of racing in Europe that is so unique. There is always something to see or explore when you are not racing. Unique experiences like this are what take the job from being one of the best in the world to really unbelievable.
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