Pooks Canyon

My very good friend (BigChunkySole) is housing our cats in Boulder until February. I have been thinks about BCS and the cats often. She has a cat named Pudge that once ripped the tail off of another cat, costing her 1500 US Dollars. Just wondering how Butters, Maggie, Pudge, the kittens, Spence, and BCS are faring? Is it worthy of reality TV? BCS, if your out there, everyone would love to hear your comments.

I lifted this from bfisk's blog because it was too crazy not to! She said it is not a spoof.

We figured out Jon's race was on Channel One about 30 seconds before the start- perfect timing! This is the first time I have watched a live, televised, cyclocross race featuring my husband and I must say it was very cool!! We got a really great shot of him in the first lap heading through the barriers section. His start position was in the back because he only had 15 UCI points but he managed to come around a lot of other guys (very hard to do in 'cross). He said no one passed him which basically means he was riding behind a group that, had he started with them, he would've been able to keep up with them. We're happy with the result as October is really part of a building period for him. We expect better results in November and December. Thankfully the mechnicals got out of the way in warm-up, where 2 tubular front tires came unglued from their respective rims! This would be at least the 4th tubular he has rolled this season- all from the batch he glued himself....

Jon said to tune into channel 3 at 2pm to watch live coverage of his race. We got in front of the TV around 1:30 to see pre-race coverage and saw a cooking show instead. It was called SOS Piet and it was entirely in Flemish. Piet was a chef that came to someone's kitchen, made fun of their food, then showed them how to cook something. Piet liked to cook with champagne, apples, and his own brand of bullion. I watched carefully as he made his chicken (kippen) and tried hard to figure out the ingredients he was using. We went to the market later, bought the ingredients for Piet's Kippen, and made it. It was good. The pictures are of the chicken cooking in one dish and the mushrooms and apples in the other dish. Note champagne complete with glass for cook ;) And, of course, the final dish. See above for more about Jon's race on TV. Piet's Kippen: Salt and Pepper cut-up Chicken Cook in lightly oiled pan over medium heat Turn chicken when nicely browned and sprinkle l...

Pro Patria means "For One's Country." Based on the Lions of Flanders on the arch, I think it is more Flandrian patriotism than Belgian.

Axel and his Oma (grandma) hung out in Markt square while I was in the bank getting my ATM card.

Leah walks the Brugge streets to and from school in her school-issue safety vest. This is a very novel idea. Drivers are much more likely to see children in bright vests and are also reminded that these are children and hence might make unpredictable moves. Axel has mayonnaise on his lips after a large repast of frites with saus.

This is the cheese and sausage shop I mentioned in a previous post. As you can see the shop has quite a selection and the owner/operator will offer delicious recommendations if you tell her what you would like to use the cheese for. I asked for a good cheese to eat with red wine and she gave me the best goat's milk cheese I'd ever had. It was a hard cheese with a complex yet non-stinky flavor. The startled man in the pic was surprised when I popped through the door and snapped a photo (flash and all). But this is part of living in Brugge; everything looks like it came out of a storybook and the tourists outnumber the locals 5 to 1. The inevitable shutter-bugging and rubber-necking ensues. Today a woman stopped her car next to me and asked for directions. Later a man asked me to take his picture. A strangely dressed and very heavy British family passed me on the street, the mom exclaiming she needed a mini skirt after surveying the attire of size 0 mannequins in the shop...

Sorry no pics, mom. I need to put new batteries in the camera and just haven't done it yet... The BIG news is that Leah is going to start going to school tomorrow. Yes, a real Belgian school with Flemish speaking kids. Margaret and Bill suggested investigating this option as Leah seems to need the interaction. Margaret found the local school online and we walked down there. 30 minutes later she was enrolled (or "inscribed" as the headmaster called it). Her class has 10 students, 2 teachers and there are several non-Flemish-speaking students there so she'll have an additional teacher that will teach her basic Flemish when the other students are taking regular Flemish. Wow. Margaret and Leah said it was like one long Flemish day camp.

Well we schlepped the whole family plus bikes and wheels to the Premiere Coup du Mond (1st World Cup) yesterday. Jon is still getting his sea legs (literally) as riding at sea level actually has a different and not always positive effect on muscle activity for those that reside at altitude. So, the Kalmthout World Cup was good practice for Jon. Tabor (in the Czech Republic) is the second world cup and takes place next weekend. Jon and Bill fly out on Friday; women and children are holding down the fort. I am loving the cheese and bread here and went to the baker this morning for fresh bread and later stopped by the cheese and sausage shop and bought some amazing cheeses and cured meats. The pride of quality is evident in the shops and it seems they would rather lose money than use inferior ingredients. Everyone wants to be able to say they have the best cheese/meat/bread in town and we benefit from the quality. In the US, merchants often strive to offer the biggest or the cheap...

The family is scrambling about this morning preparing for our trip to Kalmthout for today's world cup race. Jon won 19th place yesterday (haha) at Lebbeke, which is a top 20 in his first European Race of the season. Good job honey! More on Kalmthout race later...

More questing for adapters has led me to stopping by hotels and asking. Makes sense because they are most likely to have travelers asking these sorts of questions. The Hotel Azalea sent me to Blokker but the Hotel Endsor (also near our house) insisted that I take two of theirs! He said I could borrow them as long as I wanted. After letting him know where I lived (in case one of his real customers needs one) he jokingly said, "Okay, I'll send the police after you." Brugge is the ideal place to expatriate yourself, locals here are very friendly and accommodating.

Was at Blokker today as part of the never ending quest for US to European plug adapters. Blokker is like a little tiny Woolworths and is very near Markt square in Brugge. Of course there were no adapters because this is the umpteenth store we've been to and they just don't have them. In the quest I ran across a display of plates all labeled "Borden" in Dutch and "Assiette" in French. It turns out that Borden is Dutch for plates. I always thought Borden sounded like an English word but it may be more Dutch than anything else.

Beenhouwersstraat 5, 8000 Brugge, Belgium Today is Margaret's 64th birthday! We have been out and about looking at presents, dessert items, candles, and suitable restaurants. Bill and I found a restaurant called Oud Brugge and have 6:30 dinner reservations. Axel delights people here in the same fashion as in the US, drawing kind looks and happy faces from some unlikely sources. He likes to eat the waffles, as does Leah though she has her's topped with caramel. Yesterday we ate frites with a side of about a 1/2 cup of Mayonnaise. The frites are amazing, the Friterie has piles of freshly julienned potatoes on a large angled shelf above the fryers. When you order they sizzle them up to a crispy golder color and then sprinkle with salt. The frites are served with these cute little plastic skewers and they are delicious. There are other sauces besides Mayonnaise that I should try but they are difficult to pronounce. The people in Brugge probably do ...

We are in Belgium and done with Jet Lag! What can I say, Brugge is great. Baby Axel is hitting the pave early... if he had any teeth they would likely rattle right out of his head on the stroller rides through the cobbled streets. Yesterday I ordered "een wafel natuur" which means one plain waffle and said thank you in Flemish (aka Dutch). The Arabic gentleman at the snack shop had no idea I wasn't a local. This morning a mother and her grown daughter had a minor dispute at the coffee shop regarding who would pay, until the daughter forcibly pressed a coin into the mother's wallet. The mother, exasperated, turned to me and said something in Flemish. I smiled, nodded and said, "Ja." I've basically been going around all of town practicing my Flemish; here is the key: You cannot let on that you speak English, once you do everyone will speak English to you. You proceed until apprehended in Flemish.

More punctures and mishaps today for many. Tim Johnson took a risky line in the first sharp corner and crashed. Powers went off course which dropped him back to the 3rd group. Perhaps most heartbreaking is Chris Jones' luck: he flatted right before the finish after being in the lead for several laps. Breaker Baker was right in the chase, racing for 8th place with Jeremy Powers, Mark McCormack, in the final lap until rolling his tubular. Ugh! He couldn't even get it to pop back on so he could complete the race. Multe Urban led the first lap then faded to the 2nd group. Youngsters Jesse Anthony and Chris Jones took charge forming a 2 man group for nearly the entire race. Johnson had another come-from-behind result, finishing seconds behind race-winner Jesse Anthony. Ok, so Tabor? Kalmthout? We look forward...

Jon hasn't found a mechanic to pit for him this weekend... unless you count me! Good thing Mavic offers neutral mechanical support. 1/2 lap into the race yesterday, Jon stopped into the pit with a rear flat- ugh! Hard way to start a race - just ask Tim Johnson who rolled his tubular right after the start and ended up dead last coming into lap # 2. As a group of 5 formed at the front (including Powers, Anthony, a German name Multe Urban, Adam Myerson, and the team Nerac guy - Chris Jones) Tim and Jon were both scrambling to move up through the snaking line of 'crossers. Jon's been having early season mechanicals. Most problematic yesterday was the chain falling off to the outside and, ironically, getting stuck in his carbon chain guard. As T.J. flew through Jon's group, Jon tried to hop on but the chain was having none of that. The pits were interesting and after the excitement of being the first member of the pit to actually have to do something, I settled into t...

I took Axel and Leah to the Morning Glory coffee shop overlooking the harbor in Gloucester, MA. Baseball excitement abounds here as Boston is charging through the AL Championships. We are happy to be 1/3 the way to our destination. Axel was a ball of energy on the plane and had all the passengers eating out of his hand by the time we touched down at Logan. That said, I'm looking forward to having another adult with me on the transatlantic flight... Axel wore me out! Today Jon squares off against some 'cross powerhouses such as Jeremy Powers and Tim Johnson and we can't wait to see him race! He is back at our b&b (Harborview Inn) wrenching on his bottom bracket. Go Jon!

Wow, well yesterday VeloNews published their article on Jon's Euro 'cross campaign and today in the VeloNews mailbag readers had this to say.

Today Axel and I went to the coffee shop; Axel wore one of my favorite shirts, the one that says, "My Dad is the Man." A woman commented on it and I said, "It's true, his dad really is the man!" If anyone has any doubts, check out this Velo News article for further proof :)