Moules et Frites

Having never traveled abroad during the first 27-or-so years of my life, I've been making up for it with a vengeance over the last four. One aspect of traveling the world I really enjoy is meeting new friends. During the previous three trips to Belgium and France to shoot with the Leopard Trek athletes, I met Kim Tiebergyn, a seasoned, but young moto driver for filmmakers and photographers. Having driven for Getty Images and photographers like Tim De Waele, I felt like I was sneaking on to the back of Kim's moto. Although cruising (at 100km/h!) down a bike path (illegally!) in the town of Kortrijk following Fabian Cancellara from the back of a moto seems dangerous, I felt more than comfortable with Kim at the helm.

Turns out he and his girlfriend, Célien, have some culinary talents as well. Not taking 'no' for an answer, Paul, from Trek, and I were invited over for a nice dinner consisting of salad, mussels, and fries - the national meal of Belgium. Not sure how many mussels makes up 5 Kilos, but I can tell you it's a lot!




Another perk of being in Belgium is access to good ol' traditional waffle stands.



As November approaches, so does my memory of riding the trainer. I'm ready for it, though. And, since I don't race 'cross, my cycling updates have suffered from slow news days. For me, I'm looking forward to a new start in training for 2012. I'm also looking forward to seeing my friends out on those cold and snowy roads this winter in hopes to have some socializing during the upcoming long and chilly rides.

As Winter starts to show it's potential around here, I thought I'd share a couple nice photos from a great Fall.

Diving into the off-season (and Lake Michigan)

And.... It's a wrap on what's been a long, but fruitful bike racing season. That statement feels odd to write, but when I think back to our team training camp, it feels appropriate.

Although my season ended a week earlier than I wanted, I'm happy to be eating french fries, taking trips without having to fit workouts in, enjoying the Fall, and - of course - planning on how I'm going to be better next season. A big congratulations goes out to Josh Tostado on his 3rd consecutive solo 24 hour national championship. This man is an incredible athlete and one of the good guys of the sport. I know what I would have had to put myself through to compete against him last weekend and although that scared me during the run-up to nationals, I was looking forward to the rematch! Falling ill before your big event is never easy to swallow, but that's life. Next season...

I just had the best 4 days of Fall that you could probably have by spending them in Traverse City, MI. Having never been, I hit the ground running via the perfect local (and once local) contingent of new friends.

I could go on and on about how beautiful it is up there, but it won't do it justice. Instead, I'll post a very small slice of the photo pie here with the bullet-points of what we did.

The Bruski-Sturtz home-town reception. Wine tour. Movies and baseball at home. Great food. Swimming in Lake Michigan (in October?!). Gallivanting around town. Beautiful Fall colors. And most of all... I spent four days with great people.