Well back in the groove here in Belgium. Back to my normal patterns on and off the bike. Pretty chilled out day. Up early with the birds for a few hours of work in front of the keyboard.

Reward for this hard work was a pleasant walk through Westmeerbeek to the bakery. Mmmm, what a tempting place. This bakery seems to specialize in pies. Oh the pies are something else. But I stuck to the bread. 9 grain bread. Fresh baked and sliced perfectly. I was tempted by one item – macaroons. Real macaroons – not the coconut macaroons but the real deal “French” macaroons. I feel I might have to cave and try one or two (they are small).

Had an excellent recovery ride today. Started off with Jos and she showed me an excellent route that took me to the “old” house in Blauberg. I continued on to Averbode and toured around on some of my favorite roads. On the way back I picked up Jos and we had a good ride back to the house here. Perfect day for riding. Light wind. 3 celsius. Dry. Can’t complain about that.

Highlight of the day has to be the arrival of Ed’s new bike. Thanks Steve for packaging it up and arranging the transport. Ed is very happy with putting it together in the garage.

After a quick lunch and dash to the grocery store, Jos and I set off on a trip to Antwerp. We wanted to hit up the Decathlon, Ikea and Saturn (electronics shop). We made out pretty good. I got a real deal Belgian cycling hat – it is pretty sharp. And I managed to pick up the plug converter that I forgot at home. All in all a solid shopping trip.

Just relaxing now. About to hit the sack. Begijnendijk ride tomorrow. Smooth – been looking forward to this ride for some time now.

Wow – Kansas City looks like it was pretty exciting. Most impressed with Laura Van Gilder – so inspiring. Congrats to Brandon Dwight for getting another W. Fast times. Enjoy the off-season. But by the looks of the WWW, I’ll be seeing lots of you guys over here in the next few weeks. Even better.

Okay, I’m out. Have a good one.