We were invited by one of the sponsors of the team to go to the exhibition of cycling legend Freddy Maertens. The exhibition was held at the Ronde van Vlaanderen Museum in Oudenaarde, Belgium and included a discussion with the man himself. Although all of the conversation was in Flemish, which even with being Afrikaans I could not really follow, we at least understood after that what a legend he is. A hero of many local cyclists with a very impressive resume that includes two world championship titles, two green jerseys in the Tour de France, stage wins in many tours and several one day classic wins to name just a few.
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| Me, An-Li, Freddy, Cherise, Robyn and Guy, |
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| All the teams Freddy rode for in his career. |
I had an eventful day leading up to the exhibition as well. There was a race that finished in Oudenaarde which most of the Pro Tour teams raced. Lotto-Belisol, Astana, Omega Pharma-QuickStep, FDJ-BigMat, GreenEDGE and RadioShack-Nissan were among the Pro Tour teams that raced the 3 Daagse De Panne race. I set out to go watch the finish of the race before we had to meet up at the Ronde van Vlaanderen museum for the exhibition. As it goes with me and travelling lately something had to go wrong. I missed my train out of Aalst after having some mechanical issues with the commuter bike I was using to get to the station downtown. I finally got on the correct train to Oudenaarde an hour later. I got there just in time to see the 2nd and 3rd bunch crossing the finish line. After getting a lift back to Aalst with the sponsor after the event I now had to get the bike back from the station to the house. So I set out for a 4km midnight run to the station and rode back. Only in Belgium! Although I always miss South Africa it is a nice feeling being able to walk or ride your bike at night without having to look over your shoulder. Reading the book Killing Kebble by Many Wiener which is about the underworld in South Africa makes me appreciate being able to do this even more.
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