Formed in June 09, Here Come the Belgians is a non-elite anti-team celebrating all things cross, cobbled and Belgian.
Seeking a different experience to the traditional cycling club, its aim is to harness the energy of a vibrant internet cycling community with grass roots racing and riding based around Cyclocross and Spring Classics. There is no race programme in the style of a racing team, more a collection of individual experiences through rides and racing, in whatever location a member may be, that all can share in and contribute toward.

Monday, 9 November 2009

Velo Interruptus

While fellow Belgians were ripping up their local cross leagues, this intrepid (some may say lightweight) Belgian continued the long and winding road towards the Classics season with a sojourn around what might optimistically be referred to as the Flandrian back roads of Suffolk.

These rides take place on quiet back roads and farm tracks, fresh with the detritus of autumnal North Sea gales and field wash. What I did not expect was to be stopped in my tracks by what appeared to be the harvesting of Kassein. Babies heads. It couldn't be.


Thinking that maybe lack of fluids had brought on temporary psychosis, I took advantage of my enforced rest to rehydrate and take stock. After a couple of minutes, and after pictured vehicle had chugged it's way off along Waldringfield Road, a ruddy faced farmer cheerfully explained that Suffolk was not, in fact, supplying Les Amis de Paris-Roubaix but a British Sugar factory up the road in Bury St Edmunds. Which was nice.

2 comments:

  1. Nothing lightweight about negotiating those wet and slidy backroads - very Flandrian in terms of your skill set. Welcome to the Belgians!

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  2. Bravo that man. After organising a cross race last weekend and making the grave mistake of also racing in it, the lure of alternative challenges such as greasy, wet, leaf strewn roads has a very strong appeal.

    I've found some cobbles too (but the stretch is only about 200m long).

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