The journey started early Thurs morning with a drive to Milwaukee where I picked up a bus to O'Hare Intl.
I was pretty pumped that I only had to shuffle a few items from duffel bag to bike box to make the weight restrictions and carry on limits. Only $200 for bikes on plane. Luckily they didn't weigh the bike box. So I thought it was smooth sailing from then on. A direct flight from Chicago to Brussels with a small stop in Washington DC...same plane though. Well a little hitch with the plane in DC and 2 hours later we were airborne for Europe. Powers, Wells, and I were all rollin' big in the Business Class section! White table clothes on my folding tray table was a first for me!
The plane landed in a snow covered freezing Belge after a good nights sleep(3 hours).
Baggage took 1:45 to come out of the carousel??? Belgium is on of those places that can't handle snow very well. Kind of like snow in Virginia. They just don't have the goods to de-ice or remove. So I waited with Powers and Wells. It was pretty comical until my name was called over the loud speaker. No Bikes :( Now how can United manage to lose the bikes when it was more or less a direct flight? Anyway they did....
So I lugged my wheels and bags out through customs to meet Josef. Our favorite driver! We only got lost once on the way home, but that was because we were searching for the wrong house number to pick up a BMC mechanic? Always something crazy going on here in Belgium. Troy and I were cracking up though as we were lost again in Belgium.
We finally made it to Izegem after about 24 hours of travel. I made my first Ham & Cheese, built up Troys bike and went for a spin on ice covered treacherous roads. No crashes. Then took a freezing cold shower, and made my bed with tiny sheets and tiny pillow. Radio Donna is blasting and Scheldecross was broadcasted live on TV. All is normal....
Not sure if I race tomorrow. Depends if bikes show?
1 comment:
Your shitting me..... You better go get a bike now vs later.
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