Today we visited the city of Oudenaarde, Belgium. In the central part of the city there is a bicycle museum that is primarily dedicated to bicycle racing in Belgium. Two themes dominate all discussion of bicycle racing in Belgium. The first is the name Eddy Merckx who was one of the greatest bicycle racers of all time. The other is the Ronde van Vlaanderen (or Tour of Flanders).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronde_van_Vlaanderen
The Ronde race is run in early April. It is a one day event of about 140 miles. The real difficulty is that about 35 miles of the race is run on cobblestones. If you have ever ridden a bike on cobblestones you know that about 1/2 mile will just about rattle the fillings out of your teeth. With potentially bad weather, cobblestones, hills, and the long one-day distance it is not for the faint of heart.
The museum was new and nice. Our guide knew someone who worked at the museum so we received a very warm welcome. There was a beautiful young Belgium girl working behind the counter. She received us with unusual enthusiasm. She spoke English very well. She told us that we were the first Americans she had ever met which surprised us to no end. She also spoke several other languages. It was one of those things that just seemed hard to believe.
At the museum we signed a book that is to be given to Eddy Merckx on his upcoming 65th birthday.
A picture of me after winning the Ronde van Vlaanderen.