Euro Spring Trip Part 1

I have been in Europe for about a week and a half at this point, and it finally feels like the season is starting to get underway. So far this trip has been pretty amazing, and unique when compared with the rest of my trips across the pond. It all started out a little differently than usual. I was waiting in the Brussels airport with the rest of my Bontrager-Livestrong teammates for Axel Merckx, our directors flight to arrive, when none other than Eddy Merckx walked over to us and said that he was taking us to his home to wait for Axel. Teammate Josh Atkins and I piled into the back of his van with the rest all the teams bikes for the short trip to the Merckx' residence. At first I thought we might get pulled overfor having people stuffed in the back of a van but then I remembered who was driving us...

Since we have been in Belgium we have only done one race, Deinze-Ieper. It was not the best race for the team but, the first race after a trans-atlantic flight hardly ever is. We had some bad luck with mechanicals and crashes. "Stone-Cold Stuyven From Leuven" was the teams only finisher in the lead peleton. Besides the race Belgium has been much nicer than usual. We have found great rides thanks to Axel and Jasper de Buyst, and have been treated to especially nice Belgian weather. We all owe a huge thanks to the Merckx family, especially Mrs. Merckx for taking such good care of us and keeping us well fed after our training rides.

I am writing this post from St. Lo in France as we prepare to start the Tour of Normandy tomorrow. We have previewed the prologue course and it's definitely a good one, it's going to be a strong rider with some big cajones who takes the win tomorrow. The next 7 days are bound to be some of the toughest racing we do all year. Hopefully I'll have some good stories and results to write about when it is all said and done!

Thanks for reading,

Gavin