Nick Bain Cycling: Back In The Big B

Well, I'm back. Made it over here without too much hassle... Had a sweet flight cause I managed to score the very front seat of the row all the way to Dubai so I had heaps of leg room but the only down side was that I was sitting next to a mum and her baby. Little Josh didn't like flying and he let everyone know that. Lucky I had noise cancelling headphones. Once he was asleep he was alright. Managed to sleep quite a bit on the Melbourne to Dubai leg of the journey which is the longest trip so time went pretty fast. Had a couple hours in Dubai so I just grabbed some taka and we boarded the flight to London but everyone had to change seats. I knew I had an aisle which I was happy about but now it was just where and who will I be sitting next to. Got on the plane and I was counting down the rows while we were all stuck in a traffic jam and I kinda roughly counted I would be the last row before the toilets. I was just praying that I was right. It would be luxury because I could just put my seat back without disturbing anyone and the toilets were right there. And wouldn't you know it; I was right! Booyah! Luxury! But again there's always a downside. I had an endless supply of asses in my face from people waiting for the toilet.
But yea I made it through Heathrow and Brussles all good and met Andrew at the airport so it was all good. But man it's cold here. First few days have been stupidly cold like it doesn't go above 10 degrees. Like 7 - 9 degrees doesn't seem that bad when you compare it -20 or something but when you've come straight out of a good New Zealand summer then yea, it feels like it's -20. I've been wearing track pants and a jumper to bed every night. It's been really depressing weather too with a strong cold wind and dark grey overcast clouds and light rain through out the day and heavy rain at night. But yesterday was finally a really nice day; clear blue sky. My alarm went off at 7.30am and I crustily opened my eyes a bit to turn it off and then I noticed this weird thing coming through my window and curtains. IT WAS SUNLIGHT! Hadn't seen that thing in a while. I actually bounced out of bed and stared through the window for a good 5 mins. I was doubly excited cause it was Tour of Flanders and me and Andrew were gonna go ride out and watch them go past. We started riding on the course towards Brugge which is where they start and there were already heaps of people lining the streets waiting to catch a glimpse of the riders. At this time it was around 9.30am - 10am and people were already cracking in to beers and there were bands playing and people had set up little bars in their garages. That's one of the reasons why Tour of Flanders is such a famous race. We just did a U turn and headed back towards home along the course and there were even more people on the side of the road. We then pulled over and waited for the riders to come past. When they went passed I managed to spot a few of the Kiwi riders who were racing and it was cool to see fellow Kiwi, Jesse Sergent, up in the break. Sucked to watch him get hit by the neutral car though. Then yea we just watched the rest of the race back home on the TV.
There were also a bunch of Swedish guys who came down here to ride some of the famous roads in Belgium. One of the Swedish guys new this Belgy guy and so the Swedish dude organised a group of guys to come down and the Belgy fella, including Andrew, showed these Swedes around. We rode out to Roubaix and did some of the famous cobble sections that they do in Paris-Roubaix which was awesome. I've always wanted to ride them and they are by far the roughest cobbles over ridden on. We then rode to the famous velodrome in Roubaix where they finish the race. It was always a dream to ride a lap of the Roubaix velodrome and I got to do it. Then the next day we rode out and did some of the famous cobble climbs and sections in Tour of Flanders. I have ridden those roads a lot so it was nothing new to me but we rode it 2 days before Tour of Flanders started so people were setting up these massive tents and stands on all the important sections of the race and there were lots of people riding there bikes trying to get a feel of what it's like to race Flanders so that was pretty cool to see.
So yea I'm just trying to get readjusted to the Belgy lifestyle again. I still remember a few Flemish words which is goed (good). So now I just need to get some good training under my belt for U23 Flanders which is next Saturday. Hopefully all goes well for that.
Yea that's pretty much it. Got no roommates at the moment but I've got a few friends who don't live too far away so I can always go training with them.
So yea, I've left a few a photos at the bottom.