I Better Get Some Vitamin D

I'm in Belgium, I arrived last night by train and was picked up by my couchsurfing.com host Koen (said 'coon'). It's a five hour train ride from Lyon to Gent, with one change in Brussels Midi Station. Koen lives in Deinze, 20 minutes west from Gent, with his fiancee Stephanie. I found them on couchsurfing.com, were both new to couchsurfing, me as a surfer, they as surfees. Koen in a software installer for a company that makes inventory tracking programs and Stephanie teaches English, History, and Religion to 12-15 year old Belgians. Also in the house is Pinker, meaning Blinker or turn signal, a year old miniature Pinscher. She's very sweet, doesn't bark, and, in case of a water shortage, will gladly tongue bathe any and everyone. She's energetic, to say the least.

Beginning in northern France things started to change, people around me were speaking English, French and Dutch, which for the uninitiated, sounds like a crusty brogueish Scot sailor impersonating a Nazi with salty marbles in his mouth. But they're a gentle breed.

It's a good time to be in Flanders. The Gent Kuipke (Cup) Sixday track race is happening, Zabel's there. Veldrijden, or Cyclocross, is going full swing. To get a taste of that charming Flemish Dutch and to see grown men getting silly in leotards I highly recommend www.crosstube.net. Also very exciting is the arrival of the first winter storm, due this weekend. I know I've told some you that I looked forward to a warm winter this year, but there really is something pleasant about violent hail whipping your tear stained cheeks. I think what I was missing in Eugene wasn't the sun, it was the wind ripping across the North Sea and smacking me in the face. But seriously folks, this looks like a rough place to spend a winter riding a bike outside.