Update 11/23

I'm in Belgium, Deinze specifically. It's a little town 10 miles away from gent.



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I went for my first ride in Belgium today, it was way too cold and crappy, so I didn't ride far. It's been snowing off and on here for the last two days, I guess I came just in time.
I did ride the Koppenberg today, a famous "climb" in the tour of flanders (a prestigious race). ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koppenberg ) It's not what I would call a climb, more like a steep hill, but it is paved with cobblestones and there was snow on it, so it was challenging.
This evening I went to the final day of the 'Gent Segsdag,' or sixday. A Sixday is a kind of track cycling event, they're held indoors throughout the winter, riders are paired into teams and they compete for about 5 hours a day for 6 days. There's crappy music, beer, fries, fried meats and fried ?!?. (See more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-day_racing ). I saw the final three hours. A local won so the audience was stoked. Eric Zabel, a well known German sprinter retiring this year, was there. It was cool to see him, he looks, well, exactly like Eric Zabel.