Today we headed to the Muur to show some of the Hincapie team some of the cobbled climbs they had missed in their past trips. We did a little sightseeing on the way (ie we got lost) but it was a great trip either way.
Tebbetts praying for us to find the route to the Muur
At the end of the first climb most of the Hincapie boys split off so they could go to Brugge. The more hardy souled headed on to the real meat of the ride. On the road after the first climb, which was paved, we did a nice little dirt road, well it was actually muddy. It was more of a cyclocross course including potholes and down hills. Rodney chose to ride the mtb trail off to the side so his bike would not get as dirty. He had to negotiate lots of roots in sections and started to reconsider his choice of routes.After this section we took some photos of the great view we found.
The view after the dirt road
We continued to make our way to the Muur with a few more side trips to see more dead ends, I mean more sightseeing opportunities.
We eventually made it to the Muur and took time to take a few pictures after we all climbed it.
Sperry on the Muur
After the photo shoot we headed down the cobbles to have lunch at a dive I would not send my dog to. We were fed though and it gave us the energy we needed to get back to Kortrijk. Unfortunately for Cleve however, Rodney’s pace at the start almost made him experience the gyro for a second time.
From that point, Hank took over for a bit and then Sperry carried the pace the rest of the way until we got on the canal trail and then we settled into a nice casual ride for the most part. This is certainly Sperry’s kind of riding, flat and windy. There was the time on the canal where it got a little faster. This was when Tebbetts decided he would try to race Ally. She smoked him and left him for dead but that is another story unto itself. We finished up with five hours fifteen minutes and about 87 miles. A very good ride.
We rolled back into town, cleaned up and headed to the Italian restaurant which we have been to before. We ran into George and a couple of the BMC guys there. They made an early evening of it and headed back to their hotel. Some silly excuse about having a big race coming up in a few days. After we all gorged on pasta and a few glasses of wine, we felt rejuvenated and ready to go again.–Paul
