The World Traveler

I came across this today. I was surprised that the Vatican was listed as its own country.

Arrival In Spain

It's hard to beat scenes like this in December, though it was only 65 degrees.

I left the cold, snow and wind of Belgium behind this morning by hopping a RyanAir flight from Charleroi to Alicante, Spain. Departure from the hotel was at 4:40 a.m., the flight at 6:30 and I was lying by the pool (since my room wasn't ready) by 10:15 a.m.

As for the rest of the day, I'll let the photos tell the story.

Boarding – from the front and back of the plane – in the dark.

Check out the advertising on the bulkhead storage containers.
The seats don't recline and there's no seatback pockets.
So those are safety instructions on the back of each seat.

Soigneur Anthony Pauwels picked Kate Ochowicz-Hogan and me up from the airport.

My room is well-lit (by the sun) and has a balcony view of the pool.

The sink area of the bathroom is also very well-lit.

This was lunch. Yum.

Arriving to the hotel after 10 a.m. meant I missed the mass in Jesus Pobré.
But the Catholic TV network has online mass available (28 minutes).
I also watched the Pope celebrate mass (live) in the street later on.

Dinner was fried rice, chicken and vegetables. Not bad.

Dessert was very good.

The hotel is sporting a pretty festive look. Last year, these lights caught fire.

Final Day In Belgium

Sneak peek at my suitcase for the 2013 season.

My final day in Belgium of 2012 was spent wrapping up work at the BMC Racing Team service course and preparing for the flight to Spain. The expected snowfall (10-20 centimeters) never materialized. There were morning flurries, but nothing that would have prevented us from driving to the airport without trouble.

Dessert included a "make your own sundae" section.

But we proceeded with our plan to switch hotels and stay at one located five minutes from the Charleroi Airport. As soon as we pulled up, I knew I had been here before. It was in July, after Stage 1 of the Tour de Wallonie. You can see what my room (303) looked like when I was here in July in this gallery on Facebook.

Kate Ochowicz-Hogan and I enjoyed a nice meal (though probably not worth the $35/each that consisted of a buffet) and dessert with lackluster service. Knowing I had a 4 a.m. wake-up call to make a 4:40 a.m. shuttle, I hustled off to bed – only to remember I had work calls at midnight and 1 p.m. to make. So I ended up getting about two hours of sleep before those calls and two hours after. Not nearly enough.

Only one night here, but a nice room – just as I remembered it.

And here's one of the reasons I remembered it. This strange coat/pole thingy.

Separate room for this.

Lots of little shampoos and conditioners right in the tub area.

You can see the towel warmer in the reflection of the mirror.

Snowy Drive Into Work

As you can see, it was a bit snowy on the drive in to work today.  

Check out the four riders on the right, braving the snow and slush.

 

Weather Check

We'll see what pans out. I'm in Denia on Saturday.

Saint Nicholas Day

Gifts were aplenty when we arrived at the service course today.

It's Saint Nicholas Day. Did you know that's a big deal here in Europe?

We left some unusual gifts in our shoes: from carrots to tires.

From wikipedia:

The tradition of Saint Nicholas Day, usually on December 6, is a festival for children in many countries in Europe related to surviving legends of the saint, and particularly his reputation as a bringer of gifts. The American Santa Claus, as well as the British "Father Christmas," derive from these legends. "Santa Claus" is itself derived in part from the Dutch Sinterklaas.

Basically, this is the morning kids here in Belgium are waking up to presents and candy. But you had to remember to put out one of your shoes last night – and especially leave a gift inside. Ours ranged from carrots, to nuts to Park Tools and even Continental Tires.

Snow In Belgium?

Sleet turned to snow at midday.

I've made a habit of boasting about the nice Belgian weather I've come to enjoy when I have made trips to the land of Philippe Gilbert and the BMC Racing Team's European service course. Well, I guess I can stop now. There was hardly any sun when I arrived this morning. Sleet changed to snow in the afternoon. And it's probably below 30 degrees as I type this.

But it's all good. That's because I am only going to be here for a few days. Saturday morning, I fly to Spain. So by 9 o'clock that day, I should be soaking up the sun with temperatures in the mid 60s. But I'm going to get a full blown taste of winter before that. At least that's what the European weather guessers say. We're supposed to get at least 10 centimeters (3.5 inches) of snow, beginning late Thursday night and continuing through the day Friday. I'm already making plans to switch hotels to one at the airport (since my flight is at 6:35 a.m. Saturday). In the meantime, I'm enjoying my return to the Sandton Hotel Broel in Kortrijk. I was here in March (according to FourSquare), though I barely remember it. And I couldn't tell you what race I was staffing. Yikes.

All that stuff on the desk (save for my phone and the key) were there when I came in.

The beds are super comfortable and there's great lighting.

Gotta love the wood floors – and the robe.

This stone look in the bathroom permeates the hotel lobby, too.

European hair dryers (hanging on the wall) crack me up.

A bit out of focus, but you know what you're looking at anyway.

I do not know if I want to know what these were at breakfast.

Trip to Belgium

It was sunny (but a bit chilly) in Minneapolis.

The 2013 season is officially underway for me, as I made my way to Belgium for planning meetings. It seems like I just left there, but it's really been more than a month (late October). Despite not being on the road for only a month, I was a bit out of sorts when it came to the normal travel routine: checking boarding passes, layover times, gates, etc.

My itinerary took me from Omaha to Minneapolis to JFK (New York) and finally to Brussels. We were on time leaving Omaha and the 47-minute flight went well. I arrived in Minneapolis to learn I had been upgraded to first class for the two-and-a-half hour flight to JFK, which was nice. That meant a meal on the plane. What was supposed to be an early arrival – after a late departure due to a computer problem – turned into a later landing due to fog. So my more than two-hour layover there was much less.

The flight from New York to Brussels was more than nine hours, six or so that I slept through. I watched "Adjustment Bureau" and had what I thought would be a nice 80s playlist of music going for my bedtime. That is until a few Bon Jovi songs I put in there woke me up. I rapidly switched over to "spa sounds" and was back to sleep. And in the recline category, my initial plan to put the seat all the way back (because no one was sitting behind me) was foiled when I discovered someone had taken the seat right before dinner. So it was a bit of a restless sleep. The other bad part of the trip was the intercom system, which kept cutting in and out. By the end of the flight, even the pilot sounded frustrated (at least from what I could discern).

I enjoyed first class seating on my 47-minute flight from Omaha to Minneapolis.

Flying over one of the Great Lakes on the way from Minneapolis to New York.

Here's my lunch. That's a chicken sandwich, which looked strangely dark.

Cadel Evans and the BMC Racing Team are in the Delta in-flight magazine this month.

It was foggy (and dark) upon arrival at New York's JFK.

The new 767s feature a headphone jack near the video screen, instead of the arm rest.

Ready For The Taking

A look at the souvenirs I brought home from Beijing and Belgium.

Fun With FaceTime

It's hard fitting five princesses on the screen.

So I finally caught up with some reliable wifi here at the Park Hotel in Izegem, Belgium, Tuesday night. It was very hit-and-miss in Poland, unfortunately. One day, things would be flying, the next hardly any phone service, much less an internet signal.

So with the wifi whirring along, I caught up with the princesses via FaceTime. It was great to see their big smiles and share views of my room, the bathroom (by request) and even some Belgian TV channels. That's always good fun.

The look on Olivia's face and Lauren's finger are priceless.

Julia made sure all my furry friends got to catch up with me.

I even had some private chat time.

Olivia made me laugh quite a few times.

And Sid told me what I'd missed at the YD house.

Belgian TV

It's always fun to watch foreign weather forecasters.

A Dreadful Tuesday

At least dessert was good tonight.
This will be quick. It's 1:20 a.m. and I have a race to staff on-site today. Plus, it was a long and very stressful day.

I supervised no fewer than seven interviews. It would have been seven, but I couldn't be two places at once. That alone was taxing. But we also had a few media-related issues to work through. Oh, and did I mention I covered a race in Spain? Yep, I started working at 7 a.m. and didn't meet with anyone (visiting) and here I am, still working.

Today's highlights:

- They fixed the light that was out in my bathroom. And the one over my desk. Then they pulled the door shut and locked me out.

- Chris De Vos and Freddy Viaene, team soigneurs, shared some type of dessert/cake loaf with me. I guess it's super high in calories. I had a bite and it was awesome. I skipped lunch today but can say I've eaten pasta at nearly every lunch or dinner. In four days, the team went through 20 kilos. (You'll have to do your own conversion.)

- Wednesday is a big race. I'll be riding in the team car. Hope to get some good video or photos. Thursday, we'll be doing reconnaissance on the cobblestones for Sunday's race. Friday we move to France. Saturday is the team presentation. And Monday I fly home.

- I still need to get my picture/blog post up from Sunday's race.

- It rained here. Nearly all day. The high temperature couldn't have been more than 50. This was what I imagined Belgium was like.

- The Quiznos Pro Challenge in Colorado (in August) is no more. Actually, it's still happening. But it's now the "USA Pro Cycling Challenge." Quiznos is apparently still involved. It's all confusing. What I do know is that it looks like the race is on shaky footing. And the people doing the marketing and public relations have a long way to go before they understand the sport. They're obviously outsiders to the sport or just plain bad when it comes to doing their job. Or both.

- Taylor Phinney is not doing Paris-Roubaix (Sunday's race). I didn't announce that, which led to some of the stress today. But it's all good now. Everyone knows now that he won't be there and they'll mob George Hincapie and Alessandro Ballan instead.

I wish I had some fun stuff to share today, but it was all business.

Marcus Burghardt did an interview via Skype.

This might have been my mistake – coffee for breakfast.

BMC Racing Team Chief Mechanic Ian Sherbune (left)was interviews by Nick Legan of VeloNews.

Check out the tags on my lululemon pants. (Click to enlarge.)