Fun

For the latest tourist action, I went to Ieper to visit the In Flanders Field museum yesterday and visited the Abbey of Saint Sixtus Brewery in Westvleteren. According to some people the monks brew the best beer in all the world. I must I say if it isn't it really really close. I tried all three beers (Blond, Bruin 8, Bruin 12). The best one was the Bruin 8. Lastly, you can only buy the beer at the brewery and no where else in the world. It was well worth the trip and highly suggest it to anyone who enjoys a good beer and is in Belgium. For the In Flanders Field museum, it was absolutely amazing to see. The museum is in Ieper, which is about 14 kilometers (approx. 9 miles) from Westrozebeke, and the museum is about the battle grounds of WWI. The museum concentrates on the battles that took place in the area I am staying in. In fact I am behind the German lines in WWI with Roeslare, about 10 kilometers (approx. 6 miles), being the resting place for the Germans when they weren't on the front lines. Close to 700,000 soldiers died in the area during all of the battles that took place in this area during the Great War. It is amazing to see the area today considering how destroyed the area was in 1918. Almost all of Ieper was complete destroyed and they rebuilt it to look like how it did before the war. The trees replanted were planted in a military manner. For the rest of the trip on the tourist side, I should make it to Ghent and Amsterdam, and I might make another trip to Brugge.

For the racing, I raced in Poelkapelle, on Saturday, I had my best day racing here, yet. It was the first day of racing/riding in the rain here. The trip just wouldn't have felt complete if I didn't race in the rain over here. Once again, I just missed the winning move. I blew up in a bridge trying to get up to the move as it was forming. It is nice knowing I can ride at the front of the races and try to make in the move. The next day I raced in Mooslede-Slypskeyelle, and I discovered these races are too hard to race on back to back days. I got popped early in the race, but after another hard bridge attempt early in the race. My legs didn't feel as good as they did as the previous day. Today, I managed to get in the money places again. I road away from the group I was with in the last 3 kilometers. I barely got in the money.