A brief moment in Belgium

Mary tearing through some Belgian cobble stones at the Antwerp MTB Cup!

We made the long drive through central Germany from the Czech Republic while watching the placid streams along the roadside become torrential rivers!     This was no ordinary storm and though I found myself complaining that it made the drive more difficult it was clear that it would be more than a small inconvenience to many in flood effected areas.  

 We pulled over for the night earlier than planned in a random little town in hopes of better conditions but the rain never stopped and by morning word of heavy flooding in much of southern Germany, Czech and Austria began to take shape. 

Minor flooding even in the high grounds 

It felt anti intuitive to be making our way towards Belgium in anticipation of better weather and also a bit strange to head towards what looked to be a major shipping port to contest a mountain bike race.  We were slightly surprised to find that both actually worked out to be true.

Antwerp, Belgium seemed an incongruous mix of tourist attracting elaborate old world architecture and massive industrial shipping port capable of handling the brunt of the petrochemical manufacturing for what looked to be the entire country.    

Touring downtown Antwerpen by RV 

Where are the trails?

Within this conundrum and a bit closer than comfortable to the impressive sprawl of fire belching 24/ 7 grind of petrochemical facilities (That really made us think twice about feeling free and good while living and driving around so much in our RV, Yikes! ) we found a tiny green speck of a park in all it's glory of spring bloom.  It was easy to appreciate even the smallest natural space that literally brought a breath of "slightly" fresher air to the surrounding chaos. 

Within the park we made ourselves comfortable in an  ancient cobblestone parking area that would be our weekend camp spot and staging area for the competition.   

Tuning in Antwerp

camping on the cobbles

The event managers (Race to Victory vzw)  made creative use of kilometers of course tape and barriers to establish a tight and tricky 4 kilometer course that came together in a familiar cyclocross style. The sheer steepness of the many spiky climbs and ample chances to make mistakes on the twitchy narrows were the main factors that made this a worthy place to race.  

The hardest climb on a Tricky narrow course

It turned out to be the perfect hard effort we were looking for and a welcome opportunity to represent in Belgium once again this season.  We were sorry to not have the Houffalize world cup on the schedule this year but it is always interesting to travel to different areas and see something new in any case.  

We met up with some old friends and made some new ones 

and capped off the experience with flying the Team Kenda - Stan's NoTubes flag on the top of the podium! Thanks for making the weekend something to remember, Mary!!!

Looking towards some better weather 

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