Race Day!

Today was our first day of racing in Europe, it is very different from the racing in the U.S.. Our Kona bikes were dialed in by the mechanics and handled well. Even though this race was sort of like a local Seattle series race to the Belgians, there were race crowds larger than those at an U.S. Gran Prix race. Racers like Sven Nys, Richard Groenendaal, and Sven Vanthourenhout were present. Oh and also our home boy Johnathan Page (below) racing for his new team, Morgan Blue. These Belgians don't have the cheering skills that we have back home, there are thousands of them spectating but they all just stand there not making any noise until Sven Nys comes flying by, then they ramp it up. However there are always a couple old Belgians smoking cigars point out the what they think is best line to take in the mud, and if you take that line they give you a smack on your butt as encouragement. Watching the elites race was really cool, the glue like mud that was dead slow for us was like pavement for today's winner, Sven Nys(below). Below we see a standard Belgian "man toilet pole", it consists of four separate slots with a hole that feeds into the middle for a functional yet portable urinal. Only about a third of the men actually chose to use these urinals, the others just picked there favorite spot out in the open.
-Sean