Hard day, plus some Belggie brews...

So got up early to get 3 hours in on the bike. 3 hard hours, Started off with a good sprint workout, then moved on to a solid interval session. Good feelings from the legs. Got home to an almost empty house as we had 2 full teams in action today at different UCI races, both taking a team van and car. Like I say, the house was pretty empty. But made myself some lunch, then headed out to the bus stop with 3 of the other boys. With it being Joe's birthday, we decided to head to Brugge to celebrate and explore. Bought myself a 10 pass for the Belgian bus service, figure I'll use it a few times. Headed out, in some amazing weather (30 degrees and sunny) to explore the ancient city of Brugges. And what a city it is. The whole thing is medival buildings and cobbled streets. Its almost like stepping back in time. Met up with Peter, one of our Belgian riders while enjoying some frites and mayo in the main square. Which also happened to be the spot (according to Peter) where the riders gathered and signed in for Ronde van Flandeeren. After meeting up with Peter, we headed along to explore, take some pictures and find a good patio to sit, eat and drink. Bought myself a good map of Belgium and a Lion of Flanders flag (of course). Sat down, ate mussels, some more frites and sampled a good selection of beers. I mean a good selection. Mussels were incredible. Wow. Enjoyed talking with out Belgian teammate about life and Belgium and riding. We left after being offered some Vodka shots (they where out of Vodka at the bar) by some extremely inebriated Russian business men. They like me/us because I was Canadian and we are "great hockey country". They spoke very little English, and barely could stand up, except about hockey. After a little more exploring, Peter gave us a ride home in his little VW. Well appreciated. Now, time for another dinner, something small perhaps after the feast we had this afternoon. I feel tomorrow should be another longer day, perhaps heading out to some of the climbs from da Ronde...