It was rainy and cold today at the finish line in Belgium. I hate that. It makes such a mess. And it makes the walk to lunch so much longer. Plus I have no jacket here really, because I was banking on the fact that I would get a free one from VS.; and I was trying to pack light at the same time. But our swag really sucked ass this year (yes, it did), so I refuse to wear a BRIGHT neon green thin as paper wind jacket that doesn’t even say Versus on it. Somebody messed up bad in the swag department big time.
I was happy to see a friend from last year Thibault, this French guy who would always come by and pick up tapes from me to give to CBS. I wonder if he still has that super hot model girlfriend of his; I will have to find that out next time I see him…
Gent is a pretty awesome city. I asked Dirk yesterday if it was a big party town; he didn’t really know, but did know that it was somewhat of a college town. Which meant that it probably was a party town.
Sure enough, after the race was over, the streets were still littered with people. Cycling is such a huge sport in this country (Belgium), and having the Tour de France even pass through your town, let alone finish a stage there is a big deal. People were out partying like it was St. Patrick’s Day. Bars were overflowing on to the streets, people were having parties on the balconies of their apartments; it was intense. Though I didn’t see it, apparently they were jumping the course and fighting with police as well, soccer-riot style. Especially since a Belgian won the stage.
The ride back into France on the A1 was a reminder of many the roads that were ahead of us: wide open speed circuits. We drove deep into the forests of Compiègne to the Domaine Bois d’Aucourt; a small château operated by Thierry & Sylvie Clement-Bayard, and their dog, Ringby.
This place is the first real château I’ve stayed in both my years coming here. Although it doesn’t have a TV, or Internet (you can tell I’m backlogged with the blog entries), it does have books. And Mastermind. Remember that game? It is super quiet here, and there are no distractions. And it’s in the middle of the woods with nothing surrounding it. There are already some great pictures from just getting in tonight, can’t wait to see what this place looks like in the daytime.
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