I spotted the logo & name on the leathers of Alvaro Bautista (factory Honda world superbike) yesterday too!

Surely all these companies wouldn’t promote the brand without actually being paid up front? There’s been enough ‘history’ to make anyone nervous…..

They’re only checking (some)Belgians at the border.
We have to complete an online travel form after we’ve been away and the police are stopping random cars to check if that’s occurred…
Trucks and foreigners are going straight through

Was thinking about him just this weekend…
Got my luminator out for the first time this winter

Sad thoughts but also nice that he is remembered by such positive memories

It’s all changed up front of the markers are to be believed 😮

It’s a pretty enthralling race so far
Just past over the 1000km mark
They’ve had some brutal weather by the looks of things

5th day of riding – 2 leaders separated by less than 10km and the top 5 by less than 60km

It’s a bit warm in Zolder

Good track here though 👍
My eldest is racing in the U16..

166 heats today!
More than 4hrs non-stop just to get through all that…

Brussels is just a city & has its good bits and less good bits.😉
I’m actually doing the opposite and leaving Belgium this weekend to come to the UK (to see the WSB @ Donington) 😀
I went to watch the Tour last time we had a stage through Bruss and I’d rather be in the mountains to be honest…(though I did enjoy the stage finish in Gent)

There is a huge amount of visitors expected so plan time for the train. Apparently a lot more trains are being ran to support the demand but that could just lead to even more chaos than a typical Monday morning.
All local public transport (trams, metro, buses) are FOC this weekend too.

Loved the way in which you could almost see the sand bags being dropped by the Ford GT as it set its LMGTE pro time last night

Can’t blame them after last year….
BOP really messes with the GTE class more than anything. It made for a brilliant battle last year but can’t be good for the sport for the best car to be artificially limited.

I watched the qualifying last night on Eurosport – as usual excellent coverage with some superb insights from the presentation team including ex-drivers

LMP1 might be interesting but only time will tell..
Toyota give the impression (if it’s real) that they aren’t 100% in control just yet

The big topic across all classes was (potential) sandbagging and trying to avoid any BOP changes when they are reviewed tomorrow… makes it a bit false perhaps but still it’s a great spectacle and I very much hope for a great GT fight once more

My commute is an hour minimum,

Welcome to Belgium :)

As Leffeboy mentioned, I’m way out of the city (direction Gent) but mostly I think the commute is worth the pain.
I’m just around the corner from your workplace though in Sint Stephens Woluwe
Its your first long weekend too. Hope you enjoy the rain.

One of these days I will plan smarter / better and meet up with Leffeboy & the local MTB crew for a ride. :)

Oooooh welcome to the club
(Only saw this now as I was hiding from the site in case there were Fort William spoilers) :-)

Assume you’re off to TMC…
I’m not a Brussels dweller but work very close to Diegem.
Belgium has some really cool stuff going on, but get ready for absolute incredible levels of bureaucracy.
Food and beer is lovely here though, supermarkets less so oddly…
Traffic in and around Bruss is crap but hopefully you’re commute journey will not suffer too badly.

Leffeboy: I guess you ride with the group that head out Zonienwoud side of things? I’ve been meaning for a while to join a ride but never gotten around it it….

As long as it hasn’t been driven on when flat (or left flat on the car for an extended duration) then a repair should be fine

How big is hole? Normally just a thorn ‘prick’ or similar would lead to a very slow deflation.
The tyre thickness & elasticity of the rubber itself usually seals to some extent. If you restore inner liner integrity then I would expect no further issue
If there is no fundamental damage, then a flat patch should be fine.

I would imagine to avoid a major tyre chain because I fear they won’t be able to listen to your situation & will likely have standard rules of not to repair sidewall

(IAA tyre engineer)

that’s awful news :(

won’t be able to use my liberator ever again without a slightly sad feeling.

Sh*t news

The posts of Mark, whilst in one way horrific, were also fantastically written, enlightening and above all incredibly moving.
I’d always hoped that he’d win out (perhaps he did by getting so many years more than his original diagnosis) but his most recent posts started to share the inevabilty of the situation

RIP Mark

I took my Belgian son to the A&E last Xmas as his toe looked a bit manky

They sorted him out (lovely Doctor) though the nurse did say ‘should have gone to your GP’.
We mentioned that we weren’t UK residents and there was bit of a harrumph but we responded with our most pleasant smiles :)

I’ve got 5+ and it’s really quite excellent (for my needs anyway)

I run as much as I cycle & it’s perfect, especially now with the new Spotify link so I can download music & play through my Bluetooth headphones.

No need to carry a phone.

battery life is between 5-7 days depending on how much I use the sport tracking.

Heart rate measurement is as good as identical as chest band too (did a back to back check with my edge 810)

Welcome to Brussels :-)

on the plus side – it’s a short journey to nicer bits

If you take the ferry to zeebrugge, Gent is a nice cycle from there.

in Gent at the Blaarmeersen camping you can rent little huts there. They are pretty basic but sounds ideal for your plans.

hop on the train with your bike to the centre of Brussels is good too.

I enjoyed it – great course. true sufferfest.

Happy enough with Valerde winning. Top 4 guys are all great athletes & gave us a great show

I appreciate the questionable history of Valverde but there are not many top riders that haven’t had the finger pointed at them some time. I (try to) put my faith in the current testing & blood passport regime and just try to enjoy the entertainment

check the spring between the pads….

I just switched some out and the spring was stopping pad to disc contact. Symptoms were brakes felt fine but had very little power

unless it’s changed for this season nearly all cross races (that are shown live on Belgian free-to-air tv) can be streamed anywhere… VTM & VRT Een / Canvas.

I’ve watched from japan & the US whilst away

Re: the WvA situation it sure is going to be interesting. I think he was clearly looking for any opportunity to jump ship from his contract & Nuyens was daft enough to give some reason to do so…

We will see (probably) in court if the reasons were sufficient to warrant contract breakage. It’s big news here in Belgium as you might expect. It’s the US races this weekend and Wout is there effectively on his own without even a bike at this moment. It’s expected he will ride a Stevens still but will be in a unsponsored rainbow jersey.

got mine from Pretavoir

quick service and totally straightforward ordering

it was reported over here in Belgium of a very similar bike shop theft (hooked from a skylight)

The thieves knew what they were targeting and ‘fished’ out the better models.

Bikes all turned up at a bike shop in Romania, mostly covered in dirt where the thieves had tried to make them look like second hand bikes in case they were stopped on the way back..

https://www.bodum.com/gb/en/11103-947b-y17-travel-mug

this…..

https://www.rosebikes.com/sram-gxp-bb86-pressfit-bottom-bracket-cups-373374

that………

Its Mull – chances are you will get every kind of weather there regardless of the time of year :)

it will always be magnificent though so for gods sake yes

it looks yummy & good value but not perhaps the right choice for every evening dinner :)

(& yes please for the Irn Bru)

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/off-road-tracks-around-kenilworth/

ooooh

I remember the Victoria park races. That’s a very tight & narrow loop

On a visit back home last month I did notice that the 4X / pump track / BMX track thing on the Campion Hills has had some significant & positive attention…. It had turned into a real ‘one man & a spade’ thing until this recent work. Was very much needed.

Is Wappenbury Woods (officially) open to cyclists?

there’s not a great deal on offer…..

Head over to Ryton Pools and there’s a sort of path / route from there. There is also the old railway line from Offchurch through to Rugby / Draycote Water for a ride out. Needs a little bit of a hunt in Marton to get back onto the path after crossing the main road.

Other than that is mostly towpath :(

Sadly Kenilworth common is not bike friendly (unless you count Boxing day)

Agree with Cougar 100%

Escape room :)

I hated the idea until I tried it – it was great (& I’m certainly a grumpy engineer type)

I’m in :-)

Watching the gps tracking whilst working :)

Langvad & Courtney look to be in a league of their own in the ladies race

Mens seems a little more open but I wouldn’t bet against Kulhavy & Grotts – they seem to just be controlling it now.

Is anyone running a STW fantasy league again this year?

Last years provider isn’t running one…

At work we are using:

https://www.gridrival.com/lobby

I’m 10 years+ over here in Belgium, with Belgian kids…

Not sure how it will actually effect me to be honest. I’ve got Swiss & a Norwegian mates who have no residency or travel issues so don’t really expect any for me either

I do plan to get UK passports for the kids though so I guess I should pull my finger out :-)

I’m after one too

Bike components in Germany advised the Shimano type fits (specifically the model from TA Specialites)

Not sure whether to try
Very odd that there is nothing available. The crank is not even included in the 2018 service guide….

if it’s on Sporza then it’s shown live on VRT Een
(Sporza online is geo-blocked but not VRT een)
I was away from Belgium last week but managed to still watch from Japan..

https://www.vrt.be/vrtnu/kanalen/een/

https://www.bike-components.de/en/SRAM/Kettenblatt-X-Sync-asymmetrisch-4-Arm-110-mm-Lockreis-fuer-Apex-1-p56997/

Doesn’t seem to be a 38t available….

I couldn’t even find the crank on SRAM website

As a ‘Flandrien’, not so bothered by the RvV hence I’m also heading to Catalunya but for the 3 day UCI MTB race in Igualada. (apologies to the Catalans for my spelling) ;-)

(It’s an exchange deal as we will be having Puigdemont here in Belgian for the foreseeable) :) :)

they look nice IMO but only if kept clean & shiny :)