As per request

As per request, the castle on the corner in Hertsberg. Not sure if the Consulate of Surinam still lives there/owns the place. As far as I can tell the name plate is gone, and a little security camera bubble is there instead. Yes, I'm sure they got me on camera hanging through the front gate trying to get this picture.




A rare "open gate" view of the little bungalow next door...it is much larger from the back...maybe I'll pull some James Bond stuff and get a unobstructed shot one of these days.

Picture Day

It was finally a nice day out so I decided to go do the Kastelenroute...a route that goes through a parkway or two, passes by a few castles and hits some cool little dirt and cobbled sections.

Short and Sweet...Sweet and Sour that is.

All I have for today is a short a useless comment about my dinner.

So some of us decided to try to get Chinese takeout...man it was just weird. The food was your typical Ameri-Asian food you find in the US at just about any takout joint. The restaurant itself actually looked pretty nice. It was just wierd to go in and start trying to order...and all of the sudden I do one of those..."where exactly am I" things...We're speking to a oriental dude who is speaking perfect english in this little town called Oostkamp in Belgium....Dutch, Flemmish, Chinese, Japanese, English, Korean, whatever!

I am left with one question: How is it that this dude speaks better English than anyone (yes any of the several emplyees) at the King's Wok down the street from my house back home?? Not trying to be ignorant here...but really, one has to wonder.

JUDO CHOP!!

JUDO CHOP!!

This past Tuesday I got a chance to be a “crash test dummy.” At least a little bit of one, a very uncoordinated one at that. Not that “crash test dummies” are supposed to have any coordination, or even really be able to do anything that involves coordination at all….

To get back to this past Tuesday’s events, we got a chance to work on our crashing reflexes at a local Judo place, dojo, or whatever the technical term for it is…yes, I’m being a bit ignorant here, but that is besides the point (there really isn’t one). The basic idea was to work on developing reflexes for crashing that didn’t involve just planting your hand onto the ground and breaking your wrist, collar bone, or whatever else. Use your whole body, from your pinky finger to your toes. The whole thing was really simple, but very good to do. I know, you are probably asking why are you worrying about crashing? You should be worrying about racing your bike! Well, I’m sorry if I’m the one to inform you but if you “race” a bike you will inevitably crash. In my mind losing any fears of it will cause you to crash less, and when you do, crash better (safer). So you can “live to ride another day.”

I really haven’t done any of this flying through the air and tumbling stuff since my wrestling “career” in high school. My general comments lay along the lines of….training to be a cyclist, is training to be a cyclist and nothing else. You are not in shape for anything else! The evening started with some warm-up stuff that a few years ago would have been a cake walk…now I just felt incredibly uncoordinated and after a few times of rolling up and down the mats I couldn’t even stand up, literally. The whole frickin’ place was spinning! Things progressed from there to jumping over bikes and landing etc. Next Thursday we are supposed to go through actually crashing the bike…I’ll keep y’all posted. Maybe I will be a little less sore the next day as well.

All the hubub around Paris Roubaix

All this talk about stardom! I know you all are eagerly awaiting to hear how the news segment went...

It ended up being about a 6 min. segment. With plenty of ads running up untill the actual segment. Of course there were plenty of shots of yours truly. A lot of the interviews ended up being shown...but only chosen clips. At this point I wish I was a bit more fluent with my Flemish, but I could get the basics...all of us were speaking english, but a lot of the running commentary was Flemish. A bunch of the shots from the Roubaix cobbled sections made the air, as well as a bunch of stuff with us working on our bikes etc. Unfortuantly (maybe fortunately), the massage fottage never made the air. I know, the modeling career took a hit on that one... Belgium just isn't ready for the Bretmiester!

Alright, after all the hype leading up to the Queen of the Classics...I'll leave a comment or two about the actual race. Hincapie...man that sucks, maybe that section only allows so many Americans to pass in a year...and we used it all up in filming our footage (trying to bring a little humor into a shitty situation here!). Maybe George needs to go get some Judo training. I'll leave that discussion for another day. UCI...what do you have officials for?? umm...yeah to interpret and enforce the rules...and once the decision is made, its done. For those of you that are a not as in touch with the cycling world, go to cyclingnews.com and read all the Paris Roubaix stuff...that will get you at least half way, then send me some questions, because there is/was tons of stuff flying around here (Belgium). FINI!

NOW INTRODUCING: BRET GLEMBOCKI...MALE MODEL

Oh yeah, before you say male model be sure to add a dramatic pause. Again, I've been working on my PR skills...modeling well maybe just a little. A second day of being under the spotlight. I got a chance to show my stuff when the oppportunity arose for me to be the "model" for the massage segment of the Cycling Center report that those press folk have been working on all week...so all you ladies out there...fasten your seatbelts! Oh yeah, Big Tom V. if your reading...you better watch out, your newest competition has arrived!

Aside from flaunting my stuff, we got a chance to go to a few sections of the Roubaix cobbles and shoot some fottage...which ment multiple (meaning more than just one or two) runs up and down the cobbles. After that we headed over to the Roubaix velodrome. Lets just say that there are times when it is good to be a woman...ummmm let me rephrase, good to have a woman with you. On the drive to the Roubaix velodrome we ran into some road construction...the dudes working on the road just scoffed at us and looked as if they weren't going to let us pass at all. But, then the one operating the steam roller caught sight of Ann (who is driving the CyclingCenter bus, and is like a mother to all of us at the CC) and perked up a little, motioned for us to wait just a moment, and proceeded to roll out a section of road for us to pass on. Can you say service or what..."they freekin paved a road for us!" Well, lets just say Ann got a wink from a few other members of the road crew and we were on our way to the velodrome.

The segment is supposed to air on prime time so, we will see what happens. I've already seen a couple of clips advertising it so, LOOK OUT!

A piece of the chaos...

GONNA BE A ROCKSTAR

Well maybe not quite a rockstar...we'll see this Friday evening when I get my debute on Belgian National TV. The truth of it is that it has been a pretty eventful week around the Cycling Center. With all the classics (big time races...Tour of Flanders, Paris Roubaix) going on in the area there has been quite a bit of hype. We have some of the Navigators team staying with us as well as a few other P-R-O's. In addition, the media has been showing up, with its focus around us...not the "PRO's"

Today I got to flaunt my good looks (you all sould be laughing right now) in front of the cameras. A few interviews, some action footage on the cobbles, and even me sharing some of my mechanical expertice (say it with a french accent)! Oh, and if any of you actually ever see it and somehow the part where they start to ask me questions about past and present winners of Paris Roubaix....um just disregard...I though they were talking about the Tour of Flanders...or something...um yeah...I gues you would have to also know that the interview took place before this years Paris Roubaix, and if Boonen wins this year...then it will all make sense and this last paragraph will be useless. Still, with me?? Don't worry if your not, it REALLY doesn't matter.

Look at it this way, when I get to race against a bunch of Belgians after being on their national TV...well lets just say it probably won't be a loving relationship.

Just a side note: I think working in a lab all winter turned me into a wus or something...I got a stupid blister on my hand while riding the cobbles for the photo op. yeah, wus, I know!

A day at the races....the "PRO" races

Me at the start line for the Tour of Flanders, holding the lion of Flanders flag.

Note: Just a little wind.

The crowd at the center of Bruge before the start of the Tour of Flanders. Riders being presented etc.

...and you thought there was a crowd at the Superbowl.








Random picture of Bruge.