Since the last blog we have moved all of our things from our container into our new place in Olsene (nothing broken!!!) and have been settling in nicely.
Our place is located on a side street of a small town, jut around the corner from the church. There is no need for clocks as the church bells are so kind to tell us the time 24/7. We have two bakeries within 400m of us, so we will never be in short supply of bread. After just over a week of living here we went from the two of us to living with five people!
We have one of Gregg's old team mates Alex Coutts living with us for the season, an American cyclist spending a month with us to race the amateur scene, and Kim a friend from Canada spent some time visiting us here. At the moment things have calmed down with Kim leaving last weekend, and Matt the American cyclist heading down to the south of France for a different cycling experience.
Holly's dutch classes are now finished until September, and we are happy to say that she passed the 1st level at the top of the class (not that it is really brag worthy since she grew up with hearing it, and had a little bit of a base to start off with). She now is a little bit more comfortable with the language, but not quite comfortable enough with the intricacies of the Dutch grammar.
Of course there has been lots of racing. To keep things brief Gregg has been racing alot since the last blog entry. His form has been really good, and is only improving. Most notably he placed 20th in an amateur kermis in Dronegen, 53rd in an interclub race near Leuven where Gregg helped to keep the peloton in line while three of his team mates were up the road working hard to secure 2nd place team (tied for 1st in points, lost out on 1st by the tie breaker of 4 seconds). He also had some excellent form in the Pro Kermis in Gullegem (which included riders such as Boonen, and McEwen) staying up front with the big guys for the majority of the race, and in Halle-Ingooigem (including the same big names as Gullegem) where Gregg rode strong until one of the last climbs of the day. Not bad for a rider who prefers the flat races!
The following weeks sees Gregg racing every 3 days or so, he is bound to have some good results soon!
The next few weeks also sees us spending some time with Holly's family who has made the trip over from Canada to visit family (currently they are on a cruise in the Mediterranean...lucky!!). Perhaps a little bit of birthday celebrations for Holly and catching the Tour De France as one of the stages finishes in Gent, and the following day starts in Warregem (a very short trip from our home).
We will leave you with a few pictures to make up for the lack of updates lately.
Gregg Riding strong in Gullegem.
Tom Boonen in Gullegem on the left.
Gregg and Holly in Brugge
Holly and Kim in Oostende.
Gregg climbing well in Bertem (near Leuven).
