I must say that our day following Paris-Roubaix was super exciting. We started off the day at the famous Arenberg Forest, where the party was already in full swing. We first filled our tummies with a croque monsieur and some rice tart before wandering down the hellish pave section of the Arenberg Forest.
We found a spot to sit on the side of forest, enjoyed the atmosphere, and waited with anticipation. It was not long before all the press bikes came through, and the car announcing that the race would be arriving in 7 minutes. Several more cars sped through, some bottoming out over the cobbles (incredible!) you could really feel the vibration of the cars along the road almost mirroring the excitement of the crowd as they sensed the race getting closer. Eventually the leading group of 3 riders made their way past us, just under 3 minutes ahead of the chasing peloton. The whole experience was so exciting, but we could not sit and take it all in after the race passed. 
We made our way back to the car and headed out to the next section, however as we started driving we changed our plans slightly. We decided to just park the car on the side of the highway and hop down the hill to a different section of pave as so many others had already done. This time we waited no more than 5 minutes for the race to pass, and my what a difference the race had seen up to this point. The peloton had been shattered into much smaller groups. Finally we hoped back into the car and off the the final destination for the day....the Roubaix Velodrome!! We got to the velodrome, found a spot, and watched the rest of the race unfold on the big screen. By the time we got to the velodrome the race situation was this....Cancellara, Ballan, and Boonen. Guess who I was cheering for???The most amazing experience for me was watching them ride over the road that we had just walked to get to the velodrome on the big screen, and then finally reach the entrance to the velodrome. They all entered together, which meant one thing Tommeke was going to take it....and he did with pure class! What an amazing race!
A few days later, we had some visitors from Texas. Gregg's old team mate Doug Berry, his wife Brandi, and team mate Mike Canfield. We spent a few days showing them around Gent and Brugge, and the Amstel Gold race in the Netherlands (which turned out to be such a fabulous day) and such a different race experience from the two before. For the Amstel Gold race we checked out the start, one section along the route, and saw the race on the Coburg twice. A few days later we met back up with them in Paris, along with another old team mate Dave and his wife Tracia. We spent the first day strolling along the Champs Elysees and catching up, and had a great dinner just around the corner from our hotel in the Opera district. The following day the others headed over to Versailles (which we absolutely love, but opted out since we had been fairly recently) instead Gregg and I rented bikes and explored the city that way. We went all over the place (definitely avoided the Arch de Triumph though) and had such a fabulous time, I definitely recommend seeing the city by bike!
After our grand biking adventure we met back up with everyone for something to drink, before saying goodbye and catching our train back to Lille. The one thing that they have all taught me....'presheate ya'll!!!
Since then everything has been pretty calm. We once again have a full house with an Australian cyclist Grant and his girlfriend Di staying with us, they are such great company to have around. I can really see Grant having a great season here in Belgium, he's come over with a great mind set, and ready to race.
Thats it for now...
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