Field Trip #2

Nice sculpture coming in to the town of Valkenburg.

finally a race we didn't have to do any work. A riding buddy scored us four VIP tickets, for the Amstel Gold Classic. Held in Valkenberg, in the Masstrict area in the south of Holland, where most of the hills happen to be as well. All the food you could eat, (nice spread), all the Amstel you could drink, ice cream, cakes etc We ate, we drank, we ate again. As I watched some bikes go past, I dreamed of having even 10% of the men's teams racing budget to work with.


The bunch chasing, just after the Caulburg climb, 11 mins behind the four leaders


The bunch chasing, 2nd time up the Caulberg, 6.5 mins behind.

We had a spot about 100 from the finish, on a bridge, overlooking the steepest climb, with a full belly, what more could you want. And the best part of the day, was having a quick look through the town during one of the laps through the town. On the way down I spotted Eddy Merckx, racing up the hill. I looked again and it was the spitting image of Eddy, down to the period clothing, with number pinned on, no.1 of course. This guy raced past us so fast, I was so stunned I couldn't get his image out of my mind. It was like Eddy's ghost, playing with my mind, but the others in the group saw him as well. But as we were driving out of the event, we saw him again, I didn't miss the shot this time. This guy had the look so far down, even to the size and look of his legs. He was just cruising through the town right before the race was due through, looking for attention, and boy did he get it.


Eddy.


Wicked

What a day, people lining the streets for hours. Close to Belgium, many of its inhabitants were on the streets, and in the bars drinking, what a beautiful sight to see. All this just for a bike race, I love it, the crowd was just going wild when the race went through


Ohh, the cheese, I've never seen so many to choose from, I filled the biggest plate of all the best looking ones.

Link for some more photos, top right. Password: benny