Sunday 8 December 2019

Saturday and Sunday coffee.

 FLEUR DE LEE

About two weeks ago Lieve received in her mailbox an invite for a free coffee at Fleur de Lee. A birthday present of the business in the centre of the city. Think this is a great way to attrack people to your place. So on Saturday Lieve, my brother and meself made an appointment in town and visited this little cozy coffee bar annex hairdresser!
The sun was still shining on this last Saturday of November. Not warm of course but not cold eather and when we arrived at the bar the terrace was chockablock. But of course their terrace was heated.
Let's try inside, not easy eather, we needed a shoehorn to get past the counter and the two little tables on the right. One of the girls, told us to try downstairs.
A nice, cozy, little cellar with few tables and chairs. Altough the temperature could have been a few degrees higher.

Anyway, the mail was not a tourist trap as Lieve got her macchiato for free and the latté and cappuccino was delicious.
Fleur de Lee, bit of a special name but on their website you can find out where the name comes from.



Two girls decided to work together.
Anne FLEUR is a dutch girl who loves Gent, and is the hairdresser who studied at the famous "Mieke Petiet" make-up school in Amsterdam. She run the place on the first floor, where women and men can get a haircut.
Jamie LEE, is the barista who had her training at the other great coffee bar, "Or Coffee", of which brand see uses the beans in her "La Marzocco" coffee machine.
So, haircut on the first, down two floors for a coffee and why not an apero or snack on the heated terrace!


FLEUR DE LEE - Kalandeberg 2 - 9000 Gent / www.fleurdelee.be
Open from Tue till Fri, 10am - 6pm and on Sat, 10am - 5pm

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ROKKEBOLLE

Sunday morning, eleven o'clock. Not the best time to find a parking spot around the main square in the suburb of Gent, Ledeberg. It is market day and on top everybody seems to be out to buy a Christmas tree.
We don't give up easely when I am looking for coffee and today we will try Rokkebolle.
The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the music, David Bowie, later on a bit of Jazzy style tunes. My kinda music for sure.
We found two little comfy seats on the side of the wall with a little table. great! Most other places were occupied. The people were friendly from the first step till we went. (Sometimes owners forget to say goodbye or thanks, as soon as you payed), here it was correct.

The ordered two coffees, a doppio macchiato and a cappuccino,  both with a shot of salted caramel. This was a little try out for both of us. And I can say that the taste suited us.
Being not really just a coffee shop, food, wine, beers etc... all available,  it was relaxed sitting.
I can imagine lots of people have a stop after their market shopping.

ROKKEBOLLE - Hoveniersstraat 37 - 9050 Ledeberg / www.rokkebolle.be
Funny opening times: Tue, 6pm-11.45pm - Wed, Thu, Fri, 2pm - 11.45pm - Sat, 10am - 11.45pm
                                      Sun, 10am - 6pm and closed on Monday

                        

Thursday 28 November 2019

FAEMA and KOFFEINE bar


Coffee and bikes. Two wonderful things that go together very well. Is it a fashion fad or is it a tradition? If it was only a trendy thing it would have been gone by now, I suppose. But when you stroll in the city of Gent, (or any other town in Europe) you can’t ignore the amount of new coffee bars and thousends of bicycles in the streets. And still more bike shops and coffee cafés or combination of the two open their doors. No wonder so many coffee related brands use cycling as billboard. Few months ago I listed on this blog some of the biggest sponsors in that line of business. Coffee bars open their doors with annex a place where you can clean or even repair your bike. Some sell cycling equipment or clothing! The bar I talk about below uses one of the famous coffee machines that sponsored two of our Belgian number one cycling icons!

KOFFEINE



Two weeks ago I enjoyed a brew in  the “Wander” coffee bar, after the Ghent 6 days track cycling race,  and saw opposite the road another place. But it was closed. I went back this week and found the door open! Koffeine is the name of the small bar. The first impression was an untidy set-up.  After all this is only because the place is very small and you have to put your things somewhere. Yes you can see some empty beer crates in a corner. The solution for the small room is that they build a handy mezzanine. But no matter how the place looks like, we always try the hot drinks. A friendly guy (Zoran, with Macedonian background (Skopje)) took our orders and the brews were perfect, rich taste and right temperature. A perfect cappuccino and a strong espresso macchiato. For the hungry (breakfast, lunch) there is not a big variation, this could be better. The conclusion, a good place to escape from the tourists with great brews, but maybe a varied food menu would be an extra. I will certainly visit again soon however it is hard to find the opening hours on social media.


KOFFEINE – Lange Kruisstraat 6 –
9000 Gent 

http://hipsteadresjes.gent/nieuw/koffeine/


FAEMA, stands for Fabbrica Apparecchiature Elettromeccaniche e Affini, founded by Carlo Ernesto Valente, Milano. It doesn't surprise anybody this is 100% Italian.
Since 1945 one of the best coffee machines on the market.
But also since 1955 Faema has a long history of sponsoring professional cycling teams, acted as main or co-sponsor.
When I was talking above about two Belgian cycling icons I meant not only Eddy Merckx, but also Rik Van Looy. Both riders rode many years in the red/white colors, Rik, 7 years and Eddy, 3 years.

Faema was main sponsor in:
1955 FAEMA - GUERRA (with Koblet, Poblet and ...)
1956 FAEMA - GUERRA - VAN HAUWAERT (with Van Looy, Bahamontes, Gaul, Schotte and...)
1957 FAEMA - GUERRA - GRANOLLERS (with Van Looy, Gaul, Koblet and....)
1958 FAEMA - GUERRA - CLEMENT (with Van Looy, Bahamontes, Gaul and....)
1959 FAEMA - GUERRA (with Van Looy, Impanis, Sorgeloos and....)
1960 FAEMA (with Van Looy, Bahamontes, Impanis, Sorgeloos and....)
1961 FAEMA (with Van Looy, Gomez Del Moral, Impanis, Post and.....)
1962 FAEMA (with Gomez Del Moral, Jimenez and.....)
1963 FAEMA - FLANDRIA (with Foré, Gomez Del Moral, Jimenez, Planckaert, Stevens and....)
1964 FAEMA (only two Spanish riders had Faema as private sponsor)
1968 FAEMA (with Merckx, Adorni, Reybrouck, Sercu, Swerts and .....)
1969 FAEMA (with Merckx, Reybrouck, Sercu, Stevens, Swerts and....)
1970 FAEMINO - FAEMA (with Merckx, Huysmans, Stevens, Swerts, Zilioli and....)

they also were co sponsor in following teams
1961 EMI - FAEMA (only in Giro d'Italia)
1962 FLANDRIA - FAEMA - CLEMENT (with Van Looy, Foré, Planckaert, Post, Stevens and ...)
1978 BIANCHI - FAEMA (with Gimondi, De Muynck, Van Linden and....)
1979 BIANCHI - FAEMA (with Gimondi, De Muynck, Van Linden and....)











                                                                    
















Tuesday 19 November 2019

WANDER Coffee Bar

Ghent 6 day cycling festival is done and dusted, time for some quality time. And quality time means for Lieve and meself, a nice coffee in a relaxed atmosphere.
And being a week at the Gent track with a whole bunch of bike riders aka coffee lovers, I got a hint of a Danish rider.
He told me, when you walk out of the big church into a street on the left there is a great coffee bar with lots of light! Asking what the name of the street or bar was, was asking a little too much.

So Monday we had our good friend from Australia, Craig Neiwand, as a guest. As usual we show our foreign friends around in our lovely home town.
So I dragged Craig around 2.30pm to the St Baafs Cathedral (cause the Dane said, a big church) and 20 minutes later we walked out, in to the street on the left. Let there be two coffee shops! But..... One jumped out because of the clear lights, and the other one was closed, haha.


First thing that took my attention, walking through the door was the awesome drawing on the wall, a nice work of art on the white wall. Together with the white/black/grey/chrome colour combination it creates a youthful appearance. Must say that also being welcomed by the staff as soon as you open the door is for me a bonus.

This said we still had to try the brew. The coffee machine, a Nuova Simonelli promised good things!
Lieve ordered a  "house" coffee, Santa Colomba (Brazil) espresso macchiato and I went for the "guest" Kochere Boji (Ethiopean, from the Yirgacheffe region).
Craig's a Latté lover.
Both the "house" and "guest" coffee were delicious. Served with a glass of water.






Definitely I will come back to this place, as I rate it the same as my other favourite "Take Five".
Great drinks, excellent service and friendly boss and staff.

The place is not only open for coffees, but also serves breakfast/brunch/lunch. Can't wait till next spring to enjoy the first sunshine on their terrace. Maybe with one of the nice cakes I've seen. But won't probably wait that long, cakes are nice in wintertime too!
Thanks for the hint, Arne!

WANDER COFFEE BAR - Lange Kruisstraat 7 - 9000 Gent
open daily, 8.30am till 6pm - www.wandercoffee.be









Thursday 14 November 2019

CMI / John SIOTAS

It has been a great summer, with a successfull campaign at the Junior Track Worlds, with gold and silver medals for our New Zealand team in Frankfurt an der Oder. And great Tours with CMI to Belarus and Kosovo, Meeting some great girls in Czech Feminin Tour with Mike Greer Homes Cycling Team.
Was also lucky enough to be part of the last road campaign of Drapac Development Team.
The red/white team of Michael Drapac and Agostino Giramondo will no longer be seen in 2020.
At the moment we work at the Gent 6day race with U23 team Michael Steyaert and Siebe Deweirdt.


And the future looks bright too for next season, as per first of January 2020 I will be Sport Director of the new Euro Cycling Trips - C.M.I. Pro Cycling Team. This continental team has a Guam licence, which is an island in Micronesia. Lieve, will be soignee/assistent DS too.
Our riders will be, Simeon Green, Robert Orr (GBR), Guillaume Duverger, Thomas Peyroton, Guillaume Soula (FRA), Matias Fitzwater (NZL), James Mowatt (AUS), Gorgi Popstefanov (MKD),
Lars Pria (ROU), Derek Horton, Peter Lombard, Jonathan Martin, Dan Aponik (GUM).
Bring on the new season.




Coffee and bikes, well next week we go back on the road for new coffee shops in Gent. But in the meantime I have the intension to talk about some (former) pro cyclist that came across my path over the years. And as you probably already know is that I rolled in to cycling thanks to my good friend Gary Wiggins (1952-2008). But the very first pro rider that actually stayed at my place was the Australian John Siotas.

JOHN SIOTAS
John was born in Athens, Greece 12 October 1957, 

1981 individual
1982 individual
1983 Ramon Cycles - Nissan
1984 Ramon Cycles
1985 Rare Spares
1986 Rare Spares - Mobil
1987 Rare Spares - Mobil and Gold Seal
1988 Gold Seal
1989 individual
1990 individual
1991 Cicli Monti

A morning in March 1985, my mother rang Johan De Moor's phone, as I lived on the same block of land as Johan, to tell me that an Australian guy arrived at Gent railway station and was waiting there for me. Who? donnu, why? donnu. Ok will have a look. I jumped in my car and found a guy with a bike in the station. Must be him. 
Hi my name is John Siotas and I got your number of Gary Wiggins. O I see!

Ye I come here to race and Gary told me I could stay with you. Ah well suppose that will be the deal then. So he stayed few months to ride "kermesses".
On one of the kermesses, people tought sometimes that I had Claude Criquielion in my car. And yes he looked a bit like Claudy.
Another day Gary and I tought, we should take him out for dinner to a Greek restaurant, we tought this would be something special after being born in Greece. So we did take him to a famous Greek place in town. And after the meal we asked him if he liked it. His answer: I eat this food everyday from mums kitchen in Australia. Bugger!
He never won any race of importance. He returned one more time to Belgium to ride again, some "kermesses" in 1991.

 
pictures,
1) Gent 6 with Michael and Siebe
2) Simeon Green
3) John Siotas (1985 at Voordries in Gentbrugge)
4) John Siotas (postcard Jos Van Hamel)






Wednesday 31 July 2019

TOUR OF KOSOVO with EQUIPE C.M.I.

Equipe C.M.I., a team full of surprises. Working with these guys is always an adventure. First of all the races they pick, this time Kosovo, independant since 2010. Second surprise is how to get there.
Eather you pay an arm and a leg and fly direct to Pristina and arrive in the middle of the night. Or you pay only one arm or one leg and fly via Frankfurt, Ljubljana or Dusseldorf and still arrive in the middle of the night and missing your bike. Any way you pay more or less €400 to find out that the food is s**t. But the coffee was good!

The racing himself is another case. Every day you race on the motorway.

Up and down. They block all traffic on the motorway while the race is on. You can imagine that cyclist are very loved by car drivers in this country.
The police puts you and your family, in your car, on the side for an hour. All this in a temperature of around 35°C.
But ok we had a good time, no stress no rush as all teams stay more or less in the same hotel and you have every day a convoi to start with the help of the police.
Stage one from Lebane to Qafa e Dules, in fact 142km with one right turn. Probably the only stage that started on time. (only 12 minutes behind official start)

Nothing really went wrong, boys coming back for drinks every ten minutes. So Lieve had a lot of work in the car refilling bottles. No puctures at all. Lilian in the break for a while, but it came all together for the last climb. With Dudu finishing 6th on 16" and Smytey 11th on 19" we were in the top of the race.
Stage two started at the Albanian border (Morine) and finished in Macedonia (also on the border). Again a motorway race of 144km. This time the peloton sprinted for first place and Smytey got himself a 6th and Dudu in the bunch at 24th. All in the same time of the winner.
Third stage (159 or was it 152km?) went actually the other way around from the Macedonian border to the Albanian border. Well that is what we tought. Luckely the Dutch commissaire Edwin Cruijssen was on the ball and saw the mistake in the race book. Race finished 7km earlier. So with 25km to go he announced that we were only 18km from the finish line. Never mind, no problem for Dudu who finished 5th after a long uphill sprint.
After the race it was waiting a long time for the ceremony, even tough hundreds of cars were blocked on the Albanian border. After the long (read: too long) ceremony all the riders in the bus to Prizren where we had our dinner (or was it lunch) then back in the bus to the hotel. O and our car and the one of the Dutch team and a bus with 15 riders in it had the special treatment from the police. We have been escorted by two police cars (one in front and one behind) with wailing siren for 85km to the hotel.
Once again, people in Kosovo will love cycling!!!
Our team 
Guillaume "Dudu"Duverger : 6th / 24th / 5th / GC 5th on 49" / Points 5th
Alex Smyth : 11th / 6th / 24th / GC 13th on 52"
Lilian Sanvincente : 44th / 40th / 44th / GC 43th on 17'13"
Guillaume Soula : 45th / 45th / 46th / GC 45th on 20'49"
Simeon "Sim"Green : 46th / 44th / 47th / GC 46th on 20'49"
Lieve Drieghe : soigneur and mecanic (only one wheel change)
Dirk : DS

from left to right : Sim, Alex (Maltese road champion) Guigui, Dudu, Lilian.

I was a happy DS with a five mens team. We lost two riders on the way to Kosovo, Thomas Peyroton Dartet and Stevan Kervadec, who broke his foot in the Zurich airport.
With two guys on GC and three great helpers/workers I can say we did a great Tour of Kosovo!

O, one more thing: all three stages and GC were won by Charalampos Kastrantas (Greece).


Saturday 20 July 2019

Czech Cycle race, coffee, potatoes and soup



It was sunny when Lieve and I arrived at Sittard to pick up our 6 team members form the Mike Greer Homes Womens Cycling Team. Only one girl I met before, Niamh, last year at worlds in Innsbruck. The other ones, Alana, Connie, Emma, Libby and Alecia were new to us.
The next day we left Watersley Sportpark with our teamcar and a van driven by Matias. Off to Czech. We arrived in Krasna Lipa late in the afternoon, but still time for a short spinning.
The” Tour de Feminin” had four days of racing in a beautiful hilly area, decorated with forest, fields and small villages. Four stages in line plus a TT. All in Bohemian Switzerland in and around Krasna Lipa.

That is what has been offered to our four New Zealand girls and
one Australian. All this would have been perfect if the rain didn’t come down buckets full, thunderstorms, flooded roads. That made it very dangerous for crashes and the chance for punctures increased. The girls battled through some unlucky crashes, mechanicals and truly horrendous weather to come away with sprint and QOM points, some great finishes and demonstrated incredible grinta in this conditions.
In stage one Libby came down getting around a roundabout but still finished the race. Altough two minutes before the start of stage two I made the dicision to withdraw her from the race. I did not want to take a risk of another crash with her already injured knee. There is no doubt about that our best climber was Niamh staying with the best in every stage resulting in a awesome spot on GC and KOM. Connie finished almost every day in the main bunch and finished well on GC, while Alana and Emma lost some time due mechanicals and also lack of experience. So they learned a lot in this four days.
And all this on a diet of potatoes and soup in a “half star” hotel. I don’t complain about the rooms but it was all very basic. The beds not more then a plank and a foam. In the shower you had to run around to get wet, a little brownish kindy water came out of the sprinkler. No new towels for 5 days and like I said, apart from the breaky the lunch and diner was poor. But that was the same for all teams. And it was even worse when the mecanics, soignees and yes the DS’s too wanted to sit down for a cold Pivo, the bar shut at 9PM.
But ….. the coffee shops were great. Lieve and I and “coffee runner” Alicia found a few ones with high quality coffee and cakes.

KAVARNA U TADEASE what I guess means coffee bar.
In Chribska Lieve and I went to the main square and found our first surprise. Hard to believe but a cappuccino, a espresso macchiato and two delicious cakes for 99CZK = €4.

Same happend in the oldest house of Krasna Lipa where we had nice coffees while waiting for the take away ones for the rest of the staff.
Alicia found super brew for the staff in Rumburk and Varnsdorf.

Was the food a minor point, the racing and the coffee was superb!
Directly after the finish of the last stage we drove 250km to a small village in former “East” Germany where everybody enjoyed a well deserved hamburger in an awesome American Bar. On the tunes of YMCA we all finished a great journey. After a good sleep we dropped off some riders at Dusseldorf airport and drove back to Sittard. From then on it was in relax mode on the square of Sittard for a feed and a beer with Matias, Alicia, Ritchie, Lieve and meself
The next morning we had a lovely brunch (thanks Alicia!) and drove back to Gent.


·         Niamh FISHER-BLACK – NZL                      
·         Connie O’BRIEN - NZL
·         Emma SMITH - NZL
·         Libby ARBUCKLE - NZL
·         Alana FORSTER - AUS
·         Matias FITZWATER – NZL – mecanic
·         Lieve DRIEGHE – BEL – soignee
·         Alicia EVANS – NZL – soignee
·         Me – BEL – DS

Results
Stage 1 – 25/Niamh 36/Connie 84/Alana 118/Emma 145/Libby
Stage 2 – 29/Niamh 47/Connie 92/Emma 126/Alana DNS/Libby
Stage 3 – 39/Niamh 70/Connie 77/Emma 92/Alana
Stage 4 – 14/Niamh 22/Connie 88/Alana 118/Emma
Stage 5 – 20/Niamh 63/Connie 68/Alana 92/Emma
GC – 26/Niamh 44/Connie 92/Alana 103/Emma
KOM – 5/Niamh
Teams – 12/Mike Greer Homes Womens Cycling Team (27 teams in the race)