EuroCyclingTrips.com - C.M.I. Pro Cycling Team

Put some weird bike riders, a few cycling lovers and some crazy ideas together, and you have the perfect mixture to set up a professional cycling team.
Weird bike riders are easy to find, there are no others! But maybe the most extra different ones, you find around a French town, named Toulouse. Hard to understand cause of their accent, it sounds like French, but they understand each other, so that is a bonus. Good thing is they speak English too, well kinda.
Cycling lovers you can find easely in Belgium, no doubt about that. So that is where those two Frenchies found two volunteers to be called from now on : Staff !
Ideas, 100s, 1000s or even more, no problem, but none seems to work, so we will see what comes.
And then you have those strange guys that wanna ride for the team. You can not imagine what funny reasons they find out to become member of the team.
O just one problem, money. There is hardly any money.... so far. Not important, sponsors will line up the moment the results are there. But again ..... but...... no races. Some Chinese bat or some idiot or whatever created a virus. No need to give any explanation about this subject I guess. Unless you been living under a rock or been flying in from another planet.

Now serious, we have done two races in New Zealand (The New Zealand Cycle Classic and Gravel and Tar) and three in Greece (The Tour of Rhodes, GP Rhodes and some criterium). And that was it. We had races on our program in France, Belgium, Swiss, Spain, Macedonia, Kosovo, South Africa, Indonesia, etc...
Now it is waiting for? For what? I donnu, hopefully soon we get green light for a start.
We our ready, we have kit, bikes, team cars, even post cards!

                        
 

Before I introduce the riders I have to tell you that our team is registered in Guam. "Guam?" I hear you say.
Guam is a U.S. island territory in Micronesia, in the Western Pacific. It's distinguished by tropical beaches, Chamorro villages and ancient latte-stone pillars. Guam’s WWII significance is on view at the War in the Pacific National Historical Park, whose sites include Asan Beach, a former battlefield. The island’s Spanish colonial heritage is evident in Fort Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, atop a bluff in Umatac. The capital is Hagatna and has a population of approx. 166000 people. It is about 540km²!
I have never been there, but it is on my bucket list!

these are our 16 riders:

Simeon Green, (Great Britain, 12 December 1979), alias Sim, the founder of the Continental team, lives in Albi in France. Started in several tours all over the world, Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Serbia, Greece, Morocco etc... Loves a Chimay! Hates track and criterium races. British.

Guillaume "GuiGui" Soula, (France, 29 October 1980 in Toulouse) co founder of this team. 6th on GC Tour du Faso 2009, 4th on GC Tour du Faso 2010 and of course a globetrotter just like his mate Sim. Loves a good (French) red wine.

Romain "DuDu" Guillaume Duverger, (France, 2 March 1985), can climb, can sprint, can ride GC. Placed 5th on GC and Points in Tour of Kosovo 2019. The quiet man in the team, always happy!
The man you count on (and can!). Lives in Poitiers.

Thomas "Perotte" Peyroton-Dartet, (France, 9 July 1985), this man makes an unbelievable comeback after a horror crash in the Tour de Tahiti, September 2018. Good climber and is working hard on his return. 5th place in stage 5 in Tour du Maroc 2010.

Robert Orr, (Great Britain, 1 October 1980 in Nuneaton), From 2017 till 2019 pro with Memil Cycling Team. 5th place in stage 7 Tour du Maroc 2013, 28th Omloop v/h Waasland 2015. Strong rider in stage races.

Boris Clark, (New Zealand, 28 January 1995), Probably the best rider on our team in the New Zealand races. Had to pull out the Cycle Classic, due to mechanical, in the KOM leaders jersey. Finished 10th in Gravel & Tar too. Was 8th in the New Zealand ITT championship 2016.

Matias "T" Fitzwater, (New Zealand, 29 March 1998), together with Boris our big hopes in the team, performed really well in the New Zealand opening races. Was really keen and ready for Europe, but must wait a bit longer to come over to Belgium. I know "T" since he rode with us in the New Zealand national U23 team. Finished 3th in the U23 GC Tour du Maroc 2019, 30th in GP Criquielion in Belgium.

Alexander "Smytie" Smyth (Malta, 10 December 1988) Alex is the current National Champion of Malta, but lives in Melbourne, Australia. Rode for different conti teams in the past (2011 Worldofbike.com, 2015 African Wildlife Safaris CT, 2016 State of Matter-MAAP CT, 2017 NSWIS, 2018 Drapac CT). I know Smythie since 2011, and is a regular visitor in Belgium to race the kermesses. Is a good GC rider and sprinter. Finished 3 times 6th in stages in Tour of Indonesia 2010, 5th in the Oceania Championship 2011, 3th in stage 2 Tour of Singkarak 2012, Came 13th on GC in Tour of Kosovo 2019.

Jake Klajnblat, (Australia, 22 March 1994 in Melbourne) Strong Aussie, been racing many years in Belgium as Elite rider. Finished 20th in Omloop der Vlaamse Gewesten 2012.

Nathan Bunn, (New Zealand, 30 March 1989) Hopefully he gets the chance to come to Belgium soon.

Peter Lombard, (Guam, 24 May 1976 in Mong Mong Toto Maite) one of our four Guam riders. Looking forward to meet these guys.

Gorgi Popstefanov, (Macedonia, 19 July 1987) Macedonian National Road Champion in 2010, 2016. Lives in the U.S. Represented his country at the Worlds 2014 and 2015.

Dan Aponik, (Guam, 17 May 1972) Current Guam National Road Champion.

Jonathan Martin, (Guam, 9 October 1985) represented his country 3 times at Oceania's Championship

James Mowatt, (Australia, 28 May 1990) Former Conti rider of Peter Bauwens's team in Belgium Colba-Superano 2012 and 2013, In 2015 he joined the Aussie Conti team Data3-Symantec. Finished 9th in the GP Nogent sur Oise 2012, 18th in Antwerpse Havenpijl 2013, 7th in stage 2 Herald Sun Tour 2015.

Joffrey Degueurce, (France, 24 August 1997) In fact Joffrey is a track rider, but finished 15th in the U23 ITT championship in France. Will have a go on the road with our team.

Derek Horton, (Guam, 26 September 1972) represented Guam at Oceanias in 2005.

Staff members: Lieve Drieghe (soignee) and Dirk Van Hove (DS)

Feb 2020, holiday in Australia

Torquay, Heathcote, Nagambie, Moroopna, Bright, Table Top, Wangaratta, Mansfield, Carlton North, Hepburn Springs, Dixon's Creek, Mt Evelyn, Leongatha. Great names. Most people think, where the hell is this! I can tell you they are all little towns in Victoria, Australia. One bigger then the other but all cozy, with at least one hotel (read: pub), restaurant, coffee bar, bike shop, bottle shop, an I.G.A. and a R.S.L.
So no problem to find food, drinks or spare tubes.
The main goal of the second stint in Australia was The Herald Sun Tour and the Melbourne to Warrnambool race but....

But first things first. When you stay in Torquay for the Cadel race and it is 44°Celsius, don't ride your bike! It is crazy, it is not done, it is irresponsible! Not that we did that, or actually yes we did but...
We leave the accomodation with a nice 25°C and sunny, direction Queenscliff for a 70km ride. Beautiful day, nice ride along the ocean. Arriving in Queenscliff, plenty of time, lunch and a hot-rod car show. We hang around, way too long and start our return way too late. Halfway our return ride we had a cold drink with Liam White, warning us for the heat, but too late! The temperature went up to 44°, no shelter, no wind, no nothing. We stopped at a surf club, where they had an outdoor shower. O so nice for another 10 minutes !! We finally got back with the help of Wazza! Thanks mate.

How good is it when you can meet a rider from Gent in Australia. Iljo is also the godfather of our sunday morning cycling club WTCDK, with a base in Gent, café De Karper. The worldwide famous sportsbar in Belgium run by his father Ronie Keisse! Those who travel to Flanders for the classics or Gent 6 must get a beer in this great bar.

Another spot we visit every year is the suburb of Melbourne called Essendon North. There lives a family we know since 1984 or is it 1983. The Neiwands, a family of cyclists, Ron, an ex pro married to Barb, a real cycling mama and their sons Gary (world champion and olympic medallist) and Craig (envolved with Melbourne 6 and Darebin track). It was great to catch up again with them, having a nice meal at the hotel and a few sherbets!


On our way to Heathcote, we had to stop in the middle of nowhere, cause a herd of sheep had to cross the street. The shepherd (on a motorbike) and three border collies where guiding 100s of sheep into a smaller fold. In the shed next to the pen the scissors were waiting. While the sheep crossed the road the farmer ask us where we came from. O Belgium, wanna see some sheep shearing? Drive 2km up that road, we'll meet ya at the shed mate. (good advise when you travel to Australia, do not plan a lot in advance, as before you know you spend an hour in a shed where some young male and female shearers do there jobs with loud music). Great entertainment and amazing handy people making a sheep a few kg's lighter then they walked in.

Next, the Sun Tour, always been a big favourit race for me. Since the 80's I kinda love this race. Maybe because I knew so many riders who rode it. Mc Farlane, the Hammonds, Bulldog, Delongville's, Vennie, Provis and other Vandeperre's, all names and friends. And it took untill this year to be part of what they used to call the "Fun Tour". Anyway this edition we followed with former National Road champ and former Sun Tour stage winner David Mc Farlane and his wife Maree. We booked accomodation in Bright (close to the brewery!) and stayed with friends of Macca in Nagambie. Only few km's away from the official start in Mitchelton (the winery of Gerry Ryan). The plan was to be at the start of the Warrny as well, but our complete travel scedule had to be re-organised to be on time in Avalon. Lieve and I decided to cancel this plan and keep in holiday mode for the rest of the weeks in Victoria.
We drove up to Albury and Wodonga to meet Ashley Humbert and Rhys Pollock, two former Drapac riders. A visit at the local brewery and a morning ride the next day with Ash and Rhys made it a special one. Lucky they ride also a bit slower then few years ago.

A great stop on our trip was Wangaratta. Home of Barry Burns, a Vietnam vet who was a pro rider at the age when most retire. He rode all the big races in Australia, came over to Belgium to ride kermesses, would have been member of the Italo/Australia pro team Polli-Mobiexport but a nasty crash stopped this plan. Later in the 90's I met him again at the Tour of Luxemburg as a staff member of the Giant - AIS pro team. And yes now we had a nice diner, some beers to bring up heeps of stories and memories.
Just accross our accomodation we found one of the best restaurants we dined at, "Watermarc Dining". A beautiful outdoor deck, friendly staff, great food and very nice wines.
From Wangaratta we rode to Eldorado, a 62km loop on a nice bikepath and very calm roads. A lovely sunny day out on the bike.

A place I love to bring up on our way to Beechworth, the home of Ned Kelly is a little coffee house. A young girl opened this little place on a not so busy road in a not so busy town. But man I was happy that I stopped here for a coffee. I think I could come here every morning to have my brew. Can't explain what feeling I had, but it was fantastic. The few people going in and out, friendly, talketive. Even know now the whole story of an old lady who told me she had to go home as her dog was alone, she took 10 minutes of the time of a DHL courier at the way out, and he apologised after five minutes that he really had to go. The sun was gently shining in the meantime and the coffee was perfect. And Lieve saw that it was good. The name of the coffee bar: Ineeta Cafe.

Carlton North, another catch up with lifetime friends, David & Susan Mc Kenzie, Alby Iacuone. Macca (yea, all Mc.... are Maccas) organised an unforgettable evening at the Bodriggy Brewing Company. No need to tell ya the beers I tasted were yummy, so was the food and the company. Again stories from our IteamNova period came up. David, who we usually see every year at the spring classics or at the Tour, Allan, we only see every few years.
The next day we went for a 40km ride around Melbourne with David as a perfect guide and finished it off with coffee on the Southbank. Like Susan said later: still living the dream.


Lieve and I travelled towards the Yarra Valley, staying at the Devine Escape, then continuing to the Healsville Sanctuary.
The last visit before heading home was Leongatha, since 1985 THE town (I call it the capital of Australia) were I have been staying almost every time I flew over to Aus. So must be around, pff 10 times. It is the place were I spent my first night in Australia ever. March 1985 at Brown Street. Over the years I know more streets such as Parr Street and Gray Street, lol. Who lives there?  The Mc Farlanes and the Watchorns. Leongatha is part of Gippsland, a nice and windy place to go for a ride, but it can be hot too. Had it all over the past years. They have a hotel (read: pub), a R.S.L., a milk factory, a news agency, an I.G.A. But above all this, a lot of good friends!
It was great catching up again with Terry, Yvonne, David, Maree, Jordan, Tom, Leon, Lois, Bec and Ben!

Back in Melbourne we also catched up with Jamie, brother of Shane Kelly. A rider I met in Belgium in the 80s, but had enormous bad luck few years ago. Jamie ended up in a wheelchair. Need to find a signed picture of Eddy Planckaert for him!


To finish the whole 2020 trip Down Under we had dinner at a Japanese resto with the Giramondo's and Docker's.

pff that's it for Feb, talk to you soon. Cheers!

the start of a strange year

It took me three months to get back at the keyboard and try to put some words on paper, or better on my screen. Not that nothing happened in the cycling or coffee world but I just didn't take time. First of all I had not a lot of time, or maybe too much time to do other things.
I was super excited when I arrived on New Years eve in Melbourne and got to celebrate this lovely night at the Iron Bar in Rosanna. Don't look it up on Google as you won't find it. I am not even gonna tell ya where it is. If you are lucky enough you might get an invite of the owners!
The reason I was in Australia is simple, I had to fly to New Zealand! Why? Well, we are part of a new Continental Cycling team with a license in Guam. (of all places)
A good friend (he drinks beer and coffee and wine and...) Sim had a wonderful idea to set up a cycling team and they needed a DS (me) and a soignee (Lieve). So what do you do if you like this kinda stuff, you join. Not even knowing what you really roll into. But never mind, the combination of being travelling, going to cycle races, meeting people and more of that sounded like a great idea. And so it was untill ..... some Chinese bat (or whatever) decided to put the world on a hold!

January: Melbourne, Rosanna, Grovedale, Fairhaven, Ballarat, Torquay all in Australia and Masterton and Palmerston North in New Zealand. In these places we found a bed and so much more.
First coffee shop to mention: Terror Twillight @ Collingwood




After a two days of celebrating New Year with Wazza and Karen Docker, Josie and Ago and other Italian friends we moved on to the Bay Crits series in Geelong, A VIP pass was handed out by long time friend John Trevorrow and gave us the chance to spend three lovely days in the peloton. Three days of meeting some old friends from Leongatha, but also former bikies that we used to meet in the 80's and later in Belgium such as Gary Trowell, Ollie Kent
Spark, Dave Sanders etc...
After the Crits we got this great offer of the Burt family (Patricks mum and dad) if we wanted to stay at their place in Fairhaven (Great Ocean Road), from where we could do rides with the bikes Ago Giramondo and Greg Griffiths from Ivanhoe Cycles organised for us.
If you ever been to the Great Ocean Road you know exactly what a nice area this is, and if you imagine waking up every morning with this view from your breakfast table.... mmmmm

Next stop Ballarat, for the yearly Nationals, no need to tell ya that we again had many brews with many cyclists and other bike fanatics. One evening stood out of all the others when we had a lovely meal and a great chat with Alana Foster and her parents. We know Alana since last year and she really feels like family. So I forgive her that I had to eat with chopsticks that night. The dim sim were the best I ever had tasted.
The 2020 road champs in Ballarat are always good for a big crowd, great racing and great winners, Cam Meyer, Jarred Drizzners, Amanda Spratt (of course!). Enjoyed every second again.
The evening after the pro championship we went back to Rosanna and decided to order pizza with the Dockers. Wazza and I picked em up, but in the main street of Ivanhoe we bumped in to Mark O'Brien just returning from his Nats. Time for a beer we'd say! So we walked into this bar and talked about some Belgian beer. Three bar guests picked up our conversation, came over and : You from Belgium?, euh yea, o we had some gigs on the Dutch and Belgian TV (Toppop) back in the 70's. So we ended up having a beer with the band Sherbet (they had a great hit in 76, "Howzat"- Youtube has good version).

And then it was time to fly. Off to Wellington, time to meet our new team.
The official name is : EuroCyclingTrips - C.M.I. Pro Cycling Team.
Our first UCI race of the year, The New Zealand Cycle Classic. A five day tour with some good teams at the start, Bridgelane, Kinan and Black Spoke. With Simeon Green, Guillaume Soula, Jake Klanjblat, Boris Clark and Matias "T" Fitzwater, we had five keen guys at the start. Result: yup, two day in the Polka dot jersey with Boris. But unfortunatly had to retire the race in the 4th stage due to mecanical problems.Wearing the KOM leaders jersey!
The second race, Gravel and Tar, was a brutal one, riders suffered, dust, punctures and two great winners, Hayden Mc Cormick and Niamh Fisher Black (in the ladies race). Our own Boris had an awesome 10th place in this hard race. (Nathan Bunn replaced Guillaume Soula).

Our stay in Palmerston North was made easy by Stephen Stannard, organiser of the Gravel and Tar and owner of the Espresso bar "Cyclista". A nice place with great brews, some awesome memorabilia on display and ye, heeps of bikeriders of course. In the Gravel and Tar race we had also the great support of Mathias parents. Tony in the car as mecanic and Donna with Lieve in the feed zone.

From then on it was back to Australia for a holiday time.

The first month of the year was great. Tomorrow I will bring on February! See ya.


 

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

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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