Traveling to Belgium for a cross race?

Bret Wade said:

So British Air has discount fares from Denver to London in January and
my wife and I are thinking it might be fun to fly to to London, have an
Ale in a real British pub and then take a ferry across the channel to
watch a cross race in Belgium. Has anyone here done any thing like this?
Any logistical tips would be appreciated.

Bret

Yeah, don't take Pan Am on your way back. And ferry's are for [censored].
Take that badass super-train that goes through the chunnel. Show your
wife some style and buy her a diamond bracelet at Harrods. After that,
you could pretty much pick any hole on her body for the next two weeks
depending upon how many carats are in that bling.

Let me know how it turns out.

Thanks,

Magilla Gorilla for Sale

Bret Wade <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

So British Air has discount fares from Denver to London in January and
my wife and I are thinking it might be fun to fly to to London, have an
Ale in a real British pub and then take a ferry across the channel to
watch a cross race in Belgium. Has anyone here done any thing like this?
Any logistical tips would be appreciated.

Bret

Coming to Belgium from London is a piece of cake. Just take the
Eurostar under the North Sea and your in Brussels in a few hours. But
then gettin to the place where the cross is might be a bigger problem.
I don't have an idea myself how to go from Brussels to e.g
Asper-Gavere. The cross which is the nearest to Brussels is Diegem
(think it was a Superprestige Cross last year) and is normally held
somewhere in the last two weeks of the year.

Kenny

for some crosses it's handier to take the Eurostar to Lille instead of Brussels.
eg. Lille-Ghent is <1h. by train.
But for attending a cross somewhere in the country, renting a car for the day (eg. in Lille) might be handier than
relying on public transport in the weekend.
OTOH it's uncertain agencies are open on Sunday for returning the car. It's not just Europe, it's France you know.

a look at the calendar shows there not that much top action in January, with world cup legs elsewhere.
But Zonnebeke (22th) usually has a decent field and is bloody close to Lille. It allows you to visit the nearby
Kemmelberg too.

Your best choice crosswise would be Nationals on the 9th . It's in Wachtebeke, near Ghent. From Lille it can't be
much more than an hour by car.
For logistic reasons and stress avoidance a full weekend in Ghent might be your best choice though . There will be
plenty of opps for London later on...

http://www.gent.be/gent/multimedia/index.html

Bret Wade <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

So British Air has discount fares from Denver to London in January and
my wife and I are thinking it might be fun to fly to to London, have an
Ale in a real British pub and then take a ferry across the channel to
watch a cross race in Belgium. Has anyone here done any thing like this?
Any logistical tips would be appreciated.

Bret

Really pretty simple. I found Belgium to be very manageable with no
language skills (my german wife always chooses to stay "home" in Koln
and send me off on a train).

I would think if you hit the euro train websites you could manage the
whole thing without a car fairly easily, if you dont mind a little
walking.

Belgium is CHEAP, IMHO, and very low key. Not at all like Germany.
You could find a nice, homey little hotel to stay at just by
poking/asking around.

Make sure you make it worth it and hit a BIG race, like a
superprestige or a world cup. Nothing like it in cycling. Zolder
worlds were unreal. absolutley unreal. the high point of my cycling
related _career_

epic. DO IT, you will not regret it.

Just my 2 cents.

J

BTW - I did Monopoli worlds with a buddy with just a train ticket, a
backpack, and a tent! Oh, and a back pack FULL of those little booze
shooter things that are so popular in europe.

Bret Wade said:

So British Air has discount fares from Denver to London in January and
my wife and I are thinking it might be fun to fly to to London, have an
Ale in a real British pub and then take a ferry across the channel to
watch a cross race in Belgium. Has anyone here done any thing like this?
Any logistical tips would be appreciated.

Have a look at :
http://www.cyclo-cross.com
And ask for advice on the forum there.There are a number of people here in
the English Midlands who do go over for a weekend, usually getting in 2
races, one on Saturday afternoon, and one on Sunday.
How old are you?
If over 30, then you are eligible to enter the 'World Masters' event,
which is held around 15 miles east of Antwerp toward the end of January.
Some of my Club members do it every year.There is plenty of cheap
accomodation in the area for the weekend, and there is usually another
race to enter on the Sunday on the way back to the ferry.
Be warned though - the Belgians are bloody good, no matter how old they
are!
Alan.

--
To reply by e-mail, change the ' + ' to 'plus'.
http://www.dvatc.co.uk - Off-road cycling in the North Midlands.

MagillaGorilla <[email hidden]> wrote in message
Show your

Quoted message said:

wife some style and buy her a diamond bracelet at Harrods. After that,
you could pretty much pick any hole on her body for the next two weeks
depending upon how many carats are in that bling.

Magilla,

Is this a lesson your daddy taught you?

RVD

Quoted message said:

Bret Wade said:

So British Air has discount fares from Denver to London in January and
my wife and I are thinking it might be fun to fly to to London, have an
Ale in a real British pub and then take a ferry across the channel to
watch a cross race in Belgium. Has anyone here done any thing like this?
Any logistical tips would be appreciated.

Take the fast train or the super-cheap flights from London to where-ever in
the Continent. British pubs are okay, but full of smoke. Good Indian food
around though. Might be better to fly to Antwerp, Paris or Amsterdam and do
a day trip over to to the London area or maybe a nicer part of England..

-WG

Is your wife for sale? Can she be cloned?

"Bret Wade" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

So British Air has discount fares from Denver to London in January and
my wife and I are thinking it might be fun to fly to to London, have an
Ale in a real British pub and then take a ferry across the channel to
watch a cross race in Belgium. Has anyone here done any thing like this?
Any logistical tips would be appreciated.

Bret

"Warren" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Bret Wade said:

So British Air has discount fares from Denver to London in January and
my wife and I are thinking it might be fun to fly to to London, have an
Ale in a real British pub and then take a ferry across the channel to
watch a cross race in Belgium. Has anyone here done any thing like
this?
Any logistical tips would be appreciated.

Take the fast train or the super-cheap flights from London to where-ever
in
the Continent. British pubs are okay, but full of smoke. Good Indian food
around though. Might be better to fly to Antwerp, Paris or Amsterdam and
do
a day trip over to to the London area or maybe a nicer part of England..

The "nicer parts of England" are in Scotland.

Van Hoorebeeck Bart said:

for some crosses it's handier to take the Eurostar to Lille instead of Brussels.
eg. Lille-Ghent is <1h. by train.
But for attending a cross somewhere in the country, renting a car for the day (eg. in Lille) might be handier than
relying on public transport in the weekend.
OTOH it's uncertain agencies are open on Sunday for returning the car. It's not just Europe, it's France you know.

a look at the calendar shows there not that much top action in January, with world cup legs elsewhere.
But Zonnebeke (22th) usually has a decent field and is bloody close to Lille. It allows you to visit the nearby
Kemmelberg too.

Your best choice crosswise would be Nationals on the 9th . It's in Wachtebeke, near Ghent. From Lille it can't be
much more than an hour by car.
For logistic reasons and stress avoidance a full weekend in Ghent might be your best choice though . There will be
plenty of opps for London later on...

http://www.gent.be/gent/multimedia/index.html

Thanks for this great information Bart. Nationals would almost be like
attending Worlds, right?

Bret

Kenny said:

Bret Wade <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

So British Air has discount fares from Denver to London in January and
my wife and I are thinking it might be fun to fly to to London, have an
Ale in a real British pub and then take a ferry across the channel to
watch a cross race in Belgium. Has anyone here done any thing like this?
Any logistical tips would be appreciated.

Bret

Coming to Belgium from London is a piece of cake. Just take the
Eurostar under the North Sea and your in Brussels in a few hours. But
then gettin to the place where the cross is might be a bigger problem.
I don't have an idea myself how to go from Brussels to e.g
Asper-Gavere. The cross which is the nearest to Brussels is Diegem
(think it was a Superprestige Cross last year) and is normally held
somewhere in the last two weeks of the year.

Kenny

Thanks for the tips Kenny. I should have mentioned that the reason we're
thinking about taking a ferry would be to see more and it's not entirely
about efficiency. If the ferry isn't practical, then we'll take the
train or fly.

Bret

A.Lee said:

Bret Wade said:

So British Air has discount fares from Denver to London in January and
my wife and I are thinking it might be fun to fly to to London, have an
Ale in a real British pub and then take a ferry across the channel to
watch a cross race in Belgium. Has anyone here done any thing like this?
Any logistical tips would be appreciated.

Have a look at :
http://www.cyclo-cross.com
And ask for advice on the forum there.There are a number of people here in
the English Midlands who do go over for a weekend, usually getting in 2
races, one on Saturday afternoon, and one on Sunday.
How old are you?
If over 30, then you are eligible to enter the 'World Masters' event,
which is held around 15 miles east of Antwerp toward the end of January.
Some of my Club members do it every year.There is plenty of cheap
accomodation in the area for the weekend, and there is usually another
race to enter on the Sunday on the way back to the ferry.
Be warned though - the Belgians are bloody good, no matter how old they
are!
Alan.

Thanks for the pointer to the UK cross board Alan. That could be really
useful. I hadn't thought about racing myself but that could be fun. I
have thirty stiches in my leg from a cross race mishap last week, but I
should be healthy again by January. :-)

Bret

Warren said:

Quoted message said:

Bret Wade said:

So British Air has discount fares from Denver to London in January and
my wife and I are thinking it might be fun to fly to to London, have an
Ale in a real British pub and then take a ferry across the channel to
watch a cross race in Belgium. Has anyone here done any thing like this?
Any logistical tips would be appreciated.

Take the fast train or the super-cheap flights from London to where-ever in
the Continent. British pubs are okay, but full of smoke. Good Indian food
around though. Might be better to fly to Antwerp, Paris or Amsterdam and do
a day trip over to to the London area or maybe a nicer part of England..

-WG

Unless Air France or Lufthansa have similar price breaks, we're going to
have to go with London. British Air has a direct flight from Denver to
London that we've used before and have liked the service. They've also
never lost our bikes, whereas I've heard some horror stories about
Paris. One guy had his bike box blown up when they suspected it was a bomb.

The pub visit isn't that necessary. The main point of the trip would be
the cross race and the adventure getting there.

Thanks,
Bret

Philip W. Moore said:

Is your wife for sale? Can she be cloned?

The trip was even her idea in the first place.

Bret

I flew British Air once to London. Their 747s were worse than cramped in
coach, read unbearable for 7 hours. The return on a 767 was much better.
Very good service though.

The band Nazareth was in coach with us, one dude reeked of booze. Guess
they are slumming it now.
"Bret Wade" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Warren said:

Quoted message said:

Bret Wade wrote:

>So British Air has discount fares from Denver to London in January and
>my wife and I are thinking it might be fun to fly to to London, have an
>Ale in a real British pub and then take a ferry across the channel to
>watch a cross race in Belgium. Has anyone here done any thing like

this?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

>Any logistical tips would be appreciated.

Take the fast train or the super-cheap flights from London to

where-ever in

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

the Continent. British pubs are okay, but full of smoke. Good Indian

food

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

around though. Might be better to fly to Antwerp, Paris or Amsterdam and

do

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

a day trip over to to the London area or maybe a nicer part of England..

-WG

Unless Air France or Lufthansa have similar price breaks, we're going to
have to go with London. British Air has a direct flight from Denver to
London that we've used before and have liked the service. They've also
never lost our bikes, whereas I've heard some horror stories about
Paris. One guy had his bike box blown up when they suspected it was a

bomb.

Quoted message said:

The pub visit isn't that necessary. The main point of the trip would be
the cross race and the adventure getting there.

Thanks,
Bret

"Warren" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Bret Wade said:

So British Air has discount fares from Denver to London in January and
my wife and I are thinking it might be fun to fly to to London, have

an

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Ale in a real British pub and then take a ferry across the channel to
watch a cross race in Belgium. Has anyone here done any thing like

this?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Any logistical tips would be appreciated.

Take the fast train or the super-cheap flights from London to where-ever

in

Quoted message said:

the Continent. British pubs are okay, but full of smoke. Good Indian food
around though. Might be better to fly to Antwerp, Paris or Amsterdam and

do

Quoted message said:

a day trip over to to the London area or maybe a nicer part of England..

-WG

Like trying to find the clean part of a dirty [censored]...

I love this guy. Great, to the point writing...

"MagillaGorilla" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Bret Wade said:

So British Air has discount fares from Denver to London in January and
my wife and I are thinking it might be fun to fly to to London, have an
Ale in a real British pub and then take a ferry across the channel to
watch a cross race in Belgium. Has anyone here done any thing like this?
Any logistical tips would be appreciated.

Bret

Yeah, don't take Pan Am on your way back. And ferry's are for [censored].
Take that badass super-train that goes through the chunnel. Show your
wife some style and buy her a diamond bracelet at Harrods. After that,
you could pretty much pick any hole on her body for the next two weeks
depending upon how many carats are in that bling.

Let me know how it turns out.

Thanks,

Magilla Gorilla for Sale

You have a cool wife. Now die so I can take her DNA and splice it with some
stem cells to inject into my wife. Oh wait, Bush is president, so we can't
use science to improve the female kind.

"Bret Wade" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Philip W. Moore said:

Is your wife for sale? Can she be cloned?

The trip was even her idea in the first place.

Bret