Belgium

Families replaced college friends. Cars substituted bicycles. A van displaced a trailer and carried all the water. We were back in Belgium.

In 2012, I decided to spend my 40th birthday doing some things that I love. Thus the idea of cycling around Belgium to various Trappist monasteries and drinking their delicious homemade brew was born.

The Pink Elephant in the Cafe Our final day of group riding was also our shortest. From the sparsely population of Chimay

Our peloton of novice bike riders hit the pavement towards the Hainaut province town of Mariembourg on our way to Chimay, the last big day of cycling.

I left A c’t’heure dînant an hour later with a silly grin on my face and two hands transporting a cardboard box full of Westvleteren.

Day number five of our trip across southern Belgium to Rochefort would provide the ying to my yang. This would be the antithesis of the first day from Bomal to La Chouffe.

Even the best laid plans change. Bastogne did. The previous day, our first of six cycling days and on paper, the most strenuous with a bountiful number of miles of elevation gain

As quickly as we touched down in Bomal, extolling the qualities of Bressene and Orval, time and distance mandated we cycle on. Cycling Belgium preparations