A Cycling Dream Vacation

I wrap up my podcast episodes asking my guests three questions: what is your favorite place to ride a bike, what’s the number one place you’d like to ride that you’ve never ridden, and with whom would you like to share a bike ride. If you turn the tables back to me and looking specifically at the second question, there are a lot of “favorite places” that I have ridden a bike. I love my home roads here in Vermont. Southern New Hampshire, where I got into cycling, features flowing, silky fast roads and pulls the nostalgia strings. The Dolomites offer up some of the fondest memories of riding, training, and racing. The list goes on. However, in the spontaneity of answering the question, I don’t think “northern Europe” would land very high on the list. And with that said, I just had the dream trip there, to northern Belgium and France specifically, and I want to tell the world about it!

I raced the Spring Classics five years, from 2011 through 2015. The races were so hard, so fast, so violent, so cutthroat that it was hard not to line up just a little bit terrified on every start line. At the same time, we were racing for Peter Sagan who had about a 25% win rate, so the races provided a mixed bag of emotions. I also had my first European cycling experience in 2005 when I was part of the under-23 USA national team, based in Izegem, Belgium. Some fond memories jump to mind from that period of my life.

I had the opportunity to do an Anthony Bourdain style trip to northern Europe, where I interviewed the people that make this time and place so special to the cycling world. I got to interview Andreas Klier, a former teammate and director sportif of mine. He’s a DS for EF-Education First Easy Post as well as the Technical Director of the program. Next I visited the De Koninck Antwerp City Brewery and talk shop with their head brewmaster Dennis de Potter. I was excited to pick the brain of Alison Jackson, the winner of 2023 Paris-Roubaix. The first soigneur I ever had was 2005 with the national team and that affable soul is Chris de Vos, now with the powerhouse UAE operation. With my appetite not quite fully whetted, I got to find my favorite all-time beer, brewed by the Omer Brewery; there I visited brewer (and cyclist!) Frederik Geiregat. Lastly, a very very special run-in with Gianni Paelinck that you won’t want to miss.

This, of course, includes riding the Tour of Flanders course, ripping my way along the Paris-Roubaix parcours, and so much more. As a result, there are two videos, below!

I never would have guessed that going to northern Europe in the spring would be bring me so much joy, but it was a 10 out of 10 trip and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Thanks Chris Milliman for being a very agreeable travel companion and videographer. A huge thanks to Cannondale and LLBean for supporting the production of these videos. Pop some popcorn and please enjoy.