Markets and Stormdodging

The closest thing to the Calgary Stampede Liedekerke will ever see...

I thought it was about time to post on a unique feature of many European villages to which Liedekerke is no exception, market day. Here in Liedekerke market day is Saturday with vendors and entertainers taking over a couple of streets and the square to display their wares and contribute to a very pleasant morning atmosphere. From about 8 until 1 you can get everything from bras to cabbage from some sort of truck, trailer or tent...The three T`s of the market merchant. The pics are from a few weeks ago, as you can see by the beautiful weather, which hasnt been around for a while in these parts. That particular Saturday I even got to witness the local squaredance club perform creating an unpassable barrier of honky tonk and denim in the narrow street.

Now for the other part of todays title.

Today I had two hours of training to do, my standard pre race ride as tomorrow brings another race, this time in the hilly region surrounding Brakel. As you all know the weather has been shifty as of late and today was no exception. I set out and determined my route for the day based on the placement of the clouds above, wind direction and the fact I wanted to avoid the longer climbs in the area. I call this practice storm dodging. It is possible to do at home to some extent and we have all done it, go the direction of sunshine and avoid clouds and rain, but here it is taken to a whole new level like so many other things cycling related. First off the fact that Flanders is an endless maze of roads makes rapid changing of the route and direction easy, also the wind here never stays consistant from one direction making cloud movement very unpredictable. It is essential to always monitor the sky and today I changed direction countless times, even doubling back on myself and going around pockets of rain. I managed 1 hour and 45 minutes without riding in any true rain, just constant wet roads as I road into areas the storm had just left. The last 15 minutes I was forced to head directly into a shower due to a miscalculation of cloud speed and direction and as I head to get home. It was a true application of highschool vector analysis made all the more real by the constant threat of ice cold rain as a motivator for perfection.