Biking in Belgium

K and I just came back from a week long trip in Brussels and will be posting some of the bike-centric pictures we took.

Suffice it to say, Belgium has a pretty big commuter bike culture. In the 3 cities we visited, I only saw a handful of mountain bikes. I didn't see a single hybrid. 99% of whips are commuters with full fender systems and chain guards (In other words - business attire friendly components).

Pics to come soon. EDIT. Pics are as follows:

I took this shot from the rear guard. We signed up for a bike tour of Brussels (we like to do bike tours of the cities we visit) and it turned out K and I were the only ones who signed up! So we got a pretty relaxed and personal tour. Our guide was pretty nice and knowledgable. And yes, the hella bright jerseys were required (no helmets were offered mind you).

The people in Brussels are pretty friendly towards bikes, but you have to be pretty aggressive in situations. And the cobblestones can be a bit problematic sometimes.

Here's a 'vanity shot' I took. If you look closely you can see the camera in my hand. I tried to snap a picture of both K and I in the reflection of a window, and this is as close as I got.

This guy is a Brussels native. Zanneke Pis. He reminded me of Bobby. K had a 'linguistically challenged' conversation with the older fella in the background there.

Just a quick shot of the Ghent train station. It's less than an hour to go from Ghent to Brussels and given the large number of bikes in this lot, I think a lot of people park and ride.

This last shot is just of a nice Honda PA 50 that I saw. It reminded me of my PA 50, who now lives on a farm with my friend Kevin.

I haven't posted a picture of Brughes' bike scene. But I'll note that while in Brughes we rented bikes on the cheap (6 euro each) and spent the day riding. We actually biked to Holland and back. While that sounds far, it's actually less than 40 clicks round trip. Maybe I'll find a good pic of that ride and post it up too.