June 27: I got a little overly ambitious and decided to make it the Netherlands border and back. This ended up being a 150+ mile ride that included some night riding. Luckily, the Dutch part of Belgium (Vlanderlen) has bike paths everywhere. I did make it up the the border and rode through a small part of Niederland. The bike "roads" are the best - it was if I had gone to bicycling heaven. The ride took me through the towns of Leiven and Geel. In the town of Veerle, a few Belgians asked me if I needed directions when I was looking at my map. After telling them I was an American, they insisted on buying me a beer. I learned how to order a beer in Flemish - "pinche" is a 25ml glass of beer; and a "fleche" is a 15ml glass of beer. One of the fellows was supposed to be "fishing" and was in no rush to get home to the missus, so I really had to talk my way out of the pub or I would have been there all night. Four [strong Belgian] beers later, I got on my bike and wobbled up into the Netherlands. Of course it started to rain and I had no jacket and it got dark and my batteries died on my light and there was nothing open to get something to eat, but I persevered and finally made it back to Waterloo.

June 24: Rode over to Rixelles in search of a castle. Didn't look to hard so I didn't find it. Rode over to Nivelles. I found some farm roads with good stretches of cobblestones. The best place to ride on them is right down the center of the road to minimize the shaking.

June 21: I have the good fortune of being in Eddy Merckx country for the next several weeks (Belgium). I am staying where Napolean was defeated - Waterloo. I took a short ride around the town and through Braine D'Alleud. There are plenty of nice bike lanes by the roads - over half the roads I rode on had them. Everyone was quite courteous as well, giving me plenty of space. Rode on some cobbles for a short stretch and really shaked my bones up.

June 13: 400K Boston Brevet Ride. Longish report on this rainy ride. See how I did. Also, check out this article on the ride.

June 7: Rode the Bike-Boat-Bike ride out on the Northern Fork of Long Island. This is a nice ride. My dad and I did this at a very quick pace - we finished the whole thing, including ferries and stops, in seven hours. Rode the Bianchi.

June 6: I did some biking on LI. Down into Bellport first for a stop at the Kreb Cycle, over to the nothingness that is Manorville, up to Ridge, down into Yaphank. Everything is so flat out here. Saw a couple of groups of firefighers fighting some brush fires. Tried out some GU - very good stuff. Riding on the old Bianchi.

June 5: Rode down to the Bridgeport Ferry for a ride over to Port Jefferson on the boat.

June 2: Went on the 'Tuesday Night Spin' organized by the Sound Cyclists. There were quite a few people out for this after work ride. I wound up with the first bunch and we went through Greens Farms and Westport at a pretty quick pace.