©Barry Sandland/TIMB – Vintage fares and first memories.

“Oh, I am not a normal girl. I know it. I am OK with it. The first time I came to Belgium was on my  honeymoon for the spring classics and it cold and rainy the entire time and I loved every minute of it. That was when I knew I was a bike nerd. That following fall, we came back for the six day and cyclocross. That was 2002. I left a bike here in friend’s garage and come here to ride and drink and catch up with them.

“I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and it was baseball every year. When I grew up I was allowed to ride everywhere in my small village, and in the early 70s when I was a wee lass, one of the races came on TV. I like to think it was Paris-Roubaix, but it was probably the Tour de France and I have never seen anything  like this before. I never cared about football or motor sports, and then there was this mass of beauty on bikes and colour and fans and I immediately rode outside and thought I was there. And I still think it was Paris Roubaix.”