The Belgians aren't shy

Today I had to do an easy spinning session on the trainer. We have a sought of sun room on the edge of our building used for indoor training, it's got five rollers and two trainers and when the sun does shine, it gets hell hot inside there. Anyway, I was spinning away and listening to my i-pod when a man dressed like a snobbish tennis player came right up to the window next to me with a baby on his shoulder. The other guys at the house told me that the locals swung by often to check up on us, so I just smiled and waved, he just smiled and pointed at me for his baby. Then a second child with a bicycle helmet who must have been about four popped up next to the man and stared at me to, and finally a woman about the same age as the man stood and watched. I felt incredibly awkward, riding there with this supposedly cycling zealot family staring at me for about five minutes. Finally the man walked off after his wife, but the little child with the helmet remained, staring. The father came back and finally took the child away.

This isn't the first time, I was washing my bike in the pleasent Belgian weather this morning when four old men came up to me, "Hey there!" Trying to sound American not knowing that I was actually South African. They gave me a sticker of the Saunier Duval team jersey. Bernard later explained to me that they were sauniers from Saunier Duval, just coming to visit.

I suppose I'm use to having a gate with electrified fences hauled up outside blocking our view of the outside world, not like here in belgian where the mail man will pop in for a visit, or a group of runners who wave at us while we eat our breakfast. The Belgians aren't shy.