After Diegem we had one day off from racing.  I rode the canal into the city of Roeselare for a nice easy ride.  I took quite a few pictures. 

Above is the view along the canal as I rode out towards Roeselare.

Once I got to the center of Roeselare I discovered this temporary skating rink that was set up to enhance the holiday atmosphere.  The thing that stuck me as most odd was that this skating area was shaped like a horse racing track.  In America we generally have much more freedom in our holiday ice skating endeavors.  While you are generally expected to skate in a counterclockwise direction, you can start making that left turn whenever you want.  Cut across the middle to catch up to your friends, do crazy spinning tricks in the center area, etc..  This particular skating rink is straight up regulating its skaters.  There is no middle area!  Where is the freedom?  Poor regulated Belgian children…

Next I stopped by the petting zoo on my way back to Izegem.  Ok so it wasn’t really a petting zoo it was just someone’s front yard and that is what makes it seem so strange to me.  In the foreground you will see an ostrich. I wasn’t even sure that those could survive in Belgium.  Then in the back there are numerous goats and horses/donkeys/mules of the smaller variety.  Rob Dyrdek should have come to the outskirts of Izegem to get his mini horse.

This is my friend Lubomir.  We chatted for a bit about the condition of his living space.  He seemed quite displeased with the mud created by the melting snow.  I tried to explain to him that my cables and housing felt the same way, but he wasn’t having it.

So today was one of my favorite cross races in Loenhout.  It was fairly muddy and we had a huge U23 field with 99 starters.  I had an okay start and just tried to keep it steady.  Once again I was able to turn in on in the last 2 laps to win my group and pick off a few other guys.  I ended up 50th out of 99.  I think that’s a pretty decent day for me and my legs seem pretty fresh still considering all the racing we have been doing.  I think the massage from my man Herman yesterday really helped.  Now we have 2 days off and then 3 more races all in a row to close out my season.