Sunday, April 25, 2010

It must be the influence of Eddy Merckx

Right across the fields is Sint Brixius Rode where Eddy Merckx lived at some point in his life. Who's Eddy Merckx? For those who follow cycling (and the inevitable Tour de France) you would know that he was a famous cyclist in the 70s and won many championships. He is ones of those few Belgian athletes who played at world level. If you don't worship cycling, you might know him from "Rabbi Jacob", the movie, and the very famous scene where Louis de Funes tries to guess who's being interrogated based on the answers.
"(Person being interrogated) La bicyclette, c'est comme la révolution, quand elle n'avance pas, elle tombe !
(Louis de Funes) Eddy Merckx !
(Bad guy)Mais non, Che Guevara !"
(see the scene here with English subtitles)
If none of the previous, it was just some Belgian famous cyclist who happened to have lived nearby.
This said, the reason why I'm bringing Eddy in the discussion is because every week-end, the roads around Sint Brixius Rode turn into a mini Tour de France. People are biking. Cyclists are cycling, probably training for some competition. From dawn until dusk, it's almost non stop. If it's not his heritage, then we moved to an area where cycling is THE sport to practice and we definitely need new bikes.

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