Young racers in Belgium:

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/Mallen2006/
Here is a good post by Matt Allen who has been racing in Belgium since March with the CyclingCenter.com program. Bernard Moerman has created a great program to help young riders develop and learn how to race in Europe. Two of my Vitamin Cottage teammates, Scott Tietzel and Peter Horn also race part of the season in Europe with the CC program.

Bernard's program is a heck of a lot better than when I headed over to Europe at age 19 in 1990. These guys today have wifi, hot water and central heat! During those early years we used to race to be the first person to the dinner table in order to be the closest to the space heater. And in terms of communications we used to call home once a month for about five minutes. These guys today can call home for free through Skype.com!

I do owe a great amount to my best Belgian friend Pierre Hans who saw my talent back then and helped me along in my five years in Europe. I pretty much owe Pierre for my first pro contract and keeping on the path to success. Pierre will be here in the states working for Barloworld at the upcoming Philly week and I believe it will be his first time ever in the US.

Anyways just being a little nostalgic today and thought I'd pass it along.