Our Brussels to Bruges cycle doesn’t begin until Monday, but we decided we wanted to cycle around Liège this week, and the easiest way to do that was by using the Dott bikes scattered around the city that can be turned rented by the minute via the Dott app.

It wasn’t a seamless process to get set up: we’re using data-only eSIMs here in Belgium, and signing up for the Dott app requires being able to confirm an account via SMS. The solution was to sign up for a free three-day trial of Hushed, which gave a virtual SMS number.

Otherwise, it was all pretty painless: use the app to find available bikes, walk up to them and scan them with the app, they unlock, we ride, we park in a designated parking space when we arrive at our destination.

It’s 1€ to unlock and then 35¢ per minute. (After our first ride we bought a 2.99€ pass that gave us unlimited 2€ rides of 30 minutes for a month: we saved a lot of money that way).

The Dott bikes are all electric ones, so, as Lisa said after 5 minutes “it feels like flying.” Going back to human bikes in Brussels will be a challenge. 

Liège is in thrall of Spring, with green everywhere, including the back yard of our home exchange. It’s rained every day we’ve been here so far, but the sun is out today and it’s glorious. 

We landed in Brussels early this morning, hopped on a train to Liège, and arrived before lunch at the Santiago Calatrava-designed railway station. 

We are off to Europe—Brussels via Montreal—in a couple of hours. On my way back from returning my last remaining library book this morning I spotted the first daffodil in our front garden.

We are packed, planned, sorted, ready(ish) for adventure.

The best SCTV sketch ever was this one.

I thought of it when I heard Charlie Puth’s Love In Exile (feat. Michael McDonald & Kenny Loggins), a few weeks ago, and then, today, Keith Urban’s We Go Back ft. Michael McDonald.

Both prove what we’ve all known all these years: any song can be made better with Michael McDonald backing vocals. And better still if you add in Kenny Loggins too.

(Apparently we are amidst a resurgence of Yacht Rock, née the West Coast Sound. These songs are part of it.)

Six years ago, during peak COVID, I bought my first iPhone. It has served me well, and using it for as long as I have, 2159 days, means it’s only cost me 38 cents a day. I thought it was toast last summer when I dropped it into my bike bag and shattered the back glass, but I kept it going for an extra 9 months by sticking a Dbrand skin on the back.

Today I replaced it with an iPhone 17e, primarily because I need a phone with a longer battery life, and want a phone with a better camera. 

There have been 5 generations of iPhone since I bought SE in the summer of 2020, so, yes, the battery life is longer, the camera is (way, way) better, and everything is pleasantly snappy. I wish it was still possible to buy an iPhone as small as the SE, but the world has moved on from palm-sized phones, alas.

Here’s my inaugural selfie, take a few hours after a fresh haircut at Ray’s Place.

It’s been 284 days since I fell in the gym while doing box jumps and broke my elbow.

It’s taken me a long time to be ready, physically and emotionally, to jump again.

Today I did it.

That I did this on the same day I cycled 7 km to the gym and 7 km back home and also learned the basics of rope-climbing is kind of a miracle. 

I’ll feel all this tomorrow. 

I’m proud of myself, and grateful to my coach for her support and encouragement.

It’s been a couple of years since Jeremy in the Rome office wrote about Komoot, and it’s taken me until now to start using it to plan and track my own cycling.

Saturday we cycled from Tyne Valley to Northam to Ellerslie and back to Tyne Valley. It was a beautiful day, and but for a somewhat muddier Confederation Trail than we’d have liked, a gentle ride of 15 km. We celebrated with a burger at Moth Lane.

Yesterday was our biggest cycle training day yet: 21.2 km from Brackley to Dalvay and back, on the path through PEI National Park. We had a heavy crosswind, but we made it. We celebrated with a burger at FiN.

(We need to decouple cycle training from hamburger eating.)

As I write this, here in Stratford, Lisa is working out with her coach nearby, and I am camped out at Starbucks, warming up (it was 2°C when we left the house).

Komoot does all the things I need: plans cycle-friendly routes, provides turn by turn voice navigation, tracks speed and distance.

Our longest daily distance on our upcoming cycle through Belgium is just over 60 km, so we’re going to gradually work to increase our training distance as the trip draws nearer. 

For my 60th birthday, Lisa gave me a trip to Belgium and the Netherlands in May, and we’ve decided to use part of our time there to bicycle from Brussels to Bruges. 

While the direct cycle route between the two cities is just over 100 km, we’re taking the scenic route, through Antwerp and Ghent, so our total distance cycled will be just over 310 km. 

Which is to say “more than I’ve ever possibly imagined cycling before.”

When I was a kid, I used to regularly cycle from our house near the 8th Concession to Timmy’s house on the 13th Concession, which was a 30 km round trip, so it’s not like I can’t imagine cycling 40-50-60 km a day in flat Belgian countryside.

But I haven’t been on a bicycle since breaking my elbow last year, and I’m 60 years old, not 12.

So: training.

Today was day one. 

We dropped our bikes at Outer Limit Sports a couple of days ago, and picked them up after lunch today, and then headed out on a test ride.

We rode out the Confederation Trail to the bypass, stopped at Gallant’s for an excellent coffee, and then continued east on the Riverside Drive cycle route, past the hospital, and home along the old Water Street extension.

Total distance was 14.4 km. Thanks to the improvements in the city’s cycling infrastructure over recent years, 85% of that was on separated, paved active transportation paths.

The ride gave us a chance to break in our bicycles, gave me a chance to see if I could even cycle at all (I can!), and also gave us to try out our newly-acquired cycle shorts—mine are Bontrager from Trek—an entirely new wardrobe extension for me.

My recovering arm certainly felt the ride: the elbow was fine, but the muscles needed to hold the handlebars haven’t been worked in a long time, and they felt every single bump on the path. A lot of this was absorbed by a pair of padded gloves I picked up when we picked up the bikes. I’m very happy that I’ve been back in the gym since October: it’s conditioning and strength that I can feel helping.

The cycle shorts were a rousing success: uncomfortable and awkward on dry land, but very, very comfortable in the saddle. I never thought I’d be one of the lycra set, but I am, and I’m proud.

We’ll be back out on the trail, in some form, tomorrow, and most days between now and departure date. Watch out for us!