I don’t remember that much about popping over the channel to ride, watch racing and eat chips with Ridley and Bioracer at the Ronde van Vlaanderen because I was coming out of an opiate daze brought on by the legacy of the first time I broke my back. But I do remember packing a Mamiya 6 roll film camera and a bucket load of over the counter painkillers.
Now finding the memories of those days in a hard drive, other memories do come wafting back. Baguette chips, Bioracer’s printmaking library hanging in the basement like a Raiders of the Lost Ark museum archive scene, Ridley chocolates, cake chips(!), my adopted stars and stripes top tube name tags then some more chips – orange tinted memories.
So I’ll let the pictures do the talking as to write about the experience honestly would be a little like a written description of the lava lamp my head had turned into that week.
And because I don’t remember what happened when or in what order, here’s a selection of imagery that is likely not quite how it actually unfolded.
The moment I wasn’t photographed by Kristof Ramon.
Cake chips. A lot is made of chips and mayonnaise but I’m not sure you can top cake chips to be honest.
Eurostar home selfie. In a toilet that had squares of carpet under each urinal.