I hear that Brussels has some museums and such, but I've spent my 1st two days here drinking beer from individually-shaped glasses (I got an apology tonight for being served a beer in the 'wrong' one!) and taking the metro to the end of Line 5. Here is what I found.
The station is pretty new, and the area around it is hardly worth walking up the stairs to peek at. Luckily, all you need to see is on the platform.
This is the bike Eddy road in Mexico in 1972 when he broke the Hour Record (a long-forgotten achievement that a certain Fabian Cancellara may revive this year). The record - 49.431 km - held fast for 12 years, till a blood-doped Francesco Moser broke it (later rescinded, but for a different reason).
A detail from the head tube - a subtle reminder of which World Champion owns this bike.
As I was crouched down, taking photos of the drivetrain, an older man came up to me and remarked upon the size of Eddy's chainring. He said it had to be a 54 or 56. He was Belgian, so who was I to argue. You be the judge.
He considered the sprocket on the rear as well and concluded it must be only a 10. His train was coming, so we had no time to confirm this, but I think I count more than 10 teeth. I'm going with 54-14.
Two things hit me as I write this article:
1. There is a country in this world that names subway stations after cyclists.
2. Within 3 minutes of me gawking at this bike I struck up a conversation with a person (he was a cyclist as well, he said) knowledgable enough to make comments on what I was looking at. Even in France, cycling fans are rare to find. I'm getting the impression it might be different up here. If only the weather didn't suck so bad...
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