Belgium on a bike

By Diane Daniel, Globe Correspondent, 03/24/02

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Riding a bike in chilly, overcast Belgium in winter may not be everyone's idea of fun, but Mark Abramson was in his element.

In January and February, Abramson rented an apartment in Leuven, about 15 miles east of Brussels, so he could ride and race cyclocross and participate in World Cyclocross Championship events. In New England, the sport - featuring races through tightly woven courses of pavement, turf, and dirt, and dismounting the bike for hurdles, stairs, and steep hills - is fairly obscure. Abramson, 27, of Somerville, who runs the Boston Cyclocross Association (www.bostoncross.com), figures there are a few hundred spectators during local races and around 2,000 for championship races.

But in Europe, cyclocross, like road racing, "is enormous," Abramson said. "In France and Belgium and plenty of other countries in Europe, it's second only to football - or soccer." Local races attract 5,000 to 10,000 spectators, and championships draw about 50,000, he said.

This was Abramson's fourth trip to the international competitions. In 1999, he went to Slovakia; in 2000, the Netherlands; in 2001, the Czech Republic. This time he decided to use the races as an opportunity to spend time in Europe.

"It's the best place in the world for cyclocross. You open the newspaper and if it's not on the front cover, it's definitely on the front cover of the sports pages," he said. "All the kids know who the riders are. Everybody knows what it is, where the races are, and have been to the races. It's a little bit of validation that what you're doing is worthwhile." And as a promoter of races in the Boston area, Abramson also appreciated seeing how the courses and races are set up and how the local organizations are run.

A self-employed information technology consultant, Abramson found an apartment through the Internet and, once he set up his computer, was able to keep working on some accounts. But most of his time was spent cycling.

"Riding in Belgium is fantastic," he said. "There are all these cute little towns with churches in the middle. And the roads are extremely bike-friendly. And people are so used to riders." Though he acknowledged that the rainy weather wasn't exactly ideal, "It's in the 40s and 50s, which is usually warmer than home."

He enjoyed life in Leuven, a college town and home to Belgium's largest brewery. "The top half of the country speaks Dutch, and the bottom half, French. I was situated near the language border. If I headed south on a training ride, all the signs would turn to French. Which would have been fine, but all the towns had different names in French. Once I got used to it, it was OK."

Speaking only English wasn't a problem, he said. "I did sign up for a language class to learn Dutch. It was a blast. There were people from all over the world in the class. Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa. I was the only American."

During his stay, several Boston area riders visited to ride and watch the races, and his mother, who lives in Wayland, visited for a week.

Now it's road racing season again, and Abramson is fitter than ever. "In Belgium I rode almost every day, and also raced. It makes a huge difference." And he's already thinking about the 2003 championships, in southern Italy.

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