World Championship Social Programme 2006

WORLD TRICYCLE CHAMPIONSHIP 2006 – Sunday, June 18th

SOCIAL & RECREATIONAL EVENTS for competitors, visitors and local people

Central Meeting Point: De Oorzaak*
This cosy pub and restaurant situated in the old Market Place of Asse will be the meeting place for visitors to Asse for the tricycle championship, and the center for related activities. Here you will be welcomed from Thursday June 14th onwards by Marijke, Rudi and Pieter. At the De Oorzaak, a room will be provided with a message board and all sorts of information for visitors to the town, including detailed brochures of seven sign-posted cycling tours in the area, all about 40 km long, to local places of historic and contemporary interest, with magnificent views of the countryside. One of these is the Eddy Merckx Tour –easy riding along minor roads, passing the factory and home of the greatest champion cyclist of all times. Maps will be available for you to cycle to the nearby cities of Brussels, Aalst and Dendermonde (all about 15 kilometres from Asse) and to the Schelde and the Dender rivers, which have miles of marvellous cycle routes along their banks.

* “Oorzaak” means “cause”, “origin”, but in Dutch the word has a double meaning: “oor” meaning “ear” and “zaak” meaning “matter” or “business”.

Planned Events in and around De Oorzaak

Friday June 16th: Socialising with... The TA Jazz Group
This is a chance to meet local people, entertained by te TA Jazz Group, a group of excellent Belgian jazz musicians, coming together for the occasion in honour of the Tricycle Association. The group will change musicians on the following days, and all the concerts will be recorded.

Saturday June 17th: Excursion to the “Wielermuseum” of Roeselare on Saturday June 17 th 2006
The RKBFG, the local cycling club, (whose name, “Rondom Kettelobos FietsersGenootschap”, can be literally translated as “Cycling society from around the Kartelo forest), will organize on the day before the racing a trip by cars to Roeselare, some 100 km from Asse. There we will be able to visit the “Wielermuseum” (“Cycle Museum”), with one of the best collections to be found in Belgium. There will be a guided tour, in English.
One exhibition room of this amazing building is dedicated to the history of cycling, and includes many early cycles, including hobby horses, velocipedes and high wheelers. There are also also seven very nicely restored tricycles: a Clement number 3 (1890, Fra), a Vincent Rotary (1886, GB), a Premier Direct Drive (1883, GB), a Quadrant (1886, GB), a Salvo Quad – (1890, GB), an Eureka Bike (tandem c. 1890) and a New Howe open front (1895, GB).

First picture - left: the Premier Direct Drive - right: de Salvo Quad

Second picture - The Quadrant (fotos: M. Sleutel, met toestemming Wielermuseum)

In another room, called the “Jean-Pierre Monseré Room” after the young world champion from Roeselare who died in a tragic road accident in 1971, the history of cycle racing is presented. Here racing cycles and memorabilia of many great champions of the past and present are exhibited, including the full carbon time-trial bike that Armstrong rode during the last Tour de France.
The RKBFG decided that the riders would need some rest and distraction before the Big Day. With the participation of local people and their cars, it will certainly be possible to find enough places for visitors without transport. The cost will be 3 to 4 euros to cover the museum entry and guided tour. Time and place to start will be announced later.

Sunday June 18th: Celebration Dinner
An official welcome at the old town hall will follow the championship, after which a celebration dinner (at democratic prices) will be waiting at De Oorzaak (only 200 metres away). After the meal, celebrate until late with the TA Jazz Group.

Monday June 19th: “Tour of the Gueuzes”
A Club Run to some local lambic breweries is planned. Lambic is a beer made by spontaneous fermentation. The air in this area about 25 square km SE from Asse is so special that the yeast, needed for brewing comes spontaneously through the air into the brew. This is unique in the world. When lambics from different brews are blended in a certain ratio and then bottled, they become gueuze after a year. Gueuze is the champagne of beers. In some traditional breweries we will have the opportunity to have alook round and taste their lambics, gueuze, kriek (a fruitbeer based upon lambic and black-cherries) and other fruitbeers. The mysteries of these beers will be revealed by the brewers themselves during a guided tour.

First the ride goes to the “Mort Subite’” brewery in Kobbegem, part of Asse. This brewery dates back to the beginning of the 17 th century and remained in family hands until 2000, when it was bought by Alken-Maes. However, further commercialisation and higher production did not mean the end of the old ways of lambic brewing and gueuze blending. On the contrary, “Mort Subite” (meaning “Sudden Death”) is still part of the organisation of skilled traditional brewers called HORAL, whose goal is to try to defend their unique products in the European markets and in European politics.

The small Girardin brewery is also part of this organisation. This family brewery, dating back to 1882, is the next stop on our Tour. It is situated in a cosy little village called Sint-Ulriks-Kapelle, part of the town of Dilbeek. The Girardin family are well known for making the best lambic and gueuze, much in demand for blending by other brewers.

The tour will start outside “De Oorzaak” in the afternoon at 2 o’clock and will be about 30 to 35 km long on well-surfaced minor roads. In the Mort Subite brewery the brewer will guide us around and talk about the mystery of these beers. Of course, we will be invited to sample the beer. The difference in brews will become obvious when tasting the Girardin beers later on. A small charge of 1 or 2 euros will be made at the Girardin brewery to cover their costs.