Tour of Flanders

[Andy]

Should be a good race tomorrow... Boonen versus the Field effectively. Fingers crossed for Ballan.

Taken from Dailypeloton.com Flanders preview:
It is perhaps most beautiful to enter Meerbeke alone, as an epic winner who would be seen conspicuously as the strongest man on the day. To round the corner and see the finish, the yellow flags of Flanders, the banner reading ?Aankmost? and to hear the roar of a passionate, fanatical crowd must be elements that linger in the memory long after the race has finished. To cross the line, arms outstretched, chest heaving, legs cramping, eyes blurring with tears, face grimy, mouth curved into a grin. Herein lies the essence and beauty of cycling and of the Ronde van Vlaanderen, maintained from the days of cycling yore in this Monument. It is all that this great cycling region and Mother Nature has to offer against all that man can give: great suffering for all, joyous victory for one.

[Elliot M]

is that an extract from Ajay's report on his Flanders Sportif ride?

[ajay khandelwal]

Belgium the home of racing, the Tour of Flanders, the best Classics race in the world?
The most popular cycloportif version is 140km with 6700ft of climbing and covers the same climbs as the pros the next day. The entire cost was £79 Eurostar return and £100 for race entry, two nights board, lodging and cherry Kriek beer. It was a vintage start, after years of inappropriate sunshine, this year was back to the original mould. After half an hour it started raining diagonally and the sky turned black. I was dressed for summer in shorts and a jersey. I wore my Rapha ?Aubisque? jersey in memory of that Pyrenean monster from 2005, my Team World Gillet (event organisers) and my Addiscombe race gloves and socks (the Spiritual home of cycling). No overshoes. No arm warmers or leg warmers. If I get cold I could always ride faster I reasoned. The rain did not let up and riders huddled under bus shelters and shop fronts. What did they expect? This was a Belgian Classic in April, not Disneyworld. No central heating or slippers here. Local riders like Van Petegem looked like they had not seen the inside of a house; I imagined him wandering untethered in a wind-swept field.. Even his name sounded like something to be mined from a rock quarry.

To understand the Classics it is worth reflecting on the words of the novelist racer Tim Krabbe who says

The greater the suffering, the greater the pleasure. That is nature?s payback to riders for the homage they pay her by suffering. Velvet pillows, safari parks, sunglasses; people have become woolly mice. They still have bodies that can walk for five days and four nights through a desert of snow, without food, but they accept praise for having taken a one-hour bicycle ride. ?Good for you?. Instead of expressing their gratitude for the rain by getting wet, people walk around with umbrellas. Nature is an old lady with few friends these days, and those who wish to make use of her charms, she rewards passionately

The hail made me ride harder and I found myself at the front of a group of one hundred riders. I missed the sharp right turn and suddenly found myself at the back again! Has Tom Boonen ever made the same mistake? I don?t think so. The dreaded cobbles of the first climb, my first taste the Mollenberg (a mere 9.8%) I was reduced to walking and slipping along as I lost my traction and couldn?t remount. Truly heroic riders were brave enough to power through the middle. This is one for David Lombari I thought ? but would be prepared to risk scratching his resprayed bike, maybe not? What skill to stay upright with the rain and the crowds. The cobbles are not like the pretty street decorations you see in Charlwood when you smile to your fellow riders, ?Paris Roubaix !?. No ? these are medieval cobbles that stick out at all angles like fists to punch you through the Belgian earth. Between these stone knuckles are gaps through which run rivulets of water and air. The cobbles give the earth a brutal and pock-marked nature.

The Mollenberg is the first of 15 climbs. Mark Mc warned me to ride on 25 mm wide tyres and ride with the pressure down; but Peter the mechanic at GBs ? who has ridden Flanders three times in the dry ? told me he has done it on Michelen Race Pros with no punctures. So here I am on 23 mm with 120 pressure. I am a human hammer striking the hail-drenched cobbles. I try riding along the drains on the side of the cobbles through the brown rain water and through the brambles. Anything to stay off those cobbles even for a second.

The flat cobbles are far worse than the climbs. I try and keep some speed up with riders who appear to be just driving through the cobbles. This is hard, full of pain. However you hold the bars, tight or loose, it wrenches your joints from their sockets. I can?t believe how painful this is. I decide not to stop at the first food stop as its still wet and there is a long queue. After scrabbling up the feared Koppenberg (that?s was the preferred way of the pro peloton on Sunday as well) I pull up and talk to two local women selling soft drinks from a table in front of their house. They warn me, ?Its just the beginning? and when I ask them for a weather forecast for the rest of the day they say, ?30 degrees.? Another Belgian chips in, ?That?s fifteen in the morning and fifteen in the evening.? Belgian humour.

Around the corner on a descent I can but resist pulling up for a barbeque and enjoy a bratwurst as the sun finally comes out and I can warm my body; our organiser (6 ft 6? Dutchman Johan from Team World) goes by and then Bayeux Landscapes (Martin, Sean and Martin) who were part of the Etape team of 2005. I get back on the bike and my appreciation for the local cuisine is increasing by the moment and I pull in a local valley I stop at the local bakery for the last slice of Tart Rijs a lovely fluffy pastry and my team mates Tsune (Japan), Mark (Australia) and Martin (Islington CC) pull up to enjoy the food. The clouds are gathering and so I accelerate away with the cake eaten and it?s like the cloud is following us.

I don?t want to get wet again so I push forward once again. I hear a voice from nowhere, ?What?s the Addiscombe doing here?? Its John Leitch who has organised race training sessions in the past and with whom I?ve ridden the Rhone De Picardie with. I try and drop him on the descents which I?m fast on, and just when I think I?ve shaken him, I hear a voice in my ear and he carries on the conversation! He says ?I thought you?d given up riding !? ?I?m back?, I say, and just to demonstrate dig in and produce another acceleration. I pull up with my Team world Team to the last food stop with 35 km to go and two climbs, the Muur and the Bossberg.

My diesel has cooled but by the time I approach the Muur I am warm again and I know this climb as I rode it the night before. Only, the night before I was a bit surprised at the steepest section, and had to face the dishonour of walking and watching a mountain biker sail past. This time I knew what to expect so I paced myself perfectly, and when I got to the 20 % section ? about 100 yards long and 8 yards wide - I let out a big lion roar to the crowd-lined streets and got a roar back as I accelerated and a gentle push as I appeared to come to halt around the corner again! That section was my emotional equivalent of getting over the Aubisque at full tilt.

Satisfied I kept my speed up over the next climb at the Bossberg and finished alongside my team mates Martin and Tsune. I thoroughly recommend it and it would be great to see a large Addiscombe contingent represented next year. The weekend was completed by watching the race on the Muur on the Sunday and cheering on the women?s race (Nicole Cooke was riding strongly) and watching Boonenmania in full swing as he came past with ?Lifer? to win and the local Flandrian crowd get satisfaction. Lastly I must mention local race DS Toks who made international journey possible through his contacts in the global cycling fraternity.

[Toks]

Cool AJ - inspirational stuff! But not for my skinny bones

[Alan M]

Excellent stuff Ajay - John offered me a spare place and I am mortified (not) that I declined. I watched the race on Eurosport and practised visualisation cobbled hill riding techniques - A triumph of the vicarious over the actual - Praise the Lord !