The Ronde van Vlaaanderen

[Paul on the Pearson]

Thats the Tour of Flanders in case your Flemish is a bit rusty! Its abrilliant ride and I'm definately doing it next year and will do the 256km ride this year was just a warm up! First off the weather, it was wet, windy and cold until the Bosberg when the sun came out. Nothing prepares you for the first berg, The Molenberg, one minute your on acyle track the next a sharp rightand you at the bottom of a wet, muddy wall of cobbles. Igot about 20 yards and had to get off as it was just too congested. The mud and rain made it vitually unridable and I dont think any one actually managed to ride up it. The rest of the bergs were ok as things got a bit more , but not much more spread out and you start to get the hang of thigs which is basically to hope no one comes to a stop in front of you or if they do they get of the way as in the conditions you have to not only stay seated but in a dead straight line or the back wheel just slips out, so you grind up shouting "Alle alle" and people get out the way. Its brillant! Inbetwwen the muurs your on cyle paths and narrow lanes, some of which are as steep as the muurs. The problem with the cycle tracks is its hard to get round slower riders.
The best bits? The Kappel muur, the Bosberg and the fast run into Ninove when the Belgiums put the hammer down. Imagine doing the Becs hill climb, but on cobbles and thats the Kappel. its lined with spectaters espsially near the top so there no way your stopping and getting of. as long as you get a clear run, had to shout at a photographer to get out the way and dodge a few mountain bikes its not that hard a climb a lot of rider stop but the red bull had kicked in and I was off. I was feeling good now and in true Flanders fashionn attacked on the Bosberg and got bu a lot of riders and then put the hammer down. Got in with a few flemish clubs who were realyy hammering it. Awsome. Im in the library my times up. To be continued!

[Tamar]

I second that, I want to do the full one next year too. This is just a fantastic event. The cobbles are bone-jarring mayhem. You're jolting around so much it even hurts to breathe...but it's somehow exhilerating as well. It is a bit frustrating that the climbs are so congested...but even the pros have that problem so I suppose it makes for a degree of realism. And the later climbs are not so crowded: I had a relatively clear run at the Muur although I did have to squawk and swerve (at all of 4mph) round a couple of riders who touched wheels next to me and began their slow-motion topple in my direction...but I just squeaked past.

In many ways I'm glad I didn't do the full distance - it would have been a very early start and a VERY long day in the saddle. The medium distance is still a hard days ride but I finished feeling pleasantly knackered without ever enduring that demoralising state of utter exhaustion that I am sure I would have reached on the full distance one...but I do feel like there's unfinished business...so I'm with you Paul for the full whack next year.

[-Adam-]

I did the full 260km, actually I did 275km somehow. But there you go.

It rained, it was windy, the cobbles were wet and treacharous, it was a proper day in Flanders. I have so many stories to tell from just the one day, but I'm going to fail my degree if I write it all down right now...

Riding the Muur of Geraardsbergen (the famous one, second to last climb, with the chapel at the summit) was just incredible. The climb was lined with specators all the way up, like Paul says, you could't have stopped even if you tried, they would have pushed you all the way to the top!!

It was probably up there with one of my best days on the bike, ever. I actually really enjoyed the cobbled sections, I mean it's not like you do it every day. The flat ones are the best as less people stop on them so you can really hammer across them! And the climbs, well, like Paul mentioned, the fist serious cobbled climb, the Molenberg, was a real education. Oh and I nabbed the first intermediate sprint against a couple of Spanish guys!

And that was just Saturday, saw the race itself four times yesterday, then watched the final 15km on a black and white TV from the back of a Belgians car! How authentic can you get?

We were on the Eikenmolen when Devolder attacked, he wasn't hanging about! Roger Hammond was still up there at that point, but much less cheerful than he was at the start in Brugge.

Awesome, amazing, and very very hard.

[Paul on the Pearson]

The toughest bits were the flat sections of cobbles. Whether the first section was the worst or you just got a bit more used to it I'm not sure but nothing prepares you for how hard they actually are, its a real shock to the system.Imagine riding along and suddenly youve been gaffer taped to a pneumatic drill. It hurts! The ones that go down hill are even worse, 17 mph feels like 50.
The 140k is not a difficult ride as the bits inbetwwen the bergs are not too fast because of the amount of riders and the fact that you have to use the cycle lanes, but the bergs are fantastic.
Things I'd do differently:-
1. Put some padding on my bars. A pair of track mitts under my gloves wasnt enough.

[Andrew G]

Well done all as I believe the weather was very Belgian for you. Definitely want to do the Ronde soonish.

[Paul on the Pearson]

Andrew you,d love it. Theres some good pictures on pez cycling.

[adrian]

Sounds amazing. Good effort all.

Paul, you appear to have cut yourself off in your prime earlier. What else would you do differently?

[Manchee39]

Did you Ronde van Vlaaanderen people check out your photographs taken
on the Muur-kapelmuur ?

Follow the following link and put in your event number

http://www.sport.be/cyclingtour/rondeva ... toservice/

Four 'soft' newish aggreables ( 12207,7901, 7921, 7925 ) did the 140km which meant we didn't have to get up at
a silly time to go the actual start. The 140km starts and finishes in Ninove

Also try the following link for pix of people going slightly quicker

http://www.grahamwatson.com/gw/imagedoc ... 08flanders

Noel

[Andrew G]

Good link, so come on folks what are your numbers?

I'm afraid I don't recognise the faces , but...
12207 looks like you're really enjoying that climb
7925 that's a quality "you *******!" look for the cameraman .

[-Adam-]

Last time I checked there's no photo for me... but 6186 anyhow.

I can assure you there's no way my bike could be so muddy without having done the full ride! In fact you could tell who had done the full distance as we were all much dirtier than the 'half distance' folk.

Paul, the first proper cobbled section I did, which I don't think you do on the 140k route, was easily thye worst. It was properly rutted, about a foot wide strip in the middle was just about rideable. But getting past riders using the gutter was decidedly dodgy. Hmmmmmmmmmm. Brilliant fun though!

[Tamar]

I was number 11789....not the loveliest pics I've ever seen of me.

[Stu Merckx Man]

sounds fantastic, well done guys

[Paul on the Pearson]

I'd put up some holiday snaps but I dont know how you get them onto the forum. There mostly photos of cobbles, a bit "niche market",but would appeal to the conniseur and enthusiast of such things and some blurry ones of men and women on bikes.
There aren't any photos of me either on the official site, I was obviously going to fast!