De Ronde
Finally, a little late, here is my take on de Ronde van Vlaaderen. Or for those of you who don't speak flemish, the Tour of Flanders. All 260km of it (160miles), or was it, actually my clock read 275km by the time I arrived at the Finish in Ninove.
So most of the team travelled out to Brugge on the Thursday (3rd April) afternoon, after having settled into our hotels we convened in the historic and quite stunning market square. Where we then had a somewhat overpriced, touristic and very mixed quality meal! But the point was we were all there and all about to embark on one of the greatest adventures... There are so many stories to tell of the weekend. For a start, it turned out that the younger brother of the receptionist at out hotel rode for the Rabobank Continental team. Which is basically the Dutch U23 development team, luckily for him he was off on a training camp in Italy. While we were preparing for a day of typical Flandrian weather, rain, sleet, wind and cold!
Friday was then a quick ride through the city of Brugge, the a trip down (another) Belgian motorway to Oudenaarde where we visited the Centrum de Ronde van Vlaanderen. Which is the museum in dedication to almost 100 years history of the race. Then it was onto the finish in Ninove to drop off a couple of cars for transport home on the Saturday, post ride. While also meeting up with some of the late arrivals!
As dawn broke on Saturday morning, we were sitting at breakfast not really saying much. I think each of us was justifiably nervous of what was to be a very very long day in the saddle. After a little mucking about we all signed onto the ride and departed the market square in Brugge at 8am. Straight away we were in a reasonably fast moving convoy of riders, over 10,000 riders take part in this event every year, so you're never alone! After just 10km we had our first incident... a touch of wheels a few bikes ahead of me resulted in some shouts and some panic braking. I, having spent each of the past 8 weeks racing every weekend was straight on the brakes and looking for an escape. My team mate Grant however seemed to plow straight into the confusion. In the end, everyone stayed upright. There was no apparent cause either, bizarre. Well, a couple of guys ended up on the floor after forgetting to un clip from their pedals but there you go, school boy stuff.
It was only about another 30km until the next incident of the day too! We had been riding for about an hour when I said to my team mate Lisa that she ought to start eating now. As on such a long ride it is important to eat as much as possible. As she reached into her pocket she managed to drop her check card, which she would later need to claim her certificate at the finish. I kind of felt responsible, so in a moment of madness I did a quick U-turn and somehow found it. By this stage the next group on the road was about to catch me. I knew had I sat in with them I would never see my team again and I was acutely aware of the 220km I would end up riding effectively alone on that basis. So I soloed off the front of that group in search of the team. Eventually after a long period on my own working really hard, averaging about 42km/h (26mph) I caught up with everyone. And at the first feed stop at 60km we were all together.
After which we began to split up a little, as it was difficult to keep together when there are so many people riding on such small roads! After another 20km we came to what was one of the intermediate sprint points of the race itself (the pro event on the Sunday). As we came up to it I was on the front of a group of about 50 riders. On the incline leading up to it I was climbing out the saddle and my team mates John and Mark had dropped back a little by this point. But I had a couple of Spainards right on my wheel when one of them shouted ''sprint sprint sprint''. And all of a sudden one of them came roaring around my left side. Well, those of you who know me know full well I wasn't going to take that lying down!! So I gave it everything I had and just beat the crafty Iberian to the line! Whereby he duly patted me on the back by way of congratulation, my GCSE spanish the failed me as I could barely ask where abouts he was from!
For the next few kilometres things passed by fairly uneventfully as we completed the 'flat' half of the Ronde. After about 100km we came to the first climb of the day. Now this race is famous for its climbs, the 'bergs' or Hellingens as the Belgians would say. First up the Kluisberg, easy, only about 1.4km and an average gradient of about 8%, just like at home in Surrey I thought. So thats one down only 16 to go. The first climbs are quite seperated, it isn't until the final 60km where they really start to come thick and fast. Oh, and did I mention some of them are cobbled!?
Later on we reached the first real cobbled climb, the Molenberg. When the pro's do this, they sprint into this climb as it is a sharp right hander onto a steep narrow cobbled ascent. Unfortunately I only remembered this as we started the climb... Too late, almost imeadiately somebody stopped right infront of me, forcing me to stop also. And believe me, its impossible to get going again on wet cobbles at 20%. Unless of course you happen to have a friendly Belgian standing watching on his driveway who will hold you steady and give you a big push to get you moving again. It was incredible, I mean I guess he's used to seeing riders struggle up past his doorstep. But it was a great moment of the ride all the same.
A couple of climbs later the real drama started as far as I/we were concerned. The front group of TSN riders on the road was John, Mark and Myself. After one of the climbs Mark and I had slightly distanced John, so we stopped to wait for him. Then a few minutes later we realised we had taken a wrong turning! So as we came back onto the course we were sure that John must now be in front of us, thinking that we had buggered off and left him alone! Bit of a predicament as you can imagine, as Mark was also beginning to suffer a little. So at the next flat cobble section we hammered it across them like they were block paviers trying to make up ground on him. I actually really enjoyed the flat cobble sections as they were a unique challenge. I would like to ride the course of Paris-Roubaix now which includes 50km of cobbles as apposed to the 20km we covered in de Ronde, maybe next year!
So at the next feed we also met up with Grant and Neil who had ridden away from Chris and Lisa, who un-be-known to us had decided to stop. As the weather was truly awful at times, and they had started to get very cold. I think given the conditions Lisa did very well to get as far as she did, but I'm sure next year, given some sunshine, she could well make it all the way...
I decided at this point that I was going to try to find John, so set about riding hard in order to 'chase' him down. I thought at this point that we had bout 50km to go, when in actual fact it was more like 80km! So I rode on and on, berg after berg, and never saw a sight of him. I was thinking either he's found a second wind and is riding as fast as I am to try to catch up with us, as he probably still thinks we're ahead, or I've passed him and not seen him. As we were all wearing rain jackets at times, so all looking the same doesn't help!
I eventually found my way to the town of Geraardsbergen, which is at the foot of possibly the most famous climb of the race, the Muur. As I wound my way through the town and hit the real steep cobbled section of the climb the atmosphere was nothing short of incredible. It was late afternoon by this point, and the sun had just began to come out again. And the road was literally line all the way up with mad Belgian cycling fans, probably all of whom were looking out for a rider they knew, but cheering every rider as if they were their own. The wall of sound simply carried me to the top of the climb whereby there is a small chapel, that is simply iconic in the world of cycling! Unfortunately time was getting on and I was slipping into survival mode... I pressed on in the company of a young Belgian rider (who spoke excellent English, most of them do!) who then showed me the way 'home'.
One last climb, the Bosberg, ordinarily at only 900m long I would storm up a climb like this. But with 250km in your legs already you are simply reduced to just getting up it as best you can! At the summit it is more or less a downhill drag for the last 10km which still seemed to have a raging headwind, but the Belgian (can't remember his name!) and I worked well together to cruise through the last kilometres and into the finish area at Ninove. It was quite surreal arriving as there were just people and cyclists everywhere. Each with a story to tell.
I found the non-cycling contingent of TSN and Chris and Lisa who were annoyingly changed and dry and warm by this point, and was informed that I was in fact the first man home from our team. And that John was indeed way behind me with Mark after all! But what an amazing day on a bike, 11 hours I was in the saddle. Although it was hard, I think a wave of adrenaline and just a good day fitness wise carried me along quite happily all day. I thoroughly enjoyed the cobbles and despite the, at times, appalling weather conditions, had a brilliant day. I definately think every cyclist should come to Belgium and ride this course, it will certainly give you a new respect for the Pro's who tackle the exact same course in around 6hr30mins!
Incredible, just incredible!
So most of the team travelled out to Brugge on the Thursday (3rd April) afternoon, after having settled into our hotels we convened in the historic and quite stunning market square. Where we then had a somewhat overpriced, touristic and very mixed quality meal! But the point was we were all there and all about to embark on one of the greatest adventures... There are so many stories to tell of the weekend. For a start, it turned out that the younger brother of the receptionist at out hotel rode for the Rabobank Continental team. Which is basically the Dutch U23 development team, luckily for him he was off on a training camp in Italy. While we were preparing for a day of typical Flandrian weather, rain, sleet, wind and cold!
Friday was then a quick ride through the city of Brugge, the a trip down (another) Belgian motorway to Oudenaarde where we visited the Centrum de Ronde van Vlaanderen. Which is the museum in dedication to almost 100 years history of the race. Then it was onto the finish in Ninove to drop off a couple of cars for transport home on the Saturday, post ride. While also meeting up with some of the late arrivals!
As dawn broke on Saturday morning, we were sitting at breakfast not really saying much. I think each of us was justifiably nervous of what was to be a very very long day in the saddle. After a little mucking about we all signed onto the ride and departed the market square in Brugge at 8am. Straight away we were in a reasonably fast moving convoy of riders, over 10,000 riders take part in this event every year, so you're never alone! After just 10km we had our first incident... a touch of wheels a few bikes ahead of me resulted in some shouts and some panic braking. I, having spent each of the past 8 weeks racing every weekend was straight on the brakes and looking for an escape. My team mate Grant however seemed to plow straight into the confusion. In the end, everyone stayed upright. There was no apparent cause either, bizarre. Well, a couple of guys ended up on the floor after forgetting to un clip from their pedals but there you go, school boy stuff.
It was only about another 30km until the next incident of the day too! We had been riding for about an hour when I said to my team mate Lisa that she ought to start eating now. As on such a long ride it is important to eat as much as possible. As she reached into her pocket she managed to drop her check card, which she would later need to claim her certificate at the finish. I kind of felt responsible, so in a moment of madness I did a quick U-turn and somehow found it. By this stage the next group on the road was about to catch me. I knew had I sat in with them I would never see my team again and I was acutely aware of the 220km I would end up riding effectively alone on that basis. So I soloed off the front of that group in search of the team. Eventually after a long period on my own working really hard, averaging about 42km/h (26mph) I caught up with everyone. And at the first feed stop at 60km we were all together.
After which we began to split up a little, as it was difficult to keep together when there are so many people riding on such small roads! After another 20km we came to what was one of the intermediate sprint points of the race itself (the pro event on the Sunday). As we came up to it I was on the front of a group of about 50 riders. On the incline leading up to it I was climbing out the saddle and my team mates John and Mark had dropped back a little by this point. But I had a couple of Spainards right on my wheel when one of them shouted ''sprint sprint sprint''. And all of a sudden one of them came roaring around my left side. Well, those of you who know me know full well I wasn't going to take that lying down!! So I gave it everything I had and just beat the crafty Iberian to the line! Whereby he duly patted me on the back by way of congratulation, my GCSE spanish the failed me as I could barely ask where abouts he was from!
For the next few kilometres things passed by fairly uneventfully as we completed the 'flat' half of the Ronde. After about 100km we came to the first climb of the day. Now this race is famous for its climbs, the 'bergs' or Hellingens as the Belgians would say. First up the Kluisberg, easy, only about 1.4km and an average gradient of about 8%, just like at home in Surrey I thought. So thats one down only 16 to go. The first climbs are quite seperated, it isn't until the final 60km where they really start to come thick and fast. Oh, and did I mention some of them are cobbled!?
Later on we reached the first real cobbled climb, the Molenberg. When the pro's do this, they sprint into this climb as it is a sharp right hander onto a steep narrow cobbled ascent. Unfortunately I only remembered this as we started the climb... Too late, almost imeadiately somebody stopped right infront of me, forcing me to stop also. And believe me, its impossible to get going again on wet cobbles at 20%. Unless of course you happen to have a friendly Belgian standing watching on his driveway who will hold you steady and give you a big push to get you moving again. It was incredible, I mean I guess he's used to seeing riders struggle up past his doorstep. But it was a great moment of the ride all the same.
A couple of climbs later the real drama started as far as I/we were concerned. The front group of TSN riders on the road was John, Mark and Myself. After one of the climbs Mark and I had slightly distanced John, so we stopped to wait for him. Then a few minutes later we realised we had taken a wrong turning! So as we came back onto the course we were sure that John must now be in front of us, thinking that we had buggered off and left him alone! Bit of a predicament as you can imagine, as Mark was also beginning to suffer a little. So at the next flat cobble section we hammered it across them like they were block paviers trying to make up ground on him. I actually really enjoyed the flat cobble sections as they were a unique challenge. I would like to ride the course of Paris-Roubaix now which includes 50km of cobbles as apposed to the 20km we covered in de Ronde, maybe next year!
So at the next feed we also met up with Grant and Neil who had ridden away from Chris and Lisa, who un-be-known to us had decided to stop. As the weather was truly awful at times, and they had started to get very cold. I think given the conditions Lisa did very well to get as far as she did, but I'm sure next year, given some sunshine, she could well make it all the way...
I decided at this point that I was going to try to find John, so set about riding hard in order to 'chase' him down. I thought at this point that we had bout 50km to go, when in actual fact it was more like 80km! So I rode on and on, berg after berg, and never saw a sight of him. I was thinking either he's found a second wind and is riding as fast as I am to try to catch up with us, as he probably still thinks we're ahead, or I've passed him and not seen him. As we were all wearing rain jackets at times, so all looking the same doesn't help!
I eventually found my way to the town of Geraardsbergen, which is at the foot of possibly the most famous climb of the race, the Muur. As I wound my way through the town and hit the real steep cobbled section of the climb the atmosphere was nothing short of incredible. It was late afternoon by this point, and the sun had just began to come out again. And the road was literally line all the way up with mad Belgian cycling fans, probably all of whom were looking out for a rider they knew, but cheering every rider as if they were their own. The wall of sound simply carried me to the top of the climb whereby there is a small chapel, that is simply iconic in the world of cycling! Unfortunately time was getting on and I was slipping into survival mode... I pressed on in the company of a young Belgian rider (who spoke excellent English, most of them do!) who then showed me the way 'home'.
One last climb, the Bosberg, ordinarily at only 900m long I would storm up a climb like this. But with 250km in your legs already you are simply reduced to just getting up it as best you can! At the summit it is more or less a downhill drag for the last 10km which still seemed to have a raging headwind, but the Belgian (can't remember his name!) and I worked well together to cruise through the last kilometres and into the finish area at Ninove. It was quite surreal arriving as there were just people and cyclists everywhere. Each with a story to tell.
I found the non-cycling contingent of TSN and Chris and Lisa who were annoyingly changed and dry and warm by this point, and was informed that I was in fact the first man home from our team. And that John was indeed way behind me with Mark after all! But what an amazing day on a bike, 11 hours I was in the saddle. Although it was hard, I think a wave of adrenaline and just a good day fitness wise carried me along quite happily all day. I thoroughly enjoyed the cobbles and despite the, at times, appalling weather conditions, had a brilliant day. I definately think every cyclist should come to Belgium and ride this course, it will certainly give you a new respect for the Pro's who tackle the exact same course in around 6hr30mins!
Incredible, just incredible!
posted by Adam at
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