Tour of Flanders sportive 3/4/10

Raam

Never again.

Lumen

Raam wrote: »

Never again.

Sure how hard could it be?

Raam

Lumen wrote: »

Sure how hard could it be?

Give it a go next year. I think every cyclist should try it. Just don't ask me to go with you.

DirkVoodoo

Raam wrote: »

Never again.

Why? Was it the cobbles? Leave it for 11 months, the hunger will return. Plus all of us doing it together would be awesome, Kaiku kit for everyone, scream some flemish, get fake tans, etc.

ROK ON

Raam wrote: »

Never again.

Is that it?
You can't come on here and just say never again.
FFS Dirk did this and loved it.

Raam

The crowded muddy uphill cobbles, the slippery downhill cobbles, the flat cobbles that go on for kilometers which torture your hands were not much fun. But it was the final 20 or 30km which were done in the pissing freezing rain which sealed the deal.

Raam

ROK ON wrote: »

Is that it?
You can't come on here and just say never again.
FFS Dirk did this and loved it.

Yep, that's it.

ROK ON

Raam. Your irish, are you not used ro the "freezing pissing rain" yet?

DirkVoodoo

Yeah I remember the flat cobbles being the worst, that awful feeling like a jackhammer on each of your arms, feeling sick, wanting to stop but knowing that slowing down makes it worse.

Awesome!

ROK ON

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Yeah I remember the flat cobbles being the worst, that awful feeling like a jackhammer on each of your arms, feeling sick, wanting to stop but knowing that slowing down makes it worse.

Awesome!

Dirk. Maybe you are actually a closet roleur.

TinyExplosions

I'm in 110% for next year, definitely... I don't mind suffering on the flat, with a few sharp digs... enough time to get in shape too

ROK ON

TinyExplosions wrote: »

I'm in 110% for next year, definitely... I don't mind suffering on the flat, with a few sharp digs... enough time to get in shape too

The only reason to get in shape is to make room for beer and chocolate.
Was thinking that it would be fantastic to go for the week and take it RVV and PR. We could ride some of both parcours.

TinyExplosions

ROK ON wrote: »

The only reason to get in shape is to make room for beer and chocolate.
Was thinking that it would be fantastic to go for the week and take it RVV and PR. We could ride some of both parcours.

You volunteering to drive? I'd be happy with that, and have the perfect photographer to bring with us to document the fun

ROK ON

TinyExplosions wrote: »

You volunteering to drive? I'd be happy with that, and have the perfect photographer to bring with us to document the fun

Drive. You've seen me driving.

Btw. Its only 70km between Bruges and Roubaix. We will be cycling.

aidandoyle

I agree with RAMM, it was a great experience to be done only once. I found the flat cobbles to be the worst - extremely painful on the fingers, hands and wrists, they were hurting for 2 days afterwards. I guess the crap weather we had was par for the course, it certainly made the cobbled climbs a lot more interesting. Everyone should do Flanders once, if they want more after that then they are a better man than I am.

TinyExplosions

ROK ON wrote: »

Drive. You've seen me driving.

Btw. Its only 70km between Bruges and Roubaix. We will be cycling.

I mean driving over -easier than flying

ROK ON

TinyExplosions wrote: »

I mean driving over -easier than flying

Cycle to Rosslare. Ferry to Pembroke.
Cycle to London. Train to Lille or Brussels.

Easy.

DirkVoodoo

ROK ON wrote: »

Cycle to Rosslare. Gerry to Pembroke.
Cycle to London. Train to Lille or Brussels.

Easy.

Well, I guess you can carry my wardrobe so!

michaelm

For me Flanders is addictive - done the sportive three times and attended the pro race 4 times. I hasten to point out I'm a very average cyclist in my late 40's - content to plod along at a average of 22-24KM/hr here at home - I have never raced in my life and doubt that I ever will. I struggle on long hills here in Ireland but find the challenge of the short sharp Flanders hills fascinating. A double layer of tape on the handlebars, and the Flandrain approach to the cobbles - don't grip too tightly and go as fast as you can - does actually make a difference. For those that say "never again" - I would be very interested to hear from you next Feb/March. There is little to beat the feeling of a Belgian beer or two on the Sat. evening having completed the sportive with the pro- race to look forward to the next day. The most surprising thing for me is that only a handful of the 20,000 participants each year are Irish. To any of you from here thinking about it - let this be the end of your dilemma - go for it!

ROK ON

@Michaelm. Thanks for that. Would love to do it. I think that it could be the ideal challenge for fat middle-aged Irish cyclist like myself.
We have no shortage of sharp short hills. The weather here is crap. The roads are not cobbled but they are crap.

I can't imagine it is an easy day out. But ut must be saner than training for etape/marmotte when you live in a country with no real mountains to speak of.
I can't wait.

michaelm

ROK ON wrote: »

I think that it could be the ideal challenge for fat middle-aged Irish cyclist like myself.

Exactly what I was trying to say (about myself!)

sy

Raam wrote: »

The crowded muddy uphill cobbles, the slippery downhill cobbles, the flat cobbles that go on for kilometers which torture your hands were not much fun. But it was the final 20 or 30km which were done in the pissing freezing rain which sealed the deal.

Is that all, I thought you were afraid you might crash and damage your Cervelo oops sorry your commuter bike

Raam

sy wrote: »

Is that all, I thought you were afraid you might crash and damage your Cervelo oops sorry your commuter bike

I rode someone else's bike

rottenhat

I have been persuaded to do this next year. The man who persuaded me is going back for seconds. But then, he is American and you know what they're like.

Raam

If you like collecting lost waterbottles, bike computers, bottle cages, saddle bags, frame pumps and energy bars then you will love it. As soon as people hit the cobbles, they go everywhere. Mine stayed intact though. I did shove the garmin in my back pocket, just in case.

ROK ON

I cycled for about 250m on cobbles this morning.
TBH I can't see what all the fuss is about :-)

Chips Lovell

ROK ON wrote: »

I cycled for about 250m on cobbles this morning.
TBH I can't see what all the fuss is about :-)

I can just see you licking your lips. Finally an event that suits fellas like us, where brute force and stubbornness is required.

ROK ON

el tonto wrote: »

I can just see you licking your lips. Finally an event that suits fellas like us, where brute force and stubbornness is required.

And stupity don't forget stupidity.

Biggest issue for me is that I smell beer and chips I am liable to get off the bike and tuck in.

TinyExplosions

el tonto wrote: »

I can just see you licking your lips. Finally an event that suits fellas like us, where brute force and stubbornness is required.

The cottage of wattage can be unleashed!

montac

Raam wrote: »

If you like collecting lost waterbottles, bike computers, bottle cages, saddle bags, frame pumps and energy bars then you will love it. As soon as people hit the cobbles, they go everywhere. Mine stayed intact though. I did shove the garmin in my back pocket, just in case.

I saw one guy had attached rubber bands to his bottle cage - the other end of the band went over the top of the water bottle.
Tons of debris around the route on the cobbles - they were handing out Red Bull shots at the start, and they were strewn on the road for ages.
Tbh, I'd love to do this again. Even better would be to combine ToF with Paris Roubaix, although those cobbles would be a different story entirely!

Lumen

ROK ON wrote: »

Biggest issue for me is that I smell beer and chips I am liable to get off the bike and tuck in.

Mmmm (warning: NSFD).

Raam

Get a cup of tea, this is a long one...

It was with no small amount of reluctance that I agreed to do the Tour Of Flanders sportive after my brother had hounded me for a few weeks about it. Having read a Dirk's account of it last year, I had no desire to be part of a 20,000 strong crowd struggling up jam packed 20%+ narrow lane ways on muddy slippery cobbles with incessant wind and rain adding to the so called enjoyment. OK, so when Dirk rode it maybe he got good weather, but I was resigned to the fact that we might not be so lucky. On the weather front, I was not to be disappointed.

Myself and Laura flew into Frankfurt and were collected by my bro who was bringing the bikes. I figured, if I am going to ride over bad road surfaces, it's much better to do it on someone else's machine. At 55cm, the frame was about three sizes too small for me, but it turned out to be quite comfortable. You've got to love Bianchis anyway. They just look class. Our route saw us go on the ring round around Brussels, and like any good ring road, it was a veritable car park. We crawled for about two hours on it. We did get to see an An Post team car going in the opposite direction, presumably off to the airport which we just passed. It caused quite a stir in the car which alleviated the boredom for a good two minutes. Once the excitement had passed, we got back to the busy task of stop-start driving. Picture the scene... in Belgium, on wet streets, thousands of people around us, all going really slow... we are tired and hungry and we just want to get to our hotel for some food. Remember that, it crops up again later.

Our destination was Ninove first for sign on and then Gent for our hotel. Sign on took about thirty seconds where there was a nice buzz and plenty of other riders offering us advice on where to park up for the next day. At our hotel in Gent, we put our bikes in the conference room/bike store which the hotel had kindly allocated to all the cyclists. There were quite a few other machines already there. I guess the hotel is used to this.

The next morning we left at about 8am with a view to starting the ride at 9.30am. The day had started dry, but by the time we got to Ninove, it was raining. Yippee. We rolled under the start banner. The first few KM were absent of any kind of cobbles as we made our way through drab and dreary suburbia. Not much to look at to be honest. Eventually we started hitting the countryside, riding down narrow lane ways with fields all around us. Kind of like home, except a lot less hedges. Our farmers in Ireland seem to love hedges, the Belgians, less so.

Eventually, after maybe 30 or 40km, we hit a section of cobbles with a slight rise. Nothing can prepare you for it. Single-track doesn't count, after all, who rides single-track on a road bike? The only thing that I can draw a parallel with is one of those amusement rides where it rattles you back and forth and you are expected to enjoy it. Even that isn't quite the same. Your front wheel seems to want to go in all directions at the same time. The temptation is to grip the bars really tight, but that isn't really a good idea, so in the end I settled for letting them go a bit loose and just riding fast. People say that you have to ride fast in order to ride the cobbles properly. There is an element of truth to that. However, I suspect the real reason is just to get the damn things over and done with. The fact that riding fast actually makes it a bit easier is just a by product of that.

One thing you will notice if you ever ride the cobbles, is that things which are not properly fastened to your bike will not stay there for very long, including yourself. I saw bottles, bottle cages, saddle bags, pumps and energy bars everywhere. My own bike computer had started to wriggle around so I whipped it off and placed it in my jersey pocket.

The stretch must have been for a couple of KM and the end of it was such a relief. Imagine, if you will, someone screaming in your ear and shaking you violently for ten minutes. Then imagine the feeling when they finally stop. You are nowhere close to the sensation of riding on smooth rode after riding flat cobbles.

That was just a taster of things to come. It was a long way to the first hills. The route to which was punctuated by a welcomed food stop. Belgian waffles, yum. I grabbed a load and shoved them up my jersey so I could nibble at them later. I also met a few other Swords riders at the stop. That made six or seven of us in total.

Did I mention that it was raining up until this point? Well it was. However, it stopped after the feed stop. This happened to coincide with a really flat open section where we had some cross winds.

After about 55km, we hit our first hill, the Kluisberg. A non-cobbled short sharp incline. Nothing to write home about, yet I shall do so anyway. Uhm, what else to say... I started at the bottom and I finished at the top, where I continued cycling. The next hill was similar enough, in fact I can't even remember it. It is called the Knokteberg. Well I knokteberged it for 6, HOWZAT!

Then it was my turn to get bowled over because we were fast approaching the Oude Kwaremont, our first taste of cobbled hills. I had been dreading this for months and now it was upon me. I turned on to the hill and started riding. Feck, I thought, this is EASY! What was all the fuss about? Then the fuss came to me, in the form of a wall of people struggling to climb the steeper sections. Those who know me, will know that I am a skinny rider and I have no problem riding up steep slopes. On a typical steep slope, if there is a bunch of riders in front, and no way through, I will usually stand on the pedals so that I can climb slower and still maintain some forward motion. However, today the cobbles were wet. I had been advised, under no circumstances to stand when they are wet. I paid great attention to that advice, right up until the moment I forgot about it, and duly stood up so that I could maintain my balance. You effing idiot, that was a muppet idea. I'm pretty sure that's what the people behind me were thinking, I know I was. I caused about 4 other riders to loose traction as my back wheel slipped to one side and I had to dismount. I quickly got the hell out of the way and continued walking sheepishly up the hill. There was no room to get back riding due to all the other walkers and the people who somehow were still on their bikes, riding slowly, desperately maintaining grip and grinding it out.

The end of the hill came all to slowly as I strolled my way up it. At the top, there were still cobbles. Muddy, slippery downhill cobbles. I thought to myself, if I can't stay upright on the uphill, what chance have I got on this 90 degree turn downhill right in front of me. And so, it was with an enormous amount of shame that I chose to walk that section. Take your digs and your potshots, I don't care.

After that hill, I got chatting to an English guy who had been over all week and had ridden all the hills before. He told me just to roar at riders in the way. One of the Swords riders I met earlier also told me to try and anticipate where the rider in front of you will go and have a get out plan in case he stops. I tried to remember all that.

As we approached an innocuous looking right hand turn, my English friend advised me to get an easy gear right now because we are on the Paterberg. A 12% average slope with a maximum of 20%. By god was this one muddy. There was a river of mud rolling down the thing. My experience on this hill was much the same as the last: rubbish.

At the top, I counted back as to how many hills we had done: four. That left ten, seven of which are cobbles. Oh joy of joy. My delight was only further enhanced by the realisation that the next hill was the Koppenberg. If I thought the Paterberg was bad, what on earth was I going to think about the Koppenberg? Well, you guessed it, my earlier pattern for walking was not to be broken. The 22% section was just thronged with people, so nowhere to go means I gotta dismount. It thins out a bit after the steeper bits, but I just didn't have the motivation to bother getting back on the bike. I had reached my lowest point. I was only half way around and still had the lions share of the hills left to do. Did I really get up at 4.30am the previous day to fly out to do this? Parting with my cash for some kind of self torture? Yes, the answer is yes.

The next four hills were all cobbled. The route also had sustained sections of flat or downhill cobbles. As the crowds thinned out, I found myself happily ripping up the cobbled hills without a bother. Finally, some fun. Once the space is there, you can do your own thing. This gave me a bit of confidence to start riding hard and shouting at folk to move out of the way, which they did. Thanks.

A word on the flat and downhill cobbles... they are awful. The front wheel takes a massive beating, and consequently, so do your fingers, hands, wrists and arms. As the distance grew, the pain got worse to the point where it felt like actual torture. I eventually figured out a position which was ridable, but just about.

It was at about 100km that I got into a good grove and was happily jumping from group to group on the road, powering up any of the cobble sections and actually enjoying myself. Then, as we approached Geraardsbergen, the rain started. Just in time for the Muur. On the approach slopes, which are non-cobbled, I witnessed some nice bike handling skills as a random rider found a gap which I didn't think existed. Somehow, by twisting his shoulders this way and that, he squirmed his way through two dog-slow climbers which I was also stuck behind. Using the gap which he created I followed his wheel and was able to climb at my own pace. The route then swings off to the right, and we hit the cobbled section of the climb of the Muur. It really is very atmospheric and I can only imagine what it would be like on race day. I was going well, enjoying the cheering crowds, but then a rider in front grinded to a halt and I found myself having to stop. I ran for a bit and jumped back on. There was no way I was walking past the mound. I really loved that bit and also the church at the top. Cheering crowds, and... wait for it.. motorbikes with TV cameras! Right in my face! This felt like the big time. There was maybe 5 or 6 riders and we had our own personal camera man. This felt awesome. Then the chopper came into view. If ever I felt like a pro rider, this was it. The motorbike stayed with us over the final climb, the Bosberg. At the top of the hill, the chopper was hovering, looking like it was only 10 feet off the ground. As I crested, it flew away and motorbikes took their leave also.

It had been raining softly to this point, but I had hardly noticed, then it started coming down, I mean really coming down. At least I was only 20km or so from home. I don't really know. All I do know is that it took ages and I started to freeze. Teeth chattering stuff. It took the sheen off the previous 40km which I had really enjoyed. I thought the end would never arrive, but it did. Thank god for that. We finished under the same banner that the pros do, but we had to ride another 5 or 6km to get back to the food and stuff. That was the worst part to be honest. At the time, I had no idea how far away it was and we were just riding around what seemed like random streets, hoping that someone actually knows where they are going. Finally the finish proper came into sight. Job done, I won't be back, but I still recommend that other cyclists give it a go.

I have a bunch of photos from the race which I will stick up on another thread.

TinyExplosions

Raam wrote: »

The end of the hill came all to slowly as I strolled my way up it. At the top, there were still cobbles. Muddy, slippery downhill cobbles. I thought to myself, if I can't stay upright on the uphill, what chance have I got on this 90 degree turn downhill right in front of me. And so, it was with an enormous amount of shame that I chose to walk that section. Take your digs and your potshots, I don't care.

Fecking skinnymalinkses can't descend!

aidandoyle

Great read, paints it exactly as it was. It was cold, wet and windy - but that is what epics are all about. I know that deep down you were loving it

Now, given your obvious talent as a seanchai, why don't you give us an account of the German Cycling Cup race that you did 2 days later in Cologne ) that was definitely more fun.

Go on we are waiting....

Raam

All in good time.