late flight, an overnight. my peerless wife, Julie dropped me off at
the bus station, and I hopped on a bus headed to Logan. Only $30 one
way, $50 round trip. Much cheaper than a week and a half of parking,
and I didn't need to sweat traffic. Just sit back and read a book and
listened to music.
Quick dinner at Legal seafoods, and a bit of wine. Got on board, and
promptly fell asleep for 4 hours of the 5 hour trip. A 2 hr layover,
then another 3 hours to Amsterdam. Only got a bunch of 10 minute naps
in on that flight. Purchased a sim card at the airport got the rental
car, then tried to call Julie only to realize it failed. Back to the
phone counter, where the person told me that was how it worked. Ah
well, will figure something else out...
3 hour drive out to Oudendarde, Belgium, where I was staying. Quite a
bit of traffic. Got to the bike shop and picked up my rental bike,
then a quick drive to the Chainstay, where I'd be sleeping. The owner
seemed to forget I was coming, had to get the room ready while I got
bags. It was a neat place, nothing fancy, but with tons of nice bike
art. It was a 7 room house w/ shared kitchen/bath geared towrard bike
teams and cyclists travelling to the region for training and races. I
recognized a few of the other stayers, a bunch of guys from
Northampton Cycling Club, who were the instructors at the cross camp I
did last year ( and hopefull will again this). We chatted a bit, then
they were headed to the grocery, where I needed to go, so we shared a
ride.
I had been looking forward to trying some of the local quisine, but as
it was late just got a bunch of breakfast food and a pizza. They had
a nice selection of belgian beers, so I got a few new ones to try
out. Great meal, and caught up with the NoHo crew. They were here
for a week of racing to get some form before cross season.
Day 1
In bed by 11, and got a solid 3 hours of sleep before awaking a 2 and
tossing and turning until 5am. Thought about getting up for an early
ride, but fell back asleep, and was shocked to wake up at 11:45!
WTH!!!
Got my gear together, and prepared for a late return home. Short ride
into downtown for the route start, then out on busy roads, where I
quickly turned onto a series of one lane roads through farm and super
rural terrain. Moderately hilly, but the hills were short, and mostly
paved. Took a look at the clock and when I saw it was 1:45, I figured
that must still be east coast time, until I realized I didn't even
leave the house until noon. So with a 5-6 hour ride, I would not be
getting back until dinner time!
Kept riding, eventually hit another
downtown section, and turned up to start up the Muur van
Geraardsbergen, also known as the Muur, the
toughest steepest climb of the route, and an iconic climb in the Ronde
von Vlananderen. It was steep, and cobbled, but it was over so quick
I didn't think it was all that tough... Back downtown, grabbed a
delicious sandwich from a cafe, and out some paths
and back into the country.
The base of the climb of the Muur
Looking up at the summit
More up and down hills. The route looped back to the base of the
Muur, and I kind of felt bad about not checking out the chapel at the
summit, so I headed back up. I fully expected to see our lord and
savior Eddy Mercx
Rode back down, and back on course. After about 60 miles and 4 1/2 hours I was
getting a bit tired, and starting to look for shortcuts on the map. I
saw a few places where I could cut out some miles, but I figured that
might put me back on state highways, which would not be as nice of a
ride, and decided to see the route through. I am so glad I did, as I
rode across a 2 mile stretch of fun cobbles that had a few shallow ups
and downs, and was really neat. Back on some small paths, and narrow
bike paths, then I started to see signs for town.
As I hit the town, I saw the market. It was not 7:40, they closed at
8:00 and I was so hungry I could eat a horse! No way I would be
getting cleaned up and out for dinner, so got more pizza and snacks,
then a few miles back to camp. It was a bit of a challenge riding
with 10 lbs of groceries hanging off the bar, but I managed, finished
my sandwich, washed, and had a great pizza and 2 beer dinner. The
rest of the crew were still out racing or heading back, so I only saw
one racer who stayed and was washing his bike. Tried in vain to
reach my wife, then off to bed.
Day 2
Awoke at 4am, tossed and turned for an hour or so, then decided to get
going around 5:30 and get back early. Got it together, called family
for a bit, and was out by 7:00. Rode through the city out to some
country roads. This was not as great a route as yesterday. A few
paved climbs, and some flat cobbles. No iconic climbs as yesterday.
I had packed a few ham and cheese sandwiches, which was nice as I was
not seeing a lot of places to stop for food. On the return, I cut a
few loops a bit short. It looks like I missed a few sectors of
cobbles, and maybe a short climb, but as the route was not
spectacular, I didn't feel too bad about that.
A few windmills on the route
Returned, had lunch, then drove out to Roubaix to find what I thought
was the Paris Roubaix museum. After a few hours of searching, and
talking to people who were of no help, I re-read the website and
realized there was only an exhibition, and not yet a permanent
collection. The exhibition was a large number of vintage bikes and
frames, but honestly, not at all remarkable. To add insult to injury, they were having a car show at the velodrome. It was really cool to see the track where Paris-Roubaix finishes. It was really not cool to see a procession of automobiles taking laps on the track :(. Took a shot at a
monument of a cobble, then sadly left to return.
Cobble monument
Day 3
First night I got a solid sleep. In bed 11ish, up at 7:00, out the
door at 7:45. As I started I realized I was following the route
backwards. For a second I thought this would not matter, but I turned
around and rode a mile back to the correct start. Super glad I did,
as if I had ridden it backwards, I would have been climbing on smooth
roads, and decending on cobbles, which would have been a nightmare,
and really kind of ruined the trip... Some easy pedaling, then hit a bike lane for a bit. I
drilled it to get the legs opened up, and to make up some time as I
was trying to get back by noon if possible. Pretty quickly hit the
first cobbled climb, the Oude Kwaremont. One of several iconic bergs
on this route. It was fairly steep, average 5% and nice bumps. Next
up was the Patterberg, probably the toughest of all. It was 12%
average, and at least 13% at the steepest part. It was steep,
steeper, and then eased back, but still kept going for a while. Took
some photos, then on to more bergs. The first few had really nice
ripping paved decents, though the 4th did have a cobbled decent, which
was a bit hairy. It is hard to hold the brakes and steer while the
bike is bucking all over the road over the cobbles, and also trying to
be mindful of passing auto traffic. I did ride the Koppenberg,
Taaienberg, Muziekberg, Kruisberg, Hotondberg all together, along with
a few flatter cobbled sections. A truly awesome ride! Really cool to
be out doing a super famous course.
Dropped the bike off, back to the Chainstay, ate and cleaned up. I
then headed downtown to the Tour of Flanders Centre ( museum). Many
of the exhibits were in dutch, but most of them were visual, so I
could look at photos and follow along. The first exhibit was about
cyclists in World War 1. There was a core of Belgian cyclists in the
army, who would ride between skermishes. They were know as the "Black
Devils" by the Germans due to their speed and fighting acumen. They
also had a VR setup, which they talked me into trying for an
additional 5 euro. So worth it, they put a VR helmet on you, and
parked you on a bike. It showed a short film of a army cyclist in
war, you had to ride to escape a german patrol, then a bike race after
the war. They also had one of Tom Boonen's (one of the greatest
cyclists of the modern era) winning bikes on display. Really neat to
see that. This was a really cool exhibit and so worth a few hours.
Overall, I had a really awesome trip. Looking forward to seeing my
family today!
