2011-04-02 - Tour of Flanders 2011

Andy, you are such a pessimist!

I know, it's not like there's any ever cheating in professional cycling is there?

Have a good trip. Remember to get in touch with your inner Belgian.

What an awesome day. Did the 140km distance and just got back. Weather was amazing, I have sunburn and the only thing was a bit of wind. Otherwise blue skies and 24 degrees.

So the ride... tougher than I thought, particularly the cobbles, and I have ridden bits of it before. Put it all together with the distance and the hills and it's a killer. And there's soooo many people, it borders on dangerous. Within the first 20 km I saw a guy go down hard and fast into a fucking deep ditch, because him and his daft roadie mates were just trying to chain gang their way through non-existent gaps, and he lost it. I hope he's okay but I fear that was end of ride...

I got up all the hills bar the Koppaberg, simply because I couldn't - it was standing (well pushing) room only, like the terraces at a thirties footie match. The guy in front just stopped, so abruptly that I jarred into a rut and went down actually (no damage done), and that was that.

The Muur was the highlight for me. It wasn't as hard as I remember, and shitloads of people cheering was great. Especially a guy on a skinny steel bike grinding out of the saddle shouting "come on!". After the Muur the psychological battle was won, I got my legs back, got stuck into the drops and flew to the finish.

The bike performed well but it's amazing the number of things that came loose today which have been fine for the last 1000 miles: bottle cage bolts, stem pinch bolt, cleat... if I ever do it again I will get better gloves (padding gone in mine), perhaps run 25 or 28's, even lower pressure (about 90 today), loctite everything and remember the chammy cream.

I am now typing this (carefully) in the bath. Great to be part of such a legendary event, and super-chapeau to the guys who did the big distance. Pic of me at end.

Well done.

hearts Flanders

Nice one, Olly. It's inevitable you'll get baulked on at least one climb and the Koppenberg is the most likely as it's so steep and narrow. Sounds like a perfect day for it too.

nice one olly and the rest of you who rode

lol @ adoubletap

Not so nice for watching the pros on Sunday though - heavy rain forecast.

The weather's looking pretty damn good:
http://embed.zonein.tv/plkgftdhgfhydfyhayer.php?id=305350&w=900&h=675

...unfortunately

Watching it with a cold beer and newfound respect for these guys :)

Boonen, Cancellara, Pozzato and Chavanel. Awesome

edit- Hmm, too early.

edit2 - Cancellara!

Cancellara's looking good for it again!

hehe beat ur edit :)

Fuck, this is good!

Time for an attack by Gilbert?

Bloody hell its anyone's with 7km to go!

Nguyens! Great race.

Highlights anywhere tonight?

23:15 on Eurosport

I've decided the TDF can get fucked.

just back from a monumental weekend in flanders.. chapeau riders all, i love belgium..
this is one of the holy grails for cycling, pay your tribute one day if you can

big shout to clubs ride24/7, kingston wheelers, johnstone wheelers, the lads from gisburn lancs.. great being roadside today, caught the peleton three times and got close to the UCI womens racing and Emma Pooley in Oudenaarde..

men's race was stunning, shame to be back in London with the cunt drivers giving me grief riding back from st pancras (eurostar) tonight :(

Al

also watching race on Sporza live at bar for the last 50km without ad breaks ftw..

sounds awesome al, glad you had a great time. i watched the sporza highlights tonight. and you didn't miss out on watching world cup final glory - although you should look for a video of mahela's century

Well done to all the riders!... Looked an awesome day for it.

This was a very pleasant way to enjoy a weekend of cycling based activities. Thank you to CS Grupetto for a great trip.

[ame]http://connect.garmin.com/activity/77196165[/ame]

It was the first time I have experienced anything like this. Cobble suck. Getting stuck behind thousands of people walking up Koppenberg wasn't nice. I didn't get up the Muur either because of cramp, which was disappointing. Otherwise the mostly closed roads with brilliant surfaces made for some excellent fast (for me) riding.

Brilliant surfaces? Did you actually go to Belgium?

Thump, thump, thump, thump. Ad infinitum.

Compared to Surrey, the tarred surfaces were amazing.

just back from a monumental weekend in flanders.. chapeau riders all, i love belgium..
this is one of the holy grails for cycling, pay your tribute one day if you can

big shout to johnstone wheelers,

Al

Nice one Al,

Sorry I never got in touch. We ended up watching the pro's on the Koppenberg.

I was pretty goosed after Saturday's efforts, it really was epic though.

Fair play to you and all the other honorary Flandrians.

Link to my puter ;[ame]http://connect.garmin.com/activity/77220544[/ame]

@ Merak, we must have met on the train (friday) from Geraadsbergen, your team were heading to Gent, me to Oudenaarde i got off at Zottegem.. small world..

Going to the RvV solo (three co-riders pulled out) had many advantages but could i organise transport to Bruges??? shit no, three trains and arrive at 7.30am or a 100euro taxi ride

so I executed Plan B.. breakfast in Oude square, then rode out to the 268km to pick up from hill 2 about 10k north and followed the crowd from there.. I had a minor crash with a fat german.. resulted in several cracked ribs for the rest of the ride.. arrived in Ninove after 7hr30' completed 160km (just under 100miles).. my left hand is blister fucked.. the pave was not so bad though, littered with lost saddle bags, inner tubes and bottles. some loose sections.. descending pave was the hardest i think.. koppenburg and muur my only nemesi'

watching the pros on sunday oudenaarde opposite museum with the Team Ride247 guys, also at ronse and at feed stop nearby was the highlight, drinking and smoking also a plus.. i'll be back next year, for sure.

one of our FF vets managed to get his start from Bruges was not so lucky..
FB feed read reads like this..
Hit by Belgian car. Was leading a lovely long peloton with Dutch friends in the sunshine when it just pulled out of a side road into us. We must have looked quite spectacular bouncing and clattering down the road. Grazed and various sprains but otherwise all OK. Poor Bicycle not so OK. For me, the Tour is over

one FF vet reply read..
Thank god for the layers of tweed and wool. Imagine how nasty it would have been if you'd been wearing lycra. Anyway, you are now a true Belgian. If they had a fucking government, they might give you citizenship.

heal up soon Matt..