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I'll be there. Hoping for muddy snow.
There's a bunch of us going over from LVIS - self, Big Dummy, pjt90210, Nouveau and Lady Luck. We're riding the full distance but not aiming for anything other than to beat the cutoff! Keep an eye out for the imperial purple and olympic gold train, somewhere towards the back. 😉
you might not be aiming for anything else Mr A 😉
Aim for this, roller boy.
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Mr Agreeable - I'm also riding the full distance and not aiming for anything other than beating the cutoff too.
Maybe the STW Peloton could have some form of identification, just to say 'Hi'.. like a ribbon or something? Mind you, the chance of spotting people among the estimated 15,000 - 20,000 participants is slim I s'pose!
Well, I'm very tempted to rock the Carradice, just because one of my fellow riders has said he won't participate if I do.
But it's probably easier to keep an eye out for the purple and gold kit we'll be wearing:
There's usually 'only' 5000 or so do the long one. I think about 70 brits did it last year. I'll be in my bright red and yellow club kit, GS Invicta.
Do not queue! There is no control at the start. I spent a frigid 45/60 mins in the very cold morning air at Brugges along with many other hopefuls last year
When we got to the front, some old boy looks at me like Im waiting for a bus! Arggh!
Just get on the road.
Good luck!
But surely you have to collect your race number before you start?
Nah, you get that long before.
All UK riders [u]must[/u] pick up their numbers at the start and put their numbers on their bike.
The organisers used to post it to you but that stopped in the last couple of years.
I think Merak is just refering to queueing to get his route card stamped/clipped once you are ready to go. I'm not sure how necessary it is to get this done, I've just always done it.
Mr Agreeable - Member
Well, I'm very tempted to rock the Carradice, just because one of my fellow riders has said he won't participate if I do.
If you "rock" the carradice I will be forced to make that literal and fill it with rocks for you at every opportunity.
gutted won't be there :'(
Received email confirmation from the Organisers today, with the following info...
With this number you can pick up your identification tag and participation package at the pre-registration desk :
- On Friday 30th of March between 1 pm and 7 pm at the Qubus, Lindestraat in Oudenaarde
- On Saturday 31th of March from 7 am at the Jan Breydel Stadium, Olympialaan in Bruges (244 km) or at the Qubus, Lindestraat in Oudenaarde (138-87 km).
Bring this email with you!
Got mine too Digger. Only thing now is to wait for the forecast!
Looking forward to it.
Rode 102 miles today and boy was I knackered!
Took me 9hrs too, including food stops.
I'm now worried I won't make the cutoff time for the 244kms distance...
grab as many wafers as you can at the feed stops, best feed station food ever!
Cheers Warton.
HOw many food stops are there on the long route do you know? There's no info on the Web site...
Digger, there will be soooo many riders that you can get into a big group and sit in at 20 mph easy, especially on the flat run all the way to the hills. There are 4 feed stops. 2 on the way to Oudenaarde, one in Oudenaarde and one in amongst the hills.
Have a look a the route map link on the website:
[url= http://sport.be.msn.com/cyclingtour/rondevanvlaanderen/2012/downloads/parcourscyclo.pdf ]Route Map[/url]
Just a word of warning when riding in a big bunch, keep your head up when riding through the towns as it can be a bit twitchy with some hard braking at times. I've also seen the odd rider crash into the back of parked cars.
Would love to go do this again this year .. did the full distance last year and it was a great day out ...
.. hmm might go look at ferry prices 🙂
Oh, and before I forget, CHEESE SANDWICH! Take a hearty cheese sarnie with you. You will get fed up with all the energy drink, waffles, cakes, energy bar etc. At some point you'll crave something different. A cheese sarnie in my back pocket has been a god send when things start to get tough and everything hurts and your stomach is doing somersaults.
Katie and I will be there. Middle distance. Signing on the line. Sounds like a blast. 🙂
So, any last minute advice?
Drink - take your own bottles or are you given them? One? Two?
Food - rely on the food stations or start with a load of your own bars and gels?
I'm just in the middle of packing...!
Drinks: I'm taking 2 full bottles to start (plus will take 20-30 euros with me in case I need to pop into a shop and buy any more)
Food: I'm led to believe the food stations are good, but I have a full complement of museli bars, dried pitted dates, salted nuts, trail mix, Soreen malt loaf and energy gels.
Now I've just got to figure out how much I can take and split it all up into bite-size/manageable portions..
Don't forget your Passport! 😀
very jealous
I'm taking 1 bottle and drinking 1 on the start line both with Torq
2 gels, shot blocks and cash. I'm riding with locals so should be ok, fingers crossed!!
May see you out there!! Enjoy.
take some money and stop for chips and mayonnaise half way
was very pleasant last year
Anyone else in the queue for the DFDS ferry sailing at noon? There are lots of cars with cross bikes on them.
nope. I'm waiting for the 10am sailing to dock 🙂
What a superb event - can't believe just how brilliant that was - or how painful!
So, how does everyone feel? Did you make it?
I finished it - the full 244kms - in 10hrs 15
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oof. good stuff mate. 10hrs in the saddle is fair going on any terrain. not sure if i fancy 10hrs on cobbles!
In fairness, there are only a few cobbled sections and they're mostly quite short. I found the jarring of the first cobbled section quite a shock after after spinning along on smooth tarmac for the the first couple of hours and although I fancied myself as a good rider for the cobbles I was rubbish - I was literally blown away at just how fast some of the Belgians can ride over the Pave.
The real killer is that nearly all the serious climbs are cobbled and some of them are demoralisingly steep.
I rode the whole parcours with the exception of having to stop on the Koppenburg because the rider directly in front of me went down, taking out another 2 riders. Lots of shouting, arguing and gesticulating then ensued and a fight nearly broke out.. it was all quite entertaining really although I was disappointed to have had to stop.
The Koppenburg was like a War Zone - bodies and bikes everywhere, bidons, toolbags and stuff strewn all over the place, people pushing, some looked like they were close to tears!
carnage ya say?
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well done all the same.a good event to have ticked off.
What's the pace on these sort of things like (for the average rider)? I'm going to do the Liege-Bastogne-Liege sportive this month and a little concerned that its going to be me riding in at midnight, alone 😉
That was completely ace! We started pretty late (just before 10am) so I guess that it was quieter on the Koppenberg by the time we got there.
Made all the cobbled climbs (nice being cheered up by locals and even some bloke walking breathed 'keep pedaling' as I passed him). I was one of the slower climbers and exchanged smiles with quite a few blokes who were similarly not speedy but determined.
Only did the 136km - but pleased as it's only my third 100km+ ride ever (the first two were earlier this month) & 6 hours 50 sounds pretty respectable...
But did anyone else find the last 12 km on the flat in the face of a howling headwind the most difficult part of the whole thing?? Like you think you've cracked it as you roll over the lip of the Paterberg and can smell the beer and frites in the offing, but no, wait, there's a wall of resistance that gradually slows you down until you think it was all a mirage and you're stuck riding the wrong way on the travelator of doom. Until, after an eternity and a half you notice that all the people around you sprinting to the line and you realise you might make it after all...
What's the pace on these sort of things like (for the average rider)? I'm going to do the Liege-Bastogne-Liege sportive this month and a little concerned that its going to be me riding in at midnight, alone
There are plenty of groups/pelotons forming, disbanding and re-forming during the first 100kms, so I just latched onto the ones that were going at my pace. Where they were too slow I bridged across to a faster group, and when too fast pulled out and waited for a slower group.
I didn't use a computer during the TdF so don't know the actual avg speed during the flatter sections but it was definitely quicker than the 14.5mph avg speed I consistently rode at during my solo training rides leading up to the event.. which is to be expected as you're in a group drafting.
I'd say if you have done a handful of 5-7hrs+ rides beforehand you'll be fine.
We took it steady and rode the full distance in about 11 hours, including food stops. Managed to clean all the climbs, although we were lucky to get a clear trot at most of them.
It seems like some people overdid it on the flat section at the start, we saw quite a few people looking completely wrung out at the end of the day. I was gutted for the chap walking up one of the later climbs (I think it was the Eikenberg) with his GoPro on his helmet, all ready to document his moment of glory! And yes, the final 12k into the wind was purgatory.
There's a great feature on the RVV website where you can see video of yourself coming over the tops of the famous climbs.
http://chronorace-web.cloudapp.net/rvv/Tracking.aspx?lng=EN
We "only" did the 140km (as I measured it) and must have been in better form than I thought. 3 of us rode together finishing after about 6.5 hours (inc stops) and felt fresh as the end - could easily have ridden a good chunk further (or faster?). The cobbles were properly painful with the pain changing location depending on your speed.
Only one of the cobbled climbs is steep for any distance (the last) and we were only forced to walk on one narrow section of one climb.
Well run, friendly, event - all abilities on the shorter distances including riders on mtbs and hybrids. The first section needed some facilities though - i think it was 50km before we got food (and then had to use a cafe toilet). Much further before we started seeing portaloos - if they don't want people to piss on the side of the road they need to do a bit more.
Great event, I really enjoyed it. I can imagine it's far more of a trial in the wet. Cobbled descents anyone?
We rolled at a social pace, averaged 20km/14mph including stopping at the top of every climb for a chat (having ruled all the climbs of course!) and thought it was definitely something I'd do again. It was then fun to watch the real race the next day and see the speed at which the men and women climbed through Kwaremont.
Simon - do you really need food and a wee before doing 30miles?
Simon - do you really need food and a wee before doing 30miles?
It's not 'length of ride', more 'time since breakfast' - we'd driven from Ghent, parked, got to the start, registered etc. All 3 of us needed to go when we got to that stop and were a bit peckish. I'd seen a lot of other people pissing all over the place ahead of it.
It was then fun to watch the real race the next day
Where did you watch from? We went up to Brugges, had a look round and a bit of lunch and then struggled to find anywhere showing the event. Odd since that was where it had started from.
We parked in Kluisbergen and walked to the Oud Kwaremont. Watched the race(s) come up the cobbles once and then walked down the hill (we had a ferry to catch) to see them speed through town before the second time up the Kwaremont, then went 100 yards to a cafe and watched the Paterberg on TV before heading to Dunkirk. Departure towns never seem to have that much hype going, the climbs are where it's at.
Didn't expect masses of hype but wasn't expecting it would be as hard as it was to find a bar showing it on TV (and when we did is was without sound). The beer was mighty fine though.
In Luchon for the Tour this year which should be fun - will definitely be watching from the climbs there.
We drove out from our hotel in Kruishoutem to one of the first cobbled sections, then stood in a field with a load of the locals and watched the break and the peloton go past, along with some totally lunatic team car drivers.
Then we headed over to Oudenaarde, negotiated our way round lots of road closures, and rode up the Kwaremont to the spectator area near the top. It wasn't that easy to see the action (limpets and rocks have nothing on Belgian sports fans and railings) but they had a big screen and there was a stall giving out free beer. 🙂
There's supposedly a plan to sell tickets for the Kwaremont and the Paterberg next year, which would make spontaneous spectating a bit harder.
Mr Agreeable, we were very close to you then!
Despite a crash and a long bill for new clothing and bike bits I had a great day and felt good all the way round. 8hrs10.