Riding in/ from Brussels

cock_sportif

Hi folks,

Looks like work will be taking me to the 'Capital of Europe' (ahem) for a few years.

Does anyone live in Brussels? What's the scene like for cycling clubs (esp sportif and TT)? Is there good places to ride in striking distance of the city?

Grateful for any insights ...

c_s

Wheelz

Tilff is a few kilometres outside Brussels and is where the Tilff-Bastogne-Tilff sportive ride departs from every year. From Tilff it's a fairly short trip into the Belgian Ardennes and the riding there is pretty good.

Riding in Belgium is less stressful than riding in the UK, as cycling has a big following and drivers are much more considerate of cyclists.

More info on the Tilff-Bastogne-Tilff route can be found here.

or the route can be seen on bikely by clicking here

Mar ge

Welcome to Belgium for starters, though strictly speaking I shouldn't compare Brussels with Belgium.....

Whilst I work in Brussels I live quite some way from the city (but nothing like as far as the 110km drive to Tilff) so can't answer for Brussels itself, but over in Vlaanderen the cyling scene is huge.

You really have a mass of events to choose from if you are willing & able to travel a little distance (say 50km).
Will you have a car over here too?

What are your language skills like? Most things are naturally in either dutch or french depending on which side of the country you head.
My french is pretty crap and therefore can't really help on the Wallon side of things but if you have any questions about Flanders side please don't hesitate to drop me a note.

rgds

Mart

andyp

Riding from Brussels to Tilff would be some warm up!

I lived in Brussels for around 4 months, initially on the north west edge of the city and then in Turveren, on the south east side. My preference for riding was definitely the area to the south and east as the terrain was a bit more varied, with some hills, and it seemed a lot quieter in terms of traffic.

There are a lot of poorly surfaced bike paths in Belgium and the locals seem to expect you to ride on them which can cause issues as some got quite irate if you didn't use them.

I don't want to put you off but I found Belgium an unpleasant place to cycle as the weather, the terrain and the crap roads all combine to put you off. I love visiting the country still though, but without a bike.

Wheelz

Ah drat, I'm getting Brussels mixed up with Liege, sorry about that. It's definitley worth a trip though!

cock_sportif

Thanks for this - plenty of food for thought. My French is rusty, but I'd expect to pick it up again pretty quick - I wouldn't need it for work, fortunately.

Not sure about the cycling - surely it can't be worse than London!

Mar ge

Depends on what you want from your cycling....
Is cycling in London fun?

There are fantastic sportives available if you can travel a little.

If you can read french then take a look here.
http://www.sport.be/lottocyclingtour/2008/fr/

To be honest the sportives ran by this group are over-priced but fairly well organised.
Usually good routes too.

We've lots lots more tours / sportives (organised every Sat & Sun) but as I live in the Flemish side of things I only come across those in Dutch....

cock_sportif

Mar ge wrote:

Depends on what you want from your cycling....
Is cycling in London fun?

Yes it is! (But the apprenticiship is a bit of nightmare).

What do I want? Ideally, a way to extend my commute to get 1-1.5 hrs relatively un-trafficky riding 4 days a week, plus the chance to break out onto quiet, preferablly rolling rural roads for longer rides at the weekend. To do at least one of these with a club would be great.

c_s

Nack

Hi there, and welcome to Brussels!

I have been living in Brussels for about a year now, and will second andyp's comments about cycling in Belgium - the majority of roads are very badly surfaced and you can run into trouble with the local if you don't stick to the (terrible) cycling paths.

The good news is that there are lots of nice possible rides / loops around Brussels, mostly South / South East of Brussels. There are two relatively nice ways out of the city: down Avenue Louise, into the Bois de la Cambre and through the Foret de Soignes towards Hoeilaart / Overijse; or down Avenue de Tervuren towards Tervuren again through the Foret de Soignes. There are really nice roads around Overijse, Terlanen, Huldenberg, Neerijse... It's relatively flat terrain throughout, there are a few hills though, like a short 17% hill between Huldenberg and Sint Agata Rode. I've mapped my usual evening loop on Bikely for your info.

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Nick-s-loop

About clubs, I know there are lots outside Brussels though I have yet to find one that's actually based in Brussels... I've tried the Féderation Wallone de Cyclisme but to no avail. If anybody knows of any, thanks for letting us know!

About sportives, the best resource is sport.be, which lists all the major sportives in Belgium - including the classics like Liege Bastogne Liège and Ronde Van Vlaaderen:

http://www.sport.be/fr/cyclisme/

Last thing, it's really easy to take your bike on trains in Belgium, so a good tip is to go to Namur or Liège in the morning and try yourself on more demanding terrain.

Cheers,
N.

koppenberg

andyp wrote:

Riding from Brussels to Tilff would be some warm up!

I lived in Brussels for around 4 months, initially on the north west edge of the city and then in Turveren, on the south east side. My preference for riding was definitely the area to the south and east as the terrain was a bit more varied, with some hills, and it seemed a lot quieter in terms of traffic.

There are a lot of poorly surfaced bike paths in Belgium and the locals seem to expect you to ride on them which can cause issues as some got quite irate if you didn't use them.

I don't want to put you off but I found Belgium an unpleasant place to cycle as the weather, the terrain and the crap roads all combine to put you off. I love visiting the country still though, but without a bike.

Um you are so wrong do you not know about the cuture the racing over here,cannot believe you are saying this about cycling in Belgium

andyp

koppenberg wrote:

Um you are so wrong do you not know about the cuture the racing over here,cannot believe you are saying this about cycling in Belgium

I do know about the culture of racing and I admire it. As someone who has lived and worked in Belgium and continues to visit frequently I'd have to be blind not to know of it. However, it continues to amaze me that cycling became popular there. The terrain is predominantly flat with a constant wind, the weather is very similar to the UK but with colder winters and the surfaces of the roads are, on the whole, poor. Yet cycling is a huge part of the sporting culture and that surprises me.

I can only speak of my own experiences but I was disappointed at how anti-cycling most Belgian drivers were and how aggressive they became if you didn't use the bike path.

ugo.santalucia

cock_sportif wrote:

Hi folks,

Looks like work will be taking me to the 'Capital of Europe' (ahem) for a few years.

Does anyone live in Brussels? What's the scene like for cycling clubs (esp sportif and TT)? Is there good places to ride in striking distance of the city?

Grateful for any insights ...

c_s

You will be in Belgium FFS! Possibly the cycling hub of the world... I'm sure it won't be hard to find a great cycling scene.

My advice, having lived abroad most of my life, is to learn the language, possibly both french and flemmish. Don't rely on others speaking English as your social life will be quite miserable, hanging out with other brits like you, finding a pub which sells English ale... all very very sad
You won't find cycling clubs with great websites written in English, so you'll have to approach the locals and speak the language

"Prettig met u kennis te maken"... see, you already know how to say "pleased to meet you" in flemmish...
Easy...

gabriel959

ugo.santalucia wrote:

cock_sportif wrote:

Hi folks,

Looks like work will be taking me to the 'Capital of Europe' (ahem) for a few years.

Does anyone live in Brussels? What's the scene like for cycling clubs (esp sportif and TT)? Is there good places to ride in striking distance of the city?

Grateful for any insights ...

c_s

You will be in Belgium FFS! Possibly the cycling hub of the world... I'm sure it won't be hard to find a great cycling scene.

My advice, having lived abroad most of my life, is to learn the language, possibly both french and flemmish. Don't rely on others speaking English as your social life will be quite miserable, hanging out with other brits like you, finding a pub which sells English ale... all very very sad
You won't find cycling clubs with great websites written in English, so you'll have to approach the locals and speak the language

"Prettig met u kennis te maken"... see, you already know how to say "pleased to meet you" in flemmish...
Easy...

Believe me, you should go to the Basque country and live the scene there. It is unbelievable!

Gussio

On your list of things to do while living there, attending one of the 6 day track races would be an excellent inclusion. Earlier this year I went on a stag do that included a Saturday night in Hassalt, in the middle of the track with as much free food and booze as you wanted. Was a top night out and very well attended by the enthusiastic locals.

Slightly off topic, but it was such a good night I thought that it deserved to be in the mix. Good luck with the move.