Tillf -Bastogne-Tillf end of May

weeve

http://www.sport.be/cyclingtour/tilffba ... /2009/eng/

I dont live far away - couple of hours - so may pop down to do it. The Mrs is working so I'll be on my tod...BR forum readers going?

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Nack

I've signed up for the full 250km route with a friend, we're staying a couple of miles from Tilff in a B&B to be able to start early. I've also heard very good things about the route and the organisation of the event, but still wondering if we'll be able to finish, I'm counting on the 5 food stops to keep us going !

I've done a few sportives organised under the Lotto Cycling Tour (including the Tour of Flanders this year) and have always been impressed, you get a lot for your 18 euros per sportive and you can always sign up on the day.

Bronzie

I did it in 2007. Be aware that it's more like an Audax in format (punched control cards rather than timing chips and staggered start......same as the Flanders sportif actually).

The scenery was fantastic..............well what we could make out of it............it poured with rain for 4 hours around Bastogne and we got caught out as it was warm and dry when we left Liege at 5am - make sure you watch the local weather forecast the day before (we didn't :x ). It was so bad that we were seriously thinking of catching the train back from Bastogne as we were all frozen being dressed incorrectly.

The route was good although there was an off-road section through some woods on a gravel track that wasn't mentioned in the pre-ride info - I think it was temporary just for that year to avoid a road closure, but I'm glad I had to heavier tyres on as there were loads of punctures as you can imagine.

Nack

Thanks for that Bronzie - did you do the 250 km route?

I am just a little worried about how we're going to feed ourselves during what looks like a 10 - 11 hour stint on the bike! I know that there will be five food stops for the 250k route but they usually only give you waffles and bananas and I don't really fancy eating that all day! Unless we indulge ourselves with frites & mayo, but I'm not sure if that's gonna help us with the climbing...

Any tips & advice would be gratefully received...

Bronzie

Nack wrote:

Thanks for that Bronzie - did you do the 250 km route?

Yes.

The feed stops were pretty well stocked with a variety of stuff, but certainly not frites! You'd have to look out for a cafe along the route for that sort of thing.

The control at Bastogne was by a supermarket were we sat and had a coffee...........and got even more freezing cold than we were already! :roll:

weeve

decided to go - got a night in the fomule 1 motel in liege night before so can start earliesh. have to register on day/day before though as didnt get round to it. Might go in a british cycling top I got off ebay in the event any other brits are there are want to drag me along. (please) - first sportive of the season as have been recovering from knee surgery so 250km should be a perfect warn up ...ahem....I'll be in bits

Nack

Good job the weather forecast is ok for this Sunday!

I will be on the lookout for British cycling tops - if you see two guys struggling up the hills on Spesh Roubaix bikes that will be us!

Best of luck for Sunday!

weeve

cool - actually might not do the british top thing. Tried it on last night and looked a right wanxxxr but also cant zip it right down if gets hot (which Im hoping it will - its pixsing down here right now) - so it'll be probikekit black and white or similar tones in assosI. Anyway ...hope to start just around 6 if I can get somewhere to park (any ideas?) and I'll be on a grey cervelo soloist team...also struggling up hills trying to get on anyones wheel I can Considered shaving the legs as apparently that makes you go faster ...but decided against it as Belgium grandpas are going to zoom past taking the micky. oh and I'll be cycling as nobby no mates as the mrs is home in sweden. maybe see you there with the other 7000 !

weeve

Can recommend this sportive to anyone. well organised loads of drink/food/people/ The scenery would have been nice but had the head down for the whole thing chasing some venetian italian italian cycle club wheels .... Nack - obviously didnt see you in the crowds (I dont think I looked up!) ..but hope you enjoyed it....

Monty Dog

Did it for the third time yesterday with a couple of mates. The weather was fair and no thunderstorms like 2 years ago. 240k and 4500m of climbing makes it easily as tough as many Alpine events. 1km of 20% at 200km up LaRedoute is a real leg-tester. For 13 Euros it's great value comparison to many over-priced UK events and few numbtie drivers and no 4x4s to contend with. My freehub packed up at 10km and glad to see the Mavic car who happily lent me a wheel - bimbled round in 10 hours - long way off my 6.5 hour blast in 2004!

Nack

Nack - obviously didnt see you in the crowds

I am not surprised, with close to 8000 riders around! I had a great time, we went round in 9h30 riding time taking it very easy - really impressed we finished it at all actually considering my mate had only ridden about 500 miles this year! We had to stop for a flat but other than that found the route very scenic and the food stops well stocked (a bit fed up with the waffles on the 5th foodstop though!). Liked the final third of the course the most - the Cote de Wanne was superb!

Funny you mention the venetian riders as I remember drafting a group of Italian Pinarello afficionados on the first climb which must have been the same riders. The climbs were hard but to be honest I was preparing myself for something a lot tougher, we spoke to several riders who told us to save our legs for the Redoute but I remember doing a lot tougher climbs in the UK - Dartmeet in Dartmoor for instance - so I was 'slightly' disappointed!!!

One thing I will say which did spoil the day slightly was how inconsiderate/dangerous some of the riders were when overtaking and while descending - Belgians do seem to enjoy overtaking others giving them a couple of inches only... Did anyone see the two crashes on the side of the road, one with an head injury and his helmet smashed to pieces ?!

Oh, and another thing which we did find funny, did anyone notice the large proportion of people peeing on the side of the road (or AT a food stop) and showing their penises rather shamelessly ?? :shock:

I might do the (less popular) Géants des Ardennes event later on this year (23 August) if anybody's interested:
http://www.sport.be/cyclingtour/lesgean ... s/2009/fr/

weeve

All good- for me it took 7:45 incl circa 30 mins of food/and ..er.. comfort brakes - I think I may have been one of those shameless pissers with my cxck out you mention though- was drinking that nasty isostar or whatever its called they handed out like it was going out of fashion in order not to bomb..it went straight through (about 10 times I think!)

Was quite pleased with the time - had to drive back after so didnt want to collapse at the end 100% worn out - had my usual excuses ready for not exactly breaking any records - a) Im shite, b) Im 39, c) work sucks the life out of me and d) I had 3.5 hrs sleep the night before e) I was on my winter bike. Best though was my knees didnt explode which as this was my first ever sportive and Ive only cycled 2000km on the flat in the last 19 months (all since xmas as spent last year on sidelines after buying my first ever road bike a month before and then having double knee surgery after a training "incident" ...).

Most importantly though it was great to be in amongst lots of others doing the same stuff - often its just me or me and the Mrs riding together over here although you see lots of others out and about and it was good to see everyone toiling away... was real impressed with a couple of french blokes on their gold taped bars/Look 595's - absolutely flying - must have been around in about 4/5 hours...

Funny you mention the hills though..have to agree..too be honest felt I was going down more than up and compared to dartmoor (Devon is my home county) and compared to any of the rides up from Ashburton/Dartmeet etc it was very easy. Hardest was cycling back to the car at the top of the hill after the finish!

May do the Ardennes one you mention if Im around - should be back from work travel...will just pop down for the day again like last time. The Vuelta has four stages in NL the weekend after before it goes to Spain so that'll be good to see. (Giro and TdF here next year so if Im not redundant by then I'll be up for that too!)

Got the Vatternrunden
http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=15311099
Dartmoor cyclosportive and then the Etape in next 6-8 weeks or whatever it is...bring it on. Want a sub 10hours unassisted by a group for the Swedish 300km one so hoping for good weather and NO wind!