Ronde Van Vlaanderen 2011

John.T

I can not think of any suitable roads locally but with the state of most of them at the moment I don't think you should worry too much. I just used my normal bike, Trek 5200 with Rolf Sestriere wheels, but fitted 25mm Conti GP4000. The only place I had problems was on a long gently rising section of parve through one of the villages. I can not remember the name. This was made worse by starting to eat a sandwich just before entering it. It took the full length to get it down.
Try to go a few days early so you can ride the proper route up the Mur, without all the jams. When I rode we did a loop round Geraardsbergen and picked up the Mur closer to the top.

FransJacques

John.T wrote:

You do have to use the cycle paths on the main roads and there were bottlenecks at the feeds and entering Geraadsbergen. The Mur was pretty bad as well. I am glad I went and rode it on the Thursday when it was empty. It is almost imposible to treat it like a race but it is a good ride.

yes you do actually, they go ape sheit if there's a cycle lane beside a road and you're on the road. they don't care if there's 1000 cyclists trying to squeeze down it. it's the law. they were taking numbers but I can't see the point of that. my buddy got stopped for going through a red light that a police officer actually directed him through. it's mayhem, or can be. for a lot of belgians, esp last year after a bad winter, it was their first day on the bike all year.

i'm going to do the long one again 10 years after doing it. should be easier now that I'm older and like the longer distances better than the short sharp stuff.

25 (front) and 28mm (rear) tyres are key just for the comfort factor. i hope it doesn't rain but that's like hoping water isn't wet or the etape isn't blistering hot.

Ugo, are you guys still organizing your prep rides in the Chilterns?

ugo.santalucia

FransJacques wrote:

John.T wrote:

You do have to use the cycle paths on the main roads and there were bottlenecks at the feeds and entering Geraadsbergen. The Mur was pretty bad as well. I am glad I went and rode it on the Thursday when it was empty. It is almost imposible to treat it like a race but it is a good ride.

yes you do actually, they go ape sheit if there's a cycle lane beside a road and you're on the road. they don't care if there's 1000 cyclists trying to squeeze down it. it's the law. they were taking numbers but I can't see the point of that. my buddy got stopped for going through a red light that a police officer actually directed him through. it's mayhem, or can be. for a lot of belgians, esp last year after a bad winter, it was their first day on the bike all year.

i'm going to do the long one again 10 years after doing it. should be easier now that I'm older and like the longer distances better than the short sharp stuff.

25 (front) and 28mm (rear) tyres are key just for the comfort factor. i hope it doesn't rain but that's like hoping water isn't wet or the etape isn't blistering hot.

Ugo, are you guys still organizing your prep rides in the Chilterns?

I think we will do a couple of rough rides, probably in late february/March... there's nothing round here to replicate the muurs though... the best way I've found is taking a 10-15% climb slighty overgeared and stick to the saddle