Tour of Flanders sportive

AndyRubio
AndyRubio Posts: 880
edited June 2012 in Sportives/audaxes/training rides
Who's going? What route you doing?

It'll be my 4th time, 244km route. Gonna be cold and windy.
My hour on the plinth

Comments

  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,243
    It has to be cold and windy... last year it was warm and sunny... :-)
    I wouldn't do it again, especially with the new course... too many people, too many bottlenecks... this time you'll probably have to walk up the last climb, which is really annoying!
    At least last year I managed to make my way up the Muur shouting and the Bosberg was kind of rideable with a bit of zig-zag, but Koppenberg and Paterberg are just a long wall of people on foot...
    Too many riders, they should limit the entrants to 5000... 20,000 is just crazy... nice course though... i wonder if it's possible to start a couple of hours ahead of the PROs and get to Oudenaarde ahead of Cancellara and Boonen... that could be a challenge!
    left the forum March 2023
  • bobgfish
    bobgfish Posts: 545
    Doing it for my 2nd time. Last year was great. Not to many people and only had one near miss on some berg but got pushed by spectators until I’d regained my balance enough to start climbing again. I was well impressed that I made every hill last year without walking.

    This year will be colder but still sunny. In fact I think last year was the first and only day I got a tan whilst cycling.

    Is it just me or the starting location has changed? No longer in the Centre of Brugge?
    CyclingInTheLowMountainsOfSchweiz

    CyclingInTheFlatlands
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,388
    Its marked up a few days before...Real Belgians do it on the friday! ;)
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,243
    ddraver wrote:
    Its marked up a few days before...Real Belgians do it on the friday! ;)

    And I symphatise... I did a little tour of the saucy bits on the friday ahead of the event... I much prefer the Paris-Roubaix in June... less people on the roads, quicker feeding zones, no crazy concrete cycling paths with enforcing officers...
    Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the RVV and the course is fantastic, but it's best done on a quieter day, especially if you plan to do it with friends... it's easy to lose your mates in the chaos
    left the forum March 2023
  • AndyRubio
    AndyRubio Posts: 880
    All set!

    542174_10150750041285656_743175655_11950219_26404797_n.jpg
    My hour on the plinth
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,243
    How was it? Paterberg rideable or a long queue?
    left the forum March 2023
  • bobgfish
    bobgfish Posts: 545
    It was all rideable. As long as you yelled loud enough to clear a line and saved some enrgy to speed up and slow down when required to miss the walkers. The course was not as good as last year. Still happy with my 7:45 for the full course.
    CyclingInTheLowMountainsOfSchweiz

    CyclingInTheFlatlands
  • TheStone
    TheStone Posts: 2,291
    AndyRubio wrote:
    All set!

    How do you always get such good numbers?

    I went with the much easier Omloop option this year. More beer, less pain.

    Flanders/Marmotte double next year ... maybe.
    exercise.png
  • CYCLESPORT1
    CYCLESPORT1 Posts: 471
    One of our lads this year
    jackflandes.jpg
  • domcarr
    domcarr Posts: 85
    Chaps, anyone know dates for Paris-Roubaix, L-B-L and the RVV in 2013? And where I can enter?? Thanks
  • bobgfish
    bobgfish Posts: 545
    None will be open yet for entry. Watch closer to Jan. They are generally the day before the pros race. That is except for Paris Roubaix which was a week. This meant doing RVV on Sat and Paris Roubaix on Sunday. That was a nice 410km in a weekend for me. The websites are here...

    http://sport.be.msn.com/cyclingtour/rondevanvlaanderen/2012/eng/
    http://www.parisroubaixchallenge.com/us/homepage.html
    http://sport.be.msn.com/lblcyclo/2012/fr/

    LBL was definitely the hardest (The weather was horrifc) and PR was the most fun but also quite difficult. I found RVV very easy this year.
    CyclingInTheLowMountainsOfSchweiz

    CyclingInTheFlatlands

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