Ronde Van Vlaanderen Sportive 2013

Dougall

Seriously considering doing this next spring.

Has anyone ridden it previously?
Bike wise I'm sorted (Scott CR1) just need to sort wheels nearer the time & add 25 or 28c tyres.
Also can anyone recommend any of the bike tour companies to go with or to avoid?

TIA

gavcsmith

Hi i did it this year, wouldn't do the full ride, do the middle one as it is pretty flat till the last 80kms where the cobbles etc start. Did 10 weeks of training and completed in 6.30. For your bike put on 25mm tires, tighten everything thing up and have fun it is a great day and well organised event

Don't need a tour group, just took Eurotunnel over, stayed in a campsite near the ride which had caravan's.. All easy and pretty cheap.

gavcsmith

Hi i did it this year, wouldn't do the full ride, do the middle one as it is pretty flat till the last 80kms where the cobbles etc start. Did 10 weeks of training and completed in 6.30. For your bike put on 25mm tires, tighten everything thing up and have fun it is a great day and well organised event

Don't need a tour group, just took Eurotunnel over, stayed in a campsite near the ride which had caravan's.. All easy and pretty cheap.

Dougall

Thanks Gav.

Might check that option out re eurostar & camping. Don't think I'd be capable of doing the full distance so was looking at the 140km option.

Beatmaker

I did it back in 2004 and keep meaning to return, hopefully 2013 will be the year as its a fantastic event. We took he ferry over and stayed in a hotel in Ninove. I think all in the whole trip cost me around £200, and a LOT of that was beer!

Paul Gannon

6th April in 2013? Usually the 1st Saturday, really looking forward to this.

gsk82

There's a few guys at my club (vc Beverley) looking to go, including me. I've not done it before and to be honest im more bothered about watching the pro race than doing the sportive.

We'll be getting a ferry, I vote Dover to Dunkirk others says hull to Bruges, and either camping of hotelling.

blim

Hi Dougall

Do it - once the pain has subsided, you won't regret it. And stick around for the pro race on the Sunday: Ronde day in Flanders is an atmosphere every bike fan should savour.

I did it in 2010 and am doing next year's too: it's on Saturday 30th March. I'm going with Graham Baxter/Sports Tours who I know have had some stick over their Etape trips, but they've got their Classics trips nailed. I went with them last time and they were fine. Cost for next year is around £360 i think (not including sportive entry). You can do it cheaper yourself but I'm in Scotland, so petrol etc. would add up to about the same anyway.

The middle length is a good enough test - has all the climbs and cobbles you need. I went with 23mm tyres back and front last time and survived. Good tip is a metal bottle cage: you wouldn't believe the number of bidons that litter the verges around the cobbled sections, popped out of carbon/plastic cages. And padded gloves or double-wrapped bar tape: last time, the Paddestraat took a layer of skin off my hand within 5 minutes.

FoldingJoe

Anybody know where you can book just the entry to the Sportive, online?

blim

Last year, registration opened in November.

http://www.rondevanvlaanderen.com- still showing 2012 info

TheStone

How did the 2012 sportive work with the route changes?
It's sort of 3 laps at the end now. Did the sportive do the same?

blim

Hopefully someone who was there this year can confirm, but I'm pretty sure that they altered the route so that it was no longer an exact replication of the pro race.

Because of the likelihood of logjams & confusion if they did 3 laps of the Paterberg/Koppenberg/Oude Kwaremont, they took in some alternative bergs that weren't on the pro route, before there was a single attempt at the final 3 hills.

Compare:

cyclo: http://sport.be.msn.com/cyclingtour/rondevanvlaanderen/2012/downloads/parcourscyclo.pdf

pro: http://rvv.pro.p.assets.flandersclassics.be/files/525/original/rvv2012-elite-men-map-profile.pdf

ugo.santalucia

Nice atmosphere, beautiful course... too many cyclists. When I did it in 2011, we were 20,000. The key climbs were clogged, which did spoil the day a bit.... luckily I had done those roads before, so I had already experienced the Paterberg and Koppenberg...
The new route cuts off the legendary Kapel muur at Geraardsbergen, which was half of the reason to ride the RVV. Even so, it's still a very beautiful course... provided you are not forced to walk up the cobbles

hatone

The amount of people who enter the RVV puts me off.

You might want to look at the Liege-Bastogne-Liege sportive, the day before the Pros tackle the course. I'm intending to do it next year.

Riding across the Ardennes and back sounds like fun, without repeating loops or riding the same sections.

blim

Registrations start next month for RVV 2013. This from the http://www.rondevanvlaanderen.com News page in Dutch:

Vanaf begin november kan je je hier inschrijven

"You can register here from the start of November", if my Dutch is correct.

durhamwasp

Dont go with a tour mate, do it on your own - very cheap using ferry or eurotunnel (with Tesco points if u collect) and then a campsite. Its not more than 90mins from Dunkirk/Dover to somewhere nearby the start. I reckon you could do the whole lot for less than £200, particularly if you find somebody to share the car and accomodation with.

For what its worth, personally i havent and wouldnt do the sportive - too many people (having seen videos and photos of it and the climbs). We did the route on our own another weekend, when the climbs were empty and you could test yourself to see if you could get up them! (2 of our 5 got up the Kopperberg - the 3 who didnt was due to the cobbles rather than it being too steep!)

kirkee

Im a fan the RVV. Been over 3 times and did the full distance sportive, loved it every time. The first time in 2002 I did it with grayham baxter sporting Tours with a group of mates and it worked out well, not too pricey at the time. The other times 04 and 05 we went across off our own arangments and they were awesome weekends too. I dont know if the Grayham Baxters tours are still running but id say book it on your own as its fairly easy online with loads of hotels as long as you book in advance. You may get lucky as we were one year as we got in the same hotel as Aqua Sapone team were staying in and it was bike spotters heaven! I have no experience of the new route but I used to try to get the hotel as close to Ninove(old finish) as pos get to the start early and get on the coach to Brugges you will get somewhere to park if your early enough. Then at the end ride to the car or hotel if its near enough to the finish. Try to stay to see the pros race, have a few too many hotdogs and Jupilers and travel back on the monday with hangover if pos.

Id say do the full route as the whole thing is an experience from the coach ride to Brugges, massive peletons on the flats for about 160km on the way to the cobbles and hills with the odd rider dissapearing into ditches to the sound of cheering from the other riders! Then the cobbles/hills start. Feed stops were ok, and the routes and organisation was generaly well done. My advice is based on what I new from 7 plus years back, I know its more popular now and the routes changed a bit.

The route finishes in Oudenaarde now so i guess the same will apply? Coach to brugge from there. So hotel as near to Oudenaarde as pos Id say would be the way to go. Id like to go next year, never say never.

Beatmaker

Paul Gannon wrote:

6th April in 2013? Usually the 1st Saturday, really looking forward to this.

Where did you get this information? Website says 31st March 2013.

colinsmith123

Website link to the Ronde van Vlaanderen 2013

http://sport.be.msn.com/rondevanvlaanderen/2013/eng/inschrijven/

saprkzz

I have paid and registered for this and was told by the wife it clashes with a family holiday!! DOH!! Maybe next year

ugo.santalucia

saprkzz wrote:

I have paid and registered for this and was told by the wife it clashes with a family holiday!! DOH!! Maybe next year

Pass on the family holiday and face divorce if necessary...

blim

Parcours for the sportive to be released soon. Organisers say it'll stick closer to the pro route than last year's did.

ratsbeyfus

saprkzz wrote:

I have paid and registered for this and was told by the wife it clashes with a family holiday!! DOH!! Maybe next year

Next year, do what I did, and combine it with a family holiday! Mrs Rats is looking forward to a lovely shopping weekend in Bruges, Boy Rat gets to see Boonen, and Girl Rat will be bored and moan a lot I imagine.

gsk82

has anyone else done the 140k route before and stayed in bruges? i'm wondering what the best way to get to the start/finish is. i'll have my car with me.

Intherain

Let me know if you work that out GSK, I am doing the same thing this year, have car with me and will be driving from Ghent to Oudenaarde for the start of the 140k sportive.

Really looking forward to it, first time doing the RVV Sportive and the route looks great. Think they have over 14,0000 entries so far so should sell out at 16,000.

gsk82

Can anyone who's ridden this before remember if they used their top gears much? I was about to put a compact chainset on but decided against it due to cost. I'm now thinking of a 13-29 cassette (campag) just for this ride but id have no top end. I currently have 39/53 and 11-25 and am worried about getting up soggy cobbles.

blim

In 2010 I only used my top gears - I should add that I have a triple - after the Bosberg, for the run in to Ninove. Different end to the route this time of course...

The triple's smallest gears were useful for spinning up the asphalt climbs like Berendries but slightly bigger ones required for the cobbled hills.

blim

Two weeks to go: how's everyone's training coming on? Weather has hampered mine but should hopefully be ready (touches large piece of wood)

Pumpkin Positive

blim wrote:

Two weeks to go: how's everyone's training coming on? Weather has hampered mine but should hopefully be ready (touches large piece of wood)

Can't wait!

Been out for longish rides most weekends throughout the winter (1300km since Xmas) so reasonably happy with my condition at the moment. But I've never ridden on cobbles so I'm debating whether I should take my CX bike with 28mm slicks or my Madone on 23mm GP4000's. I'm a big bloke and I break spokes every so often and don't want a broken spoke to spoil my day.

I'm hanging around for the pro race on Sunday - any ideas on where might be a good spot to watch? We're camping at Oudenaarde.

Pumpkin Positive

Is there a GPX file I can download for the 133km route anywhere?

neil²

So, it's coming soon...Any final tips?

I'm riding it with two of my kids and looking forward to a day out on the bikes. Does anyone know if there is a cutoff at all on the timing at the finish?

Any words of wisdom on watching the pros?