Flanders 2015

ic.

Does anyone have any advice for watching the next day? Ideally I'd like to view at Oude Kwaremont.

Has ay tried this before? I 'm wondering if it's best to park near and walk to the area, or park further away then ride in. I've heard there are bike parks near, are they safe? Do bikes get stolen? If we go with parking close it means leaving bikes in the car, which is equally an issue with bike being stolen I guess. (Check my sig to see why I'm paranoid about this!)

Any advice from people who've done either or similar would be appreciated. Cheers.

gsk82

Hi IC

A couple fo years ago we watched at Oude Kwaremont. We drove to Ronse train station and parked there for free, then got the free shuttle bus and just got off at the same time as everyone else. This year we'll be doing the same but may head to Paterberg if we're early enough. There was plenty of room near the top of Oude Kwaremont, near the big screen and food stalls. Ronse is also very easy to get away from if you're heading back to the channel ports.

durhamwasp

Last year we did the sportive, and on the Sunday watched the womens and mens events. You could take a free shuttle bus from where the Sportive starts (Qubus) and drops you off at several places including Kwaremont. We watched it for awhile there, then walked to the Paterberg (about 20-25min) for the final loop. There was a fans park near Kwaremont, and at Paterberg a big screen with beer tents.

Shuttle bus then took us back to Oudenaarde afterward.

ic.

Great advice so far, thank you both

freebs

Time for me to get involved! I'm staying in Ghent and see you can get a train to Bruges on the Saturday morning for about 0700hrs. Does anyone have any experience of this? Will I need to book ahead for me and the bike or just buy a ticket on the day? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance! Freebs.

durhamwasp

Not sure about the train, but I read there were peletons of cyclists heading out of Gent to Oudenaarde on the morning of the sportive last year!

Tjgoodhew

durhamwasp wrote:

Not sure about the train, but I read there were peletons of cyclists heading out of Gent to Oudenaarde on the morning of the sportive last year!

Excellent - i will be doing exactly this. Im guessing most ride along the canal path which seems to go pretty much all the way to the start ?

durhamwasp

Yep, I'm pretty sure that's the route they were on.

ic.

Profile of the medium route

Tjgoodhew

Im already getting a little scared of the Koppenberg. I rode a simialr hill in the UK on Friday and it was tough but got up it pretty well. It wasnt cobbled tho........

On another note - where would be the best place for spectators to go. My OH and family will be getting the train down from Ghent. Im thinking a walk to the Kopppenberg and then back to meet me at the finish ?

disgruntledgoat

Tjgoodhew wrote:

Im already getting a little scared of the Koppenberg. I rode a simialr hill in the UK on Friday and it was tough but got up it pretty well. It wasnt cobbled tho........

On another note - where would be the best place for spectators to go. My OH and family will be getting the train down from Ghent. Im thinking a walk to the Kopppenberg and then back to meet me at the finish ?

Koppenberg is a good 5 miles from the finish and another 1 from the station in Oudenaarde. The local bus company do free buses from the station to the Kwaremont and Paterberg however

disgruntledgoat

Also, the organiser charged me twice by accident, refunded one but didn't cancel the second entry, consequently I have one going begging for free if anyone wants it? If you're not mental, I can also put somebody up here in Gent and provide a loft back from the finish

davep123

disgruntledgoat wrote:

Also, the organiser charged me twice by accident, refunded one but didn't cancel the second entry, consequently I have one going begging for free if anyone wants it? If you're not mental, I can also put somebody up here in Gent and provide a loft back from the finish

I would love this if you still have it!!! Please
Cheers

MrT

Really quite excited about this now.....swapping plastic to metal cages.....getting some Schwalbe Duranos 25... I'm sure I'd read that front lights are compulsory....for the longer routers is it worth meeting in Brugge Markt at a set time.....say under the tower or near quick burger etc the BR peloton.....bound to splinter but might be a blast to start with?

ralasdair

Random question, as this seems to be the thread for it.

I'm thinking about a last-minute hop over to Belgium, as my plans for Easter Weekend have fallen through. I want to go and see the race on Sunday, but also fancy a bit of an ride on Saturday. Is the entire of the Sportive route closed off?

I guess what I'm asking is, if I fancy doing a fairly easy 50 mile buzz from the hotel to have a look at the race area on Saturday, maybe go up one or two of the bergs, is that likely to be workable, or am I going to be chased off the road by people who've paid/stewards, etc?

Before anyone tells me off - I know, if I want to ride a sportive, I should sign up and pay, etc. Normally I would, but I'm not intending to tick off every berg or take advantage of the stewarding or support everyone else has paid for - I just want to know if I'm riding in the area anyway, whether the sportive is going to make it impossible.

buckmulligan

I'd say you're likely to get booted off the course. I'm not sure how zealous the marshals are with that kind of thing, but there are a lot of them and (in fairness) it is a closed roads sportive, so they do have the right to do so.

I'm not sure if/how transferable entries are (I can't remember if you need to show ID at check-in?) but you can probably pick one up somewhere out there if you're going to be there anyway.

FJS

BuckMulligan wrote:

I'd say you're likely to get booted off the course. I'm not sure how zealous the marshals are with that kind of thing, but there are a lot of them and (in fairness) it is a closed roads sportive, so they do have the right to do so.

I'm not sure if/how transferable entries are (I can't remember if you need to show ID at check-in?) but you can probably pick one up somewhere out there if you're going to be there anyway.

It's not a closed roads sportive. It's open roads. I think i can remember reading they wanted to crack down on riders riding the whole route without paying up, but guess you'll be unlikely to be booted off when just riding around in the areas. Some of the most famous bergs, such as the Bosberg, Kluisberg, en of course De Muur, are not even part of the route.

durhamwasp

Its open roads, theres cars about. I see no reason why you couldn't follow much of the route, and ride the bergs. Ultimately there is no law against riding your bike on those roads, sportive or not.

Tjgoodhew

Anybody had their number via email yet ?

Pulsatingstar

Tjgoodhew wrote:

Anybody had their number via email yet ?

Yes I got mine on March 24

Tjgoodhew

Thanks - just found mine - was sitting in my junk mail

ralasdair

FJS wrote:

BuckMulligan wrote:

I'd say you're likely to get booted off the course. I'm not sure how zealous the marshals are with that kind of thing, but there are a lot of them and (in fairness) it is a closed roads sportive, so they do have the right to do so.

I'm not sure if/how transferable entries are (I can't remember if you need to show ID at check-in?) but you can probably pick one up somewhere out there if you're going to be there anyway.

It's not a closed roads sportive. It's open roads. I think i can remember reading they wanted to crack down on riders riding the whole route without paying up, but guess you'll be unlikely to be booted off when just riding around in the areas. Some of the most famous bergs, such as the Bosberg, Kluisberg, en of course De Muur, are not even part of the route.

Thanks both. Yes, I'd heard it was open roads, too. In the end, I've decided on a slightly different approach.

- Going to get the boat to Calais Friday morning, ride to Arras.
- Then Arras to Tournoi on Saturday, via the field where my Great-Grandad won a medal in 1918 and the Troue d'Arenberg/a couple of other Paris-Roubaix sectors.
- Head out to watch the race on Sunday, and overnight in Oudenaarde
- Then hit up a few bergs on the way from Oudenaarde to Lille for the train home on Monday.

Thanks for the advice!

Tjgoodhew

One final question from me - what will the Kwaremont be like on the Saturday ? Is it likely to busy and will places be open for beer, waffles etc...

durhamwasp

There was enough people on the Kwaremont, Paterberg and Koppenberg last year to make it an awesome atmosphere for the sportive riders! Pretty sure they were drinking beers too

gsk82

we've decided to only do half of the sportive route. instead we're going to miss the 2 loops at the start (and miss molenberg and paddelstratt) and head straight east to the muur van geraardsbergen and bosberg. we'll then loop back and rejoin the sportive route before koppenberg. it's only about 7 miles further than the sportive. can't wait!

jimmythecuckoo

Man that was hard...

kirkee

Had a great weekend. The ride was a real test with the cold temps and rain- shivering on the bike from start in Brugge for the first 4 - 5 hours despite wearing arm/leg warmers, windtex gilet and full rain jacket over the top. Luckily the weather cleared so it warmed up enabling the shivering to give way to feeling normal again for the rest of the km's. Sunday watched the pros and Stannards somewhat sticky bottle take at the Kruisberg!

buckmulligan

I had a good weekend, despite the inclement weather conditions on Saturday morning. The Haaghoek cobbles seemed to get rougher every time I do it!

Is it just me, or has the general standard of riding in this gone down considerably? I had quite a few incidents of people not holding their lines around corners, not being capable of riding in a straight line up hill, needlessly overtaking on the right and one guy (literally) swerving over the entire lane trying to take a drink. Initially I put it down to the early start and poor weather and gave everyone a wide berth from there on out, but it continued all day long. I appreciate that the conditions weren't great and that it's a sportive and will have people not used to riding in groups, but I probably had to take evasive action about 10 times due to poor riding.

durhamwasp

Surely with 16,000 people riding its bound to happen. Last year some of the biggest dangers I saw were the seemingly good cyclists flying about trying to dodge around everyone in sight.

gsk82

had a great weekend. great ride saturday and great weather sunday. kortrijk is certainly a good place to stop too, was far bigger and more attractive than i expected and only 20 mins from oudenaarde.

can't agree more with the comments about the standard of riding. for a country of cyclists they are unbelievably inconsiderate of other cyclists. there were people walking 5 a breast up the koppenberg when there was plenty of room at the edges where they'd be out of the way. the big tip i gave to my mate who was going for the first time was to be aware at all times otherwise you'll end up crashing in to someone who's slammed on without warning for no reason