Belgium spring sportives

vs4b
vs4b Posts: 257
edited November 2014 in Road general
Hi
I've been looking at the possibility of doing one of the spring classic sportives. Has anyone done any if them and if so would you like to share your impressions of them?

Comments

  • philbar72
    philbar72 Posts: 2,229
    Flanders is great fun but with 16k people doing it its a bit crammed in some area's. its a 10/10 sportive though. great fun.

    Liege bastogne liege has 6-8k go through it and it is the hardest day i've had on a bike. its also really rewarding, the scenery is nice and the climbs are all pretty tough. do the full distance if you can. its epic.
  • crikey
    crikey Posts: 362
    The Tour of Flanders/Ronde van Vlaanderen depending on how authentic you're being makes a great weekend; do the sportive on the Saturday then watch the race on the Sunday.

    The trick is to stay somewhere which is close enough to the race route to watch it pass, then scoot back to the digs to watch the finish on the telly, then make the ferry/Chunnel to make it home when you need to.

    The sportive offers 3 routes; the long full race route, the best bits and the short route. I'd say do the best bits middle route unless you really need to impress yourself, in which case there is a lot of early morning fannying about to get to the start, and you either stay near there and get an extra 45 mins in bed, or have to get a long way back at the end.

    It gets crowded. You may well not make it up the iconic climbs because of the crush rather than fitness, but I wasn't really bothered about that.

    Do go to the bike shop in Aalst; Van EyckSport. It's the best bike shop you will ever visit. Ever.
    Don't make the ride into something that occupies your whole weekend; it's just a ride.
    Don't get all excited about cobbles; they are a bit bumpy, but you won't die, nor do you need anything special to ride over them.
    Do enjoy Belgium; it's like a slightly care-worn Netherlands. Flanders in particular has a lot of similarities with the UK with the added benefit of cycle sport.

    Have at least one night drinking a respectable amount of beer and eating steak and frites or just frites.
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,317
    Next year we are doing Gent-Wevelgem... squeezed between two PRO races E4Prijs Harelbeke and the G-W for PROs

    Just saying...
    left the forum March 2023
  • durhamwasp
    durhamwasp Posts: 1,247
    Theres another thread with a lot of discussion on Flanders - it seems everyone (including us) can't recommend it enough!

    We never found it too crowded, and on the Sunday we watched the race go twice up the Kwaremont before walking to the Paterberg and watching the final circuit there and watching the big screen to follow the race in its final stages from the Paterberg to the finish... oh, and they reduced beer to €1 at that point :D
    http://www.snookcycling.wordpress.com - Reports on Cingles du Mont Ventoux, Alpe D'Huez, Galibier, Izoard, Tourmalet, Paris-Roubaix Sportive & Tour of Flanders Sportive, Amstel Gold Xperience, Vosges, C2C, WOTR routes....
  • rc856
    rc856 Posts: 1,144
    Waiting til Dec 12th for a few from my club to sign up, hopefully, for LBL.
    Guys have ridden Flanders and spoke highly of it.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,701
    Do it! RVV is great fun.

    Note that 99%of people do it for the fun though, if you want to set a good time do it the weekend before. Go ride, enjoy and soak up the atmosphere.
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    I rode in the front group of the RVV one year - it went out hard as it felt like the unofficial Flandrian club champs. The first hour was at over 40kph up towards DePanne into a headwind, followed by 50kph with a tailwind - as I'd been riding for 2 hours at 80-90%, I decided it was time to ease-up.
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • drummer
    drummer Posts: 246
    Contact Polocini Cycling pal.

    He specialises in those trips!
    chris
  • mikenetic
    mikenetic Posts: 486
    vs4b wrote:
    Hi
    I've been looking at the possibility of doing one of the spring classic sportives. Has anyone done any if them and if so would you like to share your impressions of them?

    I've done the 160km (medium) distance Liege Bastogne Liege ride twice. It's excellent. Very well organised, not crowded despite the numbers, and it loops you out into the Ardenne forest, which is very pretty. You'll still get to tackle most of the key climbs on the route. Also, the roads don't have the really narrow sectors that tend slow people up.

    The full distance is a really significant challenge. There were people coming in after dark having attempted it, with lots of 1000-yard stares on display. Plenty of people abandon the long distance and get the train back to Liege.

    It's also easy to arrange yourself, particularly if you're in London/SE. Book a hotel room early (the organised tours snap them up), and you can buy a Eurostar ticket that gives you onward travel via train to Liege.
  • Tjgoodhew
    Tjgoodhew Posts: 628
    I have booked a place on RVV and cant wait. After advice on here went for the 160km route due to the logistics. Riding on the Saturday, watching the pros on Sunday, exploring Ghent on the Monday and home on Tuesday.

    And with it falling over Easter it means only using one day of holiday !!!

    Result
    Cannondale Caad8
    Canyon Aeroad 8.0

    http://www.strava.com/athletes/goodhewt
  • shipley
    shipley Posts: 549
    I did liege Bastogne liege this year and it was the best day on a bike I have ever had. It's tough, but the Belgian drivers are very accommodating, there is a lot of climbing but some fantastic descents and the gradients are not too tough.

    I would strongly recommend it

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