Tour of Flanders - kit choice

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Comments

  • itboffin
    itboffin Posts: 20,064
    There's a huge free public car park at the back of the cycling museum or if you want something more secure you could ask the hotel Leopold if you could use (pay) to park in their underground car park opposite, we stayed there but used the free car park without issue.
    Rule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
    Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
    Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
    Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,312
    The free car park is good on any given day, although I suspect on the RVV weekend it might be on the busy side. No experience there, as when I did RVV it was still hosted in Ninove on the REAL RVV course
    left the forum March 2023
  • MrT
    MrT Posts: 260
    Mate of mine parked at the railway station last year. Although the beers not that great Kwaremont do a great glass...better than the RVV t shirt as a momento.
  • kirkee
    kirkee Posts: 369
    Ref RC856 's parking question for the early bus- I did the same ride that your doing last year and the car parks are behind the road where the coaches wait. We did a recce the day before to make sure but it was easy to park on the day. Definitely recce the route to the bus ride. We did the registering the night before all info is there. At the end of the ride you pass the official finish line then ride to the event HQ car park/your vehicle- had a group to follow thru Oudenaarde so didnt have to find my way there as it isnt that easy to find from the finish. Then again it may of been signed but by then I was happy to be lead out! +1 for the REAL route, you cant beat the Muur!
    I wish I was going again, maybe next year.....
    Caveat - I buy and ride cheap, however, I reserve the right to advise on expensive kit that I have never actually used and possibly never will
  • rc856
    rc856 Posts: 1,144
    Great :)
    Think we'll do a recce on Fri

    Cheers
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    well - having spent all that time looking at kit choice - all I've done is change the tyres to some 25mm ones (from 23mm) - I had them "in stock" anyway ...
    I'm taking the best bike as it's supposed to be nice - partly cloudy and 18°C ... which probably means it'll be pissing it down with a cold northerly wind!
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    Kit choice turned out ok ... :)

    Not quite 18°C though - so the clothing didn't reduce as intended - but I was warm enough :)

    Full carbon best bike with cheapo wheels clad with 25mm conti 4000s - ran nicely - although nothing to compare it to, so don't know if wider tyres would've worked (except I couldn't get 28mm on that bike).

    No punctures - loads around the course though - no busted spokes - saw someone else with one of those too - saw plenty of people waiting for the broom wagon.
    Congestion was the main issue - having to walk up 2 of the climbs due to too many people being there.
    One wait I think we can all appreciate is when they closed the course to help the Irish chap who died :(

    Cobbles started out fine ... but by the time we neared the end we'd had enough ;)
    We tried riding as a group, but with different capabilities it wasn't to be - it's not as though we ended up riding solo though - as there were enough others to ride with :)
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,312
    Slowbike wrote:

    Cobbles started out fine ... but by the time we neared the end we'd had enough ;)
    We tried riding as a group, but with different capabilities it wasn't to be - it's not as though we ended up riding solo though - as there were enough others to ride with :)

    Strangely, I always think the cobbles are not enough...
    Paterberg + Kobbenberg are just long queues, that's why I no longer do the RVV
    left the forum March 2023
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    Koppenburg was chokka, Paterberg was nearly ridable - would've been ridable had I been there a bit earlier.

    you're always going to get the problem of congestion when you have 16000+ riders on the course.
  • Rodrego Hernandez
    Rodrego Hernandez Posts: 1,436
    ugo.santalucia wrote:
    Slowbike wrote:

    Cobbles started out fine ... but by the time we neared the end we'd had enough ;)
    We tried riding as a group, but with different capabilities it wasn't to be - it's not as though we ended up riding solo though - as there were enough others to ride with :)

    Strangely, I always think the cobbles are not enough...
    Paterberg + Kobbenberg are just long queues, that's why I no longer do the RVV

    Certainly agree with that. The number of people trying to ride the Koppenberg and Paterberg and jus trailing only made it worse for everyone capable of riding. I think it may become a victim of its own success, this year was the worst for congestion than ever before.
  • np1969
    np1969 Posts: 3
    Excellent event and so pleased to have done it. As already said the problems were on what should have been the two highlights - Koppenberg and Paterberg. Signs clearly say to stay to right if slow - I was and I did, but some walking in middle and on left causing more to have to stop.
    Will I go again? Yes probably, But Ugo is right that there are other events which also warrant a look and I look forward to trying them out.
  • itboffin
    itboffin Posts: 20,064
    Remember people these routes are ridable all year, yeah it's great to do the event but it's also brilliant begin able to ride the route in you're own zone at you're own pace
    Rule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
    Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
    Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
    Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.

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