RVV: a peculiarly English view of Flanders
After the ride ... a load of cobblers
Want to ride the Ronde van Vlaanderen? Fancy tasting a slice of riding like the professionals? Paul and I rode the 155km version of the Tour of Flanders on a cold, wet and windy Saturday and, I have to admit, it wasn’t the hell that I expected. We survived to tell the tale, a little shaken, perhaps, but quite stirred by the experience. We set off from Ninove at about 8am and it wasn’t long before it began to rain intermittently. The first 50km were flat and fast, and we covered the distance comfortably in two hours. It was at about this time that the sun finally put in an appearance, and stayed with us for the rest of the next 20 minutes. The cold and wet were what worried me most but because we kept a good pace, we stayed warm enough. It is, ultimately, the cobbles that are most to be feared.
Shaken up, but only slightly stirred
The first time we hit cobbles we were moving quite fast. Rapidly we lost momentum as our teeth took a jolly good rattling. Riding on cobbles is no fun. Extremely uncomfortable, in fact, and there is no right or wrong way to ride – hold the handlebars loosely and you lose control, hold too tight and it’s like hanging on to a jackhammer. I wouldn’t be surprised if riders here suffer vibration white finger.
Our first climb was on tarmac, and was easy enough, but the second was the dreaded Koppenberg, a 925 metre climb on muddy, slippery pave with a maximum gradient of 14.5%. To tell the truth, I did climb off and push a bit on this climb, as well as the fourth of the 14 “cols”, but I did manage to ride the rest. Most pleasing was that I made it up the penultimate climb, the heart-stopping Muur-Kapelmuur, where many riders slipped and fell on the steep, wet cobbles. Paul made all the climbs without a foot touching the ground, and was doubly pleased the following day to see some professionals pushing. We finished the ride in about 7.5 hours, including 50 minutes of stopping for food, drink and checkpoints. We were hungry and ready for some Belgian beer, but otherwise none the worse for wear. In fact, the only casualty was my cycle computer, which gave up the ghost at 100km, a victim of the wet wet wetness.
So, you still want to ride? I have three pieces of advice:
1. Don’t do it if it is raining. If it’s wet, head for the nearest pub and watch the event on television while enjoying the fine selection of beer that is on offer.
2. If you must do it, ride a mountain bike with front suspension and road tyres. (If you want full suspension, you’re a cissy and should be doing the off-road event.)
3. Don’t give in to the roadie style mafia: take a backpack or Camelbak and go prepared for all eventualities. You will, after all, be on the road for anything up to 12 hours if you do the 250km route.