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Touring Flanders in between riding 2 Classics .....


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Would love to do that double with you Chung. Have a blast. 

Skoda express is now booked on the Pride of York as per for the Flanders weekend. Depending on where we book our dogs we can probably pick you up and save you a few km. 

4 mulhooligans - what could possibly go wrong?

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1 hour ago, martin said:

Would love to do that double with you Chung. Have a blast. 

Skoda express is now booked on the Pride of York as per for the Flanders weekend. Depending on where we book our dogs we can probably pick you up and save you a few km. 

4 mulhooligans - what could possibly go wrong?

That is fantastic news, Mr. Mulholland Ohyadancer!

The pick-up is defo. appreciated, means I can have a longer lie in then :grin: ........ nice one!

I now have a "comfy" back seat at the Mulholland express train for the whole 173km ......... however, not sure if I can hang on to the youngster's wheel though!

Oh ....... I canna wait Hello,beer!!

Cheers

Chung

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Hi Folks,

Well, here I am in Flanders again, this will be my 4th time in 5 years & certainly will be my longest stay thus far!

Traveled from Glasgow yesterday early morning, 12 hours later I was in Brussels.

Sitting in my hotel room last night, I was thinking - why am I here?! I’m missing home already & worrying about the busy traffic outside (I’m staying just across from the Eurostar terminal & it’s not the best part of town) & if I will manage to get out of this busy city without bother :-(  All I had was my IPhones google map app & some old fashion paper map ........ I was nervous ..... & my last minute change of plan (only 2 days prior setting off) carrying 2 rear panniers instead of my original single “trunk bag” had me really worried, I only manage a wee test ride of 5 minutes around my street on Tuesday & I did not enjoy it :-( 

Needless to say, I didn’t have a very good night sleep :-/

Fortunetly, shortly after I set off from the hotel this morning, all my worries & concerns prior quickly vanished, I guess my question from the night before had been answered, once I started riding the bike, everything just felt fine  ....... great even :-) That was why I was here!

Despite the busy Brussels roads, the driving & cycle paths are just first class, I felt safe & riding with the rear panniers wasn’t that bad either!

A quick detour into Geraardsbergen was a good call & definitely the only time I would be able to stop & admire the place! The App did not show were the Kapelmuur was so I stopped & asked an auld local who understandably did not speak English, but the “Muur” is famous, he apologises & appointed straight on & left, but he did warn me though :-) - Check my Strava photo please!

The Mulholland & I had planned to meet in Oudenaarde in the afternoon so I made my way there hoping to have lunch with them. As I left Geraardsbergen, I spotted a bike shop & quickly stopped & chap the door, it was shut but the man let me in anyway, I was missing a bar tape end plug (it fell off in the a Eurostar transit) & the tape was about to come loose, not ideal for tomorrow!

Anyway, he sorted me out & as I left he told me he was a pro rider, his name was Tony Bracke & use to ride for Lotto :-) I asked him did he rode with Cadel Evans :-) maybe that’s why he thought I was Australian ..... haha!

He gave me one of his old autograph card - €7 well spent!735AA4A2-D56F-45A7-96BA-0B1C7114415A.thumb.jpeg.0ffc17c520918058c01cd04c3637d253.jpeg

Met up with the Muls & now back in my hotel, getting ready for tomorrow ......... & it’s raining outside :-/

Not to worry, I’m sure everything will be just fine when we start pedalling!

Cheers

Chung

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On 26/01/2018 at 4:33 PM, martin said:

.............

4 mulhooligans - what could possibly go wrong?

Flander Tours - Day 3

Ronde Van Vlaanderen Cyclo 173km

OK ....... where do I begin with the above question :-)

Good start to the day, Martin picked me up on time from my hotel in Nazareth (which was a good 15km away from Oudenaarde) ...... and things got interesting after that :-)

Got to the start without too much issue, getting ready & then some kind bloke pointed out to us that Martins car had a flat rear tyre, oh dear a puncture already & we haven’t even started riding :-) still, at least it wasn’t our bikes ......

Busy start understandably as Oudenaarde was the start for 3 of the km category, Antwerp being the other one for the longest ride, but all finishing in Oudenaarde.

We - Martin, Lewis, Danny, Ruairi & myself set off with our plan of staying together. I would like to point out at this point that Mul’s youngest Ruairi is only THIRTEEN years old & I was told up until yesterday, his longest ride was only 50-ish miles :-0 He was determine to break the ton today, crikey, you couldn’t have picked a harder one to do it ....... huge Chapeau!

30km in first “incident”, Danny’s knee injury flared up & was really struggling with severe pain & so Martin decided the best way to distract him was to do a somersault off his bike on one of the cobble section :-0

Luckily he got back up & was ok, but unfortunately Martin’s lovely restored Colnago came out worse, the rear drop out was crack & un-ridable. So, he rode the remaining course with Danny’s bike which was a bit too small for him, had a seized seat post & dodgy bottom bracket, while Danny headed back gingerly to the car on his Dad’s broken bike.

At this point, we were thinking of shortening the ride & go for the shorter route, but later when we got to the junction point, we had to decide!

Ruairi was determined to get his 173km & not swing denied the Kapelmuur, so we stuck to the original goal!

One berg after another & regular feed stops gone without much incident thankfully.

This year, the organiser have cleverly printed the participants name on the number, which had to be displayed on the front of everyone’s bike, that meant the cheering crowds on the climbs knew who to shout for.

Young Ruairi got the biggest cheers on the day & rightly so! It was brilliant to watch him dancing pass big tall guys with “badass” tattoos on their guns going up those bergs, it was certainly one of the highlights of my day!

Chapeau again young man!

Just before the Kwaremont, disaster struck again, it was Ruairi this time, he hit the deck when a big 7ft German guy took him down on a straight flat stretch road!

Thankfully he just dusted himself down & got back up after Martin checked that everything was fine & got back on the bike to tackle the final 2 climbs.

These Mulholland’s are made of granite :-)

But the other guy didn’t look so good, no real injury though, just really shell shocked & probably low on sugar level. Size doesn’t matter!

Finally, it was great to see the finish line in what have been the most memorable day in Belgium for me so far!

Big Thank you to the Mulholland’s for letting me tag along & witness this their epic family tradition & for the lifts to & from the hotel!

I absolutely enjoyed myself immensely today & it was a brilliant ride!

Massive Chapeau to them ...... oh, we even had a “local” Wheeler at the finish to buy us all beer - Phil Malcolm who now resides on Ghent came by to say hello & bought Martin & me a Flanders gift too, thanks big man!

Thats all for now & thanks for listening :-)

Cheers

Chung

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10 hours ago, Darryl Gunson said:

Epic stuff Chung. What an adventure. Hats off to you all, but especially to young Rhuiri. Shame about the C40 though

Was top day out. C40 probably only a sculpture now but if a bike has to go, then the haghoek is a pretty decent place to go. Besides, watching the wee man smashing the cobbles made it all worth it. 

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Flander Tours Day 4 & 5

Day 4

No cycling I’m afraid, not even watching the real Ronde! :shock:

Just a day of being a tourist & nothing bike related!

Day 5

Hooked up with Phil Malcolm & co again, for a morning coffee in Ghent, then he kept me company along the way to Brugge, my next stop for the next 2 nights. A very pleasant ride indeed, with good chat & local knowledge/custom supplied by my companion for the day, thanks Phil!

 

Its my second time in Brugge but a lot busier than I remembered it, it’s jam pack with tourist (myself included of course), and with the scenery, no wonder Phil calls it the “Disneyland” of Belgium :grin: Still, it’s a pretty town/city & it was good to be back!

I think I’ll go for another wee bike ride tomorrow :-)

Cheers

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Flanders Tour Day 6

I couldn’t resist a wee pedal this morning as the sun was out & Holland was only around the corner, I’ve never set foot on the Netherlands before so it was a good opportunity to do so!

The route from Brugge to Sluis via Damme has got to be the most beautiful cycle path I’ve ever laid my rubber on! It is pan flat with long, uninterrupted  view & the state of the surface is perfect in most places!

The tail wind on the way out was god sent & who doesn’t like it, even the cross/head wind on the way back in wasn’t too bad either, the view & comfort of no cars also helped!

Back in my B&B now enjoying a cappuccino, then get change & head out to put my tourist cap back on again :-)

Glad I went out this morning ........

Cheers

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1 hour ago, Kronos Bison said:

Love the pics & the stories, Chung.

I’m defo doing Flanders next year!

George, I’m on commission by the Flanders tourist board, bring everyone you know :-)

Here the main square in Brugge where the Ronde Race use to start the ....... up until last year :-( 

Now it’s not so cool :-/ 

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