chung

Oh dear , get well soon George!

Sorry Charlie, not going to make this now as running really late! Have a good one & hopefully make it out next Sunday! Cheers Chung

Charlie, thats a good route! I might join but only part of as I'm still recovering :-) Hope the weather holds for Sunday! P.S Any idea on cafe option(s)? Cheers Chung

MTB ...... perfect for the Pave Sounds like a large bunch, family gig or some sort of touring party? Cheers

Thanks Iain! Sounds like you’ll have fun too come June :-) Are you taking the bike? Catch you soon! Cheers

Hurray ............. I'm back home now in Glasgow! I had the most wonderful time on/off the bike in this mini tour of Flanders of mine for the last 11 days & thank you to all the well wishes & interest in my rambling :-) To finish off, I thought I would share some numbers & thoughts on this trip! 11 Days 6 different hotels 6 different cities 3 countries 710km 2 Cyclo/Sportive No Punctures - how lucky is that! No mechanical ............ not lucky, just due to my meticulous maintenance & planning obviously :-) I am so glad I did this as I have been thinking /talking about it for the last few years, it was as good, if not better than everything I had imagine before, Belgium (Flanders specifically) is a country I really like, not only just for cycling, but I love the landscape, architecture, culture & most importantly the people. I would most definitely go back again & explore other parts! At first, I was a bit apprehensive doing this trip solo, but in the end I really enjoyed the solitude of being on my own at times. But then, I suppose I was lucky that I had great company also with the Mulholland family in the beginning & joining in with the Pave-ers at the end, which meant I had lots of familiar face through out. Not to mention, Phil Malcolm in the middle :-) of the trip, so I thank all of them for that! Before I left Lille, Paul was talking about doing the "Amstel Gold" Sportive (the day before the Pro race) it sounds great & it's usually on the weekend after Roubaix, so that's got me thinking ............ Until next time, thanks for reading & I'll see youse all out on the road very soon! Cheers Chung

Flanders Tour Day 10 Paris Roubaix Challenge 145km On the morning of the ride at my 3.15am alarm call, I made the quickest & easiest decision during this whole trip - A. Do I get up now & ride to Roubaix to catch the 5am 1 & a half hour coach transfer to the start village? or B. Do I stay in bed for 4 more hours and do the shorter version? With in 3 seconds of the alarm sounding, I was on the phone texting Paul & co to leave without me :-) Chapeau to them for sticking to the original plan! (I somehow forgotten about this ridiculously early start part of the trip :-/ I remember it was early but not that early???) I on the other hand opted for extra 4 hours :-) in my warm bed & start the day more leisurely as the shorter route starts & finish in Roubaix, I even had the time to get lost getting there & in the process hooked up with David from Spain who was lost too, we cycled / stumbled / chatted (in limited English) our way into the Velodrome for a more “friendly” start to the ride. But as soon as the horn went, a lot of them just went full gas down the road, I joined in for a wee bit but thought better of it & just eased back, as there was a strong head wind on the flats 50km ride before we hit the first secteur of Pave, but it was the 5 star full booner - Arenberg though! So, you’re basically thrown straight in at the deep end really. The previous times I did it, you won’t hit the trench until after 10 secteurs. So, for the folks who’s doing it the first time, they must be thinking “holy sh*t”! When we got there, we were surprise (then relieved) to see that they have closed the Pave part off & instead you were diverted onto the foot path. I looked over & the big stones were covered with black slippery wet soil. Maybe the organiser deemed unsafe to ride & made the decision that they did. A couple of Americans behind me said .....”what’s going on, I paid good money to ride this expletive deleted bit of road ..... I want a refund ....” :-) Eventually they let us back on the Pave about half way in, but it was extremely difficult & scary riding on those slippery & bumpy surface, I did not enjoy it at all Riding the shorter route meant, I was on my own, without the rest of the full router’s company. However, over the course of this trip, I’ve gotten use to riding solo & we tend not to say much in these Sportive situation anyway, so it wasn’t too bad. Unlike Flanders last Saturday I didn’t have the joy/entertainment of seeing young Ruairi’s heroics smashing the cobble climbs, so to preoccupy myself, I started to look at other riders numbers pinned to their backs. Like Flanders, your number also had your name on it plus your nationality too. I had brief chit-chat with guys & gals from USA, England & even a lassie from the South side of Glasgow etc :-) It was a good way to pass time on the road sections indeed! Eventually I bumped into Paul McD at I think the second last feed stops, it took him a wee while to register it was me when I stood in front of him & he looked concerned! I said everything ok? To which he reply “not really”, Paul unfortunately had a puncture earlier & afterwards his tool bottle lid came loose & all his tools/tubes where scattered around Northern France. He was worried as he only had one tyre lever & one tube left. Luckily I had 3 levers & gave him one, so off he went as I wasn’t going to try hold his wheel since he was doing his usual DA attempt pace no doubt :-) Later I found out David & Paul Leavy had punctured too, with Paul Leavy being the more “eventful” one with his tubeless set-up & recently acquired €10 pump from “Hell” made his repair a bit more “stressful” :-) I think Paul can fill you in with that :-) I’m that respect, I was lucky indeed with no real mechanical at all! Despite being 30km shorter, there’s still 19 secteur (compare to 29) of Pave to ride through, they came thick & fast. Before you know it, the last 5 star “Carrefour de L’Arbre” was in front of you, the positive on the day was that the temperature gradually got warmer & by then it was 21 degrees & sunny. So that kind of made up for the rattling pain to your hands, arms, feet, bum etc ....... basically everything hurts! There seems to be a lot of punctures this year & always sad to see - a few serious casualties with paramedics attending On the side of the road, I hope everyone was fine in the end! The final stretch before the Velodrome finish is always a bit of a mess in this event, you have hundreds of cyclist jostling for space with cars & bikes weaving through traffic into spaces. But to be fair to the local French motorists, they were very patient & understanding. I didn’t see or hear any complaints or aggressive horn, Chapeau to them too! Later we all found each other & meet up at the Velodrome where we swop stories, a few beers, fries & lying on the grass soaking up the late afternoon sun after having survived the “Hell of the North”! I personally think this will be my last time on Pave! I had such a wonderful great week in Flanders & to top it off with a great enjoyable ride with my fellow Wheelers in Roubaix, what better way to end my journey for the last 10 days! Chapeau David, Paul & Paul! Thanks again for a great few days spent with youse, its been a real pleasure! Cheers Chung

Some of my holiday snaps of Ieper :-) I feel like Michael Palin :-)

Flanders Tour Day 8 A day of sightseeing in Ieper, the famous area of WW1 battlefields, the Flander Fields Museum is well worth a visit & the daily 8pm “The Last Post Ceremony” at Menin Gate is a major event everyday! Luckily the weather was dry but still quite cold, making my walk exploring the town that much more enjoyable! Day 9 This was to be my last day in Flanders, time to cross the boarder over to France, into Lille for my final stop & doing the Paris Roubaix again for the 3rd time :-) My host Edouard kindly plotted me a route base on using the National “Fietsroute” (cycle route), based on junction points with allocated number. You basically follow the point numbers & it’s as easy as that, like joining the dots. The picture shows the top number which is the designated point, and the bottom 3 points to the direction of the next one ....... easy?! Crossed the bridge on the photo which boarders the 2 country, no frills, no hassle ....... easy! France is slightly different to Belgium in my experience, the French roads & landscape is just a bit more busier, things a little bit more closer but I still feels safe to cycle nonetheless! Lille is one busy place, but weather is good & hopefully tomorrow will continue. Cycled over to Roubaix to collect the number packs & who was standing outside the Velodrome when I came back, non other than the legendary “Lion of Flanders” Johan Museeuw on his bike! He didn’t look all that chuffed, I don’t blame him, he was surrounded by a clan of Italians taking selfies :-) I hope this is a good sign for me for tomorrow :-) I’m now waiting for the other 3 Pave-ers (DavidB, Paul Leavy & McDonald) to arrive from Brussels. Wish us luck for tomorrow ........ :-)

Paul, it’s the same one I’ve always had, I’ve got roaming, so text me as you would like in the UK :-)

Got all your emails with pdf files attached! :-) Hopefully it should be fine! See youse tomorrow night! Safe Journey Cheers Chung

2 x Paul, I sent you a phone message re “race pack” collection, please alert DavidB as well, I don’t have his mobile number! See youse tomorrow :-)

Flanders Tour Day 7 Brugge to Ieper Today I travelled to my last stop - Ieper, before heading over to France on Friday. Rather than just going South West directly from Brugge, I thought I would make a detour up to the coast & back down to add some extra km & variety onto this part of my journey. I rode through farming communities, small town, canals, coastal single carriage ways, inland dual carriage ways, coast town promenades, along side trams, dock ports etc, but one thing was constant - the friggen WIND, mostly head or cross wind too, only managed a wee tail in the beginning However, I never felt I was in any danger - cyclist (or all kind) is respected here, I lost count of the amount of times motor vehicles stopped to let me cross roads/junctions, even on busy roads. It got to a point where I actually felt embarrassed for holding them back :-/ Sorry for going on about this, but I just think personally it’s a very important factor of my reason wanting to come ride here! Why can us Brit’s be like that Anyway, my detour up to the coast took me to a very nice wee town call Da Haan, it reminds me a bit of Largs, with mostly kids, families & elderlies :-) Eventually got to Ieper a bit wet & muddy after getting caught in a wee rain storm. Luckily the owners of the guesthouse I’m staying in are cyclist too, Edouard & Stephanie got the buckets & sponge out to help me clean my bike, how good is that! Edouard also informed me that the room I’m staying in had been stayed in last year by none other than ANDREA TAFI ....... did you miss that, I’ll say it again ....... ANDREA (Lombardia, Tour of Flanders & Paris Roubaix winner) TAFI :-) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Tafi_(cyclist) (Un)fortunately the bed’s not made of Pave & the bed sheets are not the garish Mapei colours, but hopefully the magic would rub off on me, as I need all the help I can get on Saturday :-) A few images of the coastal beach & Ieper at night :-) Cheers

George, I think Dales have bike box Alan for hire! Try them & good luck! cheers

Just notice a couple of CCC pro team riders clad in bright orange (I think they’re Polish team) in my first picture ......... :-)

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 :-/

This is the real reason why I’m in Belgium :-) This is my Mecca, my pilgrimage is complete .......... now I’m going to stuff my face :-) Cheers

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

Flander Tours Day 4 & 5 Day 4 No cycling I’m afraid, not even watching the real Ronde! 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 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

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

Mark, 6 weeks to what exactly that you’re doing? Please do tell! Cheers Chung

Thanks Iain & George! By the way, over lunch - we sat next to another ex-pro Phil Anderson (Aussie legend), first non-European to wear the yellow jumper :-) Still looking lean & mean! Cheers

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! 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

Oh no ...... Paul! No worries, remember Gavin, police car chase etc. ............. just wing it :-) ..................... I thought a BC membership card can get you through anything :-) I do hope you get it sorted soon Paul! Cheers

Hello fellow Pave-ers, Less than 3 weeks to go, are you guys all prepped up & ready to rumble? :-) Hello Dr. McLean are you signed up? I can almost feel the pave rattling in me already :-) ............ Cheers Chung