chung

Five of us met at the Clubroom this morning - Alex, John, Martin, Scott & myself set off optimistically looking for the sun :-) Instead we got a constant drizzle throughout, but no matter, the company & the spirit made up for it! Quick cafe stop in Kilmalcolm, where we bumped into Alan & Ross who was out earlier & already enjoying a big breakfast as we sat down! After that we all headed home nice & early to earn extra brownie points since it seems like we’ve all been spending a small fortune on new bikes recently :-) Kudos to Martin for grinding up those steep hills with a massive 39-18 gear on his hastily build up steel is real winter bike, big up! Thanks again for the company & wheels chaps! Hope to see youse on Friday at Amaretto! Cheers

Martin, is that Freddy Maertens inbetween you & Mark? Awesome! Here’s mine, just to get into the spirit of things :-)

Darryl, is that Kenny Christie next to you on the Kapelmuur? Love all the photos .................. man, everyone looks so young :-) .......... Even Mulholland

Haha ........ sorry to disappoint you guys, but the view at the Red Bull stop have somewhat changed ....... :-) at least last years anyway!

Glen, welcome onto the righteous path of the cobbles/pave ........... your journey to cycling immortality begins here ......... or it could easily be the end too! :-)

Iain, I think there is a minimum number for a group/club entry & don't think 4-5 counts ................. I might be wrong though!

Hi All, Just looking at the current weather forecast for Sunday, it doesn't look very promising though However, I still fancy heading for a wee pedal even if a bit damp, maybe not too far from home then. So, was thinking maybe a shorter run - Meet at clubroom for 9.30am, head down to Bishopton via GT road, over to the back roads of Langbank, coming out of top of the Clune, then heads toward & climb "the Wall", back out onto the top of the Whin then head back to Johnstone ......... not really thinking of a cafe stop ( shock bloody horror ) or it depends on how wet it will be. The route is a bit like the 1st Reliability Run really, except avoiding the Westferry part! http://www.mapmyride.com/gb/elderslie-sct/reliability-no-1-tour-of-the-shire-route-1730016 Company welcome! Cheers Chung

The full route is 229km with the first 50 mostly on segregated cycle path as far as you can remember (well, at least from the Brugg start anyway) - You're right, it is rather monotonous but one gets to see/experience/enjoy :-) the typical Flandrian landscape ............... I somehow thought it wasn't bad at all & it went by fairly quickly. However, I signed up initially with the view to help lend a hand in "shepherding" (more like sucking their wheels) the Jets around, plus I don't really fancy getting up in god forsaken hours to catch the shuttle to Antwerp :-/ ........ hence I'm going for the 174km route! :-) Either route will have all the climbs & cobble sections anyway, so ........ your choice really, Iain!

Iain & the rest, pretty sure it's this one: http://www.werideflanders.com/nl/# Good luck!

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssssss!

Yaaaaaaaaas!

Iain, the bunk house we're going to be staying in (which already have been booked) sleeps more than 30, at the moment (excluding Glen's car + riders) we have 16 total of Jets + parents. Therefore, plenty of room left, as Martin said earlier, approx. £100 per person for 2 nights as it stands, but the more people staying, the cheaper it will be per head! Hope that makes sense!

Sh*t, I was going to take my mine over this time, in that case I better not as that might be jinxed

Oudenaarde is the start & finish town for the 174km route, also our digs are approx. 10km or so from there :-) You also have the Tour of Flanders Museum in Oudenaarde which is well worth a wee visit too, but you need to brush up on your Belgium/Flemish as the exhibits are all non English :-0

Just to maybe give the others a heads up, George: http://www.werideflanders.com/nl/# https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_of_Flanders https://www.cyclist.co.uk/in-depth/976/tour-of-flanders-route-riders-sportive-and-all-you-need-to-know https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oudenaarde Enjoy!

Glen, just to be clear, is that £500 total for everything per head based on 4 sharing a car but without beer money?

Iain, it would be great to see you smashing the cobbles again! Ah ......the Koppenberg, yes - it's always a bugger to keep going when all around you people are falling one by one, this doesn't help by the fact that it's narrow & almost always slippery I went up the Koppenberg on 3 separate occasion, but have only managed ONCE without un-clipping & that was because I did it on a normal day, not the event it self Don't matter, you've always got the Kapelmuur to look forward to. It wasn't on the route when you did it back in 2016 :-) .............. this one is a cracker too with the wall of spectator shouting in your face ............ almost like the pros :-) Hope to see you on board the "Pride of York" next April Cheers

Haha ..... you know what they say ...... “if it doesn’t kill you, it .....” & all that :-)

Looks good to me Colin, let’s go with that! 9.30am start for the benefit of the far-flung members (...... Andy etc) Cheers

Looks like Kenny McDonald (Honorary life President) is on board the Flanders Convoy too now!

Charlie, I’ll post something later! I’m off to Fife the now for some late drop off, so will try & post a route later on tonight & if not definitely tomorrow morning :-/ But I’m the meantime, if anybody have something in mind, post away please! Cheers Chung

I’m hooking up with Gerard in Erskine & then cycle to Gourock, so will meet everyone at the ferry or on route to it! Remember to get your ferry tickets at the shop rather than on the ferry, it’s much cheaper! See you all tomorrow Cheers Chung Shame Colin, hope you & Glen get well soon!

Aye, I'll be there & there about, Gerard! Weather looking alright :-)

Looks like this is on now ......... this Sunday 18th Nov. Taken from FB thanks to Richard Cheers

Don’t be silly Davie! I somehow enjoyed it ...... :-) like I said to you earlier, sometimes it’s refreshing to pedal in complete wetness :-) If you want to feel less guilty, then come with us to the Drum-up next Sunday, I’ll promise you sunshine! Thanks for the run & company today gents ......... and Andy’s large banana :-) Cheers