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


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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

 

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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 ........ :-)

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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
 

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Hurray ............. I'm back home now in Glasgow! Ohyadancer!

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

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Chung, I've really enjoyed your excellent comprehensive and descriptive reports, with photos from along the way on this very 'full on' trip/adventure.....thanks for sharing these memorable moments! And well done to all JWCC classics riders over the past weekend too!

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4 hours ago, Iain67 said:

Brilliant Chung, what an adventure and glad you're back in one piece. Commentary has been brilliant and totally jealous of your trip. I am doing WW1 battle fields in Jun, so maybe catch up for some tips of where to go. catch up soon pal 

Thanks Iain!

Sounds like you’ll have fun too come June :-)

Are you taking the bike?

Catch you soon!

Cheers

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2 hours ago, Iain67 said:

yeah chung there are about 10 of us cycling. Unfortunately mountain bikes mate 

MTB ...... perfect for the Pave ;-)

Sounds like a large bunch, family gig or some sort of touring party?

Cheers

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