First big sportive of the year was Tour of Flanders, or Ronde van Vlaanderen as the Belgians call it, at the start of April. One of the famous Spring Classics, it's 270km long, includes sections of cobbles, and has about 17 short but very steep hills, some of those cobbled and very tricky to negotiate, so it presents a unique challenge. The idea was to ride the cyclosportive on the Saturday, then watch the professionals ride the same course on the Sunday.
Well it turned out to be a memorable first Tour of Flanders for me. I'm glad I opted for the full 277km route and not the shorter route - 140km would have been too short and I would have wished I'd done the whole thing. The 1st 100km was definitely the easiest 100km imaginable - swept along by a big peloton in a tailwind on completely flat ground. (Not even a hint of a hill, as the land there used to be sea). My aim was to conserve enough energy to finish the whole 270km. I managed to stay with some good groups, but lost them at the feed stations. On leaving the feed stations though we all coalesced into large groups again. Running out of energy wasn't going to be a problem - honey cake, waffles and bananas were in plentiful supply washed down with apple isostar.
Things started to get a bit less fun after an hour or so of freezing rain. It was about 8C and I didn't have enough clothes on. I was soaked through and after spending just a few minutes too long at a feed station I just couldnt get warm again. After about 100km came the first hill which wasn't really much of a hill at all. Only 16 more to go according to my route card, I can handle this. Except that I'd got it wrong and that hill wasn't even marked on the route- the first proper hill was another 20km away. I've just done 100km, and I've got another 100 miles to go, with 17 hills (maybe some more unmarked ones) to climb, some of them on cobbles. I was starting to doubt I'd make it.
The first two proper cobbled climbs when they came weren't too bad. 100m of climbing at around 10%, comparable to something in the North Downs. The cobbles were quite smooth too. Ok, so I can do this after all. What I wasn't prepared for was the first section of real pave - a brutal flat 5km of huge cobbles way more bumpy than those on the hills. I was sure my bike was going to break, unless I did first. As soon as I hit the cobbles the vibration slowed my bike to a walking pace. Power on with a low cadence, I'd been told, but there was no way I could keep the speed up. What gutted me was the way others passed me apparently effortlessly. Even a big fat bloke I'd passed on a climb bounced past me on the pave. The jarring pain was really unpleasant. Vibration white finger set in. I tried holding the bars loosely, but that just made my hands vibrate more which caused more pain. I tried only 1 hand on the handlebar alternately. I tried everything, to no avail. This is insane, I shouted, with much effing and blinding. Road bikes with thin tyres were not designed for this. My slightly wider 25mm tyres did not seem to offer much comfort. At the end of the 5km of cobbles most riders stopped for a rest, but for me smooth tarmac was a rest - it felt wonderful.
By the second section of cobbles I wasn't so worried about my bike breaking. If I punctured, well I would get a rest. And if I punctured 3 times, using up my 2 spare tubes, well then I could go home for an early bath without ignominy. I think because of that, I stopped instinctively trying to absorb the shock with my legs, which enabled my legs to put more power into propulsion. People were still overtaking me, but it was becoming manageable. Sort of. A downhill cobbled section was interesting - the ground was scattered with saddle bags, bottles, pumps and bits of kit that had rattled free of bikes. I'm going to lose a bottle, I sensed, and so I did, but no way was I going back for it only to lose it again.
At the foot of the Paterberg - the 1st really steep cobbled climb - a Belgian rider shouted some encouragement- "it's all in the mind. If you can do this one, you can do them all". And he was absolutely right. I was even beginning to enjoy them. I was determined to get up the infamous Koppenburg without walking - and probably would have (a compact 34x27 was my gear for this) if a rider hadn't fallen off right in front of me. I tried to start pedalling again but it was treacherous as the rain had coated the cobbles in mud, and I slipped and fell sideways into the hedge. Thankfully the climbs were much less crowded when I got to them than the medium 140km route, by all accounts.
As I approached the 100 mile mark, things again looked doubtful. It seemed to take about an hour to go from 160km to 170km. Then around 200km there was a welcome Red Bull tent - normally I hate the stuff but it was so refreshing I had two. Revived I was able to up the pace a bit and really give it some on the climbs. The sun even came out and it turned out to be a nice afternoon. Coming into the finish in Ninove I felt I had plenty of energy left and could have done a fair few more miles. I certainly didn't do it very fast at all- 10.5 hours was a long day in the saddle, but I had a real sense of achievement in completing the distance, while leaving a target to beat next time.
It was great to watch the pros tackle the same course on the Sunday. Because the course loops back on itself many times, it's possible to watch the race at several points. We watched the sign-in in Bruges, then after a leisurely breakfast made our way down to the Oude Kwaremont, one of the early climbs. We stood around for an hour in the freezing cold, and it was actually snowing by the time the race reached us. We had a great view standing at the side of what is a really narrow lane on the climb, and unlike watching cycling on TV you could actually see the suffering on the riders' faces. Then we drove to Geraardsbergen and positioned ourselves amongst the crowds on Kapelmuur, the penultimate climb, where we saw the winner Stijn Devolder demolish the field. Having ridden it myself, I have so much more respect for the pros- they really are hard men.
It was a really fun trip and I hope to do it again, as it's easy to get to for just a weekend.
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