Mallorca vs Flanders

I am thinking about where to go for cycling in early April. I've narrowed it down to two possibilities - Mallorca and the Tour of Flanders. Now many might think this should be a no brainer decision. Why choose to go to some windswept rainy plain despite the lure of sea, sun, and lots of interesting climbs! Well, in fact, the decision is not so clear cut:

Mallorca

This is a training camp, essentially with cycling buddies/club mates but the island is awash with club cyclists in the Spring and some roads will have the atmosphere of an unofficial cyclosportive

Good quality riding on lovely smooth roads, with picturesque climbs and amazing switchbacks

Riding ~ 100km every day and up to 1500m climbing will definitely make you fitter

Great atmosphere in a cycling mad country

The chance to the see the pro racers training - catch one if you can!

No need for the longs - you can ride around in short sleeves and shorts


Lovely beaches and a chance to lounge by the pool

Tapas, Sangria, Cerveza



With £sterling on its knees a holiday in the Euro zone could be rather expensive

High chance of topping up the sun tan - low chance of rain

You might bump into Raphael Nadal!

A language that people can vaguely make sense of


You get to mix with cyclists from all over Europe - largely British, Irish and Germans!










Tour of Flanders

This is a high profile cyclo sportive which comes with all the fanfare - an event village, timing chip, feed stations, beer tent, goody bag and finishers certificate

Good quality riding on cobbled bergs (hills) and flat windy plains - definitely makes you stronger

Cobbles are tough! Riding even just 140km at pace over them will make you fitter.

Great atmosphere in a cycling mad country

No hassle of lugging a bike onto the plane or having to dismantle and rebuild it

Quaint town squares and a chance to lounge in stylish cafes in Brugge


Waffles, mussels, and a plethora of Trappist beers

The chance to see the pro racers racing - catch one if you can!

With £sterling on its knees this could be expensive, but it's only a short trip

In 2007 temperatures were over 20 degrees and the sun shone - at least the temperature change on your return to the UK won't be a shock to the system!

You might bump into Lance Armstrong!


Flemish is not completely Greek to us - which British club cyclist actually speaks in Spanish while in Mallorca?



You get to mix with cyclists from all over Europe - well, largely Belgians, French and Dutch!



As you can see, there's not a massive difference in terms of what the final outcome is - in both cases you end up fitter and stronger, and with more memories to add to the photo album. So what it really comes down to is which is more important to you - being able to go out in short sleeves or not having to go through the palava of preparing your bike for air travel - oh, and how important it is to have the piece of paper documenting that you were there.

I've still got time to decide, but right now I think the Kappelmuur is winking at me!

Wanna do the Tour of Flanders ?

1. You don't have to enter the race well in advance. In fact you can enter on the day, though you'll probably pay 25 euros instead of the early bird price of around 15 euros.

2. As this is not a timed cyclosportive it doesn't matter what time you start. Anytime between 7.30am and 10am is ok, though setting off early gives you a clearer run up the bergs.

3. Take clothing with you for all weathers. This year was good as it was fairly sunny, but the weather can turn quite quickly.

4. Most people ride the shorter 140km distance rather than the full 260km, so you can get to "sample" the bergs without it having to be an epic ride, or without you feeling that you were that much of a wimp !

5. The long ride starts in Bruges main square. The organisers lay on an early morning coach to take riders from Ninove to the start in Bruges. If you don't want to use that you can catch the train, though services will be better from Gent in the early morning.

6. Train services between the key towns of Gent, Bruges, Geraadsbergen, Aalst, Oudenaarde, Ninove etc are reasonably good. Belgium Railways take bikes, though they charge 4 euros to carry them.

7. Aside from the whole biking thing there are also the sights.

Bruges is pretty in a quaint, twee sort of way. It's awfully touristic and pretty expensive, though worth the trip so you can get the T-shirt.

Gent is less touristic, more lived in and down-to-earth. It's got 3 picturesque church squares, and a nice canal with Belgian beer gardens along the edge. We particularly liked the Patershol neighbourhood. An arty neighbourhood with character and good quality restaurants that have locals in rather than tourists.

OK - so rendez vous next year !

http://www.b-rail.be/main/E/

http://www.rvv.be/2007/eng/deronde/index.html

My Ronde van Vlaanderen by Him Indoors

Just got back from a weekend in Flanders.

Tried to do the sportive but a cold blew up the day before so I had to pull out.

Surprisingly it was still a good trip.

For what it's worth here are my musings on the race.

What is it about the Tour of Flanders?

Even though the name makes it sound like a stage race, it's only a one day race.

People say it has cobbles but there’re nowhere near as many or as rough as Paris-Roubaix. People say it has the "bergs", 18 of them but in reality most of the climbs in the Surrey Hills are longer and higher.
Sure, it has the famous Muur but even that's a walk in the park compared to the likes of Tanhurst Lane at the back of Leith Hill.

What the Tour of Flanders has though is Belgians, Belgians everywhere, mad about the race, mad about their riders and this alone makes the race stand out from everything else at this time of year.

The day before the main race almost 20,000 of them took the course, most doing the 140km version which covered most of those "bergs".

There was a definite non-competitive spirit as the weather was good and the course is not seriously tough.

Some groups blasted up each hill, then waited and regrouped before spinning over to the next one.
Others trundled along at a steady pace happy to mentally tick that box at the top of each climb.
More than a few were on normal situpandbeg street bikes with a basket on the front and I even spotted two families carrying young children in child seats.

More of a festival than a sportive then.

Race day itself came with all the usual trappings, at least in Belgium. Crowds lining the streets, mobs lining the climbs, but what really brought home what the race meant was the Belgian television coverage after the race.

So picture this, a Belgian gets beaten by a half a wheel in a sprint for the line. Two minutes later the coverage shows a close-up of the same rider sitting on the ground up against a crash barrier trying to bury his head in his hands while half a dozen microphones and cameras were stuck in his face. Cut to the studio where his teammate had barely taken his helmet off but he had already been nabbed for a sit-down interview. Hunched over the desk and speaking through a bad case of helmet hair he was already giving his opinions on the race.

I didn’t understand a word he said but his pain was obvious especially when he was asked to review a replay of the sprint. Wincing continuously, he started shouting “turn, turn” and hitting his head off the desk as his teammate’s cadence slowed 20 yards from the line and the winner came past.

You couldn’t make it up, pure drama.

Flandrien hors d'oeuvre !!

Saturday

I woke up bright and fresh, ready to take on the main challenge of the day. However, my heart sank when Him Indoors announced that he wouldn't be riding. He felt too ill and his cold had gotten into his chest. Wise decision, but it was still disappointing, especially given that we had decided to do this back in January, and he had actually done the training for this. So I was going to ride for the both of us, and make sure I claimed all the goodies/memorabilia there for him so as not to lose out too much.

Breakfast was a fairly busy affair. Most of the guests at the hotel were cyclists - and not just amateurs. The newly formed Tinkoff Credit Systems team (featuring Tyler Hamilton) was there. Their riders were up at the crack of dawn just to do their training ride. Speaking to the team manager the previous day, he commented on how crazy it was for so many of us to turn out for the cyclosportive. "How can 15,000 people get to ride through those narrow bergs ?? Incredible !"

I'd originally planned to leave the hotel at 6.30am -ish, but ended up having to wait until after sun-rise as I didn't have any lights for the 12km ride down to Ninove. Once at the PTI, the event HQ, I was met with a lively atmosphere, including music and commentary. There were various exhibition stands selling anything from sportswear to bikes to sports fuel. Everyone had come out on show, it seemed. Lots of riders were actually signing up that morning to do the race. Because the weather forecast was looking good (in contrast to last year) many people had made a last minute decision to do the cyclosportive.
This swelled the number of participants to around 18,000. But nevertheless the organisation still seemed to roll on smoothly.

After alot of faffing around on my part, I finally made a move to the start line just before 9am. I'd been running around trying to get my control card stamped before leaving the event, until I discovered that this wasn't necessary. There is no designated start time. Some start as early as 7am - others as late as 10am. Unlike other events that I do, this is not a timed event. The challenge is to get through all the bergs.

The group I was with sped through the streets of Ninove, passers-by looking on, admiring our courage (or lunacy) at taking on the challenge. Police escorts stopped the traffic as they waved us through junctions and roundabouts. I was the only woman in my group, and was an object of curiosity to the other riders. They were effectively road racing along at around 40kph and I was still mixing it with them ! There were jerseys from various European countries - France, Spain, England, Holland, and of course Belgium.

Very quickly we were out of Ninove and into the Flanders countryside - the road twisted and dipped a few times, then climbed only very gently. Essentially it was a fast flat ride. I made the most of the tow I was getting from the group, as I needed to save my energy for more important matters later.

In fact important matters began earlier than I'd realised ! After 30km, the road narrowed and became very twisty. We then did a sharp right hand turn and suddenly we were on the Molenberg. Not having been able to anticipate this, many people were caught out in the wrong gear, and needed to dismount. Also I realised that being in a group right up to the start of the berg brings the inconvenience of being caught in very close to other riders, which was a bit unnerving as some of them wobbled alot while climbing the cobbles. One guy who had to dismount suddenly fell into me - luckily I managed to stay on my bike. Although Molenberg was not the most difficult berg, I still found it a challenge simply because it was the first cobbled section, and a bit of a shock after having spent the last hour speeding along smooth roads. And if I thought this was hard, there was more to come later.......

Countdown to Flanders

In just over 3 days I'll be tackling the first of the major European cyclosportives - the Tour of Flanders. It's not talked about quite as much as L'Etape du Tour, or La Marmotte, but it's definitely up there as far as amateur cycling events go. And with over 15,000 competitors it promises to be a real cycling jamboree ! Or at least that's what I imagine.

It'll be my first visit to this "classic" event, so don't know exactly what to expect. Previous cycling events of this type I've done took place during the height of summer in some really scenic alpine area - in France or Italy. The drab exposed plains of Northern Belgium in April doesn't quite have the same ring ! Also the use of the word "classic" in this sense means riding against a strong, cold, head-wind through driving rain, over steep cobbled roads (bergs) all day long, or until you reach a point of despair !

I may only be doing 140km, but I will still be covering the famous "bergs" - all 18 of them !

Anyway, my biggest task at the moment is getting to my hotel in Aalst. We are not going with any fancy tour companies or taking the car. It'll just be the Eurostar to Brussels, followed by another local train.

I've got my bike bag and panniers - hopefully everything will be compact enough to fit onto the luggage racks of the train, and officials won't be telling me to send the bike as a registered package. I will just need to get to Waterloo early to bag the best luggage spot ahead of the rest of the other Easter weekenders.

So why do this when I could be relaxing in London, or planning a getaway to much sunnier climes ? Well, it's the challenge I suppose. The chance to ride in a famous cycling event, while testing out my fitness. The ambiance is good, with riders from all over Europe (and beyond) taking part. The day after the cyclosportive, on the Sunday you get the chance to watch the pros show us how it's done (or not - as the case may be). And of course the excuse to sample good quality mussels and chips with one of their 57 varieties of quality beers !

On with packing ......