Ultimate cycling weekend - in Belgium

michaelm

Just wondering if anyone is heading to Flanders this weekend? For me this is one of the best cycling weekends within easy reach of Ireland. On Saturday the Tour of Flanders sportive will probably attract over 17,000 cyclists - did it for the first time last year and was probably my most enjoyable day on a bike - hence going back again this year. On Sunday then you get the chance to watch both the women's and men's race. If you base yourself in somewhere like Oudenaarde (approx 1 hr from Brussels) you will see the men's race up to 4 times as it winds its way around the famous cobbled hills. You can then watch the remainder of the race on a big screen in one of the many little villages that are en fete for the day. If you happen to have the luxury of being there on the Friday you will usually catch the big teams doing a training spin on the cobbled sections. I'm hoping to add a few pics from the event to my flickr pages early next week. More details about the event .. here

rottenhat

Also, you will be in Belgium where the beer is the very finest in the world.

[Goes off to check flights...]

LCD

How do you organise the trip, fly to wher, accomadation, entry to Sportive. Was it on the net or through a tour compnay?

DirkVoodoo

I will be there!

michaelm

LCD wrote: »

How do you organise the trip, fly to wher, accomadation, entry to Sportive. Was it on the net or through a tour compnay?

I live in the mid west and will be working on Friday so here's the plan:

6.50pm flight from Shannon to Charleroi - Bike in a cardboard box, packed with polystyrene.

Train (or Ryanair bus) from Charleroi to Brussels Mid train station - this is the main station in Brussels and I have a hotel just outside the main entrance - 3 star €40 per night. Hope to be at the hotel by 10.30pm - Ryanair trumpets welcome!

Sat - 6.50am train to the start in Ninove - about 40 mins by train. You can start the 140Km anytime between 7am and 10am. Register on the day.

Even if you had no interest in cycling it is amazing to witness the organisation - imagine feeding over 17,000 cyclist twice - with no delay whatsoever and providing decent technical support (usually courtesy of Mavic). My all time hightlight on a bike was last year going up the famous Mur de Grammont - the iconic climb of the Tour where the TV cameras were preparing for the next day. This drove the locals wild and they lined the route to the top to cheer on the participants. The helicopter picked up the group I was in (about 20 cyclists) and followed us for the last few kilometres - call be a big child but......

smithslist

another option, sorry for being a bit off-topic.

If anyone is interested, you could so the same for the classic fleche wallonne and fly over and come back on the same day, and you get to see the start and finish of the race, and other parts of the race.

Junior

smithslist wrote: »

another option, sorry for being a bit off-topic.

If anyone is interested, you could so the same for the classic fleche wallonne and fly over and come back on the same day, and you get to see the start and finish of the race, and other parts of the race.

I'm actually doing that ..