Hopeful?

Train Station Courtrai!

Could you imagine seeing this at 30th st.? Hopefully fuel prices stay on the rise.

Chris and i riding to the Kemmelburg!!

The Hell of the North

Friday had adventure written all over it. Our plan was to ride the last 100km of Paris Roubaix, which includes 18 cobblestone sections. We took the train to Valenciennes, France and rode to our first sector of the day...the Arenberg Forest. This might be the most demonic portion of any bike race on the planet. You basically roll into a small cobbled road that cuts straight through 2.4 km of the Arenberg Forest. The cobbles are nothing like the Tour of Flanders. It's basically as if the Grim Reaper rolled through on a tractor and dropped a bunch of rocks on the ground and then road over them a few times to smooth them out.

We survived and proceeded on. The next 95km was pretty repetitive. We'd ride for 5-10km or so on the road, and then turn off on some cobbles through a farm. The sectors ranged from 3.7km to 300m. I got blisters on my hand after the second section and quickly figured out how to hold the handlebars the right way. These sections shake the sh!t out of you (almost literally). After a couple sectors we realized it's a lot easier if you just gun it through the section. Big gears work well. We ended up going relatively easy between sections and then hammering through the cobbles, cause it was that much more fun. If you could handle the middle, most of the times it was the fastest. In some of the sections with a tailwind we actually got up to about 43km/hr, a total rush!!!! The sides of the cobbles often had ditches or grass that just felt slow. It was also a huge advantage to be in front. It was pretty tough to ride someone's wheel because you had no idea what was coming up. We can totally understand why the pro's sprint to the front and can't imagine what it's like in a pack with some bad weather. Visibility and momentum is key. We survived and made it to the velodrome.

We have a completely new appreciation for this race and why it's known as the Hell of the North. All in all there is 28 sections of cobbles (~53km) and we rode about 2/3 of them. There is also 160km of racing before we even hopped on the route. Again we got lost on the way home, but eventually made it back just before it got dark. It was another 125km day. This was probably one of the greatest rides either of us have ever done!!!!! Our bodies took a beating from this one and Saturday was pretty low key. We are probably headed to the velodrome on Sunday to watch the big guns.

Woody's Pick: Tom Boonen
Pagoda's Pick: George Hincapie

We got some good footage of Woody flying around the velodrome and myself in the Arenberg Forest. All you get for now are some pics...


Cobbles in the Arenberg.


The Arenberg changes you.


Another pave sector through the fields.


More cobbled chaos!!!


The Velodrome in Roubaix.


Woody outside the velodrome.

Gent-Wevelgem

We took the bus and train to Deinze for the start of the race. As we rolled through Kortrijk, we caught some of the team buses getting ready to leave their hotels for the race. The sign-in was pretty interesting as several of the notables were called up for a few words. It reminded us of some nutty game show because whenever they interviewed a rider, this crazy "Price is Right" music came on. Cavendish and McEwen were labeled as pre-race favorites. We took the train and bus back to base camp and road to Wevelgem for the finish. One of the U23/Master races were just finishing up when we arrived. Even the amateurs are rippin fast. We got prime spots just after the finish line so we had a good shot of Oscar Freire taking the bunch sprint. We rolled by the team buses. The one thing we've learned so far is if you want to find Tom Boonen, just look for all the screaming girls. This guy is an absolute stud over here. What's he have that Woody and I don't??? Word.


Cancellara pre-race.


Freire wins!!!

The Kemmelberg

Tuesday was dedicated to finding the Kemmelberg, which is the famous climb of Gent-Wevelgem. Guido (the B&B owner) had a bunch of cycling maps of Western Flanders. We pieced together three different routes to get us to our destination. We managed to get lost a few more times, but eventually made it. After hitting the 18 climbs of the Ronde, the Kemmelberg didn't seem a whole lot different. What makes this climb unique however is the crazy steep cobbled descent, made famous last year by some pretty bad crashes. They actually redirected the descent this year to avoid the cobbles. If Webster was ever looking for a new definition of chaos, it should be 250 Pro Tour Riders busting down the Kemmelberg. I got some film riding up the Kemmelberg and Woody captured some footage of the Belgian countryside but we're still having problems uploading. Even if we could upload the movies, video doesn't do these small country roads in Belgium justice. It's something you have to experience. We were out for about 125km today.


Belgian countryside.


The town of Kemmel.

Our New Base Camp

Monday we left Brussels to head out to our new base camp in Rollegem for the next 8 nights. We are leaving a pretty small room and one banging Euro buffet breakfast. We totally busted up the Ibis Hotel for all the croissants, danish, ham, cheese, fruit, sausage, and cereal you could eat in a seating. The challenge of getting to the train station with two bike cases, 4 pieces of pretty big luggage and two backpacks got pretty fun once you added all the stairs we had to go up and down. But, we made it to Kortrijk. A minivan taxi just happened to be waiting outside the train station. The only thing missing was a ray of light shining on it from the sky. We stuffed it to the absolute max and made our way to the Bed and Breakfast.

We didn't really know what to expect with our new place. We knew we weren't in the city anymore and didn't have the luxury of walking 50m to get whatever we wanted. It turns out our new pad couldn't get any better. The owner is totally into cycling. He even has a trophy shelf from all the bike races he won. There is a garage for our bikes and our cases and our place is more than twice the size of the room in Brussels. As much fun as you might think it is for two 6'4" guys to cram into a 10' x 10' room with all their bikes and luggage, the extra space was welcome. The owner is the nicest guy in the world. He makes us authentic Flemish meals that are out of this world!!! One of these nights he's gonna treat us to some pigeon. We got caught up with some laundry and relaxed a bit. Woody and I are off to find the Kemmelberg on Tuesday.


Woody guarding our luggage at the train station.


The Elkerlyck Inn.


A Sven Nys supporter outside our B&B.


One of our new stuffed buddies at the new pad.

Devolder Wins!!!

The day after our epic adventure, Woody and I had a chance to sleep in, and let me tell you it was totally needed. Our bodies got rocked and we were sore in spots we hadn't been in quite some time. See the pics below for the crime scene that was our bathtub as we cleaned the bikes. We watched most of the race on TV and then hit the train to Ninove to catch the finish. We rolled into Ninove at the approximate finishing time and tried running (emphasize try!) a km or so to what we thought was the finish. Turns out our finish from the day before wasn't the finish for the pro's. Luckily there were some locals that pointed us to the race. We ran another km or so only to realize we missed the finishers by a few minutes. We made our way up to the finish area with the team buses and got some pretty good pics. Congrats to Stijn Devolder!!! Conditions definitely made this a true Ronde.




































































Seat Post Clamp, Eddie Merckx, and The Atomium...

This portion is a little out of sequence, but we just got the pics on the computer. I had managed to lose my seat post clamp at some point during packing or unpacking my bike. Riding the Ronde while standing the entire time didn't seem like too much fun so we set out Friday morning to find a bike shop. Let's just say directions in Belgium become a lot more difficult when there are no street signs. Street names are on small plaques mounted to the sides of buildings (most of the time). We managed to find a bike shop after about an hour or so. Zipping through the streets of Belgium is a blast. You have three main things to look out for: Cobbles, trolley tracks, and crazy crazy drivers.

We got back to the room and packed up for a trip to visit the Eddie Merckx factory. Once again navigating proved to be a total adventure. So much so, we ended up on a highway heading out of town. Nothing like merging with a bunch of semi's! We though it was in our best interest to get on some safer roads and hiked up a grass hill to the bike path. We made it to the Merckx factory on some absolutely gorgeous roads. After a few photos, we strolled around the side entrance and noticed someone gearing up for a ride. Woody's says "That's Eddie Merckx," and I'm basically frozen like some clown with my jaw dropped to the floor. We head out so not to be a pest. Woody looks back and says he's coming this way. Eddie passed us and said hi. I got a nice pic of his backside. We proceeded to stalk him at a steady 100m behind him for the next couple km. It was getting late and we made our way back to Brussels.

On our way back, we noticed the Atomium and decided to check it out. What is the Atomium you ask? Only the greatest monument ever. If this is what you get from a World's Fair, I have to ask myself, "Why'd they stop having these things?"

More photos and videos

Here is some video of Chris and I going over the top of the Muur. This is VERY deceiving in pictures. Mostly because there is a very flat run in through town and then you make a left hand turn into what i would call a wall! it kicks to about 18% after 1 meter. it continues on that way for about 400 meters until it gets to this point.



Where as you can see it kick up to 19.8% of wet slippery cobbles for another 475meters. now notice that we are smiling. Let me tell you that was hard to do. At this point i think that we were about 280KM into it! Good times.

shit. video not working...... i will try later!

Man my hands hurt!

Here is a photo of my hands after the Ronde.

If we can get the pictures off of Chris's camera i will have some more pictures of us at the ride.


Muur!!!!!

Ronde

Well Chris and I have been here in Brussels for a couple of days now and it has blown by. Well except for yesterday....

Chris and I had signed up for the Ronde Van Vlaanderen Cyclosportif ride and needed to be at the start in Brugge at 7:00am. The Ronde provided a bus from the finish in Ninove to the start. which Chris and i had signed up for since we are staying in Brussels and it is a shorter train ride in the morning and closer to home after riding 267 KM. Well it turns out that there is no train from Brussel to Ninove that early in the morning. So we get up at 3:15 am for a 4am start to ride the 30+K that it takes to get to Ninove before the bus leaves at 5:30am. We actually get out the door by 4am and it is fairly warm for that time in the morning here. about 6c. We make it out of Brussels (which is hard since there are no street names! and if there are there are two Flemish and french. very confusing) and we get on a highway. N8. and we start setting a fairly good pace. Then the rain starts! and i mean a driving heavy rain. we pull over and put on some rain gear. this is when we learn that we have only covered 13k and we have about 30minutes to get there. Two person TT mode in the rain on a highway. Good times. We make it there with 3min to spare somehow. Now we get to sit soaking wet on a bus for an hour and a half with the air conditioning on! I did bring some extra clothes but they are all wet now too. soo it goes....

We get out of the bus and ride into brugge. It is a madhouse!! i think that 12,000 people started today. we are looking for the start and for where we drop our bags. Nothing is in English. (obviously) and we cannot read any signs. so we follow the people and end up at the main square. it is beautiful! the large sign in stand for the pro race is set up and people are waiting in this long line to just walk across it. insanity.

We drop our bags and head out for 264k of fun. we roll out of town and it is so exciting! rolling from small town to small town. fairly flat and just has this feeling, i don't know, i could just hear Phil calling the race in my head. I will tell you all about it later. But lets just say that we did over 300k on 4 hours sleep. We have to go and try and catch the finale in Ninove!