[Closed] Bucket list... Flanders/Roubaix/etc... Pre-event/Race ride stuff ?

https://sportivebreaks.com/sportives/
Haven't looked at the details but it might give you a few ideas

Thanks buddy..

Just found this for Milan SanRemo
https://classicissima.it/en/granfondo/route/

Having done it quite a lot, as I’ve got older I’ve preferred to wait for Pais Nice in Nice. I know it’s not bucket list, but I’d much rather be watching it under a warm sun.
The sportive is the Saturday in Nice, with the final stage being the next day.
Other option for me would be Milan San

https://www.parisnicechallenge.com/en/event/news#news-65-preregistration-for-the-2020-paris-nice-challenge
https://www.sportstoursinternational.co.uk/events/milan-san-remo/

I’ve watched a lot of pro races, and as much as I’ve enjoyed Belgium, it’s a long time in the cold, wet and wind.
I now see it as Paris Roubaix and Flanders are beer at home in the afternoon with heating on after a ride.
I was fortunate to do both Paris Nice and Milan San Remo in 2017. Great places to be after months of riding in rubbish British weather.

The best one to do is the Ronde van Vlandeeren on the Saturday before the race. You really get an appreciation of just how hard the races are when you hit the Koppenberg at 200km.

Milan San Remo is mental - a big group forms at the start and you hang on for 8 hours at nearly 40kph.

There's no longer a full-length Paris-Roubaix sportive which is a shame because it's properly hard - the ASO version is only a 'lite' version

Chatting to the guy via link above they do this

https://sportivebreaks.com/sportives/gent-wevelgem/

So you get to see E3 Harelbeck (sp?) on the Friday and the gent-wevelgem on the Sunday, with your riding for a 50km on the Friday to watch and then you ride the Gent-WV course on the Sat, then watch it on the Sunday.

That's deffo appealing.

But the Milan San Remo, well yes, doing the Nabili descent has to be exciting !

We're considering either Flanders or Paris Roubaix next year.

The idea was just randomly floated after a week of perfect roads and weather in Girona, surprising that everyone was so keen for a long weekend of possible wind and rain on the cobbles!

I'm currently nursing a suspected herniated disc so am erring towards Flanders as apparently the cobbles are slightly less savage than P-R.

Logistics look to involve bus transfers in the early AM from hotels, and a lot of the organisers seem to offer bolt ons like guaranteed spectating in the velodrome in Roubaix, etc. etc.

Definite bucket list stuff, can't wait.

I generally do one or two of the spring classic sportives, not least because it's great motivation to stay fit over winter. And you're riding (most of) the same course as the pros the day before/after. The Belgian ones are accessible by car from the UK - Roubaix is a great challenge, Flanders suffers somewhat from crowding on the climbs. Strade Bianche and Tro Bro Leon also huge fun. We've always travelled independently, booking accommodation early.

Flanders is great... sportive on the Saturday then watch the race on Sunday (if you go to the spectators area on the Oude Kwaremont then you get to see the juniors, women and then the men's race 3 times - so far better than your usual cycling spectating). Best to stay in Oudenaarde for logistics (we stayed in Ghent, which is great but made logistics tricky) and easy to book it all independently.

Interesting guys 🙂

Just need to speak to my mate and get his thoughts 🙂

Flanders is great… sportive on the Saturday then watch the race on Sunday (if you go to the spectators area on the Oude Kwaremont then you get to see the juniors, women and then the men’s race 3 times – so far better than your usual cycling spectating). Best to stay in Oudenaarde for logistics (we stayed in Ghent, which is great but made logistics tricky) and easy to book it all independently.

All of that.   The Oude Kwaremont is a great viewing point with big screens, beer and frites.  Like your living room but full of Flemish.  The biggest problem with the sportiv was that there were so many people that the classic climbs would quickly get blocked by people.  They could still be ridden but it did require being able to ride very slowly and keep your balance.  However I believe that now they are stopping people at the bottom of each of them and letting them up in groups to give you a better shot at it.  I haven't done it for a couple of years now so maybe someone who did it last year can confirm

That's interesting. I did Flanders in 2017 with mates. Best day out on a bike ever. Made it up all the hellingen without being stopped by traffic - apart from Koppenberg which was just too busy. The atmosphere in Oudenaarde on the Saturday night is awesome. Great little town. Definitely stay there as you can see the rider presentation on the Saturday evening for the womens race and have a few (or a lot) of beers. On the Sunday there are loads of (free?) buses that take you to the Oude Kwaremont from there. Local tip - buy a crate of Jupiler and take it to where you're going to watch the race. Drink beer and sit on the crate.

Local tip – buy a crate of Jupiler Kwaremont and take it to where you’re going to watch the race. Drink beer and sit on the crate.

Really.  If you are coming all the way here don't waste your time with Jupiler.  It's good straightforward drinking beer but there is so much better....

Yeah but a crate?? I want to be able to still see by the time the pros come through!! Kwaremont deserves a proper glass, served by a nice Belgian barmaid/man.

Weather? I'm seeing lots of cold wet guys, chance of sun? Lol

It's random.  Had some great years with lots of sun and some duff ones.  It's still always fun even it it's cold fun

Fair call.

So I'm assuming you can enter these without the packages? Just find your own hotels and book a place on the rides? I'm struggling to get concise information.

I think my mate fancies Milan San Remo up above due to weather etc. But me personally I fancy Flanders or even the E3/Gent-WV as above. I think it would be awesome

Flanders is dead easy to do. Belgium is tiny. Loads of towns to stay in around. Ghent is a short drive to oudenarde for the sat sportive. Sunday race if you have a designated driver kwaremont is awesome. Dump vehicle on a road. Loads of beer tents, TVs and men’s and women’s races go past 5 times in total. If everyone wants to drink train can be pre booked online and is cheap to oudenarde. Watch women’s race and men’s passage through town square drinking beer. Walk over to kopenberg, it’s got a small beer and frites and a big tv. Watch men go past. See finish on tv, walk back to oudenarde and see all team buses and have more beer.

Paris Roubaix is purer as it’s the proper route for the last 80k or so but watching it is weirdly under commercialized and Dirt cheap food and beer in the velodrome which is free to get in (!). The whole of Flanders goes nuts but you get the impression the rest of roubaix aren’t really bothered. And northern France is a dump. Stay in Flanders and drive across

Thanks again 🙂

It's all sounding very appealing. Well if the weather plays ball that is. I'll see what my Oppo fancies then 🙂

RVV is the best one I’ve done (done loads of these, and before they became a “thing” you don’t need to do a “sportive” unless you want to be guided around because plenty of folks do it on their own)

It’s a great mix of riding hard and cruising along with groups having fun.

Roubaix is too hard to enjoy unless you’ve got a lot of fitness and willing to be battered to death... it’s doable obvz, but you need to build up to it.

Tour of Lombardia is my all time fave, done it 6 times and it’s one I miss most now I don’t ride much. It’s a toughy though, unless you love climbing long/short steep mountains it’s one to consider when that’s you thing.

The parcours of Flanders might suit your riding style more than Lombardia Weeksy. It does feel as described above. Tempo stuff with 2-5 minute high wattage intervals. I'm sure there's a Spring Classics workout on Zwift that helps.

TBH I've now looked into most 'packages' and the one that makes the most sense in ease and finance is the E3/Gent/W-V event. It's £299 (or £399 for single room) for hotel, entry, transfers, sportive etc... Just need to get to Gent ourselves.

I looked at the Strade Bianchi, Flanders, Milan San Remo, etc but they're either too expensive or the wrong kind of ride...

I'm going to do my best to talk my mate into
https://sportivebreaks.com/sportives/gent-wevelgem/

Whether we do as part of a 'package' or do individually and arrange hotels etc, i don't yet know... I'm favouring the package for the first time of asking.

I did RVV this year, we went over on the Tuesday evening, did our own rides on Wednesday and Thursday then did the sportive on Saturday, watched the pros at oud Kwaeremont on the Sunday and came home on the monday.
Stayed Air BnB outside Ghent and drove to the sportive start and also to the big industrial estate for the free busses to Kwaeremont on the Sunday.
Very well organised event even if I only did the 50 miler, not too much traffic on the cobbles either.
Great beer, great people and all in for about £500 per couple including travel.

We've already got the Eurotunnel and a hotel in Ghent booked for the Tour Of Flanders weekend. I've ridden it a couple of times before so when my colleague mentioned going I jumped at it.

https://www.sportive.com/events/tour-of-flanders-sportive-ronde-van-vlaanderen-2020/2020-belgium/4104/cycling

Speaking the Flanders / RVV then.... I'm struggling to find out entry stuff, when is the entry usually released ? From what i can see it's the weekend after the Gent/W-G event, which is fine

edit
Entries for the 2020 edition of the Tour of Flanders will open in November. Sign up to the Sportive.com newsletter to receive an email alert as soon as entries open

Weeksy. From memory the RVV entry is relatively easy. It doesn't fill up immediately like that daft London sportif. Entries were still open a few weeks before the event when we did it.

Don’t go with a company. Just look when the UCI race will be and book accommodation. Then enter the ride.
We did RVV for about 5 years then switched to Paris-Roubaix for 5 years. Last year we did Tro Bro Leon. We ended up with locals so effectively rode the whole route except for the finishing circuit. Meant that we saw some fantastic bits that aren’t on the ‘people’s ride’ and the next day we saw the race in about 4 places that we wouldn’t have known about.
This year we didn’t go out because the dates of any of them didn’t work for us.
The big problem is that that accommodation gets booked up quickly.

Read about what we did here...

CLICKEDY CLICK

We did Roubaix and Flanders in one weekend- and it cost less than £200 all in. Drove down Friday night and visited the Velodrome and Showers etc, rode the Roubaix Sportive Saturday, Flanders ride doing all the main bergs Sunday morning and then straight across to watch the pro race on the Carrefour de l'Arbre. Back in UK by 10pm.

We are all going again this year as it was so good.

Sign up is here I think http://www.werideflanders.com/en/

Entries open early November but as far as I remember it's not a huge rush to get in.  About 50 eur each I think but it's been a few years since I've done the sportive.  Love going down to watch on the Sunday though

Thanks again guys 🙂

I think my mate is in for the full 220km Flanders.. the crazy bugger.. .I wasn't thinking quite that long myself, but hey, i'll ride whatever he says.

Right then kids... I need a final bit of advice.

2 scenarios..

1. Doing the E3 viewing on the Friday, then riding the Gent/Wevelgem on the Sat, then watching the Pro version on the Sunday.

2. Doing the Flanders the weekend after.

Which would you pick and where to stay for best locations ? We're not party boys but we like a beer in the evening and some food of course. From what i can see the locations likely are Gent, Oudenaarde and Wevelgem, possibly Kortrijk.

Whilst i watch the events each year, i don't know where the towns are in relation to the climbs or indeed whether we want to watch on the climbs or we want to view on the Finish instead ? Oude Kwaremont seems to potentially work as per slowpuncheur above

The atmosphere in Oudenaarde on the Saturday night is awesome. Great little town. Definitely stay there as you can see the rider presentation on the Saturday evening for the womens race and have a few (or a lot) of beers. On the Sunday there are loads of (free?) buses that take you to the Oude Kwaremont from there

So.... What to pick based upon all of that ?

edit : Oudeaarde seems like an impossible task financially for that weekend as you'd expect i guess... Nothing on Air-BNB that's a sensible distance away and a sensible price.

We stayed in Geraardsbergen when doing Flanders easy drive to oudeaarde and you can do the Muur

Weirdly I found something but lost the link now that stated the gent wevelgem was now starting and ending in Ypres from 2020. Can't find the link now.

Obviously that would affect a few decisions greatly.

Still very much torn on which weekend to pick

Uh-oh.

As I lie here nursing my sciatica and preparing to embark on some serious months of core work to preventing it happening again, I also appear to have booked accommodation for the Paris-Roubaix Challenge 2020.

Loving the idea up there ^ somewhere of doing some cheeky Tour of Flanders climbs on the morning of the Paris-Roubaix proper, then getting back to watch the finale somewhere. Have plotted a tasty 92km that takes in most of the RvV climbs, almost more excited about that than the P-R actually...

But in the meantime, lots of painkillers and pilates. Good to have something to look forward to!

That sounds similar to my plans for next year but I’m going to do RVV and ride a Roubaix loop the following day.

Paris Roubaix is Easter weekend next year I believe so travel and accommodation might be a pain. We did RVV on Easter weekend last year and the tunnel crossing was murder!

Ooh yikes, what was a nightmare about the tunnel?

Will book in advance I guess, was it just big queues?

I think either way we'll be looking at 7am ferry so should be ok on the Friday, then coming back we'll do lunchtime in the Monday, so again shouldn't be the end of the world.

Yes, horrendously busy at the terminal with no parking and queues a mile long for food, drinks and toilets.

Saying that we were travelling out on Good Friday morning at about 10am as we didn’t realise it was Easter when we booked!

It would probably be ok if you got there for an early crossing.

Coming back on the Sunday was a breeze, not busy at all.

We're driving from Edinburgh! Unlikely to get to Dover until 2pm-ish.

Maybe that 22hr ferry crossing from Rosyth wouldn't be so bad after all...

The Rosyth ferry was pretty rough.  IIRC it had previously been used for skooting around doing summer trips in the med, was a bit barf tastic if the sea got rough.  Hated it.  Top choice for Edinburgh to Belgium now is the Newcastle-Amsterdam ferry.  Clearly not as cheap as Dover but I can't do those huge drives any more

We are doing Flanders and Roubaix next year - Airbnb in Ronse booked for 10 days - on the rvv route and about 10 minutes on the train to oudenaarde. Then drive over to Flanders on the 2nd weekend. We'll be going on the hull Zeebrugge ferry.

I think in some ways I'm giving the location a bit too much thought as to where. Whilst it would be nice to walk to the sportive or pro races, it's hardly essential. No reason we can't cycle to them of course or even drive it.

Our 3rd mate has bailed so it's just the 2 boys. Which I'm completely fine with.

Training has begun now and back on the 5-2 for it too. Need some spare time out on the CX bike over the coming months to get used to the weird bike.

If you're in Flanders, visit the RvV Centrum in Oudenaard and pick up one of their route maps which links together all the classic Flandrien roads / climbs. Stay in Belgium, not France - Roubaix is a horrible, industrial suburb of Lille with few redeeming features apart from a velodrome.

Well that's that then.... booked 🙂

https://cyclinginflanders.cc/event/gent-wevelgem-cyclo

We've gone for the earlier weekend taking in the E3 Harelbeke to view on the Friday along with the Gent/W-V ride on the Sat and watching the pro race on the Sunday. Then shooting back home on the Monday.

Can't wait now 🙂

Thanks to all for the tips and advice, sorry if we comepltely ignored some of it 🙂

Let the training begin !!

I did Ghent last year, so well organised and stopped in Kortrijk, we like a beer too....
Left Staffs at 7 am Friday, eurotunnel and at our accommodation for just after 2 pm-we used an airb and b type thing, perfect for 6 of us, room each in the town with parking .

cycled out Fri aft to sign in, stopped at a few bars on way back then out into the square for fillet steaks. 170km sportive saturday, brilliant course, out for fillet steak saturday. Sunday ride out to watch the pros do the Kemmelburg, race back and watch the race on the big screen, few beers etc, when they were 5km out we went to the finishline and watched them finish. Great weekend under 200 quid each in total, could have stopped in cheaper accommodation, but couldnt fault it. Kortrijk has everything for a good beery foody weekend.

That sounds perfect matey 🙂

how far from Kortrijk to Kemmelberg ? Your plan sounds very very much like ours. We're debating whether to get up earlier on the Friday and do a bit of a ride on Friday afternoon, but arguably makes more sense to not and to just rest the legs a bit.
It seems to be 6km from our accomodation to the finish at Harelbeke which is perfect i guess.

Well my plans all kinda changed. I bought the Merida CX from Nobeer on here, but after 4-5 rides and a few issues i decided it's gone and it's history.

However that hasn't affected my desire for the event, so i've booked the Eurotunnel and the PRemier Inn for the night before we go. Our accomodation in Kortrijk is all sorted too, so we're all in.

So what bike am i taking then... Well the answer to that is, an On-one parkwood ..Yes really.
It's getting a few changes to hopefully give it a bit more speed, but keeping it simple, safe and comfortable too. Sure it may not be optimal for speed, but i'll come to terms with that and go with it anyway.

[IMG] [/IMG]

And

[IMG] [/IMG]

Between the 2 of them I can dump 1.9-2kg off the Parkwood, add that to fitting my lighter pedals and the carbon bars I have, we're now into 2.3kg off the bike.

Currently I'm on the 5-2 again which is working, slowly, slowly slowly. But the plan is to drop 5,6,7kg of rider weight too.

With all of these in place, I should be sweet.

I don't know how many miles I've done on the Parkwood over the years, indoors, outdoors, winter, etc, it's somewhere in the 10,000miles + bracket though I know that for sure. I've done long days on it and long rides. It will do the job nicely.
I'll need to consider what gearing to use on it, I've got a 42T on at the moment but that gives a crap chain line and can't be used outside but I've got a 38T but unsure if that's good enough for the hilly bits, so I'll need to test it first a few time and possibly even go 36T.

Forks will take a while from China, but not hurry yet.

Entry not open yet, but the info is here

https://www.sportive.com/events/gent-wevelgem-cyclo-sportive/2020-03-28/5171/cycling

That's as much for me as for you lot but has some info

Distance: 136 km (85 miles)
Climb: 1296 m (4252 feet)

The Mont des Cats in the municipality of Godewaarsvelde in French Flanders is 2650 m long, with an average gradient of 7.6% and maximum incline of 19%

This "black hill" (Mont Noir) is located in French Flanders, at the border between Westouter and Sint-Janskappel in Belgium and the French domain of Boeschepe. It features a 2500 m climb, with an average gradient of 4.8% and maximum incline of 9%

The undisputed highlight of Ghent-Wevelgem is the Kemmelberg, a real cyclist's nightmare. With a maximum incline of 23% and paved in cobblestones, it's immediately obvious why the Westhoek's best-known hill inspires such fear.

I'm actually wondering if fitting a double on the cranks may make some sense, maybe something like a 42 on top with a 28 granny.

Dunno if 23% is really compatible with a single ring, along with flat speed etc. The most comparable in incline I can think of locally is Streatley hill, that seems to peak at 19% and whilst I may get up that on a 34T for example, I'm thinking on the flat in Belgium I may want more than say a 34t
.

Roubaix is actually quite an interesting town and has a fantastic art gallery La Piscine which incorporates a 1920s municipal swimming pool. We did P-R 5 years in a row and always made time to go there on the Friday afternoon. There’s also a nascent fashion industry there.
You can go for Le Welsh after the ride on the Saturday just off the main square.

Wasn't sure if this was the right place for this but it's all part of the ongoing changes to the Parkwood for the ride. Task is to make both myself and the bike lighter.

So I bought the with cross boss tyres and some Chinese forks.

So for my own amusement I fitted the with cross boss tyres along with using my lighter rear wheel which is about the same as the one I'll run on the trip.

This also takes into account the lighter pedals I fitted

Starting weight
13.51kg

Current weight
11.97kg

When you factor in I think I'll save another 1.3-1.5kg by replacing the forks, we should be tipping the scales at a fraction over 10kg. Which all things considered, isn't bad at all. The tyres look pretty amusing on a massive fork and considering what I've taken off, but in reality they're not that small. They're 35c which is a normal sort of size. Went up quickly and easily though tubeless.

Both tyres now fitted and happy tubeless. They look daft to me, but i guess in many peoples mind they're normal.

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Looking good weeksy. How does it ride now?
Are the bars and steerer sacrificial? I’d probably chop the bars and the top of the steerer to save some additional weight, possibly also worth looking at options on the saddle post and saddle itself?
Are you planning on using the CX tyres for the ride or just training over winter? Good GCN video showing the difference between a wider knobbly gyre and a normal tyre. I didn’t think there was any grip benefits with having a knobbly tyre on road.

\thanks for asking

So today i replicated a ride from earlier this week, but with the Parkwood now in lighter/faster mode.

I was trying to keep to the same sort of HRs but as you'd expect, when trying that i got most wrong LOL.

Anyway.
Earlier this week, 1hr 14min 19s.
Todays time 1hr 05min 49s

Average HR first time, 143bpm. Average HR today 155bpm. So clearly i pushed harder... But i'm still more than happy with an average speed of 25.5kph. Not bad at all.

The week before i averaged 24.6kph on the Merida, but sadly i didn't have the HR monitor fitted for that to give us any indication.

So not terribly scientific at the HR gap was arguably too large to compare fully... But still, it felt quick enough.

The forks will be swapped when the carbon ones arrive so i'll trim closer to flush once i've tested the height etc.

Regarding tyres over winter, i'm not convinced this will get ridden again outdoors until the middle of March for a shakedown test. It will be ridden mostly on the turbo

Well the 42T Sunrace cassette finally arrived.

Fits fine, then was too tight on the chain, but that's ok, I have a brand new one in spares, weirdly though my 10s quick links don't fit it, it's a Shimano hg-x and they don't fit through the holes. So I used the Shimano joining link and it's fine.

Next was trying the gears, as expected I got some rubbing so 6 turns of the B screw saw it 100% and then a couple of turns on the barrel adjuster saw the indexing perfect.

Will give it a test later this week and then remove it all until Belgium so I go with nice new chain etc.
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[url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/48899016272/ ]2019-10-14_06-40-29[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url] - [url= https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dariogf.flickr2BBcode ]Flickr2BBcode[/url]
H8216, undefined@4.4 mm, f2.0, 1/16s, ISO250

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H8216, undefined@4.4 mm, f2.0, 1/16s, ISO400

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[url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/48898816746/ ]2019-10-14_06-40-02[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url] - [url= https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dariogf.flickr2BBcode ]Flickr2BBcode[/url]
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Well that was a lovely little test ride. Legs were not feeling a Zwift race today, so thought i'd jump outside as the sun was blazing even though the roads wet. Rain on the forecast after 10, so a quick scoot out was in order.

Wanted to test the gearing so went up Apple Pie Hill which is i guess the closest to the Kemmelberg i can think of. Was all great, no changes needed and all the gears are smooth as silk, no missing, skipping etc, perfect.

Made sure i wasn't pushing hard for the duration and ended up with 22kph average for the hour, which is about my target. I can sit at 87rpm which seems to be my cadence sweet spot and that gives me about 38kph on a 2% descent, to be honest i don't see me needing more than that on the event, so the gearing is fine for that side of things too.

The bike is completely silent too, not a whisper apart from the wind going by 🙂

Well that was interesting. Out with 4 of the locals today on a road ride. Sadly the rear isn't tubeless as I simply cannot get it to work with my rim, so that needs consideration. But anyway.

The ride went off at a quick pace I felt, we hit the first hill and boom! Out the back. Now I don't know why really, is it rolling resistance or poor fitness or a bit of both, hmmm not sure.
On the flat sectors we were bowling along at 30-33kph and my HR was sitting happily In the 130s, but hills, man they were not friendly.
I did 1 by Crosshairs he'll know and again I lost ground to the lads. It's only 10-15s but enough to make me unhappy. However, not a lot more I could have done today.
After Swinley yesterday and a road ride in Friday I guess some parts of today we're going to be tough, but I came back slightly disappointed in my hill performance today.

All in all it showed me the Parkwood can hang in on the flat, which was the main goal for today, so all good really

Must admit I was quite surprised on the uphill sections yesterday that I struggled. Starting to doubt bike and tyre choice now. Rather than just doubting myself of course 😂
So I did some self Strava stalking. Well that's blown out that theory. I just checked when my fastest time for the section from east ilsley to stanmore was. Yesterday's time 9min 16.
Best time ever, 8min 29.
Bike that day, the blue t130

2nd best time ever was on the Isaac at 8min 43. Sadly for the other rides I wasn't wearing a HR monitor.

So it seems that I'm simply slower than at my best lol. It did flag yesterday for it as an average HR of 163, I'd have possibly expected higher. The main climb averaged 169 though which is more like I'd expect.
Just me being slower then lol.

I've ridden the RVV/Flanders for the last two years and will probably do it agian in 2020.
yes it is indeed awesome and lots of riding, lots of cobbles and lots of beers are involved.

Do it - it's brilliant. A video of my day is available if you are interested.

I read your post as more asking about the logistics. It's fairly straightforward, in fact I organised for 18 of us to ride it, stay in the same hotel and all have matching kit this year. The main logistics are:

- ride entry. entries will open soon. its a simple online entry, your only decision is which length route you will ride. Circa €40 for the ride
- hotel. there are loads of places in the area to stay. I simply contacted the place we stayed in last year via email and requested a block booking for the weekend (Friday and Saturday evening). they were more than happy to oblige
- travel, split up into a number of cars with bike racks. book the Eurotunnel and away you go. I'm 90 minutes from Folkstone and it's a couple of hours the other side. a pretty straightforward journey
- registration. Present your reg number at the event site the night before (preferably) and collect your race number etc. a bit like the Ride London thing but much easier than dragging your butt over to the Excel centre
- the ride. It's great fun. Quite tough on the climbs and the cobbles take a while to get used to but it's fun. I'm fortunate that it's been dry both times I've ridden it. It will obviously be a different proposition in the pouring rain.
- post ride. Oudenaarde has your typical northern European massive town square and the whole square is given over to the consumption of beer and frites without any of the aggro you would expect in say Britain. Much better than post-RL100 once again
- the pro race. Sunday is the pro race and you can head up to the top of the Koppenburg on the free bus and take your place at the roadside whilst your mates bring a steady flow of more beer and more frites
- Sunday arvo; head home

it really is great fun.

alternative bucket list also ticked off last year for me was the Cingles du Ventoux. An amazing day on the bike.

Thanks matey.

Apart from entry, we're all good, booked and paid.

Video would be cool yes. We're staying just outside Wevelgem.

You really are over thinking this. Go, ride, enjoy. You won't be the fastest and you won't be the slowest. Stop at every feed stop, eat the waffles with honey. Enjoy a few Belgian beers afterwards. Cracking.

You really are over thinking this

This is stw, it's the done thing here.

Whether I think or not, I'm still going

I still think what you need is a road bike and some decent hours on it. It will be much harder on your Parkwood than it needs to be. I expect you were blown out on the hills as you were putting in more effort on the flat.

First hill was 6 mins into ride!

You'd be right in some ways yes, that would be optimal. But ain't happening

I can recommend Harry Pearsons recent book about spring races in Belgium as a pre trip read to get you in the mood. The Beast, The Emperor and The Milkman.

If you refuse to use the best tool for the job then you must accept you will be overtaken by Belgian pensioners in full replica team kit.

If you refuse to use the best tool for the job then you must accept you will be overtaken by Belgian pensioners in full replica team kit

That depends on your interpretation of 'best'. Sure it would be the fastest assuming no punctures etc. But most comfortable, easiest to brake/corner on etc, hmmmm Not IMO.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2014-Giant-Defy-3-Road-Bike-Size-M-L/163907683474?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2748.l2649

Funnily though, i ought this last night, likely for my mate, but may be too big for him 🙂

But at £190 its a no brainer

Video would be cool yes. We’re staying just outside Wevelgem

Here you go - two for the price of one:

Little Uneasy

The Distance

both shot this year on the 179km version of the route. Great to see you have booked it.

There was only one climb where there was a hold up (can't recall which one but it's the hardest/steepest one) and as mentioned above there was a bit of a wait as they monitored the number going up the climb and then roped it off every now and then to let everyone clear it.

It doesn't detract from the day. The best thing is that unlike RL100 where you have to arrive eleventy-seven hours before your start time and f@rt around for ages in pens 'n stuff before finally being let off, here you just rock up to the start line and start whenever you want.

Cheers buddy, watched and enjoyed 🙂

Interesting afternoon. Got home handy and my boy is away for a few days so jumped on a borrowed super light and fast carbon road bike and did what has now become my test loop. It's a nice quiet loop, some up, some down, flat etc, nice mix.

First thing I noticed was how rattly they are lol. Clatter clatter everywhere. I don't know if it's down to the internal cable routing or what, but meh.

Riding along I was aware it was a little too big but not ridiculous. Long stem on there too. But trying to get a decent aero was tricky, I'm just not built that way and probably lacking core strength.
Other thing I noticed was just how sketchy it is, even though the brakes were good, I was still lacking in confidence.

It's impossible to gauge speeds out there as I can't say what I was doing at a given time on the other rides. So I was just getting on with it and trying fairly hard.

Strava comparison shows this then
Parkwood, MTB setup. 22.5kph average
Parkwood, CX setup. 25.5kph average
Race bike, 26.0kph

Now it's not scientific of course due to efforts not being measured with a power meter etc, but it's all I've got and the HRs were very similar in the measured segments etc.
It's answered all of my thoughts and questions though and putting into context how at home I feel in the Parkwood, uphill, downhill, turning, braking, it's a no brained that the Parkwood is the tool of choice for the event. I'm very glad I did the test though as I've been hovering over the buy it now button on a few bikes. I'd have ended up quite disappointed.

Chinese forks arrived, need to get a star nut in them and we're golden.

https://flic.kr/p/2hE1G9E

https://flic.kr/p/2hDZD3A

https://flic.kr/p/2hE1Gjj

Following this with interest, if I can't afford the lovely Orbea Terra that I have my eyes on, I'll be converting my Trek Superfly for the Paris Roubaix.

It's already my CX racer but I've got butterfly bars on it right now as I recover from a herniated disc.

Higher gears and nicer tyres would be all I need to change. Would weigh in approx 11kg so not getting too excited about weight or sprinting ability in the velodrome, but I bet it would fly over the cobbles!

Am having fun plotting some lunchtime training loops on the Edinburgh city centre cobbles, lots of wee streets I never even knew about!

The Chinese super special carbon forks arrived and are test fitted, obviously at this stage it's all a bit of a work in progress thing, so don't mock too much. I need to get the steerer trimmed obviously and a star nut fitted and will then start looking a bit more normal. Will also get the turbo wheel off of course 🙂
Forks seem a bit lower than even the weighted suspension fork, so will leave a couple of CM on the steerer in case i want to lift the stem a bit. But i guess the lower front end would help with the aero.

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49001008122_fe930b3abb_5k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49001008122_fe930b3abb_5k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2hE3YxC ]2019-11-02_01-32-15[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

Starting weight
13.51kg

Weight with lighter wheels and CX rubber
11.97Kg

Current weight
10.30kg

That's not a bad weight i think. I'll get it down even to 10.2kg with some lighter pedals i think.

Obviously it's currently a work in progress as it's a bit colour challenged 🙂 But i'll resolve all of that before the trip anyhow 🙂

Hopefully will get some testing done later next week and see how it rides.

You sure that should be a star nut and not a bung/headset doctor thing?

You are of course correct as a guy pointed out in another forum.

Steerer now cut by my lbs. Waiting for bung to arrive so I can test.

Chinese sent me a 15*110 axle not 15*100 which is a pain, but I have one I can use for now

I really want rain for Roubaix this year- make it a proper ride 😅

Gonna do the long one this year and put up with the faff getting to the shuttle.

Zissou, hopefully see you there!

That shuttle was one of the coldest times I can remember. It was 2 degrees and we waited in Lycra for well over an hour. Get there early !

We did the medium due to logistics and riding along a canal from our air bnb I was so cold I thought I wasn’t gonna be able to ride 😅
Hand warmers next year!