Ronde Van Vlaanderen Cyclo Sportive, April 2016.
There are three distances – 230km, 129km or 71km. 14 of our White Hart Vueltas team rode the 230km and another 5 chose the 129km distance. The 129km ride includes practically all the steep cobbled parts of the race and starts and finishes in the same place so it’s less hassle than the longer ride which started in Bruges and ended in Oudenaarde. The first 100K of the longer ride is flat, but it’s a good laugh bombing through Belgium in big groups early in the morning. Our team included one female rider (doing the 230Km ride), a couple of lads in their 60s, a handful in their 40s and 50s and a youthful element of 30 somethings – quite a spread.
Of the 16,000 riders, around 5,600 started from Bruges early in the morning including this lot from The White Hart Vueltas.
What’s it like, would we recommend it and what advice would you give?
If you are into road cycling, you will love it – it is absolutely fantastic. The start in Bruges was wonderful, thousands of cyclists zipping through the cobbled streets of a beautiful city at dawn. The climbs and cobbled sections further on are tough (tough makes it sound a chore, we loved every minute of it) and steep in places but well within the capabilities of most amateur cyclists who have the right gearing on their cycles and who have trained properly. You must be able to climb 2k 10-15% inclines comfortably and shorter ramps of 15-25%. You can always get off and push, and plenty of people do. The one gotcha which you have no control over is the weather – I’m not sure we would have been quite so enthusiastic if it had been pouring with rain and windy. We were lucky – it was around 2C when we started and a cool 12-13 C in afternoon, light winds and no rain.
It is brilliant organised – the Police control the roads, wave cyclists through any junctions and zip around on motorcycles escorting riders around the course. There are lots of well stocked foot stops and plenty of excellent mechanical assistance available too (I needed help as my steering tube cracked (dodgy Bianchi fork) – but my bike was cheerfully and expertly mended and sent on my way. The Belgian mechanics were brilliant, love their cycling, they were very keen for me to be able to continue.
The only advice I would give is to prepare. We had trained hard over the previous months and we had the right kit – bikes and clothing. I had never cycled 230K before and neither had my wife, but we both felt comfortable at the end – we paced ourselves, ate and drank properly all the way round and were fine.
We had a couple of guys retire on the day through illness – they were especially brave to even start, again they were well looked after by the organisers.
megustaria 