Tour of Flanders Cyclosportive

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Words by Vince Halpern

Due to some last minute cancellations I was kindly offered a ride on the Tour of Flanders Cyclosportive by Nick Bourne of Pendragon Sports. He was going over to Belgium with a small group of riders that I hadn’t met before – Jesse, Cameron & Richard. I persuaded my girlfriend Monica, who rides for the Windymilla Team, to come too, telling her “Belgium’s flat, you’ll like it”.

Monica and I went in one car, driving from London to Folkestone to pick up the Channel Tunnel to Calais, then headed North East across Belgium to the hotel in Oudenaraade, where we would meet the Pendragon guys. Unfortunately, there was a 2 hour delay on the tunnel crossing, resulting in us arriving at the hotel well past midnight…

Let the carbo loading begin!

We parked up, unpacked and entered a dark and deserted hotel reception. Monica rang the hotel bell but there was no answer. It looked like we’d be spending the night in the Audi but then we received a text message from Nick telling us he’d left our room keys and race pack in an envelope on his car wheel. Relieved, we picked up the envelopes then stumbled around the hotel in complete darkness, save for the guiding light of the i-Phone, trying not to bump into the tasteful décor of stuffed animals and African totem poles until we finally located our room.  

After a good night sleep, we were up early for breakfast, joined shortly by Jesse, a seven foot giant and unsurprisingly a former professional basketball player, and Richard Hallet, legendary cycling journalist, trike racer and now building his own brand of steel frames. They, like us, were riding the less daunting medium route with 17 climbs and cobbled sections. Nick and Cameron took on the long route of 260kms, leaving at the crack of dawn (4am to be precise) to catch a shuttle bus to their start in nearby Brugge.

Riders at the start try to decide how many more layers they get away with…

After a good carbo-loading breakfast we were ready for the long ride ahead. With the cobbles in mind we had made only minor changes to our regular race bikes: mine a Trigon RQC29 and Monica on her Giant TCR SL Advanced. I double bar taped up my handlebars to reduce the vibrations to my hands and deflated my tires to a softer than normal 100psi for a smoother ride over the cobbles. My wheels are Dura Ace 7900 and had tough winter tires but in a rather narrow 23mm. If you’re a heavier rider you might want to go with a wider tire of 25 – 27mm, which larger riders, Jesse and Richard, had opted for, to afford more grip and comfort over the cobbles. 

We headed out in full winter clothing; thermal skullcap, winter gloves, and five layers of clothing all fully justifiable in the freezing temperatures. At least the sun was shining through the early morning mist as we arrived at the start line all of 800m from the hotel and with no fuss joined the ride. 

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