De Ronde Cyclo

Three of our Flandria Cafe guys are currently in Brugge getting ready for tomorrow's Ronde van Vlaanderen voor Wielertoeristen.

Maarten, Tom and Kurt are signed up for the full enchilada - the full distance version - a whopping 259km.

No doubt they're harder men than I.   Back in 2005, Dr. Brad, Marc and I decided that for working stiffs, 140k with a heavy dose of Flemish Ardennes bergs was plenty.   Each of those guys works a full week, squeezes in rides around family obligations, and still manages to eat up the km.   This year, doing it all in a tough winter in these parts.

With cyclingrevaled.com's Barry 'the bullet' Boyce.
Their weekends in prep have been going to early season group Sunday rides, only meeting 2-3 hours before and doing the same ride in advance before doing it again with a group trying to tear their legs off.    As i write this, it's 1pm in Flanders and they're likely in the Flemish ardennes battling away.

I did it in 2005, and it was a great event.  Rain was on and off in the AM, but it got nice at the end.   It was an incredible experience... hope to do it again some year soon!   Here's some old photos that bring back memories of a great trip that year.
Marc was as tired as he was Flanders colors compliant.

Dr. Brad living the hypocratic oath...
"No, I'm not an orthopedic surgeon, but I did stay
in a Holiday Inn express last night"
Good luck over there boys!


Dr. Brad practices his flemish atop the Bosberg.
Ronde over.   Where's the Bier?  
Belgian toothpaste before the power washing.

Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 2, 2013 at 12:38 PM

    I guess I am back home before the Flandria guys. It was dry BUT very cold with a strong easterly wind. Some new sections of stones which were a little the worse for wear in places. An enjoyable experience all the same. Hope your guys had a wonderful experience.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Larry and HeatherApril 3, 2013 at 5:53 AM

    Back to the warmth of Sicily after my Ronde experience, courtesy of Peter and Lisa of VeloClassic Tours. I'll have more on the CycleItalia blog soon http://cycleitalia.blogspot.it but I'll say one thing - the guys who thrive in those conditions, on those roads, eating that food...are truly hard men (and women)...way harder than me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Larry and HeatherApril 6, 2013 at 6:49 AM

    http://cycleitalia.blogspot.it/2013/04/belgium-cobbles-and-beer_6.html
    Finally got my blog post up in case anyone wants to take a look.

    ReplyDelete

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