Real Flandrien

"Now you are a real Flandrien". Those words were addressed to me several times since last Saturday. I guess, with hindsight, having ridden the complete distance of the Tour of Flanders in bitterly cold and wet conditions does indeed not leave any space for 'yeah buts'. So today I am happy I came through with my chin up, even though for some time halfway through the ride I admit I was about to throw in the towel.

Horrific memories of the Oetztaler 2005 zoomed through my head, when after 65km the rain (and melting snow!) began to fall with increasing intensity. The temperature dropped to barely 3 degrees, my hands and body stiffened up and my teeth chattered non-stop. All the major climbs and cobblestones were yet to come and I was thinking the full route will be for another year. However, as it happens, the rain let up for a while then - at the right moment - so that my morale was up again by the time I reached the big food & beverage stop in Oudenaarde.

Morten, Michael and I got up at 4:00 a.m. We were at a hotel in Oudenaarde and had to make our way to Ninove to get on the shuttle bus that would bring us to the start in Bruges. Everything went smooth, we got on the bus and Michael drove the car back to Oudenaarde to pick up Gideon and Guus. The trio would do the 140 km tour starting later in the morning.

In Bruges we quickly put our bikes together and Morten started fearing the worst for the day as his bike came off the bus with a flat tyre! He would not face any similar issues later, though. Slightly more than 3000 people (out of 17 000 total participants) came together at the Grote Markt in Bruges for the départ of a very long day in the saddle. I noticed the pre-announced Japanese team and a surprising number of British cyclists. After about 45 minutes of riding we came onto a 'celebrity group' and attached our waggon. I immediately spotted Ludo Dierckxsens, and soon after I was sitting in the wheel of Eric Vanderaerden. Nico Mattan, Jo Planckaert, Peter van Petegem, Serge Baguet, Olympic judo champion Ulla Werbrouck and last-but-not-least Johan Museeuw were also present. Their purpose was to accompany the finalists of the Miss Sports Belgium contest on the ride. The girls apparently had to do an abridged version of the tour of 198km. There were several Italians in this group as well, four of which wore jerseys with "Michele Bartoli" printed on it - but I cannot say whether Bartoli himself was riding along. In any case, there were a few guys from the big granfondo teams Salieri (Negrini) and Park Pre (Rumsas, David Jones). The Giro delle Fiandre is becoming a highlight for Italians as well it seems.

The pace in this group wasn't high, but we were accompanied by cars and the roads were kept free for us, which made for comfortable riding. I stayed with them until the Kluisberg. It had been raining already for a while (Museeuw had even fled to the bus) and I wanted to go my own pace. But conditions got worse and worse as described above. The Nokereberg was new to me and didn't impress me. Up next was a very bad 1.6 km stretch of cobblestones: Doorn. A lot of mud made for tricky and slippery riding. Afterwards I was approached by a German who turned about to be living in Frankfurt and a triathlon-colleague of my Agapedia-teammate Alexander. The world can be small. On the way to the Paddestraat (2.4km of cobbles) the rain stopped temporarily. On the Paddestraat I nearly crashed into two riders who collided and slipped just before me. It was really a balancing act at times. After the Paddestraat we entered the traditional course of the Ronde and the start of the long series of climbs, 17 in total. The first one of these is the short but steep and treacherous Molenberg. I discovered to my surprise that despite everything the legs still had juice. Shortly after the Molenberg we hit the fearsome cobbles of Kerkgate in Mater (3 km). My pace was faster than anyone around me and I continued my run on the Wolvenberg. And so we arrived in Oudenaarde with even a short spell of sunshine. This encouraged me to a gamble and take off my soaked-through legpieces. I have always found covered knees a nuissance to ride with. After stocking-up on Isostar and eating a piece of honeycake I got back on the bike and headed for the big trilogy: Oude Kwaremont, Paterberg and Koppenberg. Last week in the E3 I had a rough time against the wind on the Kwaremont, but this time I cycled up with a solid pace. Unfortunately, the skies got dark again and opened the hatches for a terrible shower including sleet and windburts. What a way to hit the ultra steep Paterberg! Chaos reigned on the Pater of course, with nearly everyone falling down or getting off the bike and walking up. The path was blocked and when the guy in front of me had to get off, I couldn't avoid him and I had to set foot as well. Much to my resentment the same happened on the Koppenberg..

As I climbed the hellingen ony by one, showers came and went. But the legs were still strong enough to maintain a solid pace. The experience shows that if you take it easy in the beginning, you don't need to have trained 200 km before you do a 260 km event. In fact, on the famous Muur van Geraardsbergen, 18km from the finish, I had one of my best runs ever - which was much appreciated by the many spectators there, too. Then there was still the Bosberg and the remaining 11km to the finish in Meerbeke-Ninove.

It was close to 7 p.m. when Morten and I got back at the starting area, it had surely been a long day. Interestingly, on our certificate it says 277 km instead of the officially announced 260 km. Morten confirmed that his bike computer also showed 277 km, so the cyclotour seems to be longer than the pro race.

I am happy I did it, but my feeling is I won't do the full distance again. The weather did not help this year, but the first 120-130km are not exactly thrilling. Yet, I put it on my record alongside Paris-Roubaix and Liege-Bastogne-Liege and in so doing I reached my first objective of the 2008 season!