Focus Variado 2007 vs the Ronde de Flanders - 1:5
Well, the Focus Variado has accompanied me on one of the hardest cycling challenges of my life, the Ronde de Flanders (pronounced ‘Roand da Flaanders’). This event covers over 250kms between Bruges and Novae in Belgium complete with 17 climbs. You may think that Belgium is flat, which it is, but imagine short steep cobbled climbs and you begin to understand what torture awaits you.
My journey started in London, where I headed to St Pancreas’s Eurostar Terminal. I had bought a soft bicycle bag to protect the Variado on its journey under the English Channel and across the Brussels. To my surprise the bag fit perfectly in one of the storage areas meaning that I would be able to avoid the £20 bicycle charge that I was expecting.
Three hours later including a second journey on a local train, I was at the hotel and tucking into a scrumpuous spaghetti carbonara together with a 10 strong Dutch continent to get up our glycogen reserves for the long day of cycling ahead. The some final adjustments to my bicycle before heading to bed at midnight to get in a couple of hours sleep ahead of the 4:30 start.
It seems that my head had only hit the pillow when my alarm went. Almost in slow motion I got my gear together and pulled on the lycra shorts. A quick breakfast was had and it was still dark when we rolled out the front door on our way to the shuttle bus that was to take us to Bruges.
An hour and a half later we arrived at the start of the event. Nerves and the cold had already gotten to me (not to mention that I was completely underdressed for the weather in shorts and a short sleeved top), so me and two other had to duck out and find a place to discretely evacuate our bladders. Cut to a storm drain on an abandoned main street… and cut away again quickly.
We headed of around 7:00 in a group for the first stage of the ride consisting of 140km of flat and fast roads. It was the first time that I had ridden properly in a group and I quickly began to understand what it must be like to ride in a Peloton. Imagine 30-40 riders almost wheel on wheel racing down the road at 40kph. It’s amazing with what apparent ease you can ride when drafting. The Variado performed beautifully and I was keeping up with riders who appear much fitter than I and on much more expensive bicycles than the Variado.
The weather was crisp and cold, but dry for the first hours, but this like my energy levels was to quickly change. After the first 3 hours of ridding it began to rain making the roads both slippery and a source of filth that was sprayed everywhere. I was already feeling a bit tired after the second feed-stop around 100kms after stuffing the 10th piece of honey cake and Stroh-waffle into my mouth. Little did I know that the real cycling hadn’t even begun.
The first hill of 17 came at 140kms. Before setting off from London, I had become aware that my gears weren’t shifting properly. Instead of taking it to the bikeshop to be adjusted, which would have cost money, I ignored it. This would be an error in judgement that would quickly become a “how could you be so cheap” moment.
Now what makes the Ronde de Flanders so challenging is the combination of two things. Firstly, it’s the hills. These on their own would be so bad; however, bring on the other element, cobbles. Of the 17 climbs, approximately 12 are cobbled. Now cobbles, in case you’ve never ridden them, turn your bicycle into a jackhammer that vibrates the hell out of your hand and your backside. Going up is challenging and I admit that due to the loss of my lowest 3 gears (thank-you for not getting the gears serviced beforehand) I had to get of the bike and push it up the top half of most of them.
The real problem actually ended up riding downhill on cobbles. Due to the speed and size of cobbles it seemed like the bicycle would shake apart at any moment. It took over a week for the numbness in my hands to go away. I am proud to say that the Variado took the cobble like a champ and appears to have survived the entire ordeal unscathed.
Anyway, to cut a 12 ½ hour epic cycle journey of over 280kms short… I set off at 07:00 and finished at 19:30 in a state of absolute exhaustion. I was covered head to toe in filth and was so tired my heart-rate wouldn’t go above 110bpm. It was an awesome experience, which I am already looking forward to doing again next year. It was good to see that I wasn’t along with 2 of our group of 10 not even finishing and about half almost falling asleep into their dinner.
You may ask, why did I sign-up to such a gruelling event? It’s simple, a good friend asked me, I didn’t do my homework and preparation and I needed to kick-start my training for the Etape. It’s amazing what a sense of achievement you get when you do something that you think is beyond your ability. The experience has left me stronger both mentally and physically.
Ronde de Flanders 2009 – watch out, here I come.