Highest mountain in Europe***

Today, I figured out a couple things while climbing the venerable Mont de L’Enclus.  I know you haven’t heard of these famous Belgian mountains, but I am here to tell you that this is one of the most difficult mountains I have ever climbed.  I think it topped out at 140 meters above sea level.  The air was very thin up there, judging by my need for the lowest gear on my bike.  It is either the tallest mountain pass in Europe, or I have not recovered from Paris Roubaix.  I am not sure which, but a 65 year old German Guy dropped me like a hot potato on the climb, so it might be that I am still tired.

I rode the Koppenberg today, one of the actually famous climbs on the tour of Flanders.  It is steep, maximum gradient is 22%, I could barely keep the bike moving.  I rode it with a few pro’s from the Bahrain team, they were nice enough to let me hang with them for about 3 seconds.  In the video below you will hear me ask them at the bottom of the climb for a push when they catch me.  None of them gave me a push, I needed it.  A few seconds later in the video, you may here me say “my god this is steep”. I will probably look for a flat ride tomorrow.

I also posted a high def video of the whole first section of cobbles at Paris Roubaix.   Happy Monday everyone.

Being a fan

Professional cyclists are amazing athletes.  Watching it in person is cool, but also somewhat anticlimactic.  We rode out to Carrefour de l’Arbre, the last 5 Star (hardest level) section of cobbles to watch the race.  Riding went well, my hands and sit bones were ok after yesterday’s almost 7 hours on the bike. We left the hotel for the race at noon and got back at 6.  I saw the pro’s for maybe a minute.  They had a giant TV set up in a farmers field so we were able to watch.  Pics below show the crowd and a few pics of the cobbles so you know how brutal they are.

L’Enfer Du Nord

I rode Paris Roubaix on the 7th.  It is known as the “hell of the north” which is the French title above.

It was amazing. 173 km total with 54 of it on roads like in the video. I have wanted to ride the cobbles my entire adult life, ever since I have been a cycling fan.

I don’t expect anyone to understand this,  these cobbles are brutally hard.  This is almost the hardest day I have ever had on a bike.  6+ hours of pedaling with a few rest stops to socialize and refuel.  6000 people did the event.  (Not 8000, that was last year).

As a quick teaser, here is video from my handlebar of the Trouée (trench) of Arenberg, one of the most difficult sections. Watch the guy in front of me and next to me bounce around. I found that speed over these cobbles is the only way to make them smoother, so I tried to go as fast as I could.

Johan Museeuw crashed here as the race favorite in 1998 and broke his knee cap (open fracture) that got infected and almost was amputated. Video upload problems from hotel forced me to put it on YouTube in standard definition. Hopefully the next hotel has better WiFi?

Rode in Ypres this morning, couldn’t sleep due to jet lag, so I headed out at 7 am. 40 degrees Fahrenheit is warmer in Europe than at home. I did the peace ride in Ypres which takes in a few WWI sites. Including the largest commonwealth cemetery in the world. 12000 people are buried there.

There were 3 WWI battles near Ypres. In total, 800,000 people were killed near here. It’s a little mind blowing. Two videos are below. These little farm roads are awesome, although I had to get off the road for a tractor. 

Civilization??

I was nervous about driving in Europe. Turns out it is pretty similar to home, except the drivers have manners and actually use the brake pedal as a tool rather than avoiding it like commandment number 11 says “thou shalt not touch the brake pedal.”  I saw two unique things on the road, one was the pay toilet  that I couldn’t figure out how to use at the gas station, the other was cars actually merging early when a lane was ending, rather than the last possible second. Remarkable, and quite civilized.  Bike and stuff made it. No rides yet.

Hello,

Resurrecting an old blog to give trip highlights for upcoming Belgian, Netherlands, French cycling adventure.  Here is a short video to show where I got the cycling disease, and proof that it is genetic.  My dad is in his 70's, and that is my 8 year old who is already a better rider than me, maybe a thoroughbred.  He has his mom's mitochondria so maybe he can produce more than 250 watts at threshold unlike his slowish dad.

Moved.

I decided to stop paying for a blog address when this will work so well.