A Coloradoan In Flanders

By Kris Thompson, Contributor-AvidCyclist 

Do you have bucket rides/events you want to do in your life? Bucket rides/events can motivate you into training for the goal/event, they can inspire imagination of stepping outside of a comfort zone and give you opportunities to have an experience unlike ever before.  I did, and it was to ride the Tour of Flanders Sportif ride, or the more accurate title, De Ronde van Vlaanderen, which takes place the day before the professional race takes place.

What is the De Ronde Van Vlaanderen you ask?  No one better to explain it then fellow Coloradoan, Ben Delaney.  He explains in this video why he loves Tour of Flanders.

There are multiple routes one can do and the most popular route is the 179km route which basically does all of the “bergs” without all of the boring flats and is a loop ride. 

For the 2024 route it covered 27 bergs or hills, most were cobble stones but not all.  As a Coloradian, these are just bumps in the road, probably 200-300 feet in elevation but some are steep, like 10-13% with cobbles and wet.   For the average fit Coloradoan, this is not a difficult event BUT remember this is Northern Europe and it takes place at the end of March so you can expect rain and cold, a wet cold, and no sun (do Coloradoan even ride when the sun is not out?).  After you survive the sportif ride, relax and get ready for the REAL party that takes place the following day with the professional race!  That experience along deserves it’s own post but in short, it is best compared to the Super Bowl of cycling with millions watching either on TV or in person and as the Strava routes shows, there are places you can watch them go by multiple times

I traveled to Europe with 2 others from Colorado, current teammate and former teammate, I arrived a week before as I acclimated in Germany to the weather and time zone shift. We met up in our beautiful and affordable Airbnb just outside of the start town for the event, Oudenaarde.  First day we picked up our bikes from a Dutch bike rental company in a parking lot in Oudenaarde. These were road bikes with 28 tires which would not have been my preferred choice for the cobbles but was a typical setup for most other riders.  The second day we went out for a spin to check out the area and feel the Flanders bike vibe, while out we got passed by team UAEand saw other famous riders like Eli Iserbyt giving group rides to his fans and those who paid to do a ride with him.  Many other pros were spotted that day.

Event day!  Woke up to the sound or rain, ugh, who rides in rain in Colorado?  Luckily I had bought a rain jacket just for this ride as I never ride in the rain at home.  As mentioned in the Youtube link above, about 16,000 others do this ride and I’d say nearly all 16k should up because once we got to the start line it was just one lone stream of cyclists!  The route has multiple feed zones and they are WELL stocked and operated.  If you’ve done Ride the Rockies, this is even better operated and some of the stops have cake!  Most of the bergs are easy to ride, even in the rain except for the famous ones, Koppenberg, Kwaremont and Paterberg, those are so steep that many turn it into a sidewalk making it nearly impossible to ride, but only nearly impossible, good timing and the lanes might open up but you got to stay in the saddle or you will spin out on the wet cobbles.  After nearly 7 hours, and 5 of those in the rain, the ride was over, bucket list completed.  As Ben had mentioned in the Youtube video link above, I too would do it again if I get the opportunity and if you do too, here are my links and tips for making the event successful.

• Bike Rental, <a href=”https://www.wiel-rent.nl/nl/”>Wiel-rent.nl</a>  Easy to work with and friendly, I don’t recommend bringing your bike.
• <a href=”https://werideflanders.com/en/”>Registration</a></a>.  They are slow at updating route information but come ride day they are SUPER organized!
• Housing.  Book EARLY!  16k people do this so rooms book up 12+ months in advance
• Clothing.  Bring it all, especially rain gear, expect 40s, wet and no sun.
• Training.  It’s not a difficult course but if you are a fair weather rider then winter training will be required.
• Sites.  The town has a <a href=”https://www.crvv.be/en”>Tour of Flanders Museum</a>, MUST see.
• Rides. Every where is great to ride but I found the wide bike path on the Scheldekant river nice.
• Language.  English, German, French or Dutch all are fine but this is the Dutch region, I had no problem with English or German but one of the riders from CO speaks Dutch so that helped
• Dining.  Not a lot of choices so expect hitting the grocery store which usually has prices much lower than the USA
• Car or train.  That is a difficult one, if you get housing in or very close to Ordenaarde then I suggest taking the train, I rented a car because our Airbnb was not that close to town.  Overall train is the best form of travel in Europe and used it to get to Belgium from Germany.

Overall 5 stars