Steve Wood and Graham Berridge took part in the classic Tour of Flanders on 2nd April. With around 20,000 riders taking part the Flanders sportive is one of the biggest in the world and, as with the Pro race the following day, is a major cultural event for the Flandrians. This years’ event took place under clear blue skies and a heady temperature of around 23C at mid-day. The route is a mixture of road, cycle paths and cobbles, the latter being the big appeal to most cyclists as the famous Bergs and Murs of the area feature in the last 100km of the route. With so many cyclists it’s not always possible to ride up the early cobbled climbs of the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg as all it takes is a couple of cyclists to stop on the hill and there is a domino effect all the way back down. Once the numbers thin out though every hill then becomes a challenge to climb as hard and fast as possible, maybe even pretend you are a Cancellara or a Boonen. And as we were in Belgium there was ample opportunity to pass someone who at least looked like Boonen as scores of riders donned their Quick Step replica kits and team bikes. The biggest cheer of the day went to an Italian Pozzato look-alike who amazingly rode up a jam packed Kruisberg shouting ‘achtung’ (??) and even more amazingly got people to move out of his way. As one photo shows we ‘did it’, whilst the 2nd photo shows the number of Leffe’s quaffed in the first hour after the race. Maybe next year we could have a Pearson CC day outing to ride Flanders...
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