The big day crept up for likely lads James Waite (aka Kranky) and David Sidgwick (aka Whisk) and me, Guy Pearson, who, to the best of their knowledge, were the only Pearsonites doing the full 244kms of the Tour of Flanders Sportive event. Supposedly joined by 4000 others at the start in a rather cold and damp Bruges (more like 2000 on the day) we got off to a brisk start with a group that swelled quickly to around 200 strong. This bowled along into the cross wind to the sleepy town of Gistel where a sharp left turn put the wind behind us and a rocket in our chuffs, heading to the first feed at a 40kph pace. Even after an impromptu wee stop we soon nailed it back and rejoined the oversized peloton, taking over the pace setting on the front. Kranky and his Belgian mate Nico took us speedily into the feed station where Denis, our driver for the day, was handed the first layers of clothing before embarking on the next leg. A very brief stop at the next feed just to fill bottles got us ready for the first sections of cobbles that were as always unimaginably harder than you remember. Kranky complained of blurred vision and Nico lost both his bottles while I enjoyed the relative comfort of 28mm tubulars run at 80psi on classic handbuilts which we all agreed was the best choice for the day (the worst being my training frame that's made out of melted down saucepans).
Cobbles led to climbs and the first few of the 14 'bergs we would tackle had few riders on them, the only problem was the cars blocking the steep and bumpy thoroughfare of the infamous Molenberg where some swift off-road action was called for, together with some excited shouting from Kranky, something which he rather enjoyed doing on every subsequent climb whether there was anyone in his way or not. Whisk began to falter on the climbs and cobbles and we left him behind at about the halfway point from where he rode at a steady but strong pace with various other companions of various different nationalities to the end.
Nico and Kranky rode harder and harder as the day went on, racing up every climb and eventually dropping me with about 15kms to go. I finished a few minutes behind them after the brutal last 10 clics into a headwind - I was toast by then. We finished in about seven and a half hours with Whisk not to far behind and I must say that looking back it was fantastic, just a little testing at the time. Our average speed was impressive at just under 20mph and managed to burn around 7000 calories, replaced with the help of lovely Belgian beer. I just want to do it again now!
Other known Pearsons to have done the event were Steve Wood, David Clinton, Graham Berridge, Barry Clarke and John Brameld, while two Pearson more associates, Michael VanDerBugel and Thomas Credland also rode the 140km and were last seen getting trashed in a bar near the finish at Oudenarde.
Flanders, Roubaix and other northern European sportives are great events to do, really because they are so easy to get to. The Dover-Dunkirk ferry is 2 hours which give you time for the compulsory full English and a Costa, the drive to Bruges is just over an hour while the drive back from the finish at Oudenarde is little over an hour and a half, even with Denis driving (he's called Rumblestrip because he complains that they keep waking him up).
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