ARNOLD DEVLIN'S TOUR OF BELGIUM

Cobble Mania - Spring 2002

For many years I have been aware of the professional cycling season that commences in Europe, while we still are zipping around here in Northwestern Ontario on x-c skis.

When I first learned to road cycle I learned the tricks of the trade from my close friend Robert Vyncke. Bob grew up in Belgium and Quebec and learned the history of cycling from his father and in particular Belgium cycling. Belgium is a cycling crazy country. Every little village will have a bike shop and at least one cycling club.

As you are cycling around the Flanders countryside you will see the local team racers, the old timers out for a spin and people cycling to school, work or just enjoying the Belgium countryside. Every weeknight and weekends during the cycling season there are club and regional races.

Every spring in early April there are a series of famous cycling races held in Belgium and Northern France called "classics". These professional cycling races are World Cup events and attract the best cyclists in the world. These races are long, 200-264km and they are hard because of the harsh winds, cool wet weather and the dreaded cobblestones.

But what makes these events particularly unforgiving is a series of cobblestone climbs over bergs or small steep hills. The events that we had planned to see as spectators were the Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders), Gent-Wevelgem and the "Queen of the Classics" Paris-Roubaix.

For years Bob and I have talked about going to Belgium and staying at his mother's home in Brugge and taking in the "classics". In one week you can take in three or four races.

This was the year for it to happen. So on April 4th, 2002, Bob and I took off from Montreal for Paris, France on Air Canada. We had our bike gear and two large double thickness cardboard boxes for our bikes.

After a 6 ˝ hour overnight flight we arrived in Paris at 10:30am. Customs, mini-van rental and we are off for the 2-˝ hour drive through Northern France to Brugge, Belgium.

Upon arriving at Bob's mother's home in Brugge we had lunch, (which included a very tasty table beer called Piedmont with low alcohol content) unpacked the bikes and managed to get a 30km spin around the forest bike paths that surround the Sint Michiels section of Brugge.

It was important that we get a shakedown ride in as we had entered a 75km recreational bike event the following day in Ninove. The day before the Ronde van Vlaanderen they allow recreational road cyclists and mountain bikers to challenge themselves with the course. You can ride three possible distances 264km, 140km and 75km. Because most of my cycling this season had been at the Canada Complex stationary fitness bikes I decided it would be prudent to choose the shorter distance.

Saturday brought sunny skies with cool northwesterly winds from the North Sea. Over 14,000 cyclists took part in this event. You can start at anytime after 7am and you carry a control card that you have to have stamped as you go through different checkpoints. The 75km ride was steady and a managed to hook onto a group of riders now and then. The cyclists admired the TBCC jacket with its bright yellow colour. Past windmills and small villages waking up to the Saturday morning we rode on.

Bob and I got separated and I continued to ride. I later learned that he had got on to the 140km route.

The last 37km of the 75km course climbs over 5 of the bergs or steep hills: Leberg, Berendries, Tenbosse, Muur-Kapelmuur and the last climb the Bosberg with 12km left to go to the finish.

But before the hills there was a 2km stretch of cobbles called Haaghoek. Now we have potholes and bumpy roads in the Thunder Bay area but we have nothing like cobbles. These cobbled roads are left over from the Roman Empire network of roads and are used today by farmers and cyclists alike.

As I started on the Haaghoek cobbles my bike, arms and legs were intensely shaking and I fought to keep the bike straight.

I had heard that if you spin your big gears and ride the crest of the cobbles it would be easier. Two cyclists zipped by me and I was able to follow behind on a wheel. After this two km stretch of cobbles the smooth road was a wonderful experience. I'll never complain about the Thunder Bay or Quebec roads.

Next came the climbs. As I approached the hills from a distance you could see that the fans had painted the names of their cycling heroes on the road; Nico (Mattan), VDB, Museeuw, Van Petegem.

The first three climbs are steep but not long. Then the ride into Geraardsbergen and the climb up the Muur-Kapelmuur 700 meters of cobbles climbing a 20% slope following a narrow track up the hill. I took it slow and inched my way up the climb going 9-15km/hr. Then around a corner and up the steepest slope. Halfway up I ran out of gas and was dangerously close to crashing so I got off my bike and walked the last 15m to the top and remounted. Even though the Ronde van Vlaanderen was not until tomorrow the sides of the cobbled climb had people cheering you on. The next climb the Bosberg was 3km away and I enjoyed the downhill plunge. The Bosberg was different, only 400meters of cobbles and a wide-open road. At the bottom of the climb I started to cramp up in my thigh and hamstrings at the same time. The strain of these climbs was pushing my legs to the limit. I pulled off the road and kneaded my leg until the cramp subsided. Back on the bike I finished the climb and rode the final stretch into Ninove and the finish. The ride was over 4hrs 20min. Amazingly I met Bob at the finish and we compared adventures and all the loot that we got, a medal, diploma, t-shirt and a coupon for an ice cream. You know what? That ice cream was "the best" ice cream I ever had.

The next day we saw the start of the Ronde van Vlaanderen in Brugge beginning with the formal sign-in of the riders in the Market Square and the start. Then we jumped into the mini-van and drove to Geraardsbergen and the Muur-Kapelmurr.

This time we were with some of the 700,000 Belgian fans that lined the 264km course cheering their heroes on. That does not include the over 6 million TV viewers that watched the over 5 hours of race coverage on Belgian TV.

We picked a good spot on the Muur and waited. We waited for nearly 2hours listening to the radio and anticipating the peloton. A few Palm Speciale and a large order of frites with mayonnaise and relish were great as we dozed and waited in the warm spring sun. The sides of the narrow road began to fill up with spectators and the police started to keep people off the track. The TV cameras were stationed at the bottom of the climb and at the top of the climb. Spectators waved the Flemish flag and waited. Then we could hear the beating of the blades on the race helicopter as it neared the Muur. Then the roar and cheering of the crowd could be heard from lower down the climb. Finally George Hincapie, Andrea Tafi, Peter Van Petegem, Johan Museeuw and Daniele Nardello came charging around the corner attacking the cobbles. They struggled up the narrow path just as I had the day before (of course they had 230km on their legs and were still going at a 30km/hr pace). Stefano Zanini, Fred Rodriguez came zipping by and then the peloton. We watched in awe as Lance Armstrong, Mario Cippolini and the top cyclists in the world went before our eyes. The cyclists gritted their teeth and grasped the top of the handlebars as they struggled with the line up the hill. At the end a few struggling cyclists dismounted on the Muur and remounted to be pushed by the fans up the hill, an amazing site. In 30 minutes they had all gone by.

We climbed to the top of the Muur and crowded into a café to watch the end of the race as Tafi attacked with 2km to go and won in 6hrs 53 minutes with an average speed of 38.354km/hr.

On the way home to Brugge we listened to the radio as the sports commentator tried to put the significance of this important national event into perspective. From a North American viewpoint, not educated and schooled in the history of cycling, it's just another race. But to the people of Belgium this event is a reflection of their psyche. This is an event that has an 86 years history, which spans two World Wars and mirrors the struggles and aspirations of the Belgian Nation.

In 2 ˝ days we had cycled over 100km and witnessed our first "classic." Wednesday we are planning to see the Gent-Wevelgem and next Sunday Paris-Roubaix.

Arnold Devlin