Author Topic: Belgium rides 2019  (Read 13124 times)

Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #50 on: 11 December, 2018, 07:30:22 am »
Not riding this event, but I am currently studying the weather forecast. My reading is that it will be a cold start, followed by a warm front pushing in (with the usual sleet/rain). Since there is no frost in the ground, it seems unlikely that it is going to get very slippery. (As I'm located a bit further north and east, I'm still hoping for a dry saturday.)

The route for the audax on January 5 has been published (see https://winterrandonneur.weebly.com/de-pannenkoek.html). It looks like a nice ride through the Dutch part of Flanders. I'm curious since it is the only part of the Netherlands that I've never visited. It is a bit confusing though that the GPX-file seems to run in a different direction than the route sheet...

Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #51 on: 11 December, 2018, 12:56:20 pm »
I'm planning to ride this one. Have to leave home quite early, it is about 2 hours driving to the start. The weatherforecast looks ok, maybe a bit chilly.

Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #52 on: 12 December, 2018, 10:54:20 am »
Indeed a bit chilly. It'll be my first ride in proper winter gear this winter

Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #53 on: 12 December, 2018, 01:34:42 pm »
Should we be worried about ice?

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #54 on: 12 December, 2018, 08:04:42 pm »
Should we be worried about ice?

This is something I'm wondering myself. Forecast suggests no rain in Bruge in the day before the ride, and along the ride. Which suggests that ice shouldn't be a problem. However, it doesn't take an awful lot of ice to ruin one's day.

My winter tyres (Conti Top Contact Winter, see thread in knowledge for info), have arrived, but I'm still unsure if I will put them on for the weekend or not. Cycling home from work today my fingers were cold, I think It may be time to dig out the proper winter mitts...

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #55 on: 12 December, 2018, 10:07:12 pm »
Should we be worried about ice?

Indeed no rain forcasted for the next few days so the roads should be dry when it starts freezing. The winddirection is south-east, which is quite good for this route.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #56 on: 13 December, 2018, 11:04:36 pm »
Should we be worried about ice?

yr.no and Buienradar don't quite agree on their forecast. The Dutch have snow arriving no earlier than ~2300. The Norwegians say it will start to precipitate around ~1900. Two prolongued periods of sub zero tonight, and tomorrow night (I don't have data for before that to hand), means the ground may be cold enough for what falls out the sky to freeze. Maybe. I don't know what sort of roads the route is taking, or how well salted they are. I think this puts conditions in the territory of "interesting". Faster riders should be fine. Lantern Rouge may have to keep spare underwear handy...

Grams, do introduce yourself at the start. I'm the Brit with the red Genesis bike covered in bike packing luggage and tri bars.

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #57 on: 14 December, 2018, 07:15:41 am »
Should we be worried about ice?

yr.no and Buienradar don't quite agree on their forecast. The Dutch have snow arriving no earlier than ~2300. The Norwegians say it will start to precipitate around ~1900. Two prolongued periods of sub zero tonight, and tomorrow night (I don't have data for before that to hand), means the ground may be cold enough for what falls out the sky to freeze. Maybe. I don't know what sort of roads the route is taking, or how well salted they are. I think this puts conditions in the territory of "interesting". Faster riders should be fine. Lantern Rouge may have to keep spare underwear handy...

Grams, do introduce yourself at the start. I'm the Brit with the red Genesis bike covered in bike packing luggage and tri bars.

J

Weeronline predicts snow in the early evening, later turning into rain. Temperatures keep on rising throughout saturday/sundaynight.

Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #58 on: 15 December, 2018, 08:32:28 am »
Big cockup. Too much faffing getting ready, arrived at start at 8:10. No one there. We’re riding but I don’t think we’re going to do the whole thing.

Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #59 on: 15 December, 2018, 06:12:37 pm »
My friend abanadoned after 23 km and rode another 40 km back to the start. I decided coming all the way here and riding such a small portion of the route was silly, so pressed on to the first control but couldn’t see myself finishing and was getting very cold, so rode to Gent for the train back.

Judging by QG’s tweets she must have arrived in Nazareth around the time I was leaving. No idea how that happened. Did you stop somewhere I could have overtaken without seeing you / your bike?

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #60 on: 15 December, 2018, 10:01:47 pm »

Don't think so. But the first control wasn't actually on the route the GPX took, but instead about 100m down a side street. I took a slightly weird route there.

I finished. In time. After crashing on the ice a second time, I decided to find a route solely on gritted main roads. After crashing the 3rd time. I recalibrated on what to consider a main road, and only took roads with a N number. I made it back, in time, via all 3 controls. Battered, bruised, and with my shoes quite literally covered in ice. Now, nearly 2 hours after finishing, I've regained feeling in 9.5 toes. That was type 3 fun...

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #61 on: 15 December, 2018, 10:28:16 pm »
I've just driven from Calais to Eindhoven close to the last 40km of the route, it was raining*, windy and the temp meter in the car said 0c... My wife muttered "bet you're glad you didn't enter that one!" ... For once I agreed with her ;D

* That rain could have been sleet.
Regards,

Alan

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #62 on: 15 December, 2018, 11:02:56 pm »
I've just driven from Calais to Eindhoven close to the last 40km of the route, it was raining*, windy and the temp meter in the car said 0c... My wife muttered "bet you're glad you didn't enter that one!" ... For once I agreed with her ;D

* That rain could have been sleet.

I think at various points I got snow, sleet, and rain. But after about 30mins it kinda all got blurry as my glasses kept misting up. My Wahoo registered a low of -6°C. A new PB for cycling...

If anyone sees the big toe in my left foot, please tell it I'd really appreciate if it would respond to communication...

Just rolled over in the hostel bed and found a new bruise. Ow.

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #63 on: 16 December, 2018, 09:42:29 pm »
I've just driven from Calais to Eindhoven close to the last 40km of the route, it was raining*, windy and the temp meter in the car said 0c... My wife muttered "bet you're glad you didn't enter that one!" ... For once I agreed with her ;D

* That rain could have been sleet.

It was sleet.
Upon arrivel both my helmet and the helmet of the other two riders in my group were covered in ice. For the last 20k I had limited vision as the right lense of my glasses had frozen over.
Only once I had a minor skid though, managed to correct it. This while we followed the very lany original route.
With the benefit of hindsight the lengthy lunchstop in Kortrijk wasn't a good idea.

Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #64 on: 17 December, 2018, 11:05:52 am »
Don't think so. But the first control wasn't actually on the route the GPX took, but instead about 100m down a side street. I took a slightly weird route there.

Going by Strava Flyby I was within maybe a minute of catching up with you at one point, and then I missed you when you were looking for the control in Nazareth.

Well done to everyone who finished.

Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #65 on: 18 December, 2018, 10:12:11 pm »
Some other reports have arrived on the Bruges 200, prompting a French randonneur on the French forum to write the following: "Un BRM 200 à cette période de l'année dans les Flandres, il n' y a vraiment que les Flandriens pour ne douter de rien! Bravo! car il faut oser affronter les conditions hivernales."
Whereby the honorary title of Flandrien is not limited to those speaking Flemish.

Daniel did a write-up in French: https://danicaurandonneur.blogspot.com/2018/12/brm-200-assebroek-bruges.html?fbclid=IwAR0EnrpGZ6zbXvlgQu9wLg9v7FJFMwl6MV_xMS3nJvJC3kQw9Nv0zooy9Mk

My photo's are available on https://fotoalbum.dds.nl/ivo_m/brm200brugge2018?DDS=n43m6k153kpq3fqtr8u1fnioo6
Antonio uploaded his photo's to https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOt5l3XJ3iIEfrQkttpv51K2wlwLreY--fn2gTPaQnQaDuNNlwJc8G3sFsgLNVEWw?key=SWRTSWxUSVBtTEFuZndWbjVRT1lLMktTTWlHNlln

Neither photo's nor riderports from the fast groups.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #66 on: 18 December, 2018, 11:08:12 pm »
Some other reports have arrived on the Bruges 200, prompting a French randonneur on the French forum to write the following: "Un BRM 200 à cette période de l'année dans les Flandres, il n' y a vraiment que les Flandriens pour ne douter de rien! Bravo! car il faut oser affronter les conditions hivernales."
Whereby the honorary title of Flandrien is not limited to those speaking Flemish.

Daniel did a write-up in French: https://danicaurandonneur.blogspot.com/2018/12/brm-200-assebroek-bruges.html?fbclid=IwAR0EnrpGZ6zbXvlgQu9wLg9v7FJFMwl6MV_xMS3nJvJC3kQw9Nv0zooy9Mk

My photo's are available on https://fotoalbum.dds.nl/ivo_m/brm200brugge2018?DDS=n43m6k153kpq3fqtr8u1fnioo6
Antonio uploaded his photo's to https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOt5l3XJ3iIEfrQkttpv51K2wlwLreY--fn2gTPaQnQaDuNNlwJc8G3sFsgLNVEWw?key=SWRTSWxUSVBtTEFuZndWbjVRT1lLMktTTWlHNlln

Neither photo's nor riderports from the fast groups.

The car in the Ditch in that second album was being pulled out when I went through, the tow truck plus car were blocking the whole road and the cycle lane. Was a sod to get round.

I have no memory of the section in the woods from your photos. The bit with concrete panels in a line of trees. How far from the start was that?

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #67 on: 19 December, 2018, 07:25:02 am »
Some other reports have arrived on the Bruges 200, prompting a French randonneur on the French forum to write the following: "Un BRM 200 à cette période de l'année dans les Flandres, il n' y a vraiment que les Flandriens pour ne douter de rien! Bravo! car il faut oser affronter les conditions hivernales."
Whereby the honorary title of Flandrien is not limited to those speaking Flemish.

Daniel did a write-up in French: https://danicaurandonneur.blogspot.com/2018/12/brm-200-assebroek-bruges.html?fbclid=IwAR0EnrpGZ6zbXvlgQu9wLg9v7FJFMwl6MV_xMS3nJvJC3kQw9Nv0zooy9Mk

My photo's are available on https://fotoalbum.dds.nl/ivo_m/brm200brugge2018?DDS=n43m6k153kpq3fqtr8u1fnioo6
Antonio uploaded his photo's to https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOt5l3XJ3iIEfrQkttpv51K2wlwLreY--fn2gTPaQnQaDuNNlwJc8G3sFsgLNVEWw?key=SWRTSWxUSVBtTEFuZndWbjVRT1lLMktTTWlHNlln

Neither photo's nor riderports from the fast groups.

The car in the Ditch in that second album was being pulled out when I went through, the tow truck plus car were blocking the whole road and the cycle lane. Was a sod to get round.

I have no memory of the section in the woods from your photos. The bit with concrete panels in a line of trees. How far from the start was that?

J

The dragonsteeth was on sunday, on the coastline. Old German defence lines.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #68 on: 19 December, 2018, 09:22:14 am »

The car in the Ditch in that second album was being pulled out when I went through, the tow truck plus car were blocking the whole road and the cycle lane. Was a sod to get round.

I have no memory of the section in the woods from your photos. The bit with concrete panels in a line of trees. How far from the start was that?

J

The dragonsteeth was on sunday, on the coastline. Old German defence lines.
[/quote]

No, this bit:

https://fotoalbum.dds.nl/ivo_m/brm200brugge2018/IMGP9894.jpg

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #69 on: 19 December, 2018, 06:46:38 pm »

The car in the Ditch in that second album was being pulled out when I went through, the tow truck plus car were blocking the whole road and the cycle lane. Was a sod to get round.

I have no memory of the section in the woods from your photos. The bit with concrete panels in a line of trees. How far from the start was that?

J

The dragonsteeth was on sunday, on the coastline. Old German defence lines.

No, this bit:

https://fotoalbum.dds.nl/ivo_m/brm200brugge2018/IMGP9894.jpg

J
[/quote]

That must have been about 30-40km into the ride, a while before the ferry.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #70 on: 03 January, 2019, 01:57:38 pm »

My physio has persuaded me that riding this weekend would be Bad™. So I'm gonna have to cancel :(

Hopefully I'll be fit for the Bunnik ride in 3 weeks. Just hoping it's not an ice slick.

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #71 on: 03 January, 2019, 04:41:56 pm »

My physio has persuaded me that riding this weekend would be Bad™. So I'm gonna have to cancel :(


That's why you should never go to a doctor. They'll only tell you things you don't want to hear ;)

I'm slowly on my way to Wachtebeke, turning it into a short cycle holiday. Today I cycled from 's Hertogenbosch to Bergen op Zoom (a surprisingly pleasant ride for the time of year). Tomorrow I'll do the rest. That should be an interesting ride through the harbor of Antwerp.

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
    • Didcot Audaxes
Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #72 on: 03 January, 2019, 07:15:06 pm »
Do any of you folks follow Belgian Cyclocross? One of my "to do" list trips is to go and watch some; do any audaxes - in particular next winter - start near to any races in space/time?
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #73 on: 03 January, 2019, 07:21:17 pm »
Do any of you folks follow Belgian Cyclocross? One of my "to do" list trips is to go and watch some; do any audaxes - in particular next winter - start near to any races in space/time?

Depends how you define "near". Belgium and the Netherlands are a small country, everywhere is basically an hour or 2 from anywhere else. So even if you have an Audax on the Saturday in Flanders, you can easily get to a cyclocross event in Limberg, or anywhere else in time.

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: Belgium rides 2019
« Reply #74 on: 03 January, 2019, 07:58:56 pm »
Do any of you folks follow Belgian Cyclocross? One of my "to do" list trips is to go and watch some; do any audaxes - in particular next winter - start near to any races in space/time?

Does it have to be in Belgium? This season in the Netherlands, there is a 200 in Bunnik on the 26th of January and a cross in Hoogerheide on the 27th. Hoogerheide is the training ground for the van der Poel clan and close enough to the border with Belgium that all the crazy supporters will show up. Train time between the two places is one and half hour. But in general, as quixoticqeek mentioned, small country so it's never far away.