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The Muur-Kapelmuur (Muur van Geraardsbergen, Mur du Grammont or Wall of Geraardsbergen) is to Flemish bike racing as The Eiffel Tower is to Paris. This climb is hands down the most iconic climb of the Flemish Ardennes, and of Belgium for that matter. I would even go as far to say that the Muur-Kapelmuur would make the top ten list of most monumental climbs of cycling amongst beasts like Alpe d’Huez, Mont Ventoux, Col du Galibier, Col du Tourmalet, Passo dello Stelvio, Passo di Giau, Alto de L’Angliru… and yes I know better than to finish this list, so don’t hate.

As a whole the Muur-Kapelmuur climbs 92 meters over a distance of 1075 meters (the 825 m as shown does not account for the distance of the Kapelmuur). It’s average gradient is just over 9% with a maximum gradient of 19.8%. The climb is both a mixture of true cobblestones synonymous with Flanders, and the less treacherous paving “cobbles”.

The first thing that comes to mind when the Muur is mentioned is De Ronde Van Vlaanderen. Rightly so because the Muur van Geraardsbergen has been included in the race since as early as 1950, and featured as the penultimate or ultimate climb of the race every year since 1970 until it’s exclusion from this years race. It’s also important to mention that the iconic section of the Kapelmuur (the section around the Chapel) is a more recent addition, as it made it’s debut to the race in 1981. The Muur has also been a player in races like Gent-Wevelgem, Omloop het Nieuwsblad, this years edition of E3 Harelbeke, and will also feature in several upcoming editions of the Eneco Tour.

Enough Said, Take Me There!

The Muur van Geraardsbergen is naturally located in the center of the ancient city of Geraardsbergen. The rise begins along the Brugstraat just after the Dender River, and continues left through the market square and left onto Vesten where it levels out a little bit. Next you turn right on Oudebergstraat where images from watching The Tour of Flanders will begin to flash before your eyes. Due to the city’s one way streets around the center church, and no vehicle traffic being permitted around the most iconic part of the climb we can’t give you a true Google Street View of the entire climb. What we can give you is this map, though typically you turn left in the market square in front of the church, while this maps has your turn left earlier at the perimeter of the square (no big deal really). Also keep in mind that this map does end  prematurely, but you will know the way from there. Here is a little teaser of the climb via Google Street view, though it will leave you wanting more. The Muur-Kapelmuur can be ridden via the 114km RVV Green Loop.

But before you go here’s a few pointers to help make the best of it…

• This climb is definitely about pace, as the hardest section comes towards the end when you are most tired.
• After the turn onto the Oudebergstraat stay in a small gear as the hard bit is coming soon, and there are no gutters to profit from.
• The cobbles also get rougher on the Oudebergstraat
• The toughest section is without a doubt amongst the trees (the spot where Cancellara turned it up back in 2010).
• It eases up a bit as you turn left in between the Muur and the Kapelmuur, but kicks up again around the iconic Chapel.
• There is no one line to ride (thanks to restoration works back in 2004) and you need not worry about oncoming cars over the steepest section as that portion of the climb is completely closed off to vehicle traffic (though always be aware that there could be a crazy cyclist trying to descend the Muur).
• Celebrate your triumph of the Muur by sampling a local Mattentaart (which by the way can only be made in Geraardsbergen and neighbouring Lierde).
• While in Geraardsbergen don’t forget to check out the Manneken Pis statue next to the Town Hall on the north side of the market square. Few people are aware that there are actually more than just the Brussles Manneken Pis, in fact there are several around Belgium. The town of Geraardsbergen claims their Manneken Pis to be the oldest.

So that’s it for our feature on the Muur (for now). We won’t dwell on the fact that this Monumental Berg didn’t make the cut for the 2012 Tour of Flanders as we are certain it won’t be too long until it makes it’s return to the race. So who’s up for conquering the Wall of Geraardsbergen?
Hope you all had a great weekend… and since we are a day later than normal Happy Tuesday!

Continue reading »]]> Welcome to a new series we are going to be starting on a weekly basis! Our News Roundup! Each week we are going to feature articles, video and photos we find that are interesting about the world of cycling. It will be a mixed-bag of the serious to the funny, but everything is defiantly worth a read or look …

• Bicycling.com – Hold that Tweet – So do pro cyclists need to be held back for an hour from tweeting after a race? Or does this limit getting a true reaction from the stars of cycling.
• Inring.com - Cycling Fans Versus The Mass Market Audience - So where does the line between a Fan of the sport and your average observer stand? Does it matter? and why should we as fans care?
• CyclingTips.com.au – Ghent Cycling Culture – A great article on the cycling culture behind one of our favorite cities in Belgium, Gent (Ghent or Gand, depending on your language of choice).
• Cyclismas – Interview Mark Johnson – Mark is the guy behind the book, The Argyle Armada, and give a very insightful look into what it is like following and chasing a pro team for a year …
• Cycleboredom.com - JERED GRUBER, THE GIRO & THE SHOT – In honor of the start of this year’s Giro I thought it would be interesting to put up this article that surounds the official poster of the Giro. It’s a story of a good friend of The ChainStay’s, Jered Gruber, and his amazing shoot of the Giau which was ‘borrowed’ by the Giro as the official poster of the tour.

Do you have an article, photos or video that you think we should include with next weeks roundup? Just shoot us an e-mail to info@chainstay.com and let us know!

Continue reading »]]> Well here we are the last day of April, a whole month has passed since the craziness that was the Tour of Flanders. Unfortunately this weeks feature the Bosberg didn’t see any race action, as it was excluded from the course for the first time since 1975.

The Bosberg is a mainly cobbled climb running through the small forests of Morbekebos, Raspaillebos and the Karkoolbos, which is only fitting as it’s name translates to forest hill/mount. The climb is a total of 986 meters with a 57 meter vertical gain. It’s average gradient is 5%, while it kicks up to 11% at it’s steepest point in the second half of the climb.

The Bosberg has been the last climb (or one of the last climbs) of the Ronde van Vlaanderen since 1975, and typically follows the Muur-Kappelmuur. Though it is neither very steep nor very long, the Bosberg was always a challenging climb in past races, as it landed after over 250km of racing following the Muur-Kapelmuur where the winning move would often go. It was first raced in a major event in the 1950 edition of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, and is also frequently raced in other professional and amateur races.

Enough Said, Take Me There!

The Bosberg is the most eastern climb of the Flemish Ardennes; located on the Kapellestraat outside the village of Atembeke (Moerbeke), and only 4km from the center of Geraardsbergen. You can see the climb here first on Google Street View, and later ride it via the RVV 114km Green Loop.

But before you go here’s a few pointers to help make the best of it…

• As it’s not too steep you can take this one in a larger gear than other bergs like the Koppenberg or Paterberg
• Keep it steady, and smooth as it can get bumpy in sections
• Standing is possible on this cobbled climb, but remember to maintain good weight over your rear wheel
• There is a long paved drag leading up to the climb, so make sure not to wear yourself out before even hitting the bottom of the Bosberg.

While we do love the classic Muur-Kappelmuur/Bosberg finale of the Tour of Flanders, equally we love the new finale of the Oude Kwaremont/Paterberg pair. They are just so different that it makes it difficult to compare, but it is a huge shame that the two climbs were left high and dry for the 2012 race.
We are definitely hoping that there will be some compromise for next year though. We thought that the race could travel from Brugge directly east towards Gent, and then south east towards Geraardsbergen, where there would be room for all of the popular climbs while still keeping with the new finale.
The only hitch in an otherwise perfect plan… the Dorp van De Ronde (town of De Ronde).
The Dorp van De Ronde alternates each year between East and West Flanders, and while this years town went to Torhout a city in West Flanders another West Flanders town has a pretty strong argument for 2013′s edition.
The town of Rekkem which lies near to Menen was the home of the first ever winner Paul Deman,that race was held in 1913… which makes next year the 100th anniversary. So will they have back to back West Flanders Dorp van De Ronde? Will they try to include the Bosberg and the Muur next year? I guess we’ll have to wait to find out.
Now tell us what did you get up to this weekend? Ride up any climbs through the forest?
Have a great week everyone!

Continue reading »]]> Trust your instincts. Know yourself. 

These are simple things to tell yourself to do, but often the execution can be quite hard.

Each new day has brought about better and better feelings in the legs, which has spurred me on to push myself that bit more. I’ve been consistent in my rides, putting in quality efforts each workout. One session especially killed me;  a devilish 1 hour workout which included several big-gear power and ramp efforts. I was on a roll, but with each passing workout I was feeling that bit more tired. It wasn’t an exhaustion, but that snap (or spark, kick) just wasn’t there in the legs.

The signs were there over the weekend, but it was Tuesday’s ride that made me realize how much I was affected. I rolled out for ‘fresh‘ from my rest day on Monday. I had a plan, a simple one, attack the Molenberg climb KOM and try to crush it. This time I would make sure my body was warmed up, my legs prepped and I was mentally ready.

I hit the climb with good speed, kept a nice line, didn’t have to much wheel bounce and felt good about my effort overall, but something was missing. It wasn’t a full loss of power, but just a slight, but noticeable difference, in my ability to tick the legs over. I continued on and rode over a few other climbs and willed myself out of sleeving the planned three hours for a shorter ride. I, as they say, HTFU’ed and got on with the ride as planned. I was glad I did, as I began to feel better as the kilometers ticked over.

Once home I got off the bike and went upstairs to stretch. It’s an activity I suggest EVERYONE take part in. Use these times to reflect on your ride, to listen and communicated with your body and take an assessment of where you are after each workout. That day each deep stretch brought on a twinge of pain. A small manipulation on the quad felt super tender. It was then I knew it, I was overdoing it with my training and rides.

While I don’t feel old, I do consider myself a rider of experience. It’s through many years (and MANY, MANY mistakes) I have been able to learn to read my body, to know it nuances and know when enough is enough. There are riders who you can punish and they will never break. There are riders who need to be pushed, willed and sometimes forced to give full effort. I however, am not one of those riders. I will happily will myself into a complete stupor of pain, push myself till I can’t go a bit more and then keep going. Earlier in my youth I would have ignored these signs I was feeling, told myself to “Man Up” … HTFU … Winners never quit, quitters never win and the like. Now I chose the right decision, I backed off just a bit, adapted my weeks training and kept going.

Wednesday morning a short and easy(ish) trainer rider awaited me. Coupled with a lot of stretching and a long warm bath the day before and I was beginning to feel better. I then moved my Thursday training to the afternoon, thereby extending my recovery even further. The results, well they speak for themselves.

Thursday I started to roll along and the legs felt good … very good. Not one to spoil the day (and some fresh and ready to rock legs) I made a plan to attack the Holleweg cobbles again. I mapped out a route in my head and decided to use the Kappelberg (which finishes just at the start of the Holleweg) as my warm up. I started the climb steady, felt really good after 100 meters and then said to myself; “Screw it!”, and I gunned it up the climb. The wind was in my favor I will say, but I did feel good and it helped boost my confidence for the Holleweg.

After a brief recovery at the top of the Kappelberg I went after the Holleweg. I rolled steadily onto the cobbles and immediately found myself in my second to last cog. The start of the cobbles are terrible, with a fair bit of wavy undulation, lots of misaligned cobbles and a light coating of dew not quite burned off from the morning rains. At least three times in the first kilometer I had to will myself not to slow down, not out to a physical need, but because going as fast as I was on the cobbles was getting a bit scary. At 1 kilometer the cobbles started to smooth out, the grade goes slightly negative and combined with the knowledge that the cobbles were almost over I gave it one final push. At the end I knew it was going to be a good time. It felt so much faster than before and I was almost giddy to get home and see how I did.

Sure enough I was right. After a quick upload to Strava I saw myself as the new KOM of the Holleweg, plus a bonus of 2nd on the Kappelberg … not a bad day. But that isn’t to say it was easy. The effort hurt me, so much so I torqued my back from the effort and it took some serious stretching and work to get it back into a right state. But it was worth it. It was days like today that I ride a bike. Days where you can feel the joy of everything coming together and you are ON IT. And for me, what better way to treat my new KOM than to break into my stash of Westvleteren 8′s and crack one open. It’s my first beer in over 2 weeks, but it was so worth it .

So if your a young athlete out there (or even an “experienced” one like myself), learn to communicate honestly with your body and yourself. The benefits will help accelerate your development by years.

-Gregg-

Continue reading »]]> Wow it’s hard to believe that another Spring Classics season has come to an end with yesterday’s Liege-Bastoge-Liege. We unfortunately didn’t make it out to either of the Ardennes Classics this year, though can say that we’re kind of glad that we were able to enjoy it from the comfort of our living room as the race was treated to 4 seasons of weather in one day over in Wallonia. Here’s hoping that the typical (atypical from recent years) classics weather that fans hope for and racers dread, will now start to improve as we head into May next week.
Now for what we’re really hear to talk about… this weeks climb, a b-roll climb of the Flemish Ardennes, The Berendries!

The Berendries is a well known climb amongst Flemish cycling fans, but not so well known amongst other cycling fans. It’s a pretty tough fully paved climb of 65 meters from top to bottom covered over nearly 950 meters – 936 meters to be exact. It’s average gradient is a pretty decent 7% which ranks it in the top 4th among the other Flemish Bergs, while it’s steepest gradient hits over 12% though some say as much as 14%. To the right of the summit lays the top of an older climb used in the 60′s, The Kasteeldreef. The climb is now used as a descent from the Berendries leading towards Brakel, and is one of the fastest sections of the Tour of Flanders as it descends 90 meters over an 800 meter distance.

This particular climb is one of the loyal climbs of the Ronde van Vlaanderen, making it’s first appearance to the race in 1983 and has since been included in every edition excluding last years in 2011. It’s also a popular climb in races like the Omloop het Nieuwsblad, Dwar door Vlaanderen, and Driedaagse van De Panne.

Enough Said, Take Me There!

The Berendries is located in the community of Brakel, and connects the small town of Michelbeke with the town of Sint-Maria-Oudenhove. It lies 6km from the town center of Brakel, 8km from Zottegem, 15km from Geraardsbergen, and 16km from Oudenaarde. You can follow the 114km RVV Green Loop to reach the Berendries, and here it is on Google Street View for your recon pleasure. Did anyone else catch the instant change in seasons?

Is anyone else sad that the classics are over? Or are you happy that the warmer weather is just around the corner (or has already hit) so you can get out and enjoy some glorious sunny rides? Did you catch Liege-Bastogne-Liege yesterday, or Wednesday’s La Fleche Wallonne? Surprised by the winners? Let us know what you got up to over the weekend! Hope everyone has a great Monday!

Continue reading »]]> Project Meatsuit is back … it was a busy two weeks for us over here at The ChainStay with our Spring Classics bookings (a full house!) and our day trips of both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. Due to the crazy nature of these two weeks I made a conscious choice to put a lot of my diet and training focus to the side and just get the job at hand done. My goal was simply to maintain my fitness, which shouldn’t be that hard with leading rides, etc. and to maintain my weight throughout the Spring Classics.

As it turned out my plans decided to run a completely different course than I wanted. Instead of maintaining my weight, I lost an amazing 4kg’s (8.8 lbs) at one point, but lost some fitness at the same time. I did this through the amazing E.Coli diet! On Monday and Tuesday our rides featured some of very remote and beautiful country side of Belgium, but at the same time, the freshness of the “Ode de Flanders” stench of the manure trucks. They were in full force during both rides and somewhere along the line I caught something on the ride. 10 years in Belgium and never a problem with the trucks, but smack-dab in the middle of our busiest week of work in the year I got hit, and hit HARD.

Saying the weight loss was “easy” doesn’t do the three days of hell I went through justice. In fact that was the hardest way I have ever lost weight. Then to add to it I settled at 78.5 kilos, so I gained back almost half of the weight I lost (which I knew was mostly water). But three days of little-to-no appetite did reduce my weight. On the other hand, I lost a bit of fitness from the recovery from those days and simply recovering from the long (but exciting) Spring Classics week.

Once things got back to normal I decided to get back into the swing of training and was finally able to put in some decent days of training. Each ride is becoming more and more enjoyable as the fitness grows. I’m finally at the point where long rides aren’t the dredge of the day, but an effort where I can go hard and recover to a reasonable level the next day.

The biggest motivation I’ve had lately is a small, but growing, addiction to Strava. For those of you who don’t know what it is … well it’s Facebook meets crack for cyclists. A website that allows you to upload GPS rides and then share (and compare) those rides with your friends. There are fun little things called “Strava Segments” where you can compare your times against others up/along any section of road (like the Koppenberg or other monumental bergs). In fact I can fully blame Jered Gruber for getting me addicted to Strava. While he was here at The ChainStay he amassed something like 50+ Strava KOM segments! Of which I plan to take them all, thereby forcing him to come back to Belgium! You gotta create demand in business sometimes!

One section I have been eyeing is the Molenberg ever since I threw down with Jered in March and was able to snake past him on the first half of the climb, but then blew up before the end. So I set out earlier in the week to try and take the KOM from Jered. My first attempt on the climb didn’t go so well as I lost a bottle about 50 meters into the effort, so I stopped and regrouped. I pushed over the first section of very separated cobbles well, maintained a good contact with the rear wheel and kept a steady effort all the way to the end. I pushed my heart rate all the way to 184bpm (one of the highest I’ve seen in a while). I finished feeling wrecked and a bit queasy.

I rolled along after the climb and my heart rate would just not recover. Just rolling along I was hurting and I could tell I dug deep into the pain cave on the effort. Then, about 4k after the climb, I just started to shut down, felt very sick and had to stop. It was then I threw up everything I had in me. I pushed my body just a bit to much, but with such an effort I was looking forward to seeing my time on the climb. After five minutes of easy riding I started to feel better and kept on riding along for the rest of the ride which included the Holleweg section and a quick trip up the Koppenberg. The Holleweg went well and I rolled along nicely with a brisk tailwind, pushing a large gear and using my cobbles experience to ride smoothly.

Once home I quickly went to download my ride and check my time on the Molenberg. I looked down at the segment page and saw it, 7th place, for the Molenberg! What, only 2 seconds faster than my effort from a month before! I was a little disappointed, but then I looked below and saw that I had the KOM on the Holleweg cobbles. Not a bad consolation for the disappointment of coming up short on the Molenberg. Such is the draw of Strava, it taps into the part of us that wants; almost needs, to compare ourselves to others (and our past performances). It allows your to “ride” against your friends, strangers and even pros and see where you rank in the world of Strava.

Unfortunately I am no longer the KOM of the Holleweg as someone else has uploaded their ride of the Tour of Flanders sportif and beat out my time by one second! Still, this is why I really like Strava, it has given me that extra motivation to go and chase down that KOM and get the fitness to achieve the effort. Strava brings in an element of “virtual competition” to what could end up being a low-motivation ride or week and keeps you that extra bit motivated. With literally hundreds of awesome power climbs and cobble sections around The ChainStay I have lots of KOM’s to chase down (and steal from one Jered Gruber!)

So things are right on track for fitness and with a bit more fitness I’m going to be bringing in some racing into the fold this summer. I’ve taken out a license this year and will be doing my first kermis race in a month in Lierde. It will be the first real test of where my fitness is and a good comparison of the current Gregg verses the former Pro-level Gregg.

Continue reading »]]> For the past several weeks the spotlight shone bright over the Spring Classics of the Flemish Ardennes; but for a brief glimmer of time the spotlight landed on the (mainly) West Flanders race Gent-Wevelgem; with the highlight of the day being the Kemmelberg. The Kemmelberg has a fascinating past; and what once was a battle ground during World War 1 is now one of the battle grounds of the Spring Classics.

At 156 meters the Kemmelberg is the highest point in West Flanders. Though the most well know portion of the climb is the 750 meter cobbled sector leading up to the summit, there is actually a significant amount of climbing to be done just to get to the cobbled section. There are numerous ways to approach the climb and will see you climb between 1.5km and 3km to the summit (though the majority is all paved) with elevation differences between 109 meters and 122 meters. The typical Kemmelberg-Oost approach is the one which is used in the Gent-Wevelgem course, it comes in from the east of the climb through the town of Kemmel (though we also like to ride this way via Gremmerslinde or circle around the Kemmelberg via the Koenraadstraat and Lettingstraat) and will average just over 4% gradient and maxes out at 22% over the cobbles.
The Kemmelberg-Zuid approach is an easier option as it is fully paved (now used as the decent in Gent-Wevelgem) but won’t really give you the true Kemmelberg experience, you’re better off walking your bike up the cobbled sector. It’s average gradient is just under 8% with a maximum gradient of about 17%.
Finally the Kemmelberg-West approach climbs the nasty decent from past editions of Gent-Wevelgem, this approach averages nearly 4.5% gradient, with a maximum gradient of 23% on the 175 meter cobbled section.

The Kemmelberg is known to cycling fans for it’s central role in Gent-Wevelgem, as it has been included in the race circuit since 1955. It is also well known amongst cycling fans for the many horrific crashes that have happened on the cobbled descent of the climb, and because of this the descent was eliminated from the race in 2008.

Since the Kemmelberg is the highest point in West Flanders it is also well known for it’s role in the Great War; it was first occupied by the Germans under the Spring Offensive on April 25th 1918, and was recaptured by the allied troops in September 1918. The Kemmelberg was left completely bare following the fighting; it was later replanted with deciduous trees, and is now classified as a protected provincial domain. On the Western slope of the Kemmelberg lies a French Mass Grave with 5237 unknown French soldiers and 57 named French soldiers. While atop the summit stands the Mémorial aux Soldats Français “The Angel” which commemorates the French soldiers who engaged in combat here in April of 1918.

Enough Said, Take Me There!
The Kemmelberg lies just outside of the town of Kemmel in the region of Heuvelland in West Flanders; 12-14 kilometers from both Poperinge and Ieper and only 5 kilometers from the French border. As mentioned you can approach the climb from many different roads, but here is the “meat” of the climb for you to take a quick peek at before you go (via Google Street View). Also do plan to enjoy a casual lunch or beer at one of the few cafe’s found on the eastern slope, the western slope, and at the top.

But before you go here’s a few pointers to help make the best of it (We’re talking about the cobbled section of the Eastern approach).

• Start at the base of the cobbled section in a relatively easy gear
• You will want to approach this climb in three parts (steep, less steep, steep)
• Try to maintain your momentum around the first bend, as it will level out slightly for a bit of reprieve, but make sure to leave enough in the tank to finish strong up the steepest section at the end
• If you still need some extra reprieve from the cobbles you can usually ride the dirt on the right hand side when dry.
• We also do not recommend descending the western slope. It can be done, but don’t say we didn’t warn you.

So that’s it for the Kemmelberg, though we may try to revisit this one in the future as there is so much to say. It truly is a fun climb to ride, and we highly recommend you get out there and ride it!
We hope you all had a chance to catch some of the very exciting Spring Classics races either in person or on tv, we also hope that you didn’t miss our Monumental Bergs too much while we were off gallivanting around Flanders busy with a very crazy Spring Classics period. An update on that is sure to find it’s way to you soon! Happy Monday everyone!

Continue reading »]]> So here it is, the late update on Project Meatsuit.

As I discussed last week one of the things I’m working against is dealing with running my business and finding that balance between work and “workout”. It has not been an easy thing to get used to after a long life as a full-time bike racer, but it has been especially hard this past week. See, this time for me (and Holly) it is major crunch time in the lead of to the Spring Classics. We are in full on prep of those last minute updates to the house, sorting out details for our day trip options for Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders and getting things ready for our guests. {So much so that this post didn’t even make it out till after the Tour of Flanders}

Another major set-back in my weeks training plans was a call from a buddy, Jeff Lockwood, who was looking for some help with a bit of a crazy trip he and some friends were doing. They were doing (have done now) 5 monuments of the Spring Classics in 7 days. So i ended up doing the driving for the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix days of their trip. I also got the chance to get some video experience during my driving and got to shoot some amazing cycling footage and play with some new video equipment. It was a good learning experience and some fun times with old and now new friends. Good fun, but bad for the Meatsuit.

Another day that put in a bit of a block to the plans was the proximity of E3 to The ChainStay in Oudenaarde. It’s one of those things about this time of year, it’s crazy busy with races and you can have a litteral field day with following the races. I wanted to get some good photos that day, but also wanted to get in some riding in the great weather we have been having here in Belgium lately. So I made a plan inspired by current guest, Jered Gruber, to follow the race by bike. I had an ambitious plan to see the race in about 7 different places, but it ended up being only 5.

Just one of the many great photos I was able to snap at E3 Harlebeke

Not a bad count for the day, but it was better than trying it by car. The bike races over here in Belgium have been getting CRAZY lately and trying to follow a race by car is getting harder and harder. For me, the easiest way to follow these days (especially with some fitness) is by bike. Best of all, you can get yourself one crazy hard workout, especially if you get caught up and have to chase like crazy to catch the race!

So, it’s back to the prep, planning and craziness that is the Spring Classics. I’ll be back with more on Project Meatsuit after Paris-Roubaix as we will try to blog throughout the races and adventures of the Holy Week of Races that is the Spring Classics.

Till next time, Gregg

Continue reading »]]>

Spring has definitely arrived in Flanders; the sun is shining, birds are chirping, farmers are spraying ‘eau du flandres’ (aka.manuer), and daffodils are everywhere.
This can only mean one thing… it’s time for De Ronde.
And let me tell you, the people of Oudenaarde have caught De Ronde fever big time!  There are shop front displays dedicated to the race, De Ronde wine being sold in all the grocery stores, signs everywhere, cakes fashioned after cobbled climbs, VIP tents already line the course, there’s even a song dedicated to it all! It’s crazy, but of course it’s so cool to see people get this excited for a bike race. So naturally we’ve decided to pick another one of the climbs from this year’s race to highlight this week; climb #12, the Kruisberg.

The Kruisberg unlike many of the other climbs is not off the beaten path, in fact it is a fairly major road climbing north out of the city of Ronse towards Oudenaarde and Kluisbergen. The Kruisberg is an asphalt climb of 1875 meters, with an average gradient of 4% and a maximum gradient of 9% -  that’s 90 meters of vertical gain. Though splitting off from the Kruisberg is the Nieuwe Kruisberg, which is both an asphalt and cobbled climb of 1000m and averages a 6% gradient.

The Kruisberg is not one of the most well known climbs of the Tour of Flanders, it is however one of the longest serving climbs of the race, as it has been included  in the RVV route on and off since 1928. For those of you not doing the math, that means that the Kruisberg has been a recognized climb of the Tour of Flanders for 84 years! It’s partner the Nieuwe Kruisberg has been used in the race several times since 1973. Together the pair have been included in many major races like Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Kuurne-Brussele-Kuurne, E3 Harelbeke, Nokere Koerse, Gent-Wevelgem, Halle-Ingooigem, and Driedaagse van De Panne. Saving the best for last, the finish line for the 1983 Belgian Championships and the 1988 World Championships stood at the top of the Kruisberg.

Enough Said, Take Me There!
The Kruisberg runs northwards out of the city of Ronse/Renaix along the Kruisstraat or Rue de la Croix, which is 11km south of Oudenaarde straight down the N60, or 9km from the town of Kluisbergen. The split to the Nieuwe Kruisberg happens at Broeke where you take a right at the oddly shaped roundabout, followed by an immediate left onto Oudestraat. The Nieuwe Kruisberg merges back into the Kruisberg near the top of the climb. You can ride the Niewue Kruisberg via the Orange RVV loop, but if you prefer the asphalt Kruisberg just go straight instead. Check it out here on Google Street view, and for clarity’s sake here is where you split off to ride the Nieuwe Kruisberg. But if you do choose the Nieuwe Kruisberg, make sure to first take a peak at the World Championships Mural on the side of a building just after the split along the Kruisberg.

Once at the top of the Kruisberg, take a left turn at the lights and head towards the Hotond… but that’s for another day!

So that’s it for this week’s climb, our final installment before this year’s Ronde Van Vlaanderen (but we will definitely be back with more Monumental Bergs). Who else is excited for the race? Who are your top picks? Any thoughts on E3 Harelbeke or Gent-Wevelgem?
Happy De Ronde week!

For those wondering Gregg has definitely not fallen off the wagon on Project Meatsuit, he’s just been very busy with preparations leading up to the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. He will be back very soon with that overdue update from Week #2.

Continue reading »]]> Ahead of tomorrow’s E3 Harelbeke we thought it would be fun to dig through the old archives of Gregg’s diaries. In his diary Gregg talks about racing the 2005 E3 Prijs and Brabantse Pijl (before Gent-Wevelgem was moved to that Sunday slot before the Tour of Flanders).

That year the E3 Prijs was won by Tom Boonen over Andreas Klier and Peter Van Petegem, while Brabantse Pijl was won by Oscar Freire over Marc Lodz and Axel Merckx. Gregg’s diaries were originally published on his personal website, and on Pez Cycling News as part of the Homeboy series.

Pre Race E3 Prijs 2005 - Photo by Romina Terlinck

The days leading up to the weekend of the E3 and Brabantse Pijl were filled with the normal speculation as to which races you were going to be doing. I personally was hoping to be doing Saturdays E3 Prijs, put in a good ride the following two days, then recover for the 3 Days of De Panne that started on Tuesday. When the selection came I was doing both Saturday and Sunday. I had bit of a frown at the pain I knew I was in for but happy to be in the selection for two big races.

Saturday’s E3 Prijs has to be one of the hardest one-day in Belgium. The race goes over 12 climbs in the famed “Vlaamse Ardennen” with most notable the Oude-Kwarmount, Patersburg, and Oude Kwarmount. Everyone from the apartment went to pre-ride the climbs on Thursday with our teammate from last year, Jurgen Landrie. The recon ride was great to learn the intricacies of the course (a main key in making yourself in the right place at the right time) but it did little for my confidence as the ride showed us how hard it would be once we hit the climbs.

So race day came and there was a slight chill in the air with some light breeze, but all in all it was a nice day. Straight from the gun the race was off on a blazing pace. Luckily for me the races starting kilometers before the climbs were all around the area I live and in fact the race passed right in front of our apartment at kilometer 45!. I used a bit of the local knowledge to move myself up in places I knew I would be safe to pass and the areas where the group would line itself out.

Just after we passed the apartment I was in the top 20 and staying outta trouble. As we approached the outskirts of Oudenarrde and the first climb (yet not classified) I felt decent enough to actually pass the three T-moblie riders on the front and lead the group through some of the narrow and winding streets of Ename that I knew well. It kept me out of trouble as there was a bad crash there.

Shortly after the climb there was another hard cobblestone section of about 3k where I kept myself out of trouble. I was feeling good, but the pace was staying quite high. In fact as we sped through the roads of Flanders I was amazed at how fast we stayed. It is hard to express in words the unrelenting pace a professional peloton can ride at, but even after doing many big pro races it still impresses me.

The whole time I kept to the front and held my place. There were a couple of crashes before we hit the climbs but I didn’t know about them. Unfortunately one of those crashes took out my teammate Bart with a concussion and a fractured collarbone.

So we went up the first climb in La Houppe where I watched Erik Dekker just fly off the front of the group as I just kept my place in the peloton. Over the next 2 climbs I was doing ok but still farther back than I wanted to be and just before the Eikenburg the peloton split and I was in the second group. The second group pulled the gap back at the bottom of the climb and I launched myself ahead to maintain contact but the ‘yo-yo’ effect in speeds meant the front group was going to fast for me to accelerate and stay so I faded off the back of the group.

I spent the next 10k chasing hard with a group of riders till Taaienberg. It was there my shifting went all array and I couldn’t get back into my big ring. I chased hard, but it was no use without my big ring. So I decided to call it a day and refocus my energy to the next day’s race. The group I was with eventually made it to the finish, but it wasn’t classified.

On Sunday I woke up tired. The 150k from the previous day left me tired as I gave everything on the Eikenburg and just after to stay on with the main peloton. So I came up with two goals: First, ride as far to the front of the race at the start and keep out of trouble for as long as possible. Second, avoid causing a crash of “The Boss” one Mr. Armstrong. The second one was just to ensure I didn’t become famous for all the wrong reasons. Even during the race you could see a bit more space given to Lance as everyone seemed to have the same idea as me.

The race started off this time under terribly rainy and wet conditions that Belgium is renowned for. The pace again was seriously fast at the start and was full throttle till about 60k into the race. I think we must have been doing somewhere around 55kph for the first hour through wet roads and city lanes but then it all comes to an abrupt stop. And so begins an unwritten, unspoken and generally accepted neutral zone of 25kph speeds.

Funny thing is no one comes over a loud speaker with an announcement or does anything to state its start. The peloton is just beating it at 55kph and then a couple of guys just stop and pull to the side to take a piss or go back and drop off clothing and everyone else follows suit. I still have yet to fully understand it’s workings but I can say that my bladder is happy and I am glad not to have to carry my extra clothing all the way to the finish or easily get a second bottle from the car.

So soon after the “great lull” we started to hit the hills and I decided my day was over as my legs were done. In all it was a accomplishment of small personal goals and not much else of significance. I was just glad to ride well at the front and chalk up some more experience in following the ebb and flow of the peloton.

So once again the results weren’t there, but that isn’t a worry for me as Saturdays race showed me I have the skills to stay with the front of the peloton and my fitness is on the right track. Just another step on my path of being a pro only couple thousand more to go if all goes right.

Take care and keep the rubber side down.

Tot Ziens,

-Gregg Germer-