Tour of Flanders recap

Well, I'm home safe and sound. Body felt pretty good afterwards...maybe not ride another 85 miles good, but good none the less.

De Ronde - I was joined by my Irish friend Ian, who talked me into this, & his mate Mick, our English driver. The rest our the gang was Tony (RVV '07) Eusketel fanatic & Paul, our UK host & London black cab driver. I was chastized all weekend for riding an off the peg American bike, but I had to remind the boys that a Trek has won the TdF 8 of last 9 years. I will admit Colnagos & Pinarellos are "sexy", they're just not in BBP's budget.

I was signed up for the 140 km sportive version. This included 15 of 17 climbs the PROs would ride the next day. I was hoping for '07 conditions (60 degrees +), but it is Belgium in April. We drove from Brugge to Ninove for our start. It was between 36-40 degrees, not bad considering. We rode the first 19 miles pretty comfortably. Then we hit the Molenberg. My first experience with the dreaded Kaissen. The cobbles are rough, misaligned & have gaps that would swallow a 25 tire. The climb came to an abrubt stop as a knucklehead on a recumbent fell over in the first 25 meters. Thank god for mtb shoes...I hiked to the top & rode on. The next obstacle was a 2500m section of cobbles. What an experience. Pros use big gear and power through, BBP used 34-20 something bouncing along for over a mile at maybe 10-14mph. Back on the tarmac I greet Ian & all I can do is laugh. Off we go for a killer threesome...if only.

To add to the fun, after almost 2 hrs of riding it begins to rain, hard at times. Remeber it is in the low 40's at best. This keptup for almost 3 hrs...ahhh Belgium.

The first of the 3 is the Oude Kwaremont, 2,200m, 1,600m cobble, max 11.6%, avg 4%.
http://www.rvv.be/2008/eng/hellingen/oudekwaremont.html
I rode the majority, only coming off in first few hundred meters because of two stopped cars. The Belgies are great. I'm sure an ugly American driver would have beeped, screamed at, etc. the hundreds of cyclists that blocked his way. He just waited to drive off when he could. Next was the Paterberg, 360m, all cobble, 20.3% max, 12.9% avg.
http://www.rvv.be/2008/eng/hellingen/paterberg.html
No chance on the Paterberg. Steep,wet & slimey, & filled w/ bikers. I rode as far as I could, then walked the majority of the climb. This was the lead up to the legendary Koppenberg, 600m, 22% max, 11.6 avg.
http://www.rvv.be/2008/eng/hellingen/koppenberg.html
At this point I was feeling the effect of the previous climbs. My goal was to ride until I reached a roadblock of cyclists, or I reached the top. The Koppenberg is an awe inspiring climb. I had to put a foot down on my own, just couldn't climb it. FYI, Pros walked it this year.
So that is the first 5, only 10 to go. The Belgian countryside is beatiful. Narrow country roads. rolling hills, and quaint villages. How fitting, hills in Flemish is Helling. There were only 2 I was concerned with now, the last 2. The Muur -Kappelmuur (Muur van Geraardsbergen, Muur de Gramont). My disclaimer is that is is probably 500m of climbing to reach the official start of the Muur. 475m all cobble, 19.8%max, 9.3% avg.
http://www.rvv.be/2008/eng/hellingen/muur-kapelmuur.html
I was in the 34-27 on the early part of the tarmac climb. I continued to grind away, making the right onto the cobbles. Low and behold BBP climb the ENTIRE effin' Muur. I did look at the computer and saw 3.5 mph. Oh well, I DID IT. There are a few epic cycling feats, and this has to be one of them. I have done something on the bike that the Legend hasn't (with his aversion to overseas travel I may hold the title of only Hebe to climb the Muur).

Lastly , onto the Bosberg. Almost a kilometer, half cobble. It is wide and well driven, making the cobbles somewhat smooth. Ian & I were together, only because he punctured & lost over 30 minutes, to climb the last hill. I was able to jump into a group for the dash to the finish. Was actually able to wind it up to 25+mph at points in the last 10km.

I am so glad and pleased that I rode Flanders. The Pro race was a good time, made better by the accessability of the teams post race. I am becoming more & more of a Slipstream fan.

Me & Magnus

Ronde van Vlaanderen - 3 days 11 hrs

The time has come. I'll be on my flight to Europe this time tomorrow. The biggest concern now is Mother Nature... 47 & cloudy. Pray it stays that way. A big thanks to all who support my foolish quest & have tried to make me technologically better, Jules, little Katie, mom, Mike (everyone laugh, I'm wearing his clothes...maybe the Belgies will like the look), Steve (wrenching, teaching me about sitting light & a sweet compact to tame the Ardennes), Brian (shoes I can walk the Koppenberg in), DK and many others who have listened to my tale.

RVV - 15 days 18 min.

What have I gotten myself into?

This plus 14 other Belgian treats.

Just for S & G

Ha, here you go Leg, multiple posts in a day. Add my link to your page. Aslo tell me how to add pics where I want them.

Katie Madeleine

Now apperaing.... Katie Madeleine aka K-Mad. Julie & I had a little girl on 12/02/07. Yes ought 7. This post is long overdue, but better late than never. Maybe I should pay the Leg to ghost write. It appears the Col/ has allowed for some free time. Back to K-Mad. Born at 5:24 am (Sunday), 19.5 inches. FYI, Julie went into the hospital Friday at noon, started labor late afternoon, early evening...you do the math.

Fast forward 4 mos. We love her to death and are having a great time being parents. There were definitely bumps in the road, but you forget them quickly. Evertything first time paents tell expectent parents is true. You just can't grasp it until you hold, play with, stare at your child.

Katie will make her 1st appearance at the Lake this weekend, with the offical Easter visit to Grandmas.

More to come...hopefully before she's 8 mos old.

2000.6 and 6 to go

Two pretty important numbers. The second and most important is the 6 to go. That is the offical due date of baby hebe, 12/20/07. If is it up to Jules it would be much sooner. I'm so excited & scared for the day to get here. We have had several baby showers so far, and it is amazing how much stuff we've recieved, how much room all these little things take up, and how much more we still need to get. A big thank you to all our family, friends & coworkers who have been so generous & a special thanks to Aunt Sherry, Mom, & Wendy for hosting showers. One interesting story & lesson learned about diaper genies. Make sure you empty all the baby bombs before storing the genie until next child. As Scott & Lori shared...and a testament to the genie... a 5 yr old mummified baby bomb didn't smell in the genie.

2000.6...that is the magical number on the cyclo computer odometer. 2K is quite an accomplishment for BBP. Consider last years total was just under 1600 miles, I'm psyched with the mileage this year. Don't know if I'm in any better shape, but what the hell. I've been much more active riding with the West Chester Cycling Club. Always more enjoyable to ride with a group. I've become friends with several of Julie's AZ co-workers. The 3 are great guys, Al, Malcolm, the big Aussie, and Ian the little Irishman. Ian is a total cycling nut. Big news part duex. Ian has talked me into riding the Tour of Flanders in April. It's official, I've bought the plane ticket & registerd on-line yesterday. So it looks like I'm going to need to stay quite active this winter. No time to pull an Ullrich & turn into a big sausage. Im facing almost 90 miles & all 18 climbs the pros will do. The only up side is, that the Koppenberg may not be in the race this year. However, Ian told me there are harder climbs...great. Youtube has some cool videos of an American guy with video camera going over the cobbled climbs.

Who said insurance isn't fun??

I work for a large insurance co. in Phila. At first glance it doesn't sound to glamorous, but in my marketing capacity I'm able to do some fun entertaining. Since I suck at golf, I try to find fun & unique events that our customers/brokers will enjoy & remember.

So it was off to Doubleday Farm in "suburban" Carlisle. http://www.doubledayfarm.com/ There were twenty of us who played baseball with George Foster, of The Big Red Machine. A great time was had by all. A few pulled hammies, interesting bus ride over Waggoner's Gap, & a fun bus ride home.