Pre-riding in Belgium

Today- we pre-rode part of the Fleche Wallonee course in preparation for Wednesday’s World Cup--- it was a great day on the bike!

Fleche is just across the boarder from the Netherlands in the French region of Belgium. It is very VERY different from racing in Holland- and is also very different from Flanders. The course is going to be very hard. It is only 100k (wow, what a change in my perspective!), but it is all hills. Most of the race is rolling up and down along the countryside that is blanketed in bright yellow mustard blossoms (as you can see from above!), but there are a few notable climbs...

When I say this- really, what I mostly mean is the last climb is brutal! It is a little less than 1 km long and is probably 20-25% grade the entire way! there are only two switchbacks to give any break- be it mental or physical- so it really is just plain grueling! I have a hard time of thinking of any hill that I know that can rival it- and the only two that I can think of would be maybe Filmore in SF, but 1 k long... or Marin in the North Berkeley Hills... but steeper and longer. It was hard to RIDE up... the thought of racing up after a hard long day in the saddle? Wow. It is going to be a hard hard ride.

Anyway- I am tired from a long day and am off to bed. I would have posted this earlier, but my internet was down in the hotel. Good Night!

PS--- Mark? Do you like my capitol letters? A whole blog’s worth!