Headed to the Ronde Van Vlaanderen

It just occurred to me that while I've been posting lots on twitter and facebook about my upcoming trip to Belgium, I've only addressed the trip in passing here.

The last time I was in Belgium it was in July (or possibly August, details are fuzzy), and my cultural experiences were limited to Duvel and a museum dedicated to a peeing statue. This time, my cultural experience will be mostly limited to bike racing, as I'm attending the launch of a new helmet from Giro, and watching the Ronde Van Vlaanderen. (Tour of Flanders, in English.)

Yes, my job has its share of perks, and travel to Europe is definitely one of them. I'm taking off Thursday, riding a bit on Friday, then riding the 150k version of De Ronde's course on Saturday, before spending Sunday following the race. I'll be heading home on Monday (or possibly Tuesday, depending on how the flights shake out.)

For anyone who doesn't know (which probably isn't too many of my readers, but I know Steve isn't in the know), De Ronde is the second most important northern classic, behind Paris-Roubaix. These are monuments, some of the biggest, most important races in the world. Not that I'll ever have the chance to win (or race) either, but if had to chose winning one monument, it would definitely be Flanders.

Both Roubaix and Flanders are cobbled, and both feature powerful wind, sticking mud (in some situations), and crazed fans. The main difference, and the reason that I'm more drawn to Flanders than Roubaix, is that Flanders features as many as 17 cobbled climbs ("bergs," in Flemish.) Would surviving the cross winds and much worse cobbles at Roubaix be awesome? Hell yes! But, I'd rather start in Bruge, then cruise my way over the bergs before crossing the line in Meerbeke. In a way, Tour of the Battenkill's Stage Road is my own personal Bosberg. Of course, the upstate New York, amateur version is nothing like the real thing.

This is all a long winded way of saying that I'm pretty excited to get to ride the Flanders course on Saturday, and to watch what should be an epic battle between Fabian Cancellara and Tom Boonen.

Due to my travel schedule, I'll have to interrupt my regularly scheduled blogging. There will probably not be any post on Thursday evening, and almost certainly no post on Sunday evening, either. I'll be back to regularly scheduled blogging next Monday. As of this moment I'm planning on posting tomorrow, but if I get too stressed by packing, trying to get my hair cut and finishing with the June issue, something may have to give, and it may well be this blog. But, we'll see.

One last note, the local paper in Coxasackie, NY, published a nice little story on the Trooper Brinkerhoff Memorial Road Race in Sunday's edition. Check it out here.