Liege-Bastogne-Liege

I was a last minute replacement to go along to Liege-Bastogne-Liege even though Gerhard van Niekerk tried to persuade me to join for a very long time. 

Liege-Bastogne-Liege is the oldest classic and this year was the 99th edition.

We left London on Friday afternoon, 5 bikes on the roof of the car and an epic bag full of epic food.

I would recommend the Eurotunnel to anybody wanting to cross the channel. It is so easy to get on, they are flexible on letting you go on earlier trains and before you know it you are literally in France.

The guys were doing the long route of 160km and decided to start at 8am on Saturday. So Steph and I joined them to the start. We entered and off we went.

This was my 2nd road race, but my first on my road bike.

We started off going through some of the back roads of the city to the official start of the course. Mind you, we only found out afterwards where the official start was and funnily enough, I felt fine up to the official start. :-) From there on I was suffering to the end and very grateful to sit in Steph's slip. Steph & I are hoping to do the Epic in the future, so this was our 'first' step closer to the Epic. Gerhard is already on the look out for our perfect bikes, hopefully it will fit our not-so-perfect-budget.  

We got treated with some syrup waffles at the water point/feed zone, honey cake, sachets of honey etc. I didn't eat any of this, but put it in my back pocket as it looked really interesting. We were so cold at this point as we took some clothes off after the first climb and just had to carry on like that. I was however chuffed that they cut the bananas and oranges #epicstyle.

After the water point we reached the first 'official' climb of the day for which I was mentally prepared. La Redoute, it was steep and quite an accomplishment to get to the top.

All the hills were very well sign posted with a start and finish sign. At the start they gave you the steepest gradient and the average gradient and the distance of the climb, so I just looked for the finish sign of each climb.

St Nicholas was the last hill, this one was a killer, it was never ending and continuing bend after bend.

I thought downhill to the finish line, but no they put in another long gradual climb before the routed us back to the Finish. Steph had a nearby accident when a car stopped right in front of her unexpectedly. I saw it happening, her back wheel was in the air and I thought she was going to fall in front of an oncoming vehicle, but thankfully she managed to stay on her bike and the driver continued driving off, both of them unscathed. Very grateful.

The Finish was quite an anti-climax, nobody cheering, getting there on our own. But we got a medal, TWO t-shirts and some squirt lube.

This is where my party started. We got a coke to put back some sugar, frites and a round of Leffe beer. I'm not a big beer fan, but I promise Belgium beer tastes like nectar on your tongue in Belgium. I had a lekker system going. Every time one of us finished, we sent them to get their t-shirts whilst we got another round of beers and frites with mayonaise.

Gerhard Bonthuys absolutely smashed the course and came in 20 minutes before we expected him, Simon followed him an hour later and Gerhard van Niekerk about 15 minutes later. He had lots of mechanicals, a broken freewheel and also a few punctures and did well to finish the race.

Gerhard Bonthuys, TC, Steph, Gerhard van Niekerk & Simon

On Sunday we found a patisserie where we bought an amazing tart, mango jam, tiny meringues filled with cream and fresh bread. We definitely amused the ladies in the bakery. We called onto Bonty to do all the translating for us as he is naturally gifted in that way. We also managed to find a supermarket where we stocked up on ham, cheese, Belgian chocolate and some of us on salami. :)

Steph worked out where we needed to drive to, to be able to watch the pros. We actually saw them en route as we drove over one of the big bridges. We ended up in Houffalize. I was very excited about this as they held a XC-World Cup in Houffalize last year. I got excited every time I saw a mountain bike.

We had an awesome picnic as we waited on the pros to come past us. We were even in time for the marketing caravan and managed to catch a few sweets and whistles.




Road paint - #graffiti



Go Andy!
Photo: Simon Osborne



Picnic

The peloton, at this stage Movistar was on the front

Making it look like a walk in the part

We started our return journey to London after they went past us and when they had an hour of racing left we asked a random motorcyclist for directions to a pub. He gave us vague directions but we found de Vollepot and watched the last 40km on TV. It was a privilege as we knew where on the route they were and were able to remember the roads, the inclines and the downhills. Dan Martin from Garmin Sharp won the race after Rodriguez tried to attack on the final hill. Belgian favourite Philip Gilbert came 7th.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/22241871

It was great being part of a different kind of event (road racing) on a different continent. Popping over to Europe from London is so easy and great, I just want to plan the next trip already. It was great being away with good friends for good cycling and enjoying good food and company.

Highlights:
1. Beer & Frites afterward our ride
2. Watching the cycling in Houffalize, the whole atmosphere and anticipation

Quotes of the weekend:

Wit koek maak nie vet nie. White cake does not make you fat

Does it look like a skip a meal?