Based in Vorselaar for next three months

Questions about bike hire abroad and everything light bike related. No off-topic chat please

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djm
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Joined: Thu May 14, 2009 12:19 pm
Location: Norway

by djm

Ride as much along the canals/rivers as possible. Virtually no cars, clean air (bar the bovine stuff spread around these days, but that's just good!) and very nice scenery.

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de zwarten
Posts: 896
Joined: Thu Dec 28, 2006 7:32 pm
Location: belgium

by de zwarten

And Vorselaar in the local dialect is something like:
VU (like vu-lnerable)
SU (like su-n)
Leir (like Ch-air but with -L )
;-)

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Tom-s
Posts: 127
Joined: Sat Apr 26, 2008 10:44 pm
Location: Holland/Belgium

by Tom-s

The Superklassieker might be a good start to get to know Belgium: http://www.superklassieker.be/

Edit: Don't forget to mount some 25-28mm tyres.

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Tinea Pedis
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by Tinea Pedis

Well at least I'll be comfortable with the weather. This is pretty much the same as we've had all April.

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-Robin-
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Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2007 9:26 pm

by -Robin-

In Belgium, when there is even a slight possibility that it might rain somewhere during the day, they will indicate it is going to rain. Certainly in this period of the year, the predictions are really pessimistic.
I had 2 days of actual rain during the last 2 weeks, yet they predicted rain for 12 of them.

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Mario Jr.
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Location: Denmark
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by Mario Jr.

Me and three mates have decided to go to Belgium this weekend to do the La Phillipe Gilbert. Should be fun. :-) If you or anybody else are thinking of going there, just look for us. Could be fun to meet. We should be easy to spot... www.ridleybriancon.dk

And of course, if you are going to Denmark to race, I have a guest room.

mrfish
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Joined: Wed Mar 28, 2007 12:49 pm
Location: Near Horgen, Switzerland

by mrfish

I like Basilic's suggestion of doing a weekend in Switzerland based near Schwyz as the scenery is truly spectacular and the roads are often good enough that you can do a 50 mile ride without a single pothole.

I'd be happy to help with where to go as I live near Zurich. There are lots of stunning rides there including Muotathal/ Pragelpass or between the Lauerzersee, Zugersee, Klontalersee, Lake Luzern etc.. If you're lucky you will bump into Emma Pooley as the Pragelpass one of her training routes - last time I was out for a leisurely spin in mid October she told me she was on her way home from a 7 hour ride over there which involved pushing the bike through ankle deep snow for "2-3 miles" at the top of the Pragelpass Andy Hampsten style. Loop

I also like the routes round Andermatt as they score 11 for scenery. However the problem is that there are only 4 roads to/from Andermatt and every Dutch guy with a caravan / Korean on a bus tour plus every German on a motorbike also wants to see the scenery, so I'd recommend sticking with Schwyz instead as many of the climbs are deserted or even better closed to traffic. See here for the typical routes: Alpenbrevet routes

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simon
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by simon

another vote for schwyz!
happy to offer a place to stay,i'm a bit further away from the real mountains,but in a 5-6 hour ride there's still plenty of 10-20 minute climbs,some spectacular and steep ones(amdener höchi is maybe the only one that tops the pragelpass...)
you can also do a long ride with 1 or 2 really long climbs(klausenpass for example),but there's some flat km's to get to the foot of the climb.
let me know!

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Tinea Pedis
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by Tinea Pedis

Schwyz sounds quite handy, ta lads.

As for spotting Emma, already met her in Perth a couple of months back. And I don't quite spend my rides hoping to bump into a Pro ;)

dereksmalls
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Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 9:20 pm
Location: New Zealand

by dereksmalls

So envious TP! Enjoy your time over there

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Tinea Pedis
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by Tinea Pedis

Don't be too envious. The racing is sensational, as is the food and the cycling-friendly drivers.

Only the weather. Goodness. Not had a ride where I've not been rained on. And colder than back home (which is only a fortnight off winter!).

-Robin-
Posts: 29
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2007 9:26 pm

by -Robin-

Weather is just bad luck. This was the worst week we had for the last two months. As of tomorrow, the weather will improve.

And look at it from the bright side ... you learn how to handle a bike on wet crappy roads

CulBaire
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Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2004 11:33 am
Location: T'ba!
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by CulBaire

Tinea Pedis wrote:And colder than back home (which is only a fortnight off winter!).



Don't be so sure Nick, it was only 4deg in Geelong this morning - even with shoe covers my toes were numb!

Forecast of 22deg and sunshine today though :thumbup:

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