4th in a series of bike races we get a chance to attend and partake in the crazy Belgium Spring Classic fever. This race is named Brabantse Pijl, Brabantse being a region of Belgium.
We are staying in Lille and with that we have a rental car for transport making getting to places, including races and spectacular small towns so much easier. We can be on our own schedule, which means for today, we can sleep in some, and then we leave late morning but well before the race arrives in Overijse so we can find some free close to the center parking and do some exploring. There is a nice bakery and breakfast shop just doors away from our Lille lodging so breakfast it is. Coffee, pastry, and quiche, all good.
Well-fed and packed up, off we start driving though the hectic Lille central district. It is a beautiful, warmish, sunny day and as we drive, I am thinking that this would be a bonus bike ride day. While in Lille, we have had the chance to park in a dense underground ramp that affords some security. With careful placement parking against walls to the back and side, I’ve been able to leave the bike and bike bag in the car overnight. That has been great to not have to haul the bike up and down staircases, as it seems like all lodging is very vertical.
I have enough bike gear stored in the vehicle as well as the bike so, yes, bike ride and bike race and sight seeing are all on the table. The drive is shorter and easy, and we arrive in plenty of time to find a relatively close to the action parking place, no fee. A short walk into the bike race viewing area of town, banners, road closures, beer and frites, big screen TV and scenic small tow backdrop. We both spend some walk around and get acquainted time and then I am back to the car to start a ride. Vera is happy exploring town.
My plan is an out and back ride, so I don’t get of course and lost, as I tend to do while bike exploring. Of course, that isn’t good enough. On the back I ride onto the racecourse that is blocked off from most vehicle traffic allowing wanna be racers to ride their bikes and pretend. I am doing good, staying on course which I know will eventually ride through town up a nasty winding aggressively uphill section. What I didn’t quite appreciate is the course taking a long loop around the outskirts of town before returning to those twisty sections.
It’s a beautiful, warmish, sunny day so, no worries. I make a turn and the road starts an uphill climb and I then realize I found one of the steep, cobbled climbs, the Moskesstraat. I have no local knowledge but as I look back, it is a short, approx. 600-meter climb, average grade of 9% and a max grade at the top of about 17%. I get onto the cobbles from the paved bit and just ahead of me is a maybe 10-year-old boy, wearing a world champ jersey, do the climb with me! WOW, if he can do it so can I! There are already crowds of fans along the climb, so quite fun. The boy falters and stops, I continue, not easy, slow cadence, one pedal after the other, yikes, last 100 meters is so tough but then I am over the top, so much fun!
I am rewarded with a long paved downhill and then I realize I have no idea where I am in relation to the town and how far I need to ride to get back to town. I make some questionable judgement calls, stop, and attempt to get directions from course workers, look in the sky for the tall church spire central to the town. Eventually, I see the spire, but can’t seem to find the road to it. There, a narrow, uphill, alley like cobble path, I break through a bunch of people, and I am on the main race route through town, spectators on both sides. Not my preference so I find a way through the barricades and find the main viewing area and Vera.
The rest of the afternoon spent watching multiple laps of both the women’s and men’s races from a fun vantage point about 2 k from the finish line.
Two-hour drive later, we are back in Lille and find another casual dining experience right next door to our lodging, a place that only serves buckwheat pancakes of all sorts, mostly savory. Well, why not. Order in, a beverage and we enjoy our evening meal to close out another wonderful day.