I will need to start a thread at some point, so I might as well start here.
I left Gent about at the end of March, and reached Liege roughly a month later, crossing a nigh endless amount of hills, cobbles, and cobbled hills, all without getting cramp once. Not bad going for a sofa surfer.
This block of races (in 2 parts) is usually the real highlight of my cycling year, probably an infliction I picked up on account of growing up within spitting distance of the Belgium border. But a reply in another thread made me realize that my experience of this year's "Belgian" Spring classic season, has been totally different from last year, if not all years before this.
I am trying to figure out if this was due to the race calendar rescheduling that went on. Or because of the route changes, which altered the nature of some of the races significantly (and in my mind for the better). Or because the utter dominance of Cancellara in the Flanders stretch (Paris-Roubaix will forever be a Flanders race to me). Or because of the willingness of class stage riders to participate in earnest (which might well be a consequence of the rescheduling too).
Normally I am less excited about the Ardennes classics than the cobbled ones, by some distance, and I like the Ardennes classics a lot. But looking back, the enjoyment I got out of the "two halves" of April felt much more balanced in many respects. The route alteration in Fleche, to me, was a massive improvement. The whole "Flanders Classic" project, and effect on closely related races, is also a success, in my book. And that was with Cancellara and infuriatingly good weather depriving us from the gritty fireworks. Can't wait for a wet Spring.
I was curious how other people looked back on the "Belgian month" as a whole. And as a side question: if playing musical chairs with the races, and fiddling with the routes themselves, has created a noticeably different experience, and if so, how?
I left Gent about at the end of March, and reached Liege roughly a month later, crossing a nigh endless amount of hills, cobbles, and cobbled hills, all without getting cramp once. Not bad going for a sofa surfer.
This block of races (in 2 parts) is usually the real highlight of my cycling year, probably an infliction I picked up on account of growing up within spitting distance of the Belgium border. But a reply in another thread made me realize that my experience of this year's "Belgian" Spring classic season, has been totally different from last year, if not all years before this.
I am trying to figure out if this was due to the race calendar rescheduling that went on. Or because of the route changes, which altered the nature of some of the races significantly (and in my mind for the better). Or because the utter dominance of Cancellara in the Flanders stretch (Paris-Roubaix will forever be a Flanders race to me). Or because of the willingness of class stage riders to participate in earnest (which might well be a consequence of the rescheduling too).
Normally I am less excited about the Ardennes classics than the cobbled ones, by some distance, and I like the Ardennes classics a lot. But looking back, the enjoyment I got out of the "two halves" of April felt much more balanced in many respects. The route alteration in Fleche, to me, was a massive improvement. The whole "Flanders Classic" project, and effect on closely related races, is also a success, in my book. And that was with Cancellara and infuriatingly good weather depriving us from the gritty fireworks. Can't wait for a wet Spring.
I was curious how other people looked back on the "Belgian month" as a whole. And as a side question: if playing musical chairs with the races, and fiddling with the routes themselves, has created a noticeably different experience, and if so, how?
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