Spectating at the RVV--Koppenberg

[Choocher]

We're staying in Oudenaarde and plan to take in the RVV from the Koppenberg. Since we've never been there before and won't have bikes or a car, I was wondering if anyone with local knowledge could tell us the best way to get to the climb from town and about how much time we should allow before the race gets to that point (I already have a time table). We're really excited, but are kind of clueless, so any help would be appreciated.

One last note--I have gone on Google Earth to check it out--looks like it's only 4.5km away from town, which would be an easy walk. I'm thinking that it will be totally crazy that day though. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

 

[L'arriviste]

Mmm, cobbles!

I was thinking of "doing" the Koppenberg this year too. I'm currently trying to figure out whether or not I'll have enough time to zoom over to the Muur afterwards and at the moment I'm thinking it might be too difficult.

I would definitely walk it if you don't intend to go anywhere else on the route before or after the race has passed. There are a couple of reasons for this:

Firstly, parking can be very difficult here due to the popularity of the climb with spectators.

Secondly, it's a nice walk. I think that you can a) walk the old railway bed from Oudenaarde to Melden. If you look on GE or GMaps at the bottom of the climb (the Steengat in Melden), the old railway bed bisects it there; or you can b) take the riverside path along the Scheldt (see for example the relevant bit of this bike route at bikely.com) which goes from Oudenaarde to Melden too.

Note that the weather is very changeable at that time of the year in Flanders, so gear up accordingly The last couple of years have been dry and fairly sunny but that's no guarantee of anything, especially bearing in mind last week's KBK.

As regards timing, at last week's Omloop I parked two kilometres from the Molenberg (a lovely, savage climb also fairly near Oudenaarde) with 25 minutes in hand over the "slow" race schedule and that was ample at a brisk pace. I guess it depends on your walking speed.

 

[Choocher]

Great Info.

Thanks a lot for the great information. All of us going on this trip really appreciate the fact that you took the time to reply.

 

[L'arriviste]

Thanks a lot for the great information. All of us going on this trip really appreciate the fact that you took the time to reply.

No worries. This forum in turn has been very helpful to me on the minutiae of roadside spectating in places I don't know too well. Between the more formal tour companies and knowledgeable locals, there's definitely a gap there and CN users are the folks to ask!

Have a great time and (for myself too) I hope the weather holds up!