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Win a 'Road to Roubaix' DVD

Mar 6, 2009
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Here's your chance to win the latest film about the world's favourite Classic, Paris-Roubaix.

Cyclingnews has four copies of 'Road to Roubaix' to give away to readers who love their Classics. Cyclingnews reviewed it ahead of Christmas last year, and liked it so much we had the guys at Masterlink Films send us some more to share.

All you have to do is tell us is: Why do the Spring Classics get you going?

You can tell us about your experiences at the races (if you've been fortunate enough to be there) or whilst watching them on TV. As long as you keep it brief (between 200-300 words) and enticing, you'll be in the running to win a copy of the film that delivers an intimate look at Paris-Roubaix.
 
Mar 13, 2009
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Why do the Spring Classics get me going?
I love cycling! Everything about it, cycling excites me. I enjoy riding in group rides, races and even the everyday commutes. I watch and participate in cycling year round. The Classics get me going for a few reasons. First and for most is I feel it?s real. It?s so not cycling in a sense. For most American?s there is no way they would think about taking their $8,000 dollar bikes down the same roads as the classics are raced on. Much like the Monte Paschi Eroica, it simply would be alien to most cyclist in the US, even most racers in the US?.in Europe it is a rite of passage.

Second is the rider?I think most cyclist like to idolize professional cyclist. I think most people like riders that are like themselves, even just a little bit. A few of mine are, Magnus Backstedt, Tom Boonen, George Hincapie, Stijn Devolder and Jens Voigt. These guys I at least I can relate to. These guys win the Classics or at least are a big part of them!! It motivates me when I am on the bike to see that I don?t have to weigh 148 pounds to be a great cyclist. They simply inspire me?

Last is the Flemish. They LOVE the sport. How can you not get excited about 100,000 overweight, late aged spectators standing in the rain and sleet (drinking beer) to watch 30 seconds of cycling?.this is not Monday night football?.it?s a lifestyle. In my opinion people that don?t love watching the classics have simply never seen one?..
 
Mar 13, 2009
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It's the effort.

The Spring Classics are the "finals" every rider has been preparing for and studying up until now, the tension has been building since January, or even since last year's Classics Campaign - not only for the riders, but for me as well. I'm amazed and elated by the idea of countless possibilities and risks all going right to deliver one rider to victory. The races are steeped in history, every hill, every section of road holds a pivotal moment in the history of the race. Riders must know and respect how to not only defeat their rivals, but how to conquer the route.

It's the first time all season that we see all of the top riders all putting a 100% effort, only to be countered by another 100% effort. There is no preparing for the next races or conserving for later in the season; the Classics demand the optimum for even a chance at success. The races go on, and the racers ride through anything spring time in Northern Europe can throw at them. From searing sun, dust, driving rain, to faces and legs caked with mud and cowpies, everyone does what they can to honor the top races. You can see the reverence in pre-race interviews, the grimaces etched in riders? faces along the course, and in the elation as the winner cross the finish - these riders will suffer to earn their place in history.
 
Mar 12, 2009
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Ah, the Spring Classics, such history! Hinault racing at neige-Bastogne-neige in 1980, attacking almost 50 miles from the finish to win by ten minutes in the snow! And pick your Sunday in Hell story; there are so many: the 1949 race when Andre Mahe was blocked by the crowd at the entrance to the Roubaix velodrome, the 2006 race when Swiss Cancellara time trialed his way to victory before a train crossing blocked the route, or the 1990 race where the margin of victory was less than an inch! And the Ronde! Crashing or surviving a wet Koppenberg! Simpson's win over a confused Defillipis in 1961, Merckx having quite enough and simply taking the win by 5 1/2 minutes in 1969, or 2007's heartbreaking loss by local Leif Hoste to Ballan!

Ah, the Classics, raced over those simultaneously beautiful and wicked cut stones, the cobbles or paves, those incessant sharp moguls that make hard those hard men who dare put rubber down for an epic day of pain. Riders as hard as the stones themselves go to war on the rutted paths of northwestern Europe, with each Classic a different battlefield. Each race's cobbles uniquely formed, some sharper or rounder than others, with shapes particular to each race and reflecting the land where they were quarried and cut, qualities of stone that make each Classic as unique as its geology. The old gutted tracks of Paris-Roubaix are a rider's hell, whether wet or dry, for either way you're living a World War I trench war that helped give the race its name. One year, a cold, wet, and raw slipping surface where Lady Luck will hurl you down into an Arenberg trench; the next year, a dry sandstorm of dirt and grit that will blind you and cake onto your face and body, lining your lungs and layering your goggles enough to forget you're not in some Saharan-French mirage nightmare. And those hellsih cobblestones are alpine peaks, arranged so randomly that they must have been thrown down and forgotten. At Liege-Bastogne-Liege, "la doyenne" or "oldest", will rip your legs apart in its back half, where most of its numerous climbs come at all the wrong places. It's not a flat race like Roubaix, and the cobbles, while perhaps smoother, go uphill often. As does the Tour of Flanders! Yellow banners with the black Lion announcing King of the Flemish region of Belgium! The Koppenberg at over 9% grade is a make-it-or-break it, and if you're at the back you might be walking up, especially in the rain. The Muur is much the same, where the Lion of Flanders might finally emerge around a crowd-lined corner.

Ah, the Classics! The announcement that the real cycling season has begun! Time to get up, time to oil the chain, time to ride outside! Sping is truly here if you're a cyclist! Go get muddy and dirty on the roads!
 
Mar 13, 2009
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Spring Classics

Why do the "Spring Classics" get me going. Well to be completely honest it's a sign to any competetive cyclist that its time to get in shape for whats ahead. It tells me to finally hang up the xc-skis and start spinning the cranks or I will be getting dropped in the early club rides or races in my area. Also its a real motivator watching all of the pros duke it out on the cobbles like the greats did back in the early days.

Aaron Johnson
Oswego, NY

LC - Cyclingnews said:
Here's your chance to win the latest film about the world's favourite Classic, Paris-Roubaix.

Cyclingnews has four copies of 'Road to Roubaix' to give away to readers who love their Classics. Cyclingnews reviewed it ahead of Christmas last year, and liked it so much we had the guys at Masterlink Films send us some more to share.

All you have to do is tell us is: Why do the Spring Classics get you going?

You can tell us about your experiences at the races (if you've been fortunate enough to be there) or whilst watching them on TV. As long as you keep it brief (between 200-300 words) and enticing, you'll be in the running to win a copy of the film that delivers an intimate look at Paris-Roubaix.
 
A

Anonymous

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Why do the Spring Classics get me going? Because damn it, I want to see Hincapie finally win Paris-Roubaix!!
 
Mar 17, 2009
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Simply put, it?s the riders. All cyclist are masochistic, some more than others and it?s the men that battle the elements, the cobbles, the hellingen and the other cyclomasochists of Spring that appeals to me. The great thing about the classics is that you don?t have to win one to be remembered; if you suffer year in and year out putting every ounce of your being on the roads (if that is what you want to call them) you will be adored by many and become legendary. If Hincapie never wins a Ronde or Roubaix he?ll still be legendary because people know how bad he wants to win one. Often times the mental suffering one has to endure is more powerful on the emotions of others than that of just the physical suffering. This is why the Spring Classics get me going.
 
Apr 2, 2009
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Because cycling isn't just about the glory of le Tour...

I commute 2-hrs every day by bike in rain, sleet, and snow; often all at the same time. Here in Canada, it's winter most of the year, so we're fortunate to get a daily dose of "the Classics" right in our back yard.

My daily ride includes cobbled sections, steep, punchy hills, tree-lined forest sections and windy, exposed farmlands. I ride it hard, both ways, challenging myself across the elements and feeling a connection with the experience.

There are no fans lining the bergs, screaming my name or waving Flanders flags in my face. There are no photo-motos shadowing my pace, nor any helicopters tracking my progress from the skies above. But I ride it all anyways.

And for this I appreciate the generations of hard-men who have braved the Classics. Many of them came from modest backgrounds and the surrounding areas, training on those same roads for that one chance to toe the starting line. For the chance to grit their teeth, ride with the best, and have stories to tell their children.

Most never amounted to much, but they never had to. They got their one chance to race a Classic, and that's all they wanted.

And so cycling isn't all about the glory of le Tour, it's about the connection with the experience and the glory of participation.
 
I love the Spring Classics b/c they make the best sandwiches. And I f***in LOVE sandwiches.

Grand Tour sandwiches are okay, and the World Championship and Lombardy make some good sandwiches, too, but De Ronde and Roubaix just seem to make the best sandwiches, year in and year out.

And they're big, too; I usually eat half of one and then wrap the other half up and keep it in the fridge for later. Mmm...sandwiches!
 
Apr 2, 2009
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Just Amazing

The Spring Classics represent everything great about cycling.
The joy, the pain, the disappointment the sheer brilliance of competitive cycle racing. Standing by the road on a cold wet April morning somewhere in the flat lands of Belgium, the scent of spring is not far away.
As the peleton roll's nervously along, hoping for a no incident day, the dreams of making history is on everybody's mind. The days are hard with the dirt and grime not always present, but often not far away. The Spring Classics are inspirational to every race following cyclist around the world. We all have our own Roubaix days. Some more than others. Cycling down here in the South Island of New Zealand we don't get many. 25 years of cycling in the English Lake District i had lots. These guys keep me going. They represent the mysterious deep rooted passion for doing the hard miles, as well as the easier more pleasant days spent in the saddle. As someone great once said ' lots of people ride bikes, not many really understand'.
 
Apr 2, 2009
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Long live the Queen...

The first bike race I ever watched was Paris-Roubaix. It was the early eighties, CBS here in the U.S. aired it on Sunday afternoon. I didn't have a bike and knew nothing of bike racing. But watching those riders covered in mud killing themselves on the cobbles was just too intense to ignore. Twenty some years later and many bikes, rides and races, when Paris-Roubaix rolls out I still get those same feelings and I'm motivated all over again.
 
Mar 11, 2009
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Don't get me wrong, Tours are great, but in the Spring Classics you get all the tough guys at the front battling it out the whole way, not the team of one person controlling the race from start to finish. And it is reminiscent of a battle, with the mud and the rain (or on a good day with the dust in the heat), blood spilled on stones, pave so bad they invent new tyres, cobbled hills so steep the riders actually get off and run with their bike slung over their shoulders like bayonets. The domestiques are really just along for the ride until they either crash out or run out of energy and become a 'causalty of the race'.

I've fallen asleep watching flat stages of a Tour - but Spring Classics have you on the edge of the seat the whole time. Anything could happen, any number of riders could win. That's why if I get an opportunity to go to Europe, I'll brave the bad weather and see the classics.
 
Apr 3, 2009
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LC - Cyclingnews said:
Here's your chance to win the latest film about the world's favourite Classic, Paris-Roubaix.

Cyclingnews has four copies of 'Road to Roubaix' to give away to readers who love their Classics. Cyclingnews reviewed it ahead of Christmas last year, and liked it so much we had the guys at Masterlink Films send us some more to share.

All you have to do is tell us is: Why do the Spring Classics get you going?

You can tell us about your experiences at the races (if you've been fortunate enough to be there) or whilst watching them on TV. As long as you keep it brief (between 200-300 words) and enticing, you'll be in the running to win a copy of the film that delivers an intimate look at Paris-Roubaix.

Well, the spring classics get me going from before the spring classics begin. There are always races leading up to the spring classics, and riders are talked about alot during this time. You'd hear a guy like Hincapie says something like, "I want to be good for next week, that's my race...." Or someone like Valverde saying "my form is good, my morale is good, my team is good.......". Then every body is talking about who they think the favourite is and what their team will do and have to do etc etc etc. So, I'm already excited when all this talking is going on, then when the spring classics begin, I see the same guys attacking, hammering, and showing all the teeth in their heads before there is only one winner, maybe an unknown. This is always exciting for me.
 
Mar 20, 2009
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Fuel for my Imagination!!

I have never seen a Classic whether that be live or on TV. I have seen many Classics through the eyes of my imagination via the still photos and post race reports. It is spring and when I ride, I relive the foul weather, power over the cobbled roads (really only bumpy), attack the hills and race every bike, car or truck in my path. I never win the race, but I ride hard because in my heart I am a devoted domestique. Though the Classics are real events, they are part the racers mythology, where heroes are born and epic trials overcome.
 
Mar 10, 2009
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I saw my first "mountain bike" in 1982. In Aspen Co., where several adventerous cyclists had just ridden over from Crested Butte. Two years later, in Durango CO., mountain bikes were becoming the rage - within my circle of friends. No flash, no glory, no shaved legs, just the fire roads, goat trails, shrieking brakes, and p***ed of hikers and horsemen. Durango. In the mid 80's.

After Aspen I moved out to SoCal, sun, surf, babes, and tuition for a song, a dance, and a nice smile, at the local community college. MTV had just gone on air, and although I don't remember, seems ESPN was launched around that time as well. Missing Persons' sang that Nobody walks in LA, but it seemed to me that nobody rode nor skied in LA either. I was also getting real tired of the weatherman warning of "bone chilling" overnight temperatures of 54F.

Off to SW Colorado to continue my higher education. Funny though, that all those mountains make over-the-air broadcasts... sleeping aids at best. And I wanted my MTV! Sneaking into the cable TV package was this ESPN station. And on it they broadcast all sorts of esoteric sports. Australian rules football; Bellyflop and Eagle Look-a-Like Championships; cricket; Road Cycling.

Suffice it to say that our pick-up football games morphed into something decidedly non-American, more important, or more lasting impact, there was also this Perry Rubay race. It was always tape delayed - coming to us after the ski-lifts had closed and before the rivers started rising - Colorado mud season. But these dudes were all covered with crap, riding across roads in wind, rain and snow, that looked not unlike our local April "mountain bike" trails circa 1985.

Perry Rubay? Seems like those shaved legged nuts actually had a race that us Chuck Taylor wearing mountain "punk gods" could appreciate. And you couldn't even tell that they were wearing those goofy tights and jerseys.

Even though I had had my own ten-speed since age 16, it took several years before I realized that the race was actually Paris-Roubaix (yeah I took french in H.S. - I only fooled my parents). I also realized that not only was road cycling kinda cool (not the clothes, not yet), but that it actually augmented my need to punish myself in the shoulder seasons. And that there were other races similar to Paris-Roubaix.

Ten years later, a prisoner to a cubicle in Denver, I found that I had a great morning hill climb just outside my door - Lookout Mountain - that I could ride before work. And it had a screaming downhill! Of course, others were riding it as well, and the really good guys and gals - the ones who would mercilessly drop me - all had similar tights and jerseys.

So I bought my tights and jerseys, and new bikes, and slick sunglasses. I traveled to Europe and rode the classic Alp and Dolomite climbs. I read many of the road cycling publications, and follow many of the controversies.

Through it all though, I realize all that is good in and of cycling is embodied not in the riders or teams we love, nor in the events we cherish, but in the passion that events evoke. Out-sprinting the worlds best at Tirreno-Adriatico; A cloud break atop a mountain pass. An epic climb onto Ventoux; a smoking single track in the middle of the city; the list of serendipitous moments, vicarious or personal, is blessedly long.

I can't say if I had Paris-Roubaix in mind when I coasted, pushed or carried my Mt bike in the seventh lap to a 1986 podium finish after shattering my bottom bracket. But when I think of that race, and many other similar times, I revel in my personal Perry Rubay glory.
 
Apr 3, 2009
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I live in Chicago

The classics get me going because something has to when you are a bike racer who lives in Chicago. Last week I finished a race covered in ice! Yes, ice! My jersey was frozen in place; my tights had a sheet of ice on them. Helmet, bars, head tube, all covered in ice.

So, watching racers duke it out in equally poor conditions on cobbled roads in northern Europe lets me know that there are at least a hundred other dudes out there as crazy as myself (OK, maybe not, they actually get paid to race their bikes).
 
Mar 16, 2009
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LC - Cyclingnews said:
Why do the Spring Classics get you going?

I love the spring classics because they are raw energy and iron-willed determination and brutish power made manifest. These are the races where the strong men choose the worst possible sections of road (the sharp pitch of a muur or the bone-jarring surface of a pave' section) and then launch themselves with complete abandon into the attack. With 200 or more kilometers of effort already (often in abominable conditions) and now riding at the front (the peloton having long ago fractured and disintegrated from the punishing pace and relentless attacks), the classics riders manage to find within themselves the strength and will to ride away from the small pack that remains.

In stage races, there must always be the awareness in the rider that the coming day will bring another stage; some part of the rider's strength must be held in reserve. The classics, however, are ridden completely in the present; there is no next day, only the unforgiving now. Without possible redemption tomorrow, the riders must focus every ounce of their strength and will on the present. They must somehow find the grit to follow the move, and then, when they didn't even know that they had anything left inside, to counter! The images of dust and mud caked faces, eyes glassy yet determined from effort, are what I take away from the classics and is why I love them so.


Dave
 
Mar 31, 2009
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Why do the Spring Classics get you going.

Last year I stepped into another world. Before last summer I knew nothing of cycling and then one day I switched on the tv to watch the Tour de France - not really for the cycling but because the race was going through Albi were I had been on holiday. But it wasn't long before the race gripped me and since then I have been devouring everything to do with cycling. I'm not surprised that I've missed out on cycling because it doesn't seem to feature in the media in England very much. So, this is my first year to enjoy the spring classic. I still don't know where cyclists get their energy from but to see them pit their skills in these arduous races will be, well, almost humbling.
 
Apr 3, 2009
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The Spring Classics evoke a sense of adventure and chaos missing from the world of 21st century sport. All too often athletes, teams and their sports are pre-packaged and watered down for the masses to consume. This is not the case with Flanders or Roubaix. These races are unpredictable and do not hold to a model that says rider A will win if x,y and z happens. Form and luck do not necessarily play a factor in these races and yet they do, just ask George Hincapie. In Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NBA all too often the team with the most stars wins and while this might make the fans of those teams swoon with excitement, for the rest of us it just becomes boring. Not knowing who will win, who will fall or who will succumb to the race itself is what makes these races the greatest in the cycling calendar. In Flanders and Roubaix the riders dance along a tightrope never knowing if they?ll be immortalized or relegated to the almost was and what if classification. And that is why these races are so thrilling, because they are not decided until the winner crosses the line. The great Yankee catcher Yogi Berra once said ?It ain?t over till it?s over.? Nowhere does that adage apply more than in these two great classics.
 
Mar 12, 2009
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The Spring Classics are the only races during the year that give any victor "credibility". Anyone can win one of the three grand Tours or the rainbow jersey, but only a top notch rider can win an April Classic. Since 1981, no TdeF winner has finished in 1st place at Paris-Roubaix (i.e. the great Hinault). I'm telling you, with a good team, luck, and... anyone can win the Tour. Winning Paris-Roubaix or the Ronde on the other hand, well that takes talent!!! That's why the Spring Classics get me going!

Mr. Gipsy!
 
Apr 3, 2009
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Why They Are Called Classics!

Why do the Spring Classics get me going? No, I have not been able to go to one (yet), but I have seen many of them on TV (thanks to my DVR). I do not race, but because I do ride, I can relate to the racers. While the stage races get a lot of publicity, it?s the classics are the real acid test of a cyclist. The stage races provide opportunities to make up for a bad day, not so in the Classics. It seems more intense, more do or die, more pure, hard core competitive cycling.

Ride On!
-TexasSpoke
 
Mar 11, 2009
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Flanders.

I am a nervous wreck. The full gitters I had the week before my wedding times ten. My wedding was a given. The detailed planning my wife indulged in, meant only the second bottle of cheap red, given free to my greedy uncle, could upset the big day.
Now my nerves portray the full excitement of Flanders week. Tomorrow at 5am, I will board a budget airlines, pay the GDP of a rebel African state for a mucky coffee and arrive in the holy land of cycling. The Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders) is the bike race around the hellish cobbled climbs of Belgium?s north, fierily independent province of Flanders. A monument of the European professional calendar. The hardest day on a bike- ever. The little Italian professional climbers have a stomach ache this week. The English track lads slept in and the dog ate every single French pro?s license. Flanders is for the real men who shave below the waist.
Stijn Devolder surprised everyone by his breakaway at 25 kilometers from the finish last year. Devolder never got more than 20 seconds lead, but held on to beat Nick Nuyens and Juan Antonio Flecha and become bronzed in the eyes of the nation. Flecha, poor Flecha, regardless of how many times he reaches the last 10k in the leading group of gods, no one ever rates his chances. Could this be his year? His year to survive 7 hours over farm tracks and holes in the Pave designed to destroy carbon rims. Could it be the turn of Silence-Lotto captain Leif Hoste? Finished second in the Ronde van Vlaanderen an agonizing three times in his career, Or can Big Tom Boonan show the world he is the Lion of Flanders once again.
For us English speakers, we stick to calling it the Tour of Flanders, to annunciate the Ronde van Vlaanderen correctly you need to be born with a beer in your cot and stones in your shoes. Yet I love it and my nervous stomach is the proof. Not only the daft language sets the Flemish apart, their passion for this day is tremendous. With 20k to go on Sunday the Muur-Kapelmuur in, Gerardsbergen will have 30,000 Flemish people in the village sounding of for their heroes, and me. I will have seen them off in Bruges, 6 hours previously. Interviewed all the riders who will speak to me. Photograph all the riders picking their noses that won?t and settle down on the grass in front of the big screen and pretend to be a local.
Twice I have ridden the course. 120 km of hard flat roads tire the legs before the first off the 19 ?Bergs?. 19 cobbled climbs where you churn the lowest gear in the pleasure- pain happiness zone. 19 climbs over the last 140km. A massive day in the saddle. Sheer class. Talent tested to the limit.
I am nervous for the riders as well. Nervous for Filippo Pozzato, winner of the first stage in De Panne as well as the E3 Prijs. Could it be him? Butterflies for
Heinrich Haussler of the Cerv?lo Test Team. HH has already chalked up four wins as well a close second place at Milano-Sanremo this year. The strongest rider wins Flanders, not someone who just gets lucky. Soo exciting.
Flanders is like a dream for the winner and all of Belgium and a nightmare for the rest of the riders. Only room for one lion of Flanders. On Sunday I will be there to hear him roar. Can?t wait.

myles@bikepure.org
http://www.bikepure.org





Bergs:

Kluisberg: Buissestraat, Bergstraat, Kluisbergen-Ruien. Climbs 66m from 27m to 93m. Maximum 11 per cent. First climbed 1955
Molenberg: Molenberg, Zwalm. Climbs 32m from 24m to 56m. Maximum 17 per cent. First climbed 1983.
Oude Kwaremont: Broekstraat, Kwaremontplein, Schilderstraat, Kluisbergen. Climbs 93m from 18m to 111m. Maximum 11 per cent. First climbed 1974.
Koppenberg: Steengat, Koppenberg, Oudenaarde-Melden. Climbs 64m from 13m to 77m; Maximum 25 per cent at inside of bend, otherwise 22 per cent. First climbed 1976.
Taaienberg: Taaienberg, Maarkedal-Etikhove. Climbs 45m from 37m to 82m. Maximum 18 per cent. First climbed 1974.
Berg ter Stene: Stene, Horebeke. Climbs 68m from 32m to 100m. Maximum 9 per cent. First climbed 1957
Leberg: Leberg, Brakel-Zegelsem. Climbs 39m from 60m to 9m. Maximum 15 per cent. First climbed 1977
Berendries: Berendries, Brakel-Sint-Maria-Oudenhove. Climbs 65m from 33m to 98m. Maximum 14 per cent. First climbed 1983
Valkenberg: Valkenbergstraat, Brakel-Nederbrakel. Climbs 53m from 45m to 98m. Maximum 15 per cent. First climbed 1959
Muur-Kapelmuur: Abdijstraat, Ouderbergstraat, Oudeberg, Gerardsbergen. Climbs 77m from 33m to 110m. Maximum 20 per cent. First climbed 1950
Bosberg: Kapellestraat, Geraardsbergen-Moerbeke. Climbs 40m from 65m to 105m. Maximum 11 per cent. First climbed 1975.
Tenbosse: Olifantstraat, Brakel. Climbs 28m from 45m to 73m. Maximum 14 per cent. First climbed 1997
 
Apr 3, 2009
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The spring classics

Why do they get me going? They represent the start of another pro cycling season for me.
I was lucky enough to be in Belgium last year for the Ronde, Ghent-Wevelgem and Paris-Roubaix. The events were like nothing we see in North America. I think my memories should tell you why they get me going:
RVV - doing the 140k Citizen's ride the day before gave me an intimate view of the course, especially the cobbles and the 'hellingen'. Day of the race - heading to the Molenberg hours before the start to get a good spot; watching first the women come by, then the men, in the company of thousands of other fans; then getting on our bikes and racing over to the Berendries to watch that ascent - again in the company of thousands. Finally heading down to a packed bar in Michelbeke to watch Stijn Devolder take an exciting finish. What a day!
Paris-Roubaix - getting up early to ride from Kortrijk down to secteur 4 (Carrefour l'Arbre), and seeing the spot several miles down the road, due to all the motorhomes parked on the roadside. Walking the cobbles and stopping at several beer and sausage tents with other Belgians who had been there since the night before (and had been boozing it up that long!). Finally seeing the helicopter in the distance, knowing the race was approaching, and claiming a spot on the pave next to thousands of fans. Then seeing the lead group go by and, for the next 15 minutes, the rest of the pack. We were standing across from the Dutch Stijn Devolder Fan Club, who had a large screen TV. While the racers were still coming by, I had binoculars trained on the screen and saw the great finish with Boonen, Ballan and Cancellara in the velodrome, knowing that Boonen would easily outsprint the other 2. And still the riders kept coming! I'll never forget their faces - dirt-streaked and shell-shocked. An experience that will always live with me!
 
Apr 3, 2009
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Spring Classics

They get me going....because there is one shot at Hope being fulfilled or crushed. Race day isn't just one day of many, It is THE day. Race day is D-day, there is no second chance. There is huge suffering, but there is Hope to over come the suffering. Hope that YOUR guy will be the one to dismiss the pain and finish first, hope that your guys has the best legs.

Just look at the mud spattered face of G. Hincapie in the classic 2001 Paris-Roubaix pictures. Awesome. A warrior on a bike, fighting an epic battle. A survivor. A picture of suffering, a tale of sorrow and glory. It's everything that I would like to be, everything I hope to experience (even the pain), and it get's me going, mostly out on my bike on my private Ronde or Roubaix, and sometimes to think that one day I can be there too, which is as ridiculous as the spring classics themselves, ridiculously awesome, that is.
 

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