garethrl
Senior Retro Guru
In fact, April is the driest month - at least in Belgium, according to official stats. April 2006 is the only calendar month during which zero precipitation was recorded since records began in the 19th century. So, you needn't expect it to be cruel.
I did the 150K sportive in 2005 and it was glorious sunshine all the way around (though chilly at the start). 2006 was dry but overcast, 2007 was a deluge, 2008 dry but windy, 2009 another nice day, 2010 scattered showers but nothing serious. June normally brings pretty fine weather though.
Anyway, as you can see from my location and avatar, I'm based locally and will be happy to help any RBers out with any logistics and arrangements. I'm planning to ride both the regular sportive in April (probably on a modern carbon machine) and the retro ronde in June on an old Raleigh.
TBH, for the most part the pave on the Ronde is no big deal - it absolutely doesn't compare with Paris-Roubaix. There's about 20km pave in total, and most of it is uphill on the 'bergs so you don't notice it as much. There are two sections descending on pave and two long-ish flat drags, and that's it. I wouldn't choose to ride a Klein, but the idea of doing so wouldn't put me right off. I rode on 25mm tyres and they were spot on - I don't think I'd go to the effort of putting 28mm on if they weren't already mounted.
As mentioned above, if you're coming from Hull then the ferry to Zeebrugge is a smart option, especially if you're thinking of doing the full 260km sportive which starts in Brugge, about 10km away.
Any further questions, just fire away!
Cheers,
Gareth.
I did the 150K sportive in 2005 and it was glorious sunshine all the way around (though chilly at the start). 2006 was dry but overcast, 2007 was a deluge, 2008 dry but windy, 2009 another nice day, 2010 scattered showers but nothing serious. June normally brings pretty fine weather though.
Anyway, as you can see from my location and avatar, I'm based locally and will be happy to help any RBers out with any logistics and arrangements. I'm planning to ride both the regular sportive in April (probably on a modern carbon machine) and the retro ronde in June on an old Raleigh.
TBH, for the most part the pave on the Ronde is no big deal - it absolutely doesn't compare with Paris-Roubaix. There's about 20km pave in total, and most of it is uphill on the 'bergs so you don't notice it as much. There are two sections descending on pave and two long-ish flat drags, and that's it. I wouldn't choose to ride a Klein, but the idea of doing so wouldn't put me right off. I rode on 25mm tyres and they were spot on - I don't think I'd go to the effort of putting 28mm on if they weren't already mounted.
As mentioned above, if you're coming from Hull then the ferry to Zeebrugge is a smart option, especially if you're thinking of doing the full 260km sportive which starts in Brugge, about 10km away.
Any further questions, just fire away!
Cheers,
Gareth.
roadking":ml4wnmz8 said:
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