Who Said Belgium Is Flat?

Tilff Bastogne Tilff Randonee 2007 by John McDowall

Six intrepid North Roaders set out for the 2007 edition of Tilff- Bastogne- Tilff.  Two of the riders, Nick Harris and Richard Somerset were veterans of the event. Brian Goodwin had one previous trip under his belt while Derek Evans had a score to settle having failed to complete the full distance on his only previous visit. This was my first attempt at what I knew would be a physically demanding day in the saddle. The portents for the actual day itself did not appear good.  The whole of Europe was under a huge weather system leading to torrential and dramatic rainfall. Indeed occasional glimpses of the local TV news showed dramatic film of rivers in flood, mudslides and people being winched into helicopters!  It became quickly obvious that sun block would not be a requirement on this ride. 

It was a six o’clock start on the Sunday and the day dawned much as expected – wet, with the charming addition of a cold, blustery wind. As we swooped down a very wet descent to the start at Tilff we met up with Allan Mendelsohn, who had taken the ‘old-fashioned’ approach of a 200K warm up ride across Belgium to get to the event with his friend Dick Nuttal from the CC Islington. I had been warned that it is very easy to set out too fast as a substantial amount of the 3600 Meters of climbing is at the back end of the 237 kms that we were hoping to cover.

The ride started at a steady pace but under a dark and foreboding sky. The weather took a decided turn for the worst with heavy, squally showers, only interrupted by long steady periods of rainfall all driven on by a stiff, very cold wind. Indeed, in some sort of effort to keep dry I resorted to wearing both the rain jackets I was carrying.

At the first control point a general discussion was started about the wisdom of riding the full distance. Both Richard and Alan where keen to continue and set off down the road to Bastogne muttering to themselves about their traitorous team mates. As Nick, Brian and myself resigned ourselves to putting our tails between our legs and retracing to pick up the route of the 127K option Derek arrived and wanted to carry on. This lead to a cascade effect as first Brian, then myself, and finally Nick saying that we would continue with him. At the time it appeared a foolhardy decision, and Derek’s cheerful “you never know, it might clear up later”, was meet by disbelieving stares and some ungentlemanly language as I mentally crossed him off my Christmas card list. With a kind off Four Musketeers pledge of ‘nobody gets dropped’ we determined that we would all get round the full distance whatever the conditions.

In theory the ride to Bastogne is the ‘easy’ part but in practice it is challenging in its own right. The ride winded its way through some verdant and undulating scenery that lends a lie to the general view that Belgium is flat and boring.

A revitalizing hot chocolate at the Bastogne control lifted spirits as did the brighter skies and the general disappearance of the rain. Brian, with less training than the rest of us, was finding the going hard from the 100K mark and looked like he would not finish. The climbs came regularly on the return leg with the Cote d’Amermont and the Col du Rosier sticking in the memory as requiring a real effort to climb over. 

With the weather steadily improving I ended up filling six back pockets with various items of peeled off cycling apparel. While Nick and I hooked on to a fast moving group into the final control our thoughts turned to the final sting in this ride’s tail, the Cote de la Redoute at 209 km a mere 1650 metres long with a max of 20%. The Redoute is a story in itself, covered in cycling graffiti, it ramps up in several steps and would be a challenge if attempted fresh let alone after nearly nine hours of riding. With a small crowd at the top shouting encouragement we painfully winched ourselves, one-by-one, up the brute almost willed over the line by the cheering well-wishers. The final run in to Tilff was surprisingly energetic as both Nick, Derek and myself engaged in some big gear showboating into the finish area with Nick taking the sign with a lunge timed to a   millisecond. Brian finished the ride a little later having battled manfully the whole way round showing great physical determination. Richard and Alan had finished earlier, well much earlier - but we where proud as a group that we had all got round despite looking defeat in the face at the first feed station.