Categories: CogalsKeepers Tour

All Aboard The Keepers Tour: Latest Update

Rigid's gonna be there. Are you?

It’s so close I can almost taste it. The mud. The dust. The heavy Spring air, turning to rain, blown across the fields of Flanders, where many a battle has been fought, in trenches and on wheels. Battles fought against other men, battles fought within each man. My own mind is in battle; am I worthy? Will I be prepared for the beating my body will take, and will my mind deal with it? Well, I’m not going to my own grave without doing this. I will survive on V.

The Keepers Tour just gets better and better. The team at Pavé Cycling Tours should be known as the Mailmen of Flanders, because they just keep on delivering. It seems almost every day there’s an email informing us of an addition to the tour, and our responses are more and more ‘screaming teenager’ than composed adult. To say we’re excited about this trip could be the understatement of the year. We’re excited.

The latest gems from Alex and William include;

  • Meeting the legendary Freddy Maertens at the Flanders Museum in Oudenaarde.
  • Meeting Vincent Lavenau and the Ag2R team and mechanics at their motel on the Friday before Roubaix.
  • A private opening of the Casa Grinta restaurant, with what is described as one of the most ‘insane’ collections of cycling jerseys in the world, plus ‘Belgian Fusion’ food.
  • Riding into the Roubaix velodrome after our day in Hell, and cleansing in the iconic showers. (TBC)
  • A musette from Pavé’s partner Ravito, stuffed with cycling badges and a cap. (In addition to the special V Musette from us containing a V-Pint and special V-Shirt, not available for sale elsewhere.)
  • A possible showdown with Cycling Tips blog’s own Tour, with some cool prizes up for grabs, along with a ton of laughs.
  • A Cogal to be held in conjunction with our ride of the Ronde parcours on the Saturday before Roubaix.

Of course, this is all in addition to the already confirmed awesomeness of riding with The Lion of Flanders Johan Museeuw, touring the Eddy Merckx factory, riding on the Gent velodrome, touring the Brunehaut brewery (where our organic Malteni beer is produced) and another cycling museum visit in Beveren. There’s a heap of other activities confirmed too, so email us for the full presentation.

And the best part? All of this is included in the super low price! Everything. All meals, all accommodation, all drinks (yes, beer!) and hanging out with a cool bunch of like-minded bike nuts.

Sell your first-born if you have to, but don’t miss out on a week, or weekend of pure Classics bliss. There are still a few seats available, so book yours now.

Full PDF Schedule

Brett

Don't blame me

View Comments

  • @Ron, @Dr C

    I'll be gutted if we don't get to ride the Arenberg. All the sufferfest roller sessions have etched it permanently onto my mind. It doesn't matter how far I've ridden and what the conditions are like at that point, I'm now pre-programmed to hit those cobbles full gas, sur la plaque and turning 110rpm. Even if I only last for another 20 metres.

  • @Chris

    @Ron, @Dr C
    I'll be gutted if we don't get to ride the Arenberg. All the sufferfest roller sessions have etched it permanently onto my mind. It doesn't matter how far I've ridden and what the conditions are like at that point, I'm now pre-programmed to hit those cobbles full gas, Sur La Plaque and turning 110rpm. Even if I only last for another 20 metres.

    +1. Me too. It will be like one of those Homer Simpson moments of uncontrollable enhusiasm. Then one of us will crash into a tree and burst into flames.

  • @Chris, @Bianchi Denti
    SETTLE THE FUCK DOWN PEOPLE. We're riding the Trouée and we're riding the Kapelmuur. Fuck the official routes, we're riding the legendary stuff. That's one of the beauties of not doing the cylosportives. We are there to ride on hallowed ground, not to yield to the will of whatever the race organizers want to do.

    Even if I have to break the law, I'm riding l'Trouée. Who's with me?

  • FMB's have arrived. Shipping manifest is cool enough to give me heart palpitations.

    [dmalbum: path="/velominati.com/wp-content/uploads/readers/frank/2012.01.25.05.01.05/"/]

  • @frank

    So outside of race days, or when they are replacing cobbles, are these routes normally open to ride, or do you have to have some sort of connection, like the Pave folks?

    It sort of seems like living over there would be like having the most badass bike paths in the world. Shame if you couldn't ride them at your leisure.

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