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

  • @heinous
    Awesome story - Flemish/Dutch are pretty much the same, and Afrikaans is a weirdo combination of Dutch and who-knows-what. She'd definitely understand it well enough to know what they wanted, but I'm also guessing they weren't the most clever/subtle blokes. Chances are it didn't require much language skills to work it out!

    @heinous, @Bianchi Denti
    ??? FMB's?

  • @jimmy

    @JC BelgiumGhent, Ichtegem, then Kortrijk. Would love to go back and see all the things I missed someday. Take my kid at an age where that exposure might have a profound influence.

    I can imagine which city you liked the most...
    What a coincidence, my hometown is some 15km from Kortrijk (along the canal Leie, towards Ghent), and I study in Ghent now. but what really would be 'Dude, no way!': if you were one of the cyclists who were living down the street of my flat in Bijlokevest street, Ghent. (I think 2 years ago)
    oh, I almost forgot: take your kid to Belgium when he s 16, then he is officially allowed to drink beer.

  • @JC Belgium
    All 3 places had their charms, but I imagined being in Kortrijk more long term. But all things must end. Was a bit more than 2 years ago...think Museeuw pre-world champion bands. The drinking age tip is gold, thanks!

  • @Dr C

    Watched some good attacks last year, but for sheer brutality this gets my vote for dishing The V in excessive quantity
    Badass on the Bosberg

    Do my eyes deceive me, or is he big-ringing it?

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