All Aboard The Keepers Tour: Latest Update
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.
@Dr C
Merckx damn you all! I hope the ‘Phlegmish’ weather is Flemish and the cobbles shake your b..ls out of their ‘pocket’… who laughs last, laughs best!
@Chris
Just Casually deliberate, casually deliberate. If you have a tweede suite, then all the better. But I’m not hauling a suit over to Europe, so I, for one, will be wearing the special-edition, not for resale KT V-Shirt that comes with registration…
@ChrisO
HEY!! Its a beautifully expressive language!
@JC Belgium
Phil and Paul were discussing the fact that he’s a Flemish speaker at the beginning of one of the TDU stages the other day and mentioned that his wife was Flemish. Her political views may have rubbed off or he was making a statement on her behalf. Doesn’t your other half chose your socks for you?
@frank
And I’m not hauling a sofa around with me. That would really screw with the excess baggage. I may have a tweed jacket in the wardrobe but it’ll be a bit more traditional than JV’s. If training really goes to plan I could probably squeeze into my kilt but I’d run the risk of being mistaken for a Scot.
@Chris
@Chris
No, my mother choses my socks. (wink)
I don’t know his political views, nor his wife’s. I am just not sure about a political purpose and see no reason why he would be a Flamingant (=activist of the Flemish movement).
and probably, he received these socks from SockGuy, his personal sponsor…
@frank
HEY!! Its a beautifully expressive language!
thank you, @frank
@Chris
…kilt….yayaya
rather than bringing one, do you think we could rent an 10 seater sofa to watch the RVV roadside – and a couple of hospital beds for the nearly made it contestants – the thought of standing for more than a few seconds the day after the P-R run fills me with dread
@ChrisO
ok ok, I found the solution to our ‘Vlaamse Leeuw’ issue!
@JC Belgium
That’s cool as long as you aren’t 42!
@Dr C
I suspect sitting down may be an issue too!
@JC Belgium
Hmmm, not sure about those. They’ll clash with just about everything.
You can buy cycling socks with just about any flag or badge you want apart from the European flag which would be the most appropriate on that side of the channel. Don’t you guys want to be European?
@Chris
touch paper lit, stand well back…..
It’s gonna be an awesome trip you’re all going on, wouldn’t it be just fantastic if The Prophet just happened to be at the factory and came and said hello, even though it probably couldn’t get much more awesome.
@Chris
European, like one country, or just feeling European? What exactly do you mean?
if even in a small country like Belgium political tensions between Flemish and Walloon are high, why would you want to be European?
@Dr C
Just trying to be all inclusive, we happily poke gentle fun at pretty much everyone else, the various sheep bothering nations, our american cousins, the Scots and Irish and generally take it on the chin without dispatching a gunboat when someone gives some back, so why not the Euro-zone?
@JC Belgium
Can’t wear Marxist socks… we’d have nothing to lose but our chains.
@Frank
You’re Dutch… Flemish probably sounds like French does to English speakers.
Fronk, are you going to pretend not to be Dutch for the Tour?
@Dr C
Frank will blow his cover when he orders Heineken instead of Jupiler…
After a few days of Flemish Ales, frites and “Belgian Fusion” cuisine, you may need to put on a pair of these bad boys…
@Chris
agreed, they do seem to get away lightly in the slagging off stakes, which is surpising given the standard of the Eurovision Song Contest
A google image search of “sheep bothering” turns up almost-disappointingly pedestrian pictures of actual people, actually bothering sheep. I was expecting some slightly-more risque results.
@The Oracle
but you will probably notice your processor is running a bit slower from now on
@JC Belgium
It seems that much of what comes out of the European bureaucrats is moving towards a single state in such away that is damaging to the rights and customs of it’s member nations and has become law without any apparent democratic process. The perception over here, certainly in the media is that many Europeans aren’t unduly concerned by such a shift from member nations to a single state. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to be European.
@The Oracle
I’m sure the Kiwis can post some wedding pictures.
@The Oracle
Why, in the name of all that is good, would you even want to do that? And why would you tell us?
@Chris
WTF – political commentary – this site is no place for such educated and considered opinion
Hugely irrelevant, but I maybe seeing my greatest ever sporting achievement unfolding before my very eyes
I am currently lying 229th out of 160,000 entries in the Volvo Ocean Race Game Online – pick that one out!
I only point this out, as it is all about to go pear shaped for me, and I believe in blowing one’s trumpet before disappearing up one’s own ass
Thank you for listening
@Dr C
I discovered after posting that my “safe search” setting was set to moderate. Thank Merckx for that, as it seems to have sheltered me.
@Chris
I googled “sheep bothering,” because I had never heard that phrase before. For some reason I hit the “images” search as well. It was only after doing so that I realized that searching for images of “sheep bothering” may turn up some undesirable results. Luckily, the “safe search” settings saved me from the psychic trauma. Rest assured, I do not plan on re-running the search with the safe-search turned off. I’d have a lot of ‘splaining to do to our IT guy.
@Dr C
Congratulations. I finished second in the Canadian Correspondence Chess Championship a couple of years back. But that didn’t have 160,000 participants…
@Dr C
@Steampunk
Awesome, you guys are gamers? We should get together for some Halo!
Now I just need to learn what that is…
@ChrisO
Its just a dialect…so Flemish sounds like French does to French speakers…
@JC Belgium
My guess is the designer at Sock Guy picked the all black one because its easier to make, not for any political reason…
@Dr C
I’m going to start with hoping that my Dutch has stayed good enough not to land all y’all in prison for something I said. After that, I’ll just pretend to be me and the Dutch will assume I’m Dutch and the Flemish will assume I’m Flemish because of the ambient Awesome everywhere I go.
@Marko
What’s Halo? What’s a gamer? Did you just insult me or something? I’d like to get this cleared up.
@Steampunk @Dr C
I won a basket of groceries as a kid from a grocery store grand opening I attended with a friend’s family, as her dad was a distributor or somesuch.
Winning!
@Marko
Halo?
Is that some sort of linguistic greeting game – Ola, Halo, Hello, Bounjourno, Buenas dias?
If it is an XBox360/ PS3 type of thing, you wanna get practising before your son starts kicking your butt – they take no prisoners from about 3 yoa onwards – you have been warned
@Steampunk
Hey, a win is a win
Even when you come second
While we are at it, I won a bottle of Rasperryade for first place at a Funny Dives competition in Barley Cove near Dingle a few (30+) years ago
I think we may have invented a new game here….
One never tires of marvelling at one’s own achievements, such is the nature of self belief
@Dr C
Sorry, won’t happen again. Was just trying to explain my previous comment to @JC Belgium. Thought about just telling him to ignore me but didn’t want to make it seem like I was trying to exclude anyone from a conversation.
Intervals in the saucepan cupboard again for me tonight.
@JC Belgium
Given his cycling heroes, I think Frank would be more likely to order a Piraat.
@JC Belgium
There’s a video on Sporza.be featuring Robbie talking non-Aussie lingo and having something to do with a moving truck and putting his stuff in a suitcase. Don’t understand a word, but his place looks lovely – overlooking the beach!
@Dr C
Or not at all! *ahthankyou*
@Dr C
Understood and I agree, @Chris, you have my vote…
However! I post socks and we are heading towards a political debacle. I wish to apoligise to everyone involved. I will think about my actions and won’t do it again.
@wiscot
(thanks wiscot, I ve already watched it, sporza.be/wielrennen is one of my homepages)
I know! so jealous about his place. about the moving truck: his stuff was stuck at boarder control and there were some difficulties, so the container had to go in quarantine for three months. it arrived a day too early, so they couldn’t unload it. about the suitcase: just preparing for TDU.
@Dr C
I suspect that I may be your competition for those socks. Lots of wet, cold conditions to ride in here in Germany, but the cobbles have all been too smooth.
I suspect my tears will help with your decision. But I will console myself with another Belgian beverage.
@Bill
the socks are all yours mate, all yours
This trip just sounds better and better all the time. Meeting Freddy? That’s awesome. Riding with the Aussies from Cycling Tips? That should be cool. And all the other great parts of the trip. Hmm, now I’m seriously considering selling a bike off and coming along…
Hope they get this cleared up – maybe no Arenberg this year?
http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/10965/Forest-of-Arenberg-in-danger-of-being-left-out-of-Paris-Roubaix.aspx
@Ron
Merckx, first the Kappelmuur, now perhaps the Trouée?
@Ron
Arghhhhh
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
@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
+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.