2004 – Cobbled Together!
The Tour of Flanders

Our annual pilgrimage to the Tour of Flanders gets bigger and better every year. For 2004, fourteen of us Parkers were joined by three of our friends from Whitewebbs and a jolly time was had by all.
For some it was the first trip to the famous Belgian race while others where old hands at the celebrated cobbled climbs and windswept flatlands. The sense of anticipation and trepidation, however, was the same for all.

The slick, well-oiled, finely tuned organisation was spot-on as always (I’m obviously talking about the Belgians here, not us!). The entire route was signposted, marshalled or closed to traffic. Crowds of locals had been drawn to the steeper slopes to enjoy the suffering at close quarters. Those crowds were rewarded with a bonus this year as earlier drizzle had left some of the cobbles unrideable in many places and the result was some spectacular and acrobatic displays of unusual bike handling

Most riders were dismounting as soon as the bike took on a life of it’s own or the more prudent when they saw a rider ahead about to make his inevitable quick visit to the pave. Some ignored the evidence of their senses and stuck with it as long as possible. The end result was usually the same.
At one point old diehard John Winstanley found himself facing every direction but forwards before succumbing to gravity. The Whitewebbs Captain, Big John Turton, presented a formidable obstacle to following traffic as he sat next to his bike in the middle of the narrow roads on more than one occasion I myself found no traction from my Continental GP4s and not much more from my Look plates and walked the last thirty yards of the Paterberg in my socks.

At least we were not alone. Even hardened Flandrian roadmen stood no chance on wet cobbles and very few were seeing the top of the climbs without pushing their bikes at least some of the way.But the weather was changeable in its typical Flanders manner and as the long day wore on we were rewarded with some dry bergs to salvage our pride.

Our group concertinaed together and stretched apart according to terrain and the controls, where we stocked up on the free food and drinks, Eventually we finished back at the HQ in Ninove within a short time of each other. A far cry from some of the previous years with the club blown apart after a late start and twilight chaingangs to finish before dark!

Words by Chris Lodge