Cobbled Classics Week with La Fuga

I'm happy to say Lew and I leave this week for a taste of the Spring Classics in Belgium.
The following is a brief outline of the program provided by La Fuga, the British tour company arranging the logistics for us. Needless to say we have both opted to use rental bikes for the ten days, checked our health insurance and have packed all the warm clothing we can muster.

For 2013, La Fuga are offering a Cobbled Classics Week, which will connect the Flanders and Roubaix Ride & Watch weekends. Guests on this trip will be able to ride both the Flanders Sportive and the Roubaix Sportive, as well as watch the world's top professional racers at both events. Between these two monumental weekends, we'll ride on the historic roads in the area, including iconic climbs like the Kemmelberg and Muur van Geraardsbergen, take in the Ronde van Vlaanderen museum and watch the pros rip it up once again at the mid-week classic Scheldeprijs.

This week is a pilgrimmage to the holyland of professional cycling, encompassing two of the most important one day races on the calendar. Not only will we be able to watch the pros demostrate their prowess, but we'll also be able to try our hand on the same courses. 

We start the week off with the Tour of Flanders weekend, riding the RVV Sportive, one of the most purely enjoyable & celebratory events in all of cycling. We then zigzag our way across the Flanders fields, chasing the race, as riders do battle on the very course we rode. Last year saw a triumphant Tom Boonen capitalise on the bad luck of Fabian Cancellara to take manificent win in his home race. To say it was a popular victory is an understatement.

Our base for the first part of the trip is the beautiful city of Gent, with it's magnificent gothic arichecture and waterways. We will use this as a jumping off point to explore the rest of Flanders before visiting Antwerp to watch the pros again at the midweek Scheldeprijs.

One last brush with Flanders takes us to Kortrijk before we leave behind the bergs for the flat open tracks of Roubaix. We practise on the cobbles ahead of our own event, the Paris-Roubaix Sportive on Saturday. Watching the pros on Sunday, will know exactly what they feel as they race across the secteurs we rode a day prior, including the famous Forest of Arenberg and Carrefour de l'Arbre.

This is seriously exciting!