Liege Bastogne Liege sportive
Discussion
Stupidly signed up for this tail end of last year and said I'd get in shape. Unfortunately my shape is still round and it's this weekend. The weather is looking particularly Belgian too.
Any hints and tips welcome. We plan on starting at 06:00 (sunrise at 06:30) in hope of finishing before the 20:00 cut off.
There are three in our group and we said we'd ride together to Bastogne and then let the hills sort us out from there.
For those that have done the ride before, a few questions.
Lightweight Shimano C24 wheels or Zipp 302s?
11-28 or 11-32 coupled with a compact?
Did you see many groups on the road, i.e. opportunities to work in a group and hide from the wind?
How are the feed stations?
What is parking like at the start? Will getting there first thing help?
Did you have any mechanical issues and is there decent support?
Form seems OK at the moment but never ventured into this kind of mileage before. We've done Etapes but the longest was 200km. This is 270km with 5000m of climbing. Back off the pace and make full use of the feed stations is our plan.
Weather will make clothing selection difficult. We're driving over so will throw everything in the car. Fortunately the organisers have a station in Bastogne that we can drop off excessive clothing from the cold start and pick up at the finish.
Thinking positively, are there any nice restaurants or bars in Liege? I've stayed there once before and it was, erm, grey and industrial.
Any hints and tips welcome. We plan on starting at 06:00 (sunrise at 06:30) in hope of finishing before the 20:00 cut off.
There are three in our group and we said we'd ride together to Bastogne and then let the hills sort us out from there.
For those that have done the ride before, a few questions.
Lightweight Shimano C24 wheels or Zipp 302s?
11-28 or 11-32 coupled with a compact?
Did you see many groups on the road, i.e. opportunities to work in a group and hide from the wind?
How are the feed stations?
What is parking like at the start? Will getting there first thing help?
Did you have any mechanical issues and is there decent support?
Form seems OK at the moment but never ventured into this kind of mileage before. We've done Etapes but the longest was 200km. This is 270km with 5000m of climbing. Back off the pace and make full use of the feed stations is our plan.
Weather will make clothing selection difficult. We're driving over so will throw everything in the car. Fortunately the organisers have a station in Bastogne that we can drop off excessive clothing from the cold start and pick up at the finish.
Thinking positively, are there any nice restaurants or bars in Liege? I've stayed there once before and it was, erm, grey and industrial.
Mark83 said:
Stupidly signed up for this tail end of last year and said I'd get in shape. Unfortunately my shape is still round and it's this weekend. The weather is looking particularly Belgian too.
Any hints and tips welcome. We plan on starting at 06:00 (sunrise at 06:30) in hope of finishing before the 20:00 cut off.
There are three in our group and we said we'd ride together to Bastogne and then let the hills sort us out from there.
For those that have done the ride before, a few questions.
Lightweight Shimano C24 wheels or Zipp 302s?
11-28 or 11-32 coupled with a compact?
Did you see many groups on the road, i.e. opportunities to work in a group and hide from the wind?
How are the feed stations?
What is parking like at the start? Will getting there first thing help?
Did you have any mechanical issues and is there decent support?
Form seems OK at the moment but never ventured into this kind of mileage before. We've done Etapes but the longest was 200km. This is 270km with 5000m of climbing. Back off the pace and make full use of the feed stations is our plan.
Weather will make clothing selection difficult. We're driving over so will throw everything in the car. Fortunately the organisers have a station in Bastogne that we can drop off excessive clothing from the cold start and pick up at the finish.
Thinking positively, are there any nice restaurants or bars in Liege? I've stayed there once before and it was, erm, grey and industrial.
It is a very long day out, I was in very good shape when I did it, and I was on my knees by the end, that said, we did push on a lot, so I probably brought that pain on myself. Bear in mind that if you are not staying near the start there are a few more miles on there too - mine ended up being 175 miles.Any hints and tips welcome. We plan on starting at 06:00 (sunrise at 06:30) in hope of finishing before the 20:00 cut off.
There are three in our group and we said we'd ride together to Bastogne and then let the hills sort us out from there.
For those that have done the ride before, a few questions.
Lightweight Shimano C24 wheels or Zipp 302s?
11-28 or 11-32 coupled with a compact?
Did you see many groups on the road, i.e. opportunities to work in a group and hide from the wind?
How are the feed stations?
What is parking like at the start? Will getting there first thing help?
Did you have any mechanical issues and is there decent support?
Form seems OK at the moment but never ventured into this kind of mileage before. We've done Etapes but the longest was 200km. This is 270km with 5000m of climbing. Back off the pace and make full use of the feed stations is our plan.
Weather will make clothing selection difficult. We're driving over so will throw everything in the car. Fortunately the organisers have a station in Bastogne that we can drop off excessive clothing from the cold start and pick up at the finish.
Thinking positively, are there any nice restaurants or bars in Liege? I've stayed there once before and it was, erm, grey and industrial.
It was pissing with rain when I did it, I wore gabba, normal shorts with knee warmers, nanoflex arm warmers, velotoze and gloves with latex gloves underneath - but it was really bad when I did it, it was snowing up the top of the ardennes and they shortened the pro race significantly the next day because of the weather.
Lightweight Shimano C24 wheels or Zipp 302s? - doesn't matter really, but lighter probably better as some hills v steep.
11-28 or 11-32 coupled with a compact? - Depends how good you are, but if you're fairly average I'd go with smallest you got, it gets hard towards the end! I did it on a 39-27 and it wasn't much fun and I was 78kg with 380W FTP - have enough gears!!
Did you see many groups on the road, i.e. opportunities to work in a group and hide from the wind? Yes, though myself and mate found that we had what looked like 50 people on our wheels at one point, none would do a turn, and every time we got to a climb we lost people, but as said, we went out quite hard. But yes, there are a fair few people about and people do get into groups.
How are the feed stations? Pretty good, loads of drink (energy), snack bars, waffles, fruit, some have sweets (gets v repetitive though)
What is parking like at the start? Will getting there first thing help? Dunno, rode from hotel.
Did you have any mechanical issues and is there decent support? Looked like the stops had people fixing all sorts, so think you'd be ok unless it was a huge issue. But we were fine.
Must admit that I found it to be quite grim, I would not even think about doing it again, its too long, and the weather plays too much of a part, it was really horrid for the first half of our ride.
Leige is a s
thole, so can't answer nice bars etc, we just went for horrid ones, quite enjoy a dive bar, so the perfect place for it really.https://www.strava.com/activities/554602263
z4RRSchris said:
the real question is when is okgo making his comeback.....
Certainly NOT at this weekends LBL - amusingly I just got an email from them, no thank you gents, do not want. Must be one of the few events where the sportive is actually longer than the pro race the following day!
Did this in 2015. Hardest ride of my life. Didn't feel quite right for months afterwards 
9.5 hours at a normalised power of 225w (72kg) for a total TSS of 590 - don't make the mistake of thinking the hills come in the second half... the whole thing is one big rollercoaster. The steep ones are later, but you're never riding flat.
Lightweight Shimano C24 wheels or Zipp 302s?
Zipp 302s I reckon. I always go aero over light though! I did the ride on some enve 65s.
11-28 or 11-32 coupled with a compact?
Probably 11-32, you'll be completely hanging by final few climbs!
Did you see many groups on the road, i.e. opportunities to work in a group and hide from the wind?
Depends what speed you're riding it. I'd say I was working in a group about 30% of the time, the rest of the time I was leapfrogging. For the first half (all the way south) I basically worked with the same guy and we hopped up from group to group, after that the steep hills break things up constantly.
How are the feed stations?
Good, lots of food. You'll be sick of them by the end though...
What is parking like at the start? Will getting there first thing help?
Parking was good as far as I remember, parked up a short walk/ride from the start village thing.
Did you have any mechanical issues and is there decent support?
Didn't have any issues so don't know.
https://www.strava.com/activities/292283408
Good luck and "enjoy"!
9.5 hours at a normalised power of 225w (72kg) for a total TSS of 590 - don't make the mistake of thinking the hills come in the second half... the whole thing is one big rollercoaster. The steep ones are later, but you're never riding flat.
Lightweight Shimano C24 wheels or Zipp 302s?
Zipp 302s I reckon. I always go aero over light though! I did the ride on some enve 65s.
11-28 or 11-32 coupled with a compact?
Probably 11-32, you'll be completely hanging by final few climbs!
Did you see many groups on the road, i.e. opportunities to work in a group and hide from the wind?
Depends what speed you're riding it. I'd say I was working in a group about 30% of the time, the rest of the time I was leapfrogging. For the first half (all the way south) I basically worked with the same guy and we hopped up from group to group, after that the steep hills break things up constantly.
How are the feed stations?
Good, lots of food. You'll be sick of them by the end though...
What is parking like at the start? Will getting there first thing help?
Parking was good as far as I remember, parked up a short walk/ride from the start village thing.
Did you have any mechanical issues and is there decent support?
Didn't have any issues so don't know.
https://www.strava.com/activities/292283408
Good luck and "enjoy"!
Edited by BMWBen on Wednesday 24th April 15:17
Worst. Ride. Ever.
Weather mainly the reason. Wind, rain, hail and sometimes all three. I had a lovely Belgian tan by the end. I can just about feel my fingers and toes after sitting in the hotel shower.
And the roads, awful.
Properly broken. Makes the Etapes seem easy.
I'm off out now to eat and drink those 8000 calories.
Weather mainly the reason. Wind, rain, hail and sometimes all three. I had a lovely Belgian tan by the end. I can just about feel my fingers and toes after sitting in the hotel shower.
And the roads, awful.
Properly broken. Makes the Etapes seem easy.
I'm off out now to eat and drink those 8000 calories.
Mark83 said:
Worst. Ride. Ever.
Weather mainly the reason. Wind, rain, hail and sometimes all three. I had a lovely Belgian tan by the end. I can just about feel my fingers and toes after sitting in the hotel shower.
And the roads, awful.
Properly broken. Makes the Etapes seem easy.
I'm off out now to eat and drink those 8000 calories.
Good job - right on the border between type 2 and type 3 fun I expect Weather mainly the reason. Wind, rain, hail and sometimes all three. I had a lovely Belgian tan by the end. I can just about feel my fingers and toes after sitting in the hotel shower.
And the roads, awful.
Properly broken. Makes the Etapes seem easy.
I'm off out now to eat and drink those 8000 calories.
I did it yesterday and chapeau to anyone that finished. Lots of cold shivering people abandoning. Saw a few guys in short sleeve jerseys and shorts; it was cold, with hail and 40kt winds at times. I wore a proper winter rain jacket and just vented on the early climbs, and put a spare pair of dry gloves in the back pocket for when it got too emotional. It's a difficult event to dress for. Having said that it was a great experience, some of the descents were a bit tricky with potholes and cross winds but well organised with warm showers afterwards. Need to clean the bike now...
Julietbravo said:
I did it yesterday and chapeau to anyone that finished. Lots of cold shivering people abandoning. Saw a few guys in short sleeve jerseys and shorts; it was cold, with hail and 40kt winds at times. I wore a proper winter rain jacket and just vented on the early climbs, and put a spare pair of dry gloves in the back pocket for when it got too emotional. It's a difficult event to dress for. Having said that it was a great experience, some of the descents were a bit tricky with potholes and cross winds but well organised with warm showers afterwards. Need to clean the bike now...
Well done JB. It was horrid wasn't it. I saw a lot of people at Bastogne and various bus stops on their phones. I must admit I googled 'Bastogne train station' at that feed station.
I saw some ingenious ways of sealing overshoes yesterday, duct tape and cable ties are new ones on me. At least they were prepared, I too saw people in jersey and shorts. Madness. They were probably the ones wrapped in foil blankets at the feed stations.
I stopped at the last feed station and didn't have the strength to undo my bidons so just carried on somehow.
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