The Paterberg Is Fine! And More Notes From the Fenced-Off Gutters of Flanders

Welcome to Cobbles Season! This is my 18th year of saying this, and probably a good ten years since anyone needed reminding. We all know what’s about to go down. The next several weeks will see a widening war for supremacy across the cobbles of Belgium, France and the Netherlands (mostly Belgium). People will be talking a lot about beer, frites, wheel choices, sportives, and just the passion that makes this time of year so incredible.

In the almost two decades of the Podium Cafe, the Cobbled Classics have evolved into a truly international affair — I’m sure I’ve said this several times before, but the trend continues. The teams from across the Cycling landscape keep getting deeper, the athletes keep pushing the envelope, and the sponsor interest grows alongside it all. If you want to point to a downside, you could say that the Belgian presence has been diluted a bit as of late, but not that much, unless you want to go back a few decades to when the home country dominated and the rest of the world just sort of raised half an eyebrow. Now riders from all over are bred in Belgium to love these races, in the junior academies that take advantage of the affordability and the constant races happening to work their kids into shape. Belgium, a small country, might eventually lose its hold on its own races… but yeah, no, probably not.

Photo by Tim de Waele/Getty Images

I do think the first big American victory is drawing near. Yes, Tyler Farrar won the Scheldeprijs, and George Hincapie is considered a former winner of Gent-Wevelgem — back when the race went from Gent to Wevelgem — in spite of his subsequent doping case. So we aren’t literally starting from zero. And I don’t think an American is going to top all that and win de Ronde this year. But it’s been a long time since riders of the caliber we see in EF’s Neilson Powless or Visma’s Matteo Jorgenson were present and challenging for glory on the Cobbles. I do expect results over the next few seasons. And I’m not putting any particular limits on what those results could be.

Early indications are that we will have true spring conditions for the foreseeable future in the region, meaning cooler temperatures, winds playing a role, and even some rain to help paint a real Classics picture.

Disaster Averted

Earlier this winter there was talk of the Paterberg being on the verge of elimination from the races, not just De Ronde but as soon as this Friday’s E3 Saxo Bank Classic. The issue was a corner in the road approaching the climb — and I use the word road somewhat loosely. It’s in the corner of Kalkovenstraat, shown on the map below, just “Wandelknooppunt 40”:

For a more graphic image, that would be just beyond the short descent where Sep Vanmarcke got his tire stuck in a groove between the little concrete plates that make up this farm path, costing him his best chance at a Flanders win in 2017. You can see the Paterberg at the top of the screen. The Oude Kwaremont is to the left, and they swing around in a U-shaped course to get from A to B.

This winter, the steep bank alongside the turn where the various pathways meet had eroded and the road began to fall into the ravine. Not great for a World Tour race. But that fact alone undoubtedly shot it up the project priority list. In this story you can see clearly the road (looking in the opposite direction that the cyclists travel) undergoing major work, just two weeks ago. [And definitely click on the story about how cyclists need to stay the fuck out of the work area! Very relatable.] It’s involved a pretty major bank stabilization effort, but supposedly the work was done with… about the urgency you would expect from a bunch of Flemish people, and the new concrete was to have been laid down by yesterday. It’s a short stretch that the riders will hit at some 40kph maybe, and you won’t notice it if you aren’t intent on spotting the former work site.

Without this quick action, I’m fairly positive the Paterberg would have been out of De Ronde and E3. You could swing around to the north of the climb, but it would require swinging off the Oude Kwaremont in Kwaremont, halfway up the climb, and there are way too many VIPs around for that to happen. I kind of liked the idea (of mine, so yeah) where they do the Oude Kwaremont, then turn right and come back to Kwaremont, cutting across the course to head over to the Paterberg. But of course I don’t ride in giant pelotons very often and am probably failing to appreciate the logistics involved.

Oh, and for you cyclotourists, you should probably know about the Rampe. If you did cut back across the course in Kwaremont, on Keuzelingsstraat, you could take that to Watermolenstraat and cut across to rejoin the march to the Paterberg. But not before hitting the Rampe.

Apologies for yet another terrible screenshot, but OMIGOD! This area has more cobbles than it knows what to do with, and these are some old school ones! The chances of me riding this next time I am in the Greater Ronse Metropolitan Area start at 100% and go up from there.

As you can see from this terrible blog post, my mind is just slowly wandering around the Vlaamse Ardennen waiting for things to happen. There is less and less news to report each year, apart from startlists and speculations. The stories of what makes these races so special, and this area such a wonderful visit for outsiders, has been told many times. The riders themselves, the foreign ones, have now grown up on the legends to the point where practically everyone taking the start has drank the elixir and is ready to call the next six hours in the saddle the highlight of their racing careers.

That’s a slight exaggeration, but you get my point. Which is that the last eleven months are finally over and we can clear the decks and get ready for some Cobbled action. Chop the frites! Stock up on heavy ales! Go ride whatever cobbles you can find close to where you live (and if it’s Seattle, I can send you a route with like 30 sectors) to fully put yourself in the mood. Pull out all the stops. This is pure cycling greatness, and the next chapter is always the best one.

[Annual note: I did once write a book about this stuff, which you can find on Amazon at a shockingly high price. If you’re ever in North Seattle, come on by, I’ll give you a copy.]