{"id":280,"date":"2020-10-19T15:31:30","date_gmt":"2020-10-19T15:31:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/?p=280"},"modified":"2020-10-19T15:31:31","modified_gmt":"2020-10-19T15:31:31","slug":"three-belgian-climbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/?p=280","title":{"rendered":"Three Belgian Climbs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our final day in Oudenaarde was going to be a big one: we planned to ride the Kwaremont, the Patterberg and the Koppenburg \u2013 all steep, all cobbled, all routinely used in the Ronde.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/DSC00131-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-281\" srcset=\"http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/DSC00131-1024x683.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/DSC00131-300x200.jpg 300w, http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/DSC00131-768x512.jpg 768w, http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/DSC00131-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/DSC00131-330x220.jpg 330w, http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/DSC00131.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Kwaremont is long and gradual with rounded, broken and missing sette (Belgian blocks); fortunately, the grade eases up in the middle allowing for a bit of recovery.&nbsp; By contrast the Patterberg has relatively smooth pavers, is steep in the middle and slackens towards the top.&nbsp; We found both climbs without any wrong turns, and despite Chris\u2019 narrow tires and my flatland gearing we managed to top out without incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Koppenburg proved harder to locate, and after some help from a pair of local riders we arrived at the slick right-hander that marks the base of the long climb.&nbsp; The road surface is moderately rough with a slightly smoother and very tempting gutter.&nbsp; We turned around at the farmhouse that marks the top of the climb and returned the way we had come.&nbsp; Descending Belgian cobbles is not recommended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(to) Cleat<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(kleet)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Verb<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" type=\"1\"><li>To ascend a steep grade on a bicycle without touching a foot to the ground.&nbsp; Example: <em>Chris and I cleated the Kwaremont, the Patterburg and the Koppenburg.<\/em><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" src=\"http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/IMG_6524-1024x684.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-282\" srcset=\"http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/IMG_6524-1024x684.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/IMG_6524-300x200.jpg 300w, http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/IMG_6524-768x513.jpg 768w, http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/IMG_6524-1536x1027.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/IMG_6524-330x220.jpg 330w, http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/IMG_6524.jpg 1616w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On our way back to Oudenaarde we stopped in at the aptly-named Koppenburg tavern &#8211; a neighborhood pub filled with working-class guys taking a noontime break.\u00a0 Bike racing is serious business in Belgium, and even among these non-athletic work-a-day fellows we enjoyed near celebrity status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Later that afternoon, after accidently locking ourselves out of the Airbnb, Chris and I parted ways: he was off to Ghent to meet his wife, and I was off to Geraardsbergen to spend the night with Jurgen before driving to Paris for my flight home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three iconic Belgian Climbs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gravel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=280"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":284,"href":"http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280\/revisions\/284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/adventurescript.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}