Let’s start with the conclusion: the La Chouffe Classic is highly recommended!
Last Saturday Paula and I were in Houffalize for the first time for this Bpost tour.
We arrived on Friday for a night at Hotel l’Ermitage, just outside the village.
A lovely quiet hotel, but you can have a (much) better dinner in the village itself.
A bit of the Valkenburg vibe – busy, but it’s definitely a gem of the Ardennes.
In September, we will be in the area again for the Vélomédiane…
Friday afternoon I checked the surroundings and the starting area.
As I collect direction signs from Granfondo’s, I begged for one and got it too.
That saved me the trouble of scouring the course for a forgotten one the day after 😂
Saturday morning we had an early breakfast, but we were not in a rush.
Despite the persistent back pain, I didn’t take any candy.
Weird that I can cycle – albeit with pain – but I can hardly walk or sit on my ass for too long…
I left at exactly 9 am for my 108 km and the weather was already quite nice.
The first 10 kilometers are just a warming up (almost no real altitude differences) and then the 1st climb awaits: Côte de Mormont.
Clear signs at the start of each climb, with length, max. % and avg. %.
On top of each climb a sign showing how far it was to the next col.
The often tough ‘undulating’ (kilo)meters between the villages do not count for the polka dot jersey.
For those interested, all the other cols, including the ones in the 160 km course.
Col du Nisramont
Côte de Haussire (South-West) – time measurement
Côte de Samrée
Cote de Odeigne
Côte de Lierneux
Côte de Beho (only the 160 km)
Côte de Maspelt (North, only the 160 km)
Ourberg (time measurement, only the 160 km)
Côte de Lascheid (only the 160 km)
Côte d’EPlayer (only the 160 km)
Côte de Montleban (only the 160 km)
Côte de Wibrin (only the 160 km)
La Longue Virée – time measurement
And finish…
Well, there’s a special dessert for the ‘die hards’: Rue de Saint Roch
With time measurement and a ticket for a bottle of La Chouffe…
La Chouffe has a beautiful course, hardly any tense (motorized) traffic situations, rural and nice climbs.
As usual in Belgium, the road conditions are not always very good – to put it mildly – so you need to be careful, especially on the descents.
Quite busy a the rest / supply posts – I skipped the last one, as it was barely 15 km from the finish.
In the evening we had delicious pasta and pizza, and after a good night’s sleep we headed to Sprimont on Sunday for the MIR Klim Experience event.
Another 120 kms with over 2,000 m of D+…
I had BIB number 8942 and I even spotted one over 12000, but ‘only’ 3450 cyclists participated.
The Polar recorded:
103.2 km (including Rue Saint Roch)
Ride time 3:47
D+ in meters: 1,875, max. incline 22%
And for those interested, the not very impressive timed climbs.
| La Chouffe Classic | |||||||||
| Houffalize, 28/05/2011, BEL | |||||||||
| Côte de la Haussire: 4100m – 6,12% – Classement (2362 registered cyclists on this climb) |
|||||||||
| Pos | Nr | Nom | Age | Temps | Tkm | Moy. | Rang | Localité | |
| 812. | 8942 | RIJNDERS ROBERT | 51 | 19:27 | 4:45 | 12.65 | 805 | BRUNSSUM | |
| DNF: abandon; DSQ: disqualifié; Vitesse en km/h | |||||||||
| Côte de Saint Roch: 1300m – 7,85% – Classement (Not really – it’s 10-11% on average! 1631 die hards registered, so less than half of the participants |
|||||||||
| Pos | Nr | Nom | Age | Temps | Tkm | Moy. | Rang | Localité | |
| 941. | 8942 | RIJNDERS ROBERT | 51 | 6:19 | 4:52 | 12.36 | 924 | BRUNSSUM | |
| DNF: abandon; DSQ: disqualifié; Vitesse en km/h | |||||||||
| ChronoRace-Electronic Timing – www.chronorace.be | |||||||||
