Fortunately, I checked the weather forecast – cloudy but dry all day, some sun in the afternoon.
So it was raining when I wanted to leave around 7:30 am for the start of the Granfondo Liège-Bastogne-Liège (LBL) 2011…
And I have removed every weather site from my favorites 😒
So before the official start, my shoes were already filled with water (it was 1.3 km from the hotel), the roads were soaking wet and I had no idea what to expect in terms of weather.
And still 170+ kilometers to go, with approximately 2,600 meters of elevation gain.
I know from experience that many of those altitude meters, apart from in the official climbs, are found ‘between the villages’ – the undulating roads between 8 and 10 percent, which do not even count for the polka dot jersey.
The Chambralles, Wanne, Stockeu and Redoute of course do add up in terms of altitude gain, but those ‘silent killers’ make it debilitating.
And then in that weather – I had that pleasure before (in 2009) and there’s little fun in it, descending is downright dangerous.
It cleared up a bit towards the end and it was ‘dry’ when I climbed La Redoute…
Not the usual crowd of spectators (either) there and the checkpoint on top of the Redoute was also quieter than normal.
I later learned that many participants had chosen a shorter distance, some of them taking the shortest route (back) to the finish.
No, today was certainly not a great day and hopefully it will be better next week at the Sean Kelly Classic.
