"I wanna ride my bicycle"

Le Beau Vélo de RAVeL

For those who don't know what this post's title refers to, let me have a word about it.

Le Beau Vélo de RAVeL is the name of a radio programme on Vivacité. Its main presentator is Adrien Joveneau. The goal of this program is quite unusual in the sense that it is to gather as many amateur cyclists as possible in order to take part in a ride (or stage) of an average 25 km. Originally, the main goal was to promote the RAVeL (Réseau Autonome des Voies Lentes), but now it's more about discovering certain places in Wallonia. And I have to add that there's also a stage in Brussels, in mid-September.

This programme has been broadcast since a decade or so, and its success has grown stronger ever since. As far as I can remember, I took part in a RAVeL ride in 1997. Last year, I attended three stages: two in my region (Herve and Spa-Francorchamps [and I even climbed the famous "Raidillon" twice]) and one in Brussels.

Since the Beau Vélo de RAVeL was to take place in Blegny (15 km away from my village) today, I decided to go. (And I had no excuse: I've done more than 500 km on my bicycle this summer). I did this stage with a friend of mine, Alexandre. We decided to leave half an hour sooner than the peloton: experience commanded us to do that. Basically, we knew the kind of paths we'd have to take, and I couldn't imagine being surrounded by thousands of people in a climbing pathway that's like 1,5 m large, with holes filled with mud everywhere!

We took such paths, as muddy as you can imagine. (It had been raining all morning.) Fortunately, most of the stage was on "proper" roads. (I write proper between inverted comas because Walloon streets and roads are kinda crappy). There were more "ups and downs" (I mean hills) than usual, but it was OK if you didn't push it too hard.

It finally took us two hours to do the stage. I'm already looking forward to the next stage!