How we did it

Travel

Cyclist travelled on the Eurostar from London St Pancras to Brussels, catching the earliest one at 06:16. Journey time was two hours, arriving (with time difference) at 09:12. We caught the 09:39 to Oudenaarde (watch out for last-minute platform changes) and arrived at 10:26. It was then a 15-minute walk to the town centre to the bike hire shop and start of the ride. Afterwards, we caught the 18:33 train back to Brussels to get the 20:55 Eurostar, which got us back to London at 21:57. Our Eurostar tickets were £103 per person, while the Belgian train was £25 return. Visit eurostar.com and raileurope. com for details and tickets.

Bike transport

Eurostar’s policy for bikes is that on trains to Paris bikes can only be taken if they are disassembled and boxed. Eurostar will take assembled bikes on trains to Brussels but only at certain times of day: 09:01, 13:01, 15:04 outbound; 07:56, 08:52, 12:52, 14:52, 17:56 return. Those times wouldn’t work for our one-day challenge so we opted for bike hire in Oudenaarde.

Bike hire

L’amusette is a cafe and bike shop near the Centrum Ronde van Vlaanderen, which can rent you a steel Cinelli Nemo Tig road or gravel bike for around €50 (£42) a day. You can also rent helmets, bike computers and such like, and owner Patrick will be happy to discuss optimum tyre pressures for getting up the Koppenberg when it has been raining. See lamusette.cafe for details.

Thanks

Many thanks to Patrick at l’amusette for our bike rentals and advice. Thanks also to Dries Verclyte at Cycling in Flanders for his enthusiastic support in arranging our ride. Cycling in Flanders is a treasure trove of information and routes for anyone visiting Flanders for rides or to watch pro races. Visit cyclinginflanders.cc.