Beyond the Service Course: Belgium Day 5: De Muur

De Muur van Geraardsbergen. Mur de Grammont. Kappelmuur. If you’re a cyclist, this must mean something to you. Hopefully it will mean quite a lot. Hallowed ground for those of us on two wheels—only the Madonna del Ghisallo surpasses it in terms of sacrosanct stretches of road--and perhaps only then because the eponymous Saint is the Patroness of cyclists. I consider myself extraordinarily lucky and privileged to have had the chance to ride up its slopes. The role it has played in creating legends of the sport, Merckx, Museuuw, De Vlaminck, Maertens, and maybe even Boonen? Perhaps Cancellara (I admit to my own bias on the latter, but all the hype surrounding his ability started after his acceleration to drop Boonen on the Muur before taking the win in the 2010 Ronde)? The pitches are brutally steep, the cobbles damning. Even though it may only be a kilometer or so from the town to the chapel, it drains your legs as much as any higher rated climb. Each turn I made sent chills down my spine, I could envision each turn, each stretch from race footage over the years. Even though it was a quiet spring morning, the energy surrounding the road was palpable; it felt as though the lifeblood of the sport was running in a river down the road. The road keeps getting steeper with few places for respite, which is a pity because the scenery is remarkable. The legs need to keep turning over, even though I was in a stupidly high gear (thanks to a lack of a front derailleur), it is very easy to stall out and then be forced to walk if you don't just force yourself to keep pedaling. Where Cancellara initiated his fatal blow on Boonen I was effectively doing squats each pedal stroke to keep the bike moving forward it was so steep. After one final kicker to reach the top of the Muur, I was greeted with the chapel, much smaller than I expected, it really just is a chapel but no less beautiful or significant. Every cyclist needs to make this pilgrimage, if you have any appreciation for the sport it is imperative. This is the only sport where amateurs can partake in the same arena as the pros. The rest of the ride was standard fare after that, rolling hills, the Bosberg, lots of farms. But the feeling of riding up the Muur will always live on inside me.