Brussels to France | 140km Ride Featuring the Legendary Muur van Geraardsbergen

Join me on an epic 140km cycling journey from the heart of Brussels, Belgium to the historic French city of Lille—an international ride packed with character, cobbles, and one of cycling’s most feared climbs: the Muur van Geraardsbergen.

This route isn’t just about the distance—it’s about the terrain, history, and effort. Early in the ride, I take on The Wall, a short but brutal cobbled climb made famous by the Tour of Flanders. With gradients ramping up to 20%, this section tests every rider’s grit and bike handling. From there, the route winds through the rolling Flemish countryside, across rural backroads, and into Northern France.

Came across retired Belgium pro cyclist Mathieu Bogaert with a group, struggled to hang on for dear life!

Key Features of This Ride:
• Distance: 140km / 87 miles
• Total Elevation Gain: ~1,014m
• Notable Climb: Muur van Geraardsbergen (1.1km, avg. 9.3%, max 20%)
• Terrain: Mixed — urban rollout, classic cobbled climb, scenic farmland, and cross-border transition
• Ride Type: Endurance / Adventure / Road

Whether you’re a cycling enthusiast, planning a cross-border ride, or just here for the scenery and suffering, this video captures the essence of long-distance European road cycling with a touch of classic Flandrian toughness.

Filmed with: GoPro Hero 11 + Insta360 Go3S
Bike setup: Cannondale SystemSix Di2
Tour Bags: Tailfin Frame Bag & Top Tube Bag
Clothing: Rapha

#cycling #cyclinglife #bikepacking #100kmride #belgiumcycling #bikechallenge #roadbike #belgium #biketouring

Follow for more long-distance cycling adventures, route guides, and iconic climbs across Europe.

We’re off to France. Brussels to Leil over the border into France. Uh 138k and Le is supposed to be absolutely stunning place. Place place I haven’t been again. So we’re going to there’s supposed to be a beautiful um citadel and which has a big open market and food market just on the outskirts of it. So that should be fun. and then uh we’re going to get the train back from there. So in total it’ll be about 145k. But what we’ve marked on our plan is to climb the famous end of the tour to Fllanders which is the Moore the Mo Van Gard Bergen just known as the Moore and Moore is Flemish for um the wall. So, it’s a a famous cobblestone climb. Uh half I think is cobblestone. The first half is is term. It goes up about on the cobblestones. I think it’s about 14%. But we’ll give it a lash. We’ll see. Hopefully, we won’t have to walk it. Heat. Heat. Huh? What the Heat. Heat. Heat. How you doing? Oh, there was perfect. Heat. Heat. Oh, I couldn’t be going to game over those boys. Oh my god. Woo! They were fast. Bloody hell. So, those guys were absolutely hammering it. But, uh, bit of crack, trying to keep up with them. Thankfully, we came to a Tjun and they went left, I went right, as I wouldn’t have been able to keep up that pace. A lovely little canal here. We’re just tipping along. Oh, I think this just leads into uh Gard’s Bergen or however you pronounce it. And then the Moore is just a left turn up that and I think it’s about a kilometer climb then up to the church at the very top where the finish line is for the tour of Flanders now. Then after that, I think we have two big climbs, two uh to do before we start descending down to Le. Well, we start going down to Rube first. And then from Rube then we going to Le uh so they say we’re coming up to the 50k mark. Oh less than a third of the way. So we’re in G Gardsburg and the start of the climb is just as I turn left here. Uh, so let’s give this a lash. Nice little place though. Oh Got me. Oh, that’s Oh my god, that was so tough. I didn’t even look down at the the percentage of that. It was just a killer the whole way. But we made it up. There’s the finish line with Strava and that’s the church. So, you’re tempted by the stop at that pub thinking it’s it’s the it’s the top, but it’s actually not. You have to come up there and up around here and you finish line is over there and there’s the beautiful church. Woo! Oh, that’s a tough climb. Oh my god, it’s almost 12%. 14. Oh, holy cow. See off it. Oh. Oh my god. That’s steep. Oh, Mr. out. Woo! Oh, it says there only a few hundred meters left, but you lie. You lie. Oh, that’s the top now. Let me get something to eat, I think. That was a much welcome stop. Something to eat. Oh, beautiful area. My god, it was lovely up there. A nice little descent dent here. Oh, 85k in with nearly 800 m of climbing done. I think there’s only one more climb and it’s about 2.6 m long or 2.6 km long. Uh, so if we can get over that over and done, I think it’s fairly downhill then to Leil or to Rube. So, we just broke the 100 mark. Uh, we are 875. So, probably less than 100 meters of climbing left. I say that’s just rolling hills. We’ve about 30 36k left. Um, so we’ll see how we get on. Maybe another hour, hour and a half, two hours left. So, we surpassed the 120 mark and we’re in France. No signs or anything. No uh meat party here. Greet me and fireworks or freaking nothing here. So very disappointed, but uh we’re still cruising along, making good ground. We’ve only got another I suppose 17 18k left. Oh, we’re in Ruby now, which is actually beautiful place. What a place. Beautiful park there. And little train track there running along the main road. Oh, it’s a tram. So on to Le. Le is next. What’s happening? So, we’re back in Brussels. Some of the rides sets 140k,4 m of climbing and an average speed of 24.0. Now, if you if you like the video, give us another like, thumbs up and subscribe, and make sure you hit the notifications.