This ride was another of my discoveries, which mostly consist of my noticing what everyone else has known for ages. I this case, I noticed that it was possible to ride the course of most of the Classics on the day before the race. It's very popular to do so, and I expect that it helps the organisers to test their systems before the great day.
Anyway, I chose to ride Paris-Roubaix this year, one of the great classics which was first run in 1896 and is famous for its long cobbled sections. It's a hard ride.
For logistics, I chose Sports Tours International, who did a London pick-up, hotel arrangements and ride entries, coupled with viewing the pro race from several points on the following day. It's a good package, and I thought the price was very reasonable.
Arenberg Trench
The day dawned foggy, which may have contributed to the subsequent cock-up with busses (one got lost, and it was carrying some of the timing chips). As a result of this it became apparent that I, and a number of others, were not going to be able to get to our start point in time. Pragmatism ruled, and those of us affected started at a place called Solesmes, which meant that I missed four cobbled sections and did 140 kms rather than the 170 kms of the full ride. This actually made little difference to me as I was still able to ride 24 other cobbled sections, over 40 kms in all, including all of the famous ones. Not a problem.
So, off up the road and on to the first cobbles at Haussy. Three stars (out of five) and as good an introduction as any. The way to do it, as everyone knows, is to pull a high gear, keep a loose grip on the tops and let the bike kick. That's the way to do it all right, but when the bike hits the first strip with a bang and seems to jump into the air it takes a little while to get into the groove. The cobbled sections differ greatly, but the important thing to note is that none of them is as smooth as Guildford High Street and they're all longer - some much longer.
After a few miles I was beginning to get the hang of it - it's rough, tough stuff and very dirty in the dust. Relaxing was the key - a Vulcan Death Grip gets you no-where, and if you're not careful you can quickly get very tired. So steady as she goes, but, paradoxically, speed is your friend. If you can get the bike skipping over the cobbles it smooths out a bit. By the time I got to the Arenberg Trench I could do it, which is just as well as it's a long, hard section. By this time I was quite adept at spotting what the cobbles would be like. If there were lots of camper-vans pulled up, staking out their places for Sunday's race, then it was going to be hard. Once you started, if there were lots of bidons and loose bits of bike lying around, then it was going to be hard and rough. Most of them were.
Carrefour de l'Arbre
By the time I had got to the Carrefour de l'Arbre, the last of the hard sections and about 110 kms of riding for me, I was pretty tired, and it was evident that others were, too. I had seen a number of crashes, mostly due to momentary inattention I suspect. On the rough stuff you really have to concentrate or a rogue cobble will have you off. Punctures were becoming more and more frequent - once you've had one it's hard to get the tyre up to pressure with a mini pump, so another tends to be not far behind. I saw some broken wheels, and a broken (steel) fork, which had led to a nasty tumble. But mostly the bikes - especially modern, light-weight ones - stood up to it well. It's the riders that were the weak link.
Roubaix Velodrome
Coming in to Roubaix I chummed up with a Dutch rider who seemed to know the ropes. We rode into town at pace, jumping red lights and bunny-hopping on to pavements until the last piece of easy-peasy cobbles. (I later found that some of my English companions had been stopped by the Police for much less - I guess that local knowledge helps in these matters.) Anyway, into the Velodrome, round the track and it was medal time, followed by a welcome packed lunch at the Sports Tours tent.
The bike was filthy, I was filthy, but we were both happy. I took my old Boardman cyclo-cross bike and, as ever, it was completely trouble free. Changes I had made, on advice, were to fit 30 mm tyres which I ran at 80 psi, and I changed the bottle cages for stainless steel ones. No punctures and I kept my bottles all the way.
It was a great ride, and the race the next day was great too. But that, as they say, is another story.
I'm already thinking about next year ...
Mark
