Paris Roubaix Cyclosportif

When Gerard invited me to come to Europe this spring and ride the Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix cyclosportifs and also ride some of his favourite routes around Amsterdam I couldn’t say no, this was a chance to watch and ride 2 of the biggests races in the cycling world. The Tour of Flanders was incredibe with 16,000 riders and 20+% cobbblestone climbs it was unlike any ride I have done before. And then the rides we did around Amsterdam where just as incredible and it all finished off with a chance to ride the Paris Roubaix Cyclosportif. There are a few different optoins for the ride but I choose to ride the longest option, which was170km, a point to point ride that finishes in Roubaix on the Velodrome and includes all 52+km of cobbles that the Pro’s ride on the Sun. This seemed like a great idea when I signed up in January, but driving from Roubaix to the start town the night before the race having ridden 800+km in the previous 7 days, and every day having a cold northerly wind (that would mean a headwind the whole way on this point to point course!) I started to wonder if this was a good idea. Good thing Gerard was with me, as everyone else had bailed and decided to ride the shorter 70km that starts and finishes in Roubaix

GV hammering the cobbles! You can see all of the pictures here

 

The nice thing about the Paris Roubaix cyclosportif is that its newer and not as busy as the Flanders one, so only about 1500-2000 riders where out, which made it a lot more manageable. As Gerard and I rolled across the start line around 8am (you can start anywhere from 7-9am) we where both very happy to see that there was little wind and that the temperature was quite nice. Almost right off the start Gerard was telling me to go ahead, but I told him I was in no rush and we needed to ride at least one section of cobbles together! The ride started with about 15km of lightly rolling roads before the first section of cobbles. There where 28 sections of cobbles in the end with varying distance  from about 1.5km – 3+km per section, after the first section of cobbles I pulled away from Gerard and just focused on getting into a good groove, my legs felt ok, but I also knew i was nearing the bottom of the tank! Just into the second section of cobbles, I cut to the side onto some dirt to get around some riders in front and psssst there goes my back tire, first flat of the trip (and with having done 1000km of riding and  a good chunk being cobbles, dirt and gravel this was my only mechanical) ! After a quick change I back again going again, just as I finish I see one of the Mavic motor bikes come by, just like the Pro race there was Mavic support on course, motorobikes and vans with spare wheels and tools to help keep you moving forward!

Arenberg Forest one of the most famous and hardest sections of cobbles!

Its kind of hard to discribe what its like to ride cobbles after cobbles, you learn to push a bigger gear, the lower cadence takes some pressure of your butt as you push harder on your feet, you ride more with your hands on the tops and try to both not grip too hard and not get chucked off your bike!! There is a definite benefit to being able to ride the cobbles a bit faster, you dont tend to bounce around as much if you ride them slower, but in the end they hurt for everyone! It was just hard to imagine what it would be like in the Pro Peleton fighting for position with 200 guys all hitting the cobbles at 50+kph. Probably the worst thing of all was my hands, I tore a quarter chunks of skin off of one palm and then my hands just ached for a few days afterwards

The famous Roubaix Velodrome!

 

Being able to finish the ride in the velodrome was awesome!! After 5:45 of riding this was a great way to finish it off! 9 days, 1000km of riding, 3 countries, countless cobbles, what a trip!

Happy to be done!!

 

On race day we got right into the Velodrome for the finish, this is Sep Vanmarke (who would finish second) about 200m from the line with Cancellara on his wheel!

 The Garmin File:

 

One of the coolest things I saw all trip was the Canadian WWI War Memorial on Vimy Ridge, this was our last ride up to the monument in the mist on the morning of the race. This monument is probably 30m high and we couldnt see it until we got up close but it was amazing, honoring all of the veterans who died defending Vimy Ridge.