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Paris Roubaix Challenge 11th April 2015 - Who's in?
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Did the 140km this year and have to say this was a fantastic experience, albeit painful.
One for the cross bike, handbuilt wheels, double bar tape and Flanders oversocks (you've go to look cool after all!)
Definitely up for it again in 2015, from googling around it seems that the provisional date is 11th April 2015.
Happy to look into hotels and co-ordinate the itinerary if we get enough interest.
Plus if we can get a volunteer driver then the 170km is an option (incl 29 pave secteurs), otherwise the 140km (19 pave secteurs) is more straightforward. Don't particularly fancy a 4am wake up call in Roubaix to get a coach to the start if I can avoid it!
This is not a ride for the delicate so expect numb hands, painful feet, blurred vision and grit in your teeth for 2 weeks afterwards.
For training, I suggest beating yourself in the nadgers with a lump hammer for an hour every day for the 6 week run up..... That 's how the real men do it!
Link to the website below - they haven't updated it for 2015 yet but the routes remain pretty similar year on year:
http://www.sport.be/parisroubaix/2014/eng/
Did the 140km this year and have to say this was a fantastic experience, albeit painful.
One for the cross bike, handbuilt wheels, double bar tape and Flanders oversocks (you've go to look cool after all!)
Definitely up for it again in 2015, from googling around it seems that the provisional date is 11th April 2015.
Happy to look into hotels and co-ordinate the itinerary if we get enough interest.
Plus if we can get a volunteer driver then the 170km is an option (incl 29 pave secteurs), otherwise the 140km (19 pave secteurs) is more straightforward. Don't particularly fancy a 4am wake up call in Roubaix to get a coach to the start if I can avoid it!
This is not a ride for the delicate so expect numb hands, painful feet, blurred vision and grit in your teeth for 2 weeks afterwards.
For training, I suggest beating yourself in the nadgers with a lump hammer for an hour every day for the 6 week run up..... That 's how the real men do it!
Link to the website below - they haven't updated it for 2015 yet but the routes remain pretty similar year on year:
http://www.sport.be/parisroubaix/2014/eng/
Comments
http://www.sport.be/rondevanvlaanderen/2014/eng/parcours/
All the fun of Roubaix with added hellingen.
At this early stage I'm thinking of using the heavy steel Cotic X bike fitted with Challenge Grifos and Slime inner tubes...only weighs around 35llbs (!), but pretty bombproof for those cobbles!
John
I suppose it has to be done the hard way on a road bike but this route is simply screaming out for a 29" carbon full suspension bike without full knobblies.
Considering carbon for this year, but a road/cross bike of course, need to see how the funds go...
DH - This is the weekend after Easter in 2015 - when was the youth series this year?
Keeping it pure classic one has to go steel drops road bike.
Steel (orange), half knobblies, Slime tube protection, Dave Millar double handlebar tape, beer, frites.....
All this talk of knobblies and slime scares me a bit though. Not too sure what they are but pretty sure they aren't mentioned in the rules.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/slime-self-healing-road-inner-tube/?lang=en&curr=GBP&dest=1&utm_source=pla&utm_medium=base&utm_campaign=uk&kpid=5360101550
My own experience? Not had a flat since I fitted these to my cross bike last winter....and I used to get off-road rear tyre flats regularly, despite trying different tyres, tubes, rim tapes...
They are about 40g heavier than regular tubes, but then again, I'm not exactly svelt myself and not considering racing...could come in handy on those nasty cobbles though!
Daren't debate knobblies at the same time as cobbles though...... :-)
John
Agree there's loads of time between now and April for a lengthy technical 'best tyres for cobbles' debate, to knobble or not to knobble? Couldn't help noticing this on the official website though... It is their opinion, not mine.. I fully accept I am not worthy to comment on tubs!
"Tips for cobbles: - It's best to use clincher tires for the cobblestones. Replacing a clincher is much safer than replacing a tubular, because a replacement tubular tire cannot be glued on the rim, so it won't be sufficiently fixated onto the rim. That can be really dangerous on cobblestones. "
Obviously, I would prefer to travel as part of a group (never done a foreign sportive before) which may help to lower costs. Sports Tours are charging £429pp (which doesn't include insurance or the event fee).
Registration opens 8th December 2014.
UPDATE: Reminded by the other half that I can't go as I am attending a wedding in Plymouth that weekend.
registration 2015 paris roubaix
me and a mate have registered for the 170 km route. getting a lift to the start and back from the finish from our support team (other halves)
then watching the pro race the next day
Any more up for it?
Click here for a taster of the smoother roads!
Fantastic event, and fantastically hard.
Beautiful weather Friday at sign on and today. Yesterday was a bit Belgian, cold, rain showers and head wind. And mud... lots of it.
More detail and photos next week when back.
Saw Jamie, Dave, Shelton, Travis and others at signon but not during the ride, they started early and were ahead of us so dont know how they got on.
Off to watch the pros do it now. Lovely day but will still be some mud around.
oh and the cobbles... more of that when i have recovered from the experience! Arenberg trench... horrific
Total respect for all that do this ride. Well done CCA riders.
On Friday we tackled some of the Flanders route as a leg loosener - Oude Kwaremont, Paterberg, Koppenberg - Only about 30k but well topped off with some isotonic belgian beers.
For the main event on Saturday 6 of us set out on the 140k route, only 1 minor mechanical (Travis rear mech) a slow puncture (Dave) and no injuries. Wet for the first 2 hours meant we all had a good taste of Belgian toothpaste (artisic license as we were actually in France) A rainstorm hit us as we entered Arenberg making the cobbles trecherous, but for the crossers this meant more fun. Once we got past the second feed station there was more tailwind to be had and some of the cobbles were glided across. Dave claiming that he was nearly as fast as Nikki Terpstra last year with one secteur taken at 23mph average. Faster is definitely better as is the centre section although after each secteur I had to slowly peel my dead fingers off the bars and shake the blood back into them....
Followed the pro's on Sunday seeing them at 3 locations; Secteur 27 Inchy, 18 Arenberg & 4 Carrefour De L'Abre. Think we could have squeezed one more in but we were already tearing around villages to get between secteurs. Good setup for the van on Sunday with live coverage in the back seats from Dave & Basti thanks to France 2 on the TV, navigation from Pete and me driving like Colin McCrae - next year we'll bring CB radios to get the convoy going proper!
I've posted shots from the weekend on Facebook if anyone wants to see the CCA Dads & Lads on tour!
Consesus is that we're going back to do the long one next time... Watch this space
JRVM
Fantastic weekend as has been already said. I loved the pave, there's nothing that can you can compare it too, not even the Flemish cobbled climbs we did the day before prepared you for them. Arenberg was a real baptism of fire, being our first section, just brutal. Some of the others although not 5 star were just as tough when tackled with 20 mph cross and tailwinds. Having said that I had a big grin at the end of each one, or maybe a grimace on one or two. You had to go really hard on the them, I tried going slower on one section just after stuffing 3 or 4 Belgian waffles down my neck at a feed station and it was awful. Interesting to see how riders tackled them differently, on the crown, on the verge, hoods, tops or drops. I found the drops the most comfortable and found it also gave me more control of the bike.
Watching the pro race was great too, chapeau to Jamie for getting us round to the three sectors in time, even if it did involve some fairly dubious parking.
Dave