Paris-Roubaix: The Ride

You will (er.. may) recall me riding a good portion of the route of Paris-Roubaix last year. (You can recap that here: http://landsend866.blogspot.com/2010/04/paris-roubaix.html if you like). Well, this year the organisers of the actual Paris-Roubaix race took a leaf out of the book of the organisers of the Ronde van Vlaanderen, and ran an official ride/event on the day preceding the race itself.

Originally, The Paris-Roubaix Challenge was to be a timed sportive on closed roads, cover just over 160kms of the official race course, take in nearly all of the cobblestoned sections and finish in the famous velodrome. I say "originally" because about two weeks before this ride, the organisers announced that they had failed in their negotiations with the local gendarmerie (police) to obtain road closures. To add insult to injury, the event was not going to be able to be finished in the famous velodrome, but as far away as Section 4 of the cobblestone sections. (The sections count down from highest to lowest, with the last section before the finish being "Section 1".)

Not great news, but the whole trip was booked, and now that this one event was now reduced to a social ride (more or less), it was a case of "what the hell, it was cool to ride last year, so really shouldn't be any different this year". Or so I thought...

We received our race packs on the Friday night with our race numbers and other information and goodies. We attached our numbers to our bikes while readying them for the following day's ride. Included in the information were maps of the route we were to take, and here was yet another major disappointment - there was to be no riding through the most famous cobblestoned section, the "Trench" through the Forrest of Arenberg. Nor were we going to be following the race route in its entirety from San Quentin to Carrefour de l'Arbre...

Despite this, our intrepid group were all up, breakfasted and on the bus by 6am for the trip to San Quentin. Arriving at around 7am, we sorted ourselves and bikes out, then joined what remained of the original 4000 riders in the start corrals. We set off at about 7.30am to clear skies, a chilly breeze and the sun rising - hoping it would warm us up. We had time to warm up, as we had to cover about 60kms of rolling French countryside before reaching the first of the 18 Sections that we were to ride...

It was interesting to see the speed that so many started out at. I hung out in a group to gain some shelter from the day's constant headwind. It was quite an effort as the bunch was travelling at around 40kmh. I backed off and let them go - there was plenty of effort needed later on, so why push it now? A relaxed 32kmh would do just fine - I'd ridden what's ahead before and knew what to expect.

During this time, I enjoyed the ride, the villages, the few villagers who clapped or encouraged us from the sides of the roads, and the sunshine in the countryside - and one joker telling everyone that I was Robbie McEwen (yep, I had the Aussie jersey on again). I also sat at the back of some passing bunches for a bit of shelter as they came past, and in this time I noticed a good number of our group go by.

It wasn't too long before that first 60kms where over and the first section of cobblestones arrived. As per usual, I switched up a couple of gears put in the effort needed to ride them. The entire group that had only recently passed me had all slowed down with many heading for the edges of the road. Fine by me, the best place to be is in the middle on the crest. I was actually quite surprised at how many were struggling, and this was the first section of 18!! And it wasn't particularly difficult either.

Sure, it was harder than any of the cobblestones in Belgium and the Ronde, but by Paris-Roubaix standards, it was an easy section, and the fifth shortest (1.7km).

The same occurred at most sections I came to - so many slowed up, which just makes it harder. Heading for the edges means riding in a lot of the roadside debris - it's not much easier as the edges are cobbled too, but a higher risk of puncturing. For me, the clearer that crest near the road's middle, the better.

We rejoined the official race route at about section 15, when we went under one of the official race banners. It's funny how much better the ride suddenly became. I guess, because for most of the morning I was pretty negative. Grumbling in my head about "If I'd wanted to do a scenic ride in France, I could do this anytime..." and "I came here to ride the race course, not tour some hills..." type thoughts. Riding on the actual course, I couldn't help but re-jog memories from the last trip.

One of the really good parts about riding the course itself, is the spectators. Many travel to the course in their motorhomes, whether from Belgium, France, or other parts of Europe or the world. They are usually parked there early and make a weekend of it. If I told you that I passed a guy in a bee suit waving us on while his van blared Boney-M I'm sure you'd think I'm nuts, but I did. Others were roadside on their deckchairs clapping, cheering or just drinking beer and watching. A lot with the Lion of Flanders flags flying. There was one trio of folk with large French and Française des Jeux (FDJ) flags on their motorhomes. I waved my FDJ bottle** to them and called out "F. des Jeux!". I got a huge cheer and some comment about Paris, but my French is rubbish, so I have no idea what was actually called out.

While fun, this turned out to be a mistake. I was on the cobbles at the time, and while riding with one hand of the bars was tricky, I hadn't counted on how tricky puting my bottle back would be! Further up the road and back on the tarmac, I went to take a drink from my bottle that was no longer there - oops!!

At around the 110km mark, I came across the second "feed station". This one was mandatory for our group to stop at, as our guides were there to tick names off and keep track of our group members. At that point, only a few others had come through, which meant that I had overtaken plenty of our group. Easily done on the cobbles, as you are quite busy watching ahead to pick the best line to take, and I wasn't paying much attention as to who the other riders were.

Now, you may recall from the last time I did the Roubaix course, Phil and I stopped off by some Belgians that gave us some food and topped up our bottles. Well, they were there again, and this time with waffles!! Filled with a berries and jam - it hit the spot like you wouldn't believe! I was so over energy bars at that point (around 120+kms). Their little table was quite a popular spot too!

Back to the ride... I was feeling better after the waffle, but the constant headwind and just general fatigue were wearing me down. Considering that this was the last 30kms of a week that had seen me ride over 425kms this isn't surprising. The final section, Carrefour de l'Arbre, is one of the toughest. I personally rate it as harder than the Forrest of Arenberg. It's over 2km long and the cobbles are a mess. There are times when you struggle to find anything resembling a crest in the road to follow. Still, I didn't come all this way to hide on the edges and not ride it. It was one last effort and then I could rest for as long as I wanted. Or so I thought...

Crossing the finish line and reaching the famous restaurant, de l'Arbre, was great. I was done. Tired, battered, dusty, thirsty and a mix of relief and joy. Time to find the bus and rest. Only I discovered that our bus wasn't there. It was 4km further down the road in the nearby Finish Village! Oh well, at least it's all on tarmac...

Last year it was Me 1, Roubaix nil. This year, I'd say it was pretty much a draw, although it took me over an hour less to do the course with 30 more kilometres. Still a fantastic experience.

And to answer a common question: "Which is harder, the Ronde or Roubaix?"

Both are cobbled, one has steep hills, the other is flat - but don't let that fool you. The cobblestones of Roubaix are much tougher. The sections are far longer, with anything up to 3kms in length, while the neater cobbles of the Ronde are lucky if they last for 1km. The other difference is that while the Ronde has short steep hills, you get to recover on the downside. Roubaix is flat, so you're always working - there's no respite, you just have to keep going. Therefore, my answer is "Roubaix", and strangely it's the one I prefer to do, and given the chance, would do again...