Paris-Roubaix Sportive
bennyhana22
Posts: 72
Very rarely any chat on BR about this nasty one!
Anyone on here heading to the pave this year?
It's less than 6 weeks away now. Anyone as apprehensive as me? It'll be my first ride on pave and I just have no concept for the sensation, agony and unpleasantness that I will experience! I will ensure that those controllable coping elements are covered - kit, bike, training etc. But what about the 'unknown' of a unique riding terrain.
Share your anxieties...!
Ben
Anyone on here heading to the pave this year?
It's less than 6 weeks away now. Anyone as apprehensive as me? It'll be my first ride on pave and I just have no concept for the sensation, agony and unpleasantness that I will experience! I will ensure that those controllable coping elements are covered - kit, bike, training etc. But what about the 'unknown' of a unique riding terrain.
Share your anxieties...!
Ben
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Comments
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49 views and no replies...
so far, should I take that as a 'No'?!
What's the matter with you lily-livered-lot? You can climb, Oh Yes! But are you afraid of a few cobblestones?!!!
Ben0 -
would love to do this one but just don't think I have the legs for it and was thinking to do it on a hybrid rather than wreck my pride and joy so money wise will leave this one till 2012 I think0
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I will do the 180 Km option.
I've done my fair share of Pave in Belgium (the RVV ones) and some in Italy, but I've never tackled the dreaded Arenberg Forest. Curious to see if it's as bad as they say.
I will ride a cross bike with 28 mm road tyres. In my experience 90 psi is the tyre pressure to go for cobbles, any less and you get pinch type punctures, any more and you bounce like hell.
I've done a bit of off road and farm tracks with this configuration recently and it seems OK.
In essence all you can do is fit larger tyres and do a ibt of training on cobbles. The long sections hurt!left the forum March 20230 -
Thanks ugo.s
I'm going on 24mm Pave tyres and hoping I can bear it with minimal punctures. I know that some are inevitable, but if I get like 5 or 6 etc I'll be really fed up. Interesting to read your thought on tyre psi as previous threads have led to less helpful responses. 90 sounds about right and I usually ride at 100, so that should be OK. I am prepared to put up with the pain, the anxiety is having no concept of the type of pain...maybe that's a GOOD thing...
Ben0 -
bennyhana22 wrote:Thanks ugo.s
I'm going on 24mm Pave tyres and hoping I can bear it with minimal punctures. I know that some are inevitable, but if I get like 5 or 6 etc I'll be really fed up. Interesting to read your thought on tyre psi as previous threads have led to less helpful responses. 90 sounds about right and I usually ride at 100, so that should be OK. I am prepared to put up with the pain, the anxiety is having no concept of the type of pain...maybe that's a GOOD thing...
Ben
I've never done 30 miles of bad pave' in one day, so I don't know either. In the RVV you've got much less and the quality is slightly better than the paris-roubaix one. The kind of pain? It is exhausting, in places it becomes difficult to breathe, to keep your eyes focussed and to keep the necessary concentration. Shoulders, arms, back, neck, hands, they're the most affected. You have to force yourself to keep a decent pace, if you fall lower than 14-15 mph it gets even worse. If it's wet, you have to choose whether to stay straight in the middle or all at the side and stick to it. Don't even think to change trajectory or you'll find out how hard the stones are.left the forum March 20230 -
I was looking for information on this Sportive (for next year) - could someone post a lnk?"I thought of it while riding my bicycle."0
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It's only held every 2 years, cakewalk, so next time is 2012.
http://www.vc-roubaix-cyclo.fr/site/
http://www.sportingtours.co.uk/
The second link is a tour company that does trips and gives an idea of the event
Ben0 -
I'm an over weight middle aged touring cyclist and did it last time. So if I can do it any regular cyclist can. Yes the pave is brutal. It is probably mentally more taxing than physically though your fillings take a rattle. If you are doing the long one the first 50k or so is on road so you get plenty of time to warm up. The shorter ones kick you straight onto the Pave take the warm up. I did it on a Tifosi CK7 with 25mm gatorskins. One pinch flat because I wasn't paying attention and rode through a f### off pot hole. Take it in small chunks (small achievable goals) mine started off as "next control" and by the end were" the end of this section" The rush you get as you come through town and up to the velodrome is worth every mile, Riding through the gate I thought of all the greats that had ridden here before and somehow found enough adrenaline to drop my wheel hugger on the track
Neil
Help I'm Being Oppressed0 -
bennyhana22 wrote:It's only held every 2 years, cakewalk, so next time is 2012.
http://www.vc-roubaix-cyclo.fr/site/
http://www.sportingtours.co.uk/
The second link is a tour company that does trips and gives an idea of the event
Ben
Cheers for that."I thought of it while riding my bicycle."0 -
bennyhana22 wrote:Very rarely any chat on BR about this nasty one!
Anyone on here heading to the pave this year?
It's less than 6 weeks away now. Anyone as apprehensive as me? It'll be my first ride on pave and I just have no concept for the sensation, agony and unpleasantness that I will experience! I will ensure that those controllable coping elements are covered - kit, bike, training etc. But what about the 'unknown' of a unique riding terrain.
Share your anxieties...!
Ben
It is hard to get a place (I'm thinking 2012 - not this year)?"I thought of it while riding my bicycle."0 -
It is hard to get a place (I'm thinking 2012 - not this year)?
Our application got lost in the post and we ended up registering on the morning of the ride with no problem.
We self supported, luckily I have a petrolhead mate who was willing to be support crew. We stayed in cheap motels and IMHO had a better time than some mates who went on an organised tour.Neil
Help I'm Being Oppressed0 -
Wooliferkins wrote:
It is hard to get a place (I'm thinking 2012 - not this year)?
Our application got lost in the post and we ended up registering on the morning of the ride with no problem.
We self supported, luckily I have a petrolhead mate who was willing to be support crew. We stayed in cheap motels and IMHO had a better time than some mates who went on an organised tour.
Did the Marmotte off our own back - again worked really well. See alot of moaning about some of those tours!"I thought of it while riding my bicycle."0 -
I'm going with a tour, simply because I'm doing it 'on my own' and the logistics of all the organisation is too tricky for me (we only hane one car in the family etc). I've heard lots of stories of tour trips for cycling events, not all good. Saying that, though, I've done 2 Etapes with Sports Tours Int and never had any problems. Sure, they're a bunch of bikies just like us, often getting a cheap option on doing the event themselves, but not having the hassle of all the organisation can be useful if you don't have the resources to do it yourself.
Ben0 -
Just noticed on the VC Roubaix site http://www.vc-roubaix-cyclo.fr/site/ that there appears to be a problem with the coaches:
"Today, there are no seats on coaches to WALLERS and BOHAIN and CAMBRONNE."
Not sure what that means for those of us doing it DIY and relying on getting to start by coach.0 -
I took that to mean that, allowing for slightly dodgy translation, the places on those coaches were now fully booked...
ben0
