Roubiax this weekend, see you there.

FransJacques

Doing the middle route as I don't fancy the early start of the full route where you have to start at 4am with full lights - no thanks - not on me weekend. This is what I do for fun.

Double taping the bars and lowering the saddle for it. I think I'll wear the ATAC pedals and MTB shoes in case I have to do a LOT of walking - something terminal happens to the bike.

Weather looks stunning.

Leaving work early Friday and staying near Lille Friday and Sat night.

airegin

I'm looking forward to this (in a strange kind of way). I've never done it before, but am preparing myself for being juddered around big style! Thankfully, "only" doing the 170k one!

I've also got extra padding in my handlebars and using spd's. I'm using my cyclo cross bike with touring tyres. Hope to get through without too many incidents - though I'm not so sure the weather will be as kind to us as it's been so far, from what I've seen

Heading for Roubaix tomorrow.

mattybeck

I''m doing this too. What's the weather forecast?

airegin

At the moment it's showing heavy showers on the bbc forecast. The local weather says risk of storms. Hopefully they won't last all day. :?

mattybeck

Sh(t!! Should be fun!!

FransJacques

Jeez, what a day - did the Bohain / 150km route. Rain, sun, rain, more sun. At least it was a pretty warm, muggy day otherwise it would've been miserable. As it was it was a real Roubaix day with mud and rain.....but at 24C. Not a bad option.

My drivetrain and brake pads are all write offs - new chain, little ring and cassette for sure. I think I'll give the steerer an inspection as well. At the dinner table my buddies were chiding me saying no one rides a carbon steerer but it went the distance.

Vote for worst sector was Mons en Pevele - really crappy cobbles and mud mud mud making it slippery.

Saw lots of red knees from crashes. I stayed up since a fall looked painful - opted for safety over speed. One pain was towards the end there were more and more cars from support people on the actual course. Passing cars was not nice.

ugo.santalucia

FransJacques wrote:

Jeez, what a day - did the Bohain / 150km route. Rain, sun, rain, more sun. At least it was a pretty warm, muggy day otherwise it would've been miserable. As it was it was a real Roubaix day with mud and rain.....but at 24C. Not a bad option.

My drivetrain and brake pads are all write offs - new chain, little ring and cassette for sure. I think I'll give the steerer an inspection as well. At the dinner table my buddies were chiding me saying no one rides a carbon steerer but it went the distance.

Vote for worst sector was Mons en Pevele - really crappy cobbles and mud mud mud making it slippery.

Saw lots of red knees from crashes. I stayed up since a fall looked painful - opted for safety over speed. One pain was towards the end there were more and more cars from support people on the actual course. Passing cars was not nice.

Considering the Arenberg forest was unrideable (I tried to hammer in it at 20 mph and sank in the mud after ten seconds or so), I agree with you Mons en Pevele' was the worst doable pave', even worse than the pave de Luchin (Carrefour de l'Arbre).

I rode it on a Genesis Croix de Fer with 28 mm road tyres and discs, so no brakes issues for me, but yes, my rings look five years older now....

Fantastic day, got to Arenberg just as the sun came out after the storm...

great to see those belgian guys flying on the stones, where I struggled at 10-15 mph... I still feel a bit of artritis in my hands, do you?

Topped up the weekend by doing 50 miles of the Flanders route on friday in the heat, from Oudenaarde to the Kapelmuur...

DaveyL

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Considering the Arenberg forest was unrideable (I tried to hammer in it at 20 mph and sank in the mud after ten seconds or so), I agree with you Mons en Pevele' was the worst doable pave', even worse than the pave de Luchin (Carrefour de l'Arbre).

Sank in the mud? What line did you take? Were you pave-dodging down the left?