Which Paris - Roubaix event ?

colint

I'm planning on doing the PR sportive next year, but there seem to be 2, one in April called the Paris Roubaix challenge http://www.parisroubaixchallenge.com/us/homepage.html
and one in June http://www.vc-roubaix-cyclo.fr/site/

Does anyone have any expereince of either / recommend one or the other ?

ugo.santalucia

The one in June... it's a no brainer... it's cheaper, it's on the official course, it ends at Roubaix velodrome, the food stations are many and well stocked, the organisation is impeccable and you get to keep the race number which is very very cool... most of the entrants can actually ride the pave'...

From what I have heard the ASO one is a bit of a disaster... the course is not the official, it does not end at Roubaix velodrome, it costs a fortune... the only plus is that you can watch the PRO the day after

colint

Cheers Ugo, ties in with what somebody else has just told me, plus apparently you get the all important pice of souvenier pave in June as well !

ugo.santalucia

colint wrote:

Cheers Ugo, ties in with what somebody else has just told me, plus apparently you get the all important pice of souvenier pave in June as well !

yeah, you pay that as an extra, but it's not worth it IMO... it's not the real prize for the winner, much smaller instead.
The race number and the water bottle are very good souvenirs and they're included in the modest entry fee (around 20 euro, I seem to recall)

colint

What bike would you recommend Ugo ? Toying with doing it on my carbon cross bike

ugo.santalucia

Cross bike is ideal, but put some wide road tyres (27-28 mm) after all most of it is tarmac, so it's not worth using off road tyres. 90 PSI pressure and keep your hands light on the bars or you'll get acute artritis after a few sectors

thebongolian

I'll make the case for the ASO version as I think "disaster" is more than a bit strong.

It too was very well run with excellent signage, logistics, feed stations etc. It's not cheap (€60) but it is competitive with things like the etape which its trying to compliment / compete with.

Other pluses are the large number of riders (most of whom seemed quite capable of riding the pavé) meaningplenty of groups to ride in and that you kinda take over the roads. And the festival atmosphere you get to be part of with the official race the next day.

There isn't an official P-R race route as it changes each year but the challenge did miss out the Arenberg and th velodrome last year and the 90km before the pavé starts. To methat's te biggest gap though they intend to rectify the first and second of these next year, so what you're missing is a lot of tarmac at the start.

That said it wasn't a big issue for me. I liked the way it was a condensed, distilled version of P-R that was manageable - you could push yourself not just tryto survive. I they manage the Arenberg, velodrome and closed roads next year it'll be fantastic.

I hope this is a useful perspective. I cn't comment on the audax as I haven't done but Idid thoroughly enjoy the challenge and might even do it again...

ugo.santalucia

thebongolian wrote:

I'll make the case for the ASO version as I think "disaster" is more than a bit strong.

It too was very well run with excellent signage, logistics, feed stations etc. It's not cheap (€60) but it is competitive with things like the etape which its trying to compliment / compete with.

Other pluses are the large number of riders (most of whom seemed quite capable of riding the pavé) meaningplenty of groups to ride in and that you kinda take over the roads. And the festival atmosphere you get to be part of with the official race the next day.

There isn't an official P-R race route as it changes each year but the challenge did miss out the Arenberg and th velodrome last year and the 90km before the pavé starts. To methat's te biggest gap though they intend to rectify the first and second of these next year, so what you're missing is a lot of tarmac at the start.

That said it wasn't a big issue for me. I liked the way it was a condensed, distilled version of P-R that was manageable - you could push yourself not just tryto survive. I they manage the Arenberg, velodrome and closed roads next year it'll be fantastic.

I hope this is a useful perspective. I cn't comment on the audax as I haven't done but Idid thoroughly enjoy the challenge and might even do it again...

It's not just Arenberg and the Velodrome... I seem to recall that there are around 15 sectors of pave' as opposed to the official 26... so effectively it's missing nearly half of it...
The Paris-Roubaix route is the same every year, unlike many other classics... it's changed a few times in the last century, but year on year it's always the same and there is an official course which is the one covered by the Audax from Compiegne to Roubaix Velodrome... if it starts from San Quentin and does not finish at the Velodrome, it can only claim PR credentials becuase of the organiser, otherwise it would be called Pave-challenge or similar...

dulldave

thebongolian wrote:

I liked the way it was a condensed, distilled version of P-R that was manageable - you could push yourself not just tryto survive.

So what you're saying is if you want to go on a sportive that is a lot easier and shorter than the P-R route but takes place the day before the race then that's the one to choose. But if you want to set yourself the challenge of doing the route then do the other one.

Personally, if I'm going to travel to France to do a sportive then I'd like to do it on good roads, with my good bike and my good wheels. I ride crappy roads every day so amn't that interested in travelling in order to do so. Each to their own though.

thebongolian

dulldave wrote:

So what you're saying is if you want to go on a sportive that is a lot easier and shorter than the P-R route but takes place the day before the race then that's the one to choose. But if you want to set yourself the challenge of doing the route then do the other one.

Easier yes but not easy. The full P-R is monstrous, the challenge is still tough - 130km and 20km of pave. Open windswept terrain too. And stron riders to keep up with. Plus its early season when the average sportiver is probably just getting miles in the legs

akastana

I did the ASO one this year and as the clock ticked down to it they shortened the course, removed the velodrome finish and opened the roads. I nearly binned it as they were offering refunds.
In the end I went and persuaded a few other friends to come too since entry was reopened.
We had an awesome weekend, I'm glad it wasn't the full route because with the stinking headwind for the first 50k on roads with no shelter I was burst before I hit the Pave.
The feed zones were good (and needed!) I never had to stop on pave because of crowds (something I thought might happen) Weather was great. Rapha T-shirt was a nice bonus in the goody bag.
Only big shame was that the coach we booked to transfer back was supposed to stop at velodrome but didn't so never got to see it.
Would love to do the full one at some point and as its in June it would be easier to train for especially if we have a winter like the last two!
We rode the Arenberg and a few other sectors the day before, Arenberg is for sure the worst to ride but we were pretty much laughing hysterically at how ridiculous riding road bikes on it it!
Watching the pro race the next day was fantastic too and if you are fast you can watch it in 2-3 places!

Advice for potential riders, K-Edges work, Vittoria Pave & Specialized Roubaix tyres are great. Latex tubes seem to work (tubs are best but if you puncture its not going to be fun!) I only had one layer of easton bartape and was comfortable. Ride on the flat of your bars, everywhere else just hurts! A speed of 25kph or higher is best, any lower and you get thrown all over the place!

ugo.santalucia

thebongolian wrote:

dulldave wrote:

So what you're saying is if you want to go on a sportive that is a lot easier and shorter than the P-R route but takes place the day before the race then that's the one to choose. But if you want to set yourself the challenge of doing the route then do the other one.

Easier yes but not easy. The full P-R is monstrous, the challenge is still tough - 130km and 20km of pave. Open windswept terrain too. And stron riders to keep up with. Plus its early season when the average sportiver is probably just getting miles in the legs

20 Km of pave'? That is a much more watered down version than I thought, the real one has about 50 Km of pave'... the roads must be completely different to cut out so much pave'...
They should call it PR taster, rather than PR Challenge.
That said, if it was cheap, I'd probably do it, to be there for the main event, but at that price, I might as well go down and do my own thing the day before...

thebongolian

Ugo, you seem to have a real downer on the challenge. If your problem is that it's misleading using the P-R name when its not the full route the pros ride, fine, but it's fairly obvious that's the case. That doesn't mean it's a worthless event though. Clearly some people enjoyed (me, Akastana). You might not but you don't seem to have ridden it either.

I guess what I'm saying is please don't present your value judgements as facts.