Paris - Roubaix Sportive - No BR forum members..

colinsmith123

daft enough to do this, next Sunday?

After last year, I promised I would never do it again. I can only compare each secteur to like being in a boxing ring for an interminable time. The rides between secteurs being the bit between boxing rounds. It was fun for the first few hours but by secteur 9 I had fallen out with the cobbles and myself.

I'll be on the 15.04Hrs from St Pancras to Lille next Friday.

diplodicus

Yep I swore I wouldn't do it again on the Carrefour l'Arbe last year. Started changing my mind over a few beers in the velodrome!!

On the ferry Friday midday to Busigny to do it all again

dnwhite88

This will be my first go at the event, and cobbles :shock: luckily my frame fits 28mm tyres. Any advice you wish somebody had told you last year?

rozzer32

I'll be there. I've got 28mm tyres and double wrapped bars with foam tape under it. Probably won't make any difference.

djhermer

Yup, 28mm tyres, double bar tape. Won't make the blindest bit of difference. Weather isn't looking too bad...

colinsmith123

Lessons learnt from last year..

Going to ride my Specilaized Roubaix this year rather than my Cervelo. The clue is the name!

Double bar tape, but only needed from levers on the tops in my view. I'll be using the old tape over the top with bars wrapped all the way up to as close to the stem as I can.

Chain catcher.

Reduce your tyre pressure by at least 10PSI to what your normally pump them up to. Do a couple of rides at this pressure just to convince yourself everything will be ok.

Watch out for mad French farmers in big tractors using the pave at the same time as you. They will not stop for you.

Powertap hubs do not like pave.

However hard you think this will be if you have not done it before, it will be like nothing you have ever done before.

dnwhite88

How did everyone get on? I did the long route and can safely say that once is enough, but it has given me a greater appreciation for the pro race which I will be watching today from the velodrome

diplodicus

Bad day for us unfortunately. Did the long route and we were going well despite the wet cobbles when on the Arenberg we were involved in a pile up that left my mate with a broken leg.

Off to the velodrome now and then hospital later.

bigmat

Ouch! I did the medium route and hit Arenberg as first cobbled sector. Baptism of fire – too much, tyre pressures were too high and there was so much vibration I couldn’t see where I was going, also pedal cleat tension was too loose and foot kept bouncing out. Stopped half way to address those issues and somehow made it to the end but was pretty down thinking we were in for a long day of punishment and that I had underestimated quite how bad the pave was. Fortunately, the next couple of sectors were drying out and less tricky and with softer tyres I started to get the hang of it. From then on it was a ball, having stopped on Arenberg and ridden some of it down the gravel track at the side, I vowed to ride every inch of the cobbles for the rest of the day and pretty much did, bombing along the crown in the drops. Dry cobbles I think I have a talent for, wet cobbles are another matter. The rain returned for the final sector and I was skidding all over the place again. I stuck to the cobbles, just to prove to myself I could do it, but it would have been a painful and long day if it had been wet from start to finish.

Managed to get out to one of the middle cobbled sectors yesterday (number 14 – forget the name, but it was a couple (3?) after Arenberg and where Etixx started drilling it on the front). Gave a big shout out to Blythe, Wiggo, G and various others before running back to the car and bombing it back to Roubaix. Made it to the velodrome with 10 minutes to spare and saw the finale on the big screen and the riders come in for the finish. Shame Wiggo or G couldn’t get a result but Luke Rowe could be the man to do it for Sky – like G but with a half decent sprint. Tempted to go back next year, or perhaps for the full length sportive in June 2016. Would sack it off if rain forecast though - I know my limits!

ugo.santalucia

BigMat wrote:

Ouch! I did the medium route and hit Arenberg as first cobbled sector. Baptism of fire – too much, tyre pressures were too high and there was so much vibration I couldn’t see where I was going, also pedal cleat tension was too loose and foot kept bouncing out. Stopped half way to address those issues and somehow made it to the end but was pretty down thinking we were in for a long day of punishment and that I had underestimated quite how bad the pave was.

They are a bit of a reality check, aren't they?

The full distance is a lot more brutal, as the first secteurs and up to Wallers are up and down rather than flat, which make them terrifying when wet. Last year I did it using a gravel tyre, Vittoria XN 32, which made it much much better in terms of traction and stability on the slimy stones, but the pain is still there.

bigmat

I think if rain was forecast I'd maybe take the mountain bike! The ride was basically a fairly relaxed amble punctuated by intense bursts across the cobbles, I wasn't too fussed about overall time. Seriously considering the full distance sportive next summer.

djhermer

diplodicus wrote:

Bad day for us unfortunately. Did the long route and we were going well despite the wet cobbles when on the Arenberg we were involved in a pile up that left my mate with a broken leg.

Off to the velodrome now and then hospital later.

Oooof. I think i saw your mate. The ambulance, stretcher, bloke with oxygen mask Sorry to hear that.

We did the full route. Absolutely brutal but seriously loved it. The weather was against us, particularly in the last third - headwind and rain. The cobbles became pretal lethal. I'd had enough after Carrefour de l'Arbre but the run into Roubaix and the Velodrome under the sun wrapped up the day nicely.

I had an even greater respect for the Pro's yesterday and got a good spot at the end of Arenburg.

Will definitely do it again.

diplodicus

Yep that was him all right. I was the one stood there trying to stop everyone riding over him.

I was stood there for quite a while and the number of spills I saw on that slight downhill bit was very high. We rode the full route last year and it was dry. We were actually making better progress than last year despite the wet cobbles.

Still think it's a great event though :shock:

nickmac

We did the medium route and no amount of reading up and preparation can prepare you for the Arenberg! Was convinced I was coming off at some point for the first couple of minutes but managed to concentrate and stay on the crown and speed up. Rain and wind hit just before Carrefour which was carnage. Managed to part company with my bike and vault a drainage ditch!

All in all a great experience which I swore I would never do again, already thinking about next year!

cycleclinic

I did it and loved it, really i did. I did not have double wrapped bar tape just bog standard cinelli cork neither did i wear two pairs of shorts. I did have 30mm challange strada bianchi 30mm tyres on 25mm wide rims with latex tubes and 55 psi front and 60 rear. Not one flat and i am sure these tyres helped me alot. I did the long route from busingy and it was windy from the north and quite wet until past arenberg and there was one downhill section of pave de quievy a saint python that was wet slippy fast as so rough i was quite worried as using the brakes was hard. Disc brakes certainly helped in the wet.
arenberg was the most diffult though as there was no good line and my charge into it turned out to be nearly a mistake when i hit mud and started sliding. Carrefour was only hard because it was at the end i was flaging and there a stiff wind in my face killing of the pace i tried to keep. It took me 6hrs with feed stops (i was so hungry at the 50 mile mark) and i want to do it again. I think crashing though is all to easy, the cobbles do require commitment. Fortunatley i avoided crashing.
A tall gear and constant as i could keep it cadance helped too.

I have serious respect for the pro with the pace they kept yesterday but not alot of respect for running the level crossing.



Simply the most brutal and the most splendid ride i have done. The one in june next year might be an option combined with a family holiday.

ugo.santalucia

thecycleclinic wrote:

The one in june next year

If I find another Paris-Roubaix in my legs, I will see you there.
The logistics of that one are the most tedious part of the trip

cycleclinic

Getting back to the hotel near the start will be the hard part but if it is part of a family holiday then there might be a car waiting for me at the finish.

devhads

I did the medium route. Hitting the Arenberg as your first sector in the rain was an eye opener. We'd ridden Oude Kwaremont, Koppenberg and Paterberg on the Friday but they in no way prepare you for the brutality of the pave. Once I realised that going as hard as you can on the the crown was the way forward it all got a bit easier, helped by drying cobbles after Arenberg. I managed to do the every metre on the actual cobbles, although I was sorely tempted by the tarmac strip by the last secteur at Hem. Mons en Pevele was the hardest for me, the final bit uphill in to a headwind was a killer.

I had a slow puncture in the front for the last 5 or 6 secteurs, I couldn't be bothered changing the tube so was probably at about 40 -50 psi on some secteurs, rim hitting the cobbles all the time but loads of grip. The Challenge Strada Bianche open tyres were brilliant, can't fault them at all. My back wheel didn't hold up too well, realised the day after that I had a spoke missing, not sure when it happened but the wheel was seriously out of true, actually moving the brake calipers from side to side.

We had an experienced P-R spectator driving so we managed to watch the race at the 1st secteur at Inchy, Arenberg and Carrefour, staying to watch the end on the big screen.

thecycleclinic - Knowing where you are based from buying wheels from you are you a West Suffolk Wheeler? I think I saw you, unless there was another WSW riding. You came past us on the busy road section just before Orchies, we were a mix of CC Ashwell, Stevenage CC and Hitchin Nomads.

I did say after that I wouldn't do it again but on reflection probably will.

cycleclinic

There was one other WSW wheeler apart from me but he was a bit slower than me. I was passing alot of people all day so it was probably me rather than Jon, huffing and puffing as I went. That day hurt in tonight's chain gang I still felt it all in my legs.

I was using the same tyres and yes they are brilliant. why people where riding 25mm gatroskin harshells or schwable marthon plus tyres at high pressure I don't know, making life hard for themselves I think. If that wheel is one of mine get it back to me and I'll fix it no charge.

devhads

No not one of yours, those ones are far too nice to put through that sort of abuse. They're Fulcrum 5 CX, I thought they'd stand up a bit better than they did but I'm 80kg and was hammering it and very often having to overtake people to the side where the biggest holes were.

A few 28mm Gatorskins in our group, no punctures but also reports of absolutely no grip especially in the wet cobbles on Arenberg.

cycleclinic

Gatorskins are not the tyre you want for pave. Vittoria Open pave tyres or challange strada tyres is what is needed. Something grippy and one that has better ridecomfort is needed. Although half the grip problems come from folk running 90 psi. with latex tubes you can dropmthe pressure a bit.

durhamwasp

2 of us used 28mm Gatorskins for P-R last summer, and found them fine.

gaffer_slow

How did you get from Lille to Roubaix. AFAIK it is 20 mins by car.

What are the options .... next year :evil:

colinsmith123

Despite all the apparent chaos around the velodrome we parked up less than 400m form the start at around 8.30am

I rode back from Roubaix to Lille straight after the finish. I just used maps on my phone. Took about 40 minutes, but I was pretty pooped after 140km.

+1 for Vittoria Pave tyres 25mm or 28mm