Paris Roubaix Cyclo Sportive, April 2015
On an impulse, The White Hart Vueltas decided to enter this the Paris Roubaix Sportive and elected to the 141K distance which starts and finishes in Roubaix making logistics a bit easier. You can do the whole 170K route that the Pros do but it involves bus rides and faffing about a bit and the 141K takes in most of the pave and all the famous segments.
There are books written about this Sportive and there’s loads of YouTube footage of some of the pave segments so you can get the low down there if you want lots of detail.
What’s it like?
It’s really bloody tough. It was raining first thing and our first pave segment, through the Trouee D’Arenberg was pretty scary stuff – I was worried about slipping and crashing. After that, the pave dried out and didn’t feel dangerous – it’s just knackering and very tough on the upper body because you tend to tense up a bit and end up gripping the handlebars. It’s like holding on to a pneumatic drill for hours on end. The sportive itself is very well organized – loads of feed stops and mechanical help along the route.
It took me a few days to recover – my whole body felt a little beaten up.
Roubaix isn’t pretty – it’s a hard industrial town but the surrounding villages are nice, if I did it again I would stay out of the town itself rather than in the cheap hotel we booked which was basic in the extreme.
I’m not sure I will do this one again but I might. I would like to get better at riding the pave, I feel like we didn’t do it real justice first time round, largely because none of us had ever ridden over anything like it. I think you have to train specifically for it – 5/10/15 minute bursts of power and loosen right up on the cobbles.
Having said that, I’m really glad we did it – we all finished in one piece and it’s an iconic unique ride.
megustaria 