Again with the cycling. Sunday I went to see Paris-Roubaix, a race first held in 1896. Roubaix (pronounced roo-bay) is between Lille and the Belgian border. This race's schtick is cobblestones. There are 27 or 28 (depending on the year) sections of cobbles that together make up roughly a fifth of the course. And they haven't done anything to fix these spots up either. The section you see here is in exceptionally good condition, but it breaks down at the far end. All the cobbled bits have huge ruts and dips and holes, producing many spectacular crashes and lots of flat tires and busted wheels. Think of NASCAR run on gravel roads. Adding to the excitement is that most of these sections are so narrow that the team car can't get to you if you have trouble. If you're important, like the team leader, one of your unimportant grunt teammates (les domestiques in French) will take his wheel off and mount it on your bike for you. We actually saw two guys doing this on the TV coverage. The teams also send guys on foot with spare wheels down the narrow sections, and fans stand around holding wheels, just in case their hero breaks down in front of them.
So anyways, a couple thousand of my closest friends and I went to one of the more famous sections of cobbles: the Trouée d'Arenberg. The third stage of this year's Tour de France will finish here. The cobbles are rated from one to five stars for degree of awfulness. Arenberg is one of three five-star sections. If you're interested in seeing the scenery, the crowd, and a couple of bad action shots, check out my photos.
Incidentally, Belgium totally rocks this race with 53 wins out of 109.
2 comments:
Great Slide show! I wonder - would it make too much sense to use moutain bikes on this course?
keep in mind that only one-fifth of the course is cobbles. the other four-fifths is pavement, where the fat tires on a mountain bike produce huge friction and slow speeds. the riders do use heavier bikes and wider tires for this course, about 27 mm, which for a road rider feels like a mountain bike. they usually run on 19 mm or 21 mm, i think.
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