I am currently working in Lille and thought it might be fun to have a hack around some of the Paris Roubaix route, which has cobbled sections just south east of the city.
Rather than drive out to the cobbles I elected to cycle from my base in Perenchies, on the NW side of Lille, all the way round to Auchy. This, in retrospect, was probably a mistake as by the time I had got lost, got on the right road etc, battled for 1 1/2 hours into a headwind on a MTB in the rain, I was running out of gas and was getting cold.
However in the spirit of Slowtwitch I struggled on and, thanks to some local knowledge, found my way onto the cobbles with the plan of riding back up from Auchy (section 11) to the chip shop i had seen earlier in Pont a Marq.
As you can imagine, the pave sections are extremely rough, big gaps between the stones, a very nasty camber and are difficult to ride on. Those are the good sections - for example, the start of #11.
The *bad *bits have massive cobbled craters in them which if you’re not paying attention will flip you. God only knows what it’s like to ride in a pace line on them. Bear in mind I was on a steel, non-suspended MTB with big cushy tyres. The pros are on 28mm tyres - some are on 25s, I believe - so I cannot understand how they stay on.
After a couple of hundred metres tightly gripping the bars my arms started to give out. It was then that I realised the best way of riding the cobbles, at least at the speed I was going, was to relax my grip to such an extent I was practically riding no-handed, with the bars going up and down like some kind of jackhammer turned up to 11. After a couple more hundred metres I was questioning the sanity of the pros who ride this every year. Another few minutes an I was questioning my own sanity.
Then it started to rain.
And I got lost.
So, I’m cold (and getting colder), my arms and hands are shattered, it’s raining (heavier now), the pave is a slippery lethal mess of mud, stone and craters trying to kill me, I’m hungry, no sign of the sun obviously so no way of getting my bearings… so obviously I went to the nearest village (ominously named Le Pave) and asked an old bloke where the nearest P-R section was. He started laughing and pointing at the sky, and said ‘head for those pylons - there’s 3km of the stuff down there, you’ll have a great time’.
I’ve checked the map above and I’m not sure this section was used that year, as it was in seriously bad condition. Tram tracks appeared across the cobbles. At this point I was just laughing at my stupidity. I turned back up to the main road as it was just too dangerous, and chips and beer were waiting for me 10k up the road.
And that, as they say, was that. The chips, Merguez and beer were all delicious. The ride back into Lille was uneventful with a more favourable wind, and I even warmed up a little.
I thoroughly recommend it!
Now, for some reason Photobucket isn’t letting me upload photos at my current address. But I have made a Facebook album public if you’re interested in seeing the photos. I will have another go later at work and see if Photobucket lets me upload there.
Cheers all
Simon
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