Tall Timbers: The Hell of the North

Friday had adventure written all over it. Our plan was to ride the last 100km of Paris Roubaix, which includes 18 cobblestone sections. We took the train to Valenciennes, France and rode to our first sector of the day...the Arenberg Forest. This might be the most demonic portion of any bike race on the planet. You basically roll into a small cobbled road that cuts straight through 2.4 km of the Arenberg Forest. The cobbles are nothing like the Tour of Flanders. It's basically as if the Grim Reaper rolled through on a tractor and dropped a bunch of rocks on the ground and then road over them a few times to smooth them out.

We survived and proceeded on. The next 95km was pretty repetitive. We'd ride for 5-10km or so on the road, and then turn off on some cobbles through a farm. The sectors ranged from 3.7km to 300m. I got blisters on my hand after the second section and quickly figured out how to hold the handlebars the right way. These sections shake the sh!t out of you (almost literally). After a couple sectors we realized it's a lot easier if you just gun it through the section. Big gears work well. We ended up going relatively easy between sections and then hammering through the cobbles, cause it was that much more fun. If you could handle the middle, most of the times it was the fastest. In some of the sections with a tailwind we actually got up to about 43km/hr, a total rush!!!! The sides of the cobbles often had ditches or grass that just felt slow. It was also a huge advantage to be in front. It was pretty tough to ride someone's wheel because you had no idea what was coming up. We can totally understand why the pro's sprint to the front and can't imagine what it's like in a pack with some bad weather. Visibility and momentum is key. We survived and made it to the velodrome.

We have a completely new appreciation for this race and why it's known as the Hell of the North. All in all there is 28 sections of cobbles (~53km) and we rode about 2/3 of them. There is also 160km of racing before we even hopped on the route. Again we got lost on the way home, but eventually made it back just before it got dark. It was another 125km day. This was probably one of the greatest rides either of us have ever done!!!!! Our bodies took a beating from this one and Saturday was pretty low key. We are probably headed to the velodrome on Sunday to watch the big guns.

Woody's Pick: Tom Boonen
Pagoda's Pick: George Hincapie

We got some good footage of Woody flying around the velodrome and myself in the Arenberg Forest. All you get for now are some pics...