Paris-Roubaix...

[catulle]

I was just going through the few cable channels available here in the rain forest when I ran into a re-run of the last Paris-Roubaix race. I hadn't seen it before because it wasn't broadcasted here when it took place. So running into it was a pleasant surprise.

Anyway, although I have seen film footage of past Paris-Roubaix races, for some reason the cobblestone sections of the race really impressed me this time around. I mean, racing on those cobblestones is almost an anachronism. The pavement is so rough and the pace of the race is so fast that it is hard to believe that people would still spend over six hours brutally hammering their bodies on top of regular road bikes in such fashion. It is truly amazing.

I guess the thought that a committee would some day decide to abolish the race stressed to my mind the drama of the race. The Paris-Roubaix race is older than the TdF. There is something very old about this race that has carried to this day of highways and turnpikes. It seems as if the SUV replaced the wood wheeled cart so long ago that we can't remember when it happened; yet there you see a bunch of guys racing on top of bicycles and clad in Lycra bouncing and trembling on the Paris-Roubaix road.

Maybe I'm just old and I'm beginning to realize that there are things that others do on a bicycle that I wouldn't want to do. Because I don't think I'd want to ride the Paris-Roubaix road on a bicycle. Like the man yelled at the race official on the first TdF: You are an assassin (or something like that, irrc).

Oh, well, thanks for reading, and sorry for the rant, atmo.

[obtuse]

i would much rather ride on those roads than up l'alpe d'huez. too bad fabian won't get to do the latter this year..shi'ite i'd much rather ride on those roads than ride pretty much anywhere in the world..but i obtusely digress. riding a race bike on cobblestones completely pinned is like a combination of a roller-coaster ride; a runner's second wind and hearing your favorite song on the radio while the cute girl across the room smiles at you. it's an edge that's more a ride than a potential cataclysimic drop. riding strong on crappy dirty cobbled cow paths with the dust in your face or the mud dripping down your neck while your holding a wheel knowing and hoping that the mec in front of you is holding the smooth line that hopefully the kid in front of him has the brains to pick is a sublime thing. i've never felt so conscious while being on a what i can only describe as auto-pilot as i have been while racing on roads like those in paris-roubaix.

plus the races on those roads is generally flat and fast- and that's what we fat guys like.

obtuse

[catulle]

riding a race bike on cobblestones completely pinned is like a combination of a roller-coaster ride; a runner's second wind and hearing your favorite song on the radio while the cute girl across the room smiles at you. plus the races on those roads is generally flat and fast- and that's what we fat guys like.

obtuse

I don't know about the roller coaster ride, but I can dig the second wind and the cute girl to the rythm of The Spider and the Fly, atmo. Oh, and fat, I understand fat all too well, bro. I'll keep this post in mind during the Paris-Roubaix next year.

[Fat Robert]

I did just enough of that at 22 to realize I was worse than horrid, and that those are the coolest roads on the planet to race over. at least I had snake alley once a year to feed the fetish.

every time I walk over cobblestones (like this weekend) I think "they should have a race here"

[pdxmech13]

On wednesday's we use to
have gravel road rides.
nothing quite like having
the fillings rattled out of ya
its to bad becaus there
hard to find in portland