Paris Roubaix sportive

lizzylad84

looking for advice folks, planning on doin paris roubaix sportive next year and looking for tips and starting points on how to book it i know that there are online sources but looking to see where boardsies stayed and how they travelled if they done this event before

Wishbone Ash

Most people that I know who did it stayed in or around Roubaix and there was transport organised to take riders and bikes to the start point in Compiegne. It's very well organised from what I hear although it does means a 4am start.

imskilguy

Ive done this the past two years but the 140km distance. When reg opens in December and you want to do the 170km distance with the entire amount of cobbles, you could quickly book the bus which will take you from Roubaix to the start and your bike. That way you can stay in Roubaix a few days and get to go to the velodrome the next day to watch the final 80km on the screen and the sprint finish. Tiz a right buzz and ill be back next year!

lizzylad84

imskilguy wrote: »

Ive done this the past two years but the 140km distance. When reg opens in December and you want to do the 170km distance with the entire amount of cobbles, you could quickly book the bus which will take you from Roubaix to the start and your bike. That way you can stay in Roubaix a few days and get to go to the velodrome the next day to watch the final 80km on the screen and the sprint finish. Tiz a right buzz and ill be back next year!

nice one. who did you book it through?

calistro

Which one are you thinking of doing? The one before the actual race or the one later in June that is ran by the Velo Club Roubaix ?

dermabrasion

Book the shuttle to the start for the 170K at registration in December. Fly to Brussels, take train to Lille, hotel in Lille (which is an OK city), cycle to Roubaix the morning of (2o mins from Lille Centre ville on a cycle path). Shuttle oneself with bike to Boursigny, collect bike and your ready yourself to have the crap shaken out of you. This is not a figure of speech.

midonogh

First thing is to book your hotel as these sell out before the event or the bus transfers. Check your hotels. We initally booked in Lille and only when I was printing off the bookings did I note that the hotel, which had no carpark, was very strict about not taking bikes into the building.

Roubaix is only 90mins from Calais. 3 of us travelled over from Dublin on the Thursday afternoon, stayed overnight near Luton on the M1 and took the channel tunnel the next morning.

Despite its cycling history Roubaix is a big ugly town that is not given to cycling around. We scouted a few routes from our hotel to the Velodrome but ended up driving up on the Saturday morning for the shuttle bus. The shuttlebuses and the organisation is first class. The Belgian guys that run it really know what they are doing.

Somewhere on the internet there is reference to a bag drop at the start of the 170km route. there isnt one. Saw a few lads who were facing into doing Paris Roubaix with a rucksack on their back.

Bikewise I took my alu winter/commuter, ran 28mm tires on Open Pros, gel bar tape over gel inserts, wire bottle cages bent back to grip the bottle and cable tied the garmin to the stem. Everything gets shaken to pieces. The first sector is littered with garmins, pumps, bottles etc.

I tried to push a big gear so that I hovered just above the saddle, lightly held the bars on the tops. Next time I will put some tape around my finger tips. Hard to explain, but the vibrations makes the tips bang against each other and it becomes very uncomfortable.

Foodstiops are all gels, waffles, cake, energy drinks - nothing savoury.

There is no riding style that will ensure that you stay upright in the Arenberg trench. Fast or slow, people were falling all around me. Its very uneven and because it is under trees its mossy, damp and greasy. I found it to have quite a manevolent atmosphere. The other sectors are difficult because they wear you out. One of the early sectors finishes in a downhill which I found very scary in the wet.

It really is a great event. So much of it is instantly recognisable. A quote from a blog i saw is 'its like playing in Wembley the day before the FA cup with your mates.'

The Arenberg trench is just off the motorway so we drove there to watch the race. One of us had the foresight to pack a few camping chairs as our legs were in bits. Great atmosphere. The local soccer club were selling hotdogs and beer, all nationalities, drunken Belgians chanting, flags and banners.

I think I will have to do it all again next year!

Wishbone Ash

midonogh wrote: »

..There is no riding style that will ensure that you stay upright in the Arenberg trench. Fast or slow, people were falling all around me...

Just wondering M, did you use standard road pedals/shoes? Some lads suggest SPD's (the small MTB pedals with recessed cleats) to allow quicker unclipping if about to take a spill.

midonogh

I rode with my normal SPD SL pedals.
As regards how much you adapt your bike...there are quite a few participants on CX bikes and mountain bikes. I don't really see the point in that. The cobbles are no challenge if you are riding them on an MTB

Lusk_Doyle

midonogh wrote: »

I rode with my normal SPD SL pedals.
As regards how much you adapt your bike...there are quite a few participants on CX bikes and mountain bikes. I don't really see the point in that. The cobbles are no challenge if you are riding them on an MTB

Especially if you ride on the grass verges on your MTB like a lot of guys I saw when I did it. Normal spds, 25mm or 28mm and double bar tape. That's enough.

JK.BMC

Yes; Paris-Roubaix should be done on a road/cross bike. There can be a touch of over-analysis re: bike set-up., but padded gloves/bars, lower pressures on wider tyres and a willingness to horse-it over the pave should do it for most people. Simple as that
Whats more important is the logistics before/after the event. I stayed in St Quentin but it would make more sense to stay nearer Roubaix itself and take the shuttle for next year's event.

Lusk_Doyle

JK.BMC wrote: »

Yes; Paris-Roubaix should be done on a road/cross bike. There can be a touch of over-analysis re: bike set-up., but padded gloves/bars, lower pressures on wider tyres and a willingness to horse-it over the pave should do it for most people. Simple as that
Whats more important is the logistics before/after the event. I stayed in St Quentin but it would make more sense to stay nearer Roubaix itself and take the shuttle for next year's event.

I flew to Munich, drove from there to St Quentin with my bro. Stayed there and got up at 5am the day after the event having spent the night listening to some lad destroying his missus through the paper thin walls (he was awesome if she was to believe!) and drove back to Munich and then flew home the following morning. That's a logistal WTF!

DaithiMC

dermabrasion wrote: »

Book the shuttle to the start for the 170K at registration in December. Fly to Brussels, take train to Lille, hotel in Lille (which is an OK city), cycle to Roubaix the morning of (2o mins from Lille Centre ville on a cycle path). Shuttle oneself with bike to Boursigny, collect bike and your ready yourself to have the crap shaken out of you. This is not a figure of speech.

Also, take all the valve nuts off your tubes in case you get a puncture and have to call the mechanical service and hang around for thirty minutes!

DaithiMC

midonogh wrote: »

Somewhere on the internet there is reference to a bag drop at the start of the 170km route. there isnt one. Saw a few lads who were facing into doing Paris Roubaix with a rucksack on their back.

There is a bag drop at the start - I used it and got my bag back at the velodrome. It may not be obvious but take a second to look around at the start and you will notice people coming and going from a building just before the left turn for the start.

I doubled the handlebar tape and put larger tyres on but I am not sure what effect, bar the psychological, any of the "improvements" I used had, the effect of the pave is so gross that you soon realise how mental it is to pick the stiffest class of bike to ride over the f'ing things!

I coordinated for our group and agree that the hotel and flight should be first on the list of things to book - with the flight ensure you get the bike booked on as soon as you book, I got the run around on this due to the silly way the airlines require that you phone after you make your booking. It was more complicated for me as I had to book six bikes and the airlines have limits on the numbers of bikes.

Also, if you plan to do the 170km MAKE SURE you book the shuttle bus, one of our guys didn't and there were no spaces when we turned up to pick up the tickets etc.. so he had to do the 140km which is a loop course.

We stayed in Lille which has more to offer than Roubaix, and you're beside the train station to get to and from Brussels - and there are trains every hour.

lizzylad84

cheers for all the advice folks, poor ol roubaix seems to be an awful place to stay in.

DaithiMC

lizzylad84 wrote: »

cheers for all the advice folks, poor ol roubaix seems to be an awful place to stay in.

Just noticed your thread title - there are actually two events the "Paris-Roubaix Challenge" and the "Paris-Roubaix Sportif". The challenge is the day before the pro race in April and is that, a challenge. The Sportif takes place in June and is a true "sportif" with timing chips provided and a broom wagon to mop up those outside the set times. I preferred the challenge option as we got to see the pro-race the next day. I guess June gives the chance of better weather and it may also mean the route is closed to cars, which it is not for the challenge (though you don't see many cars on the pave).

lizzylad84

DaithiMC wrote: »

Just noticed your thread title - there are actually two events the "Paris-Roubaix Challenge" and the "Paris-Roubaix Sportif"..

its the challenge im looking at doing, always had a soft spot for PR, after the giro its my favourite race of the year

lizzylad84

quick question, can anyone remember what hotel you stayed in when you done it?

dermabrasion

Hotel Ibis Centre Gares
http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-0901-ibis-lille-centre-gares/index.shtml