Came across an article about this last night, seems a spicy introduction to 2015!

Anyone done it?

no, but i have done the flanders one, and that is a great weekend 🙂

stay in Brugges, drink strong beer, ride the sportive, and watch the race, and if you get there on the Friday, you can drive over to Northern france and do a bit of Paris Roubaix. thats what we did…

Yeah watching the real race would def be part of the plan, would love to see how fast they hit the cobbled segments!

Article mentioned the Flanders one but it sounded like it was a bit of a victim of it’s own success, to many riders?

we did it in 2011, it was busy, but not bad, but it was on the old course, not sure how three laps of the new course would work though…

Flanders is not a problem if you do the long route. Done it 13 times now and never so much as dabbed a foot on the climbs. Have heard that those doing the shorter routes often have to walk them they are so crowded. About 5000 do the long ride and 11000 the shorter ones.
I’d do Flanders first to get a feel for the cobbles then do Roubaix. I’ve done Roubaix a few times now and while it is a massive high when you finished, the bit before that can take you to dark places.

PS Warton: the sportive route for Flanders doesn’t do the loops.

We’ve done Roubaix the last 2 years, and seemingly will be out again next year. It’s been dry but I can’t believe that it will be 3 years in a row. It’s a good ride, the biggest climb is over a motorway, and the hardest part was lifting the wine glass at dinner in the evening. Next year we’re intending to camp up at the Carrefour and ride into town to start the route and then be there at the side of the road for the next day.
If you have some spare time the night before I can recommend visiting the Piscine Museum/ Art Gallery in the centre of Roubaix.

I’ve done it, pretty amazing way to spend a weekend. Saturday ride, Sunday drink too much Belgian beer by the Arenberg trench.

I organised a trip for ten of us this year – awesome. Great to do the sportive, it is flat but the cobbles are brutal. And that was in perfect dry conditions! Some of us watched the pro race from the Arenberg, others from the velodrome – all on the beers, and we all thought it was great.
Do it, it’s awesome weekend.

My brother and I have been riding bikes since we were nine and 12 respectively and after he did it this year, he said it was the single best day on a bike he’s ever done. Although he is very strong (he’s gone 57’30 for a 25) he was not in the best shape physically this year so while tough, it’s not quite as challenging as some of the other classic sportives. (Another mate did Liege Bastogne Liege this year having never done a ride longer than 110miles, he completed the full 170 miles! Impressive by anyone’s standards).

My brother and I plan to do Paris Roubaix next year. One thing to mention though, he said it would have been a very different prospect had the weather been bad, which this year it wasn’t.

Awesome, cheers all. Def something I’m going to look into! Did all of you just do it off your own backs or did some of you use a company? Would def want to do it cheaply (back of the van FTW!) but transfer could be tricky.

What’s the support like along the way, plenty of food/drink? Skinny lad = bit of a bonker!

I like to give it a go as well. maybe one day.

I’d also been considering Paris Roubaix 2015 (I have watched a Sunday in Hell quite a few times and always wanted to do it after that and then watch the pros the day after). I have been looking into this and when registration begins later in the year and http://www.urbantoalps.com has a section on riders looking into the 2015 event

monkeyfudger – Member
Awesome, cheers all. Def something I’m going to look into! Did all of you just do it off your own backs or did some of you use a company? Would def want to do it cheaply (back of the van FTW!) but transfer could be tricky.
What’s the support like along the way, plenty of food/drink? Skinny lad = bit of a bonker!

Err…. just go on the website and register. Its not really a UK style sportive, its a nice day out riding, with lots of other people. We’ve stayed in hotels previously, booked by ourselves, but in 2015 we’re going to take the camper and stay near to the Carrefour for the full Eurotechno experience.
support? err… there’s 3 feed stops, They’re ok I suppose, but still immeasurably better than any UK sportive feedstop so there’s a surfeit of sugar waffles, orange wedges, sweeties, bits of other stuff, banana pieces, energy drink, water….
If it looks at all rainy we will be riding 29ers as it will be very grim.