Did the VC Roubaix version in 2010 – fantastic, think it was the best event ride I’ve ever done – started off beautiful weather, then the rains came – vividly remember standing in the old mine offices at Arenberg shaking like a leaf and getting colder by the minute – we made 3 attempts to leave but the rain was so heavy it was bouncing off the road – all feeling had gone in my fingers and toes by the this stage so we had to leave and then, lo and behold, about 300m later, we hit the Arenberg Tranche – 2.5 km of riding a pneumatic drill and spat out the other end to glorious sunshine.
It was a mixture of sunshine and showers from there to the end. Riding the cobbles in the dry was an experience but in the wet, it was another world altogether – huge respect to the pros who actually race on them and then top that by managing to do an average of 25 mph – beyond me but good to get some sort of idea of what they can face.
The 2 of us opted for the full 160 mile course and we both rode our ‘cross bikes with 32mm tyres.
So many highlights but definitely up there were the random spectators that you would come across – standing in a field or edge of a cobble section, in 1 and 2s – seemingly in the middle of nowhere – yet there they were cheering you on – just brilliant!
In fact, it was so good that both of us are going back next year to have another go.
