{"id":64061,"date":"2024-06-07T15:14:20","date_gmt":"2024-06-07T13:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=64061"},"modified":"2024-06-07T18:02:19","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T16:02:19","slug":"hell-or-high-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/2024\/06\/07\/hell-or-high-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Hell or high water"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Hell or high water<\/h2>\n\n

The Paris-Roubaix Challenge pits amateurs against an abridged version of the iconic \u2018Hell of the North\u2019 race <\/em><\/p>\n\n

Photos <\/strong>ASO
Words <\/strong>Charlie Allenby<\/p>\n\n

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Trying to override your instinct to death-grip the handlebar is a must on the cobbles <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

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Try to ride with a loose grip \u2013 your hands resting on the top of the handlebars or on the hoods.\u201d Sportive Breaks\u2019 guide Christophe Smekens is sharing his advice for tackling the notorious cobbled roads of Paris-Roubaix, but it\u2019s already too little too late.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

My hands are in bits after my first taste of pav\u00e9: <\/em>the four- and five-star-difficulty sectors Camphin-en-P\u00e9v\u00e8le and Carrefour de l\u2019Arbre. Blisters are bubbling on my bare palms, while the skin has broken in places, causing a shooting pain whatever grip I try on the \u2019bars. And this was just a 40km warm-up ride. <\/p>\n\n

The anxiety that had been building in my stomach all week about riding the cobbles has somewhat dissipated though: they\u2019re hard going but when they\u2019re dry, if you enter with speed, they can be ground out in a big gear without too much trouble. Instead, I\u2019m now worrying about how my hands are going to withstand the following day\u2019s Paris-Roubaix Challenge: a sportive that follows the final 170km of the professional men\u2019s route to Roubaix\u2019s iconic velodrome, including all 30 of the race\u2019s gruelling secteurs <\/em>(cobbled sections). <\/p>\n\n

Returning to my hotel room, I slather on some Sudocrem and rummage in my kit bag for anything that can provide padding to my palms. The only gloves I\u2019ve brought from home are a pair of waterproof winter ones in case of bad weather. With a clear day and highs of 20\u00b0C forecast, they\u2019re not ideal, but I\u2019m left with no alternative. <\/p>\n\n

Written in stone <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

One of the oldest organised races in the world, Paris-Roubaix has pitted hardy individuals against the cobbled farm roads of northern France since 1896. Regarded as one of, if not the, hardest race in the professional calendar, the Queen of the Classics\u2019 259.9km distance includes 50km of rough, almost unrideable pav\u00e9 terrain that pushes competitors and their bikes to the limits. And if it\u2019s wet, those same coarse, grapefruit-sized cubes turn into an ice rink, where one slip can spell the end of a season: it doesn\u2019t have the nickname \u2018A Sunday in Hell\u2019 for nothing. <\/p>\n\n

While it\u2019s possible to ride the route at any time of year, amateurs have been able to get in on the action on the same weekend as the professionals since 2011 with the official Paris-Roubaix Challenge. The 13th edition comprised three distances: the Discovery (70km and eight cobbled sections), the Legendary (145km and 19 cobbled sections) and the Hell of the North (170km and 30 cobbled sections); the sportive offering participants a chance to test themselves on the course before watching elite athletes such as Mathieu van der Poel and Lotte Kopecky ride with mind-blowing speeds and huge amounts of skill over the same parcours.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

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The riders\u2019 anticipation mounts as they wait at the start line in the early morning light <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

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Ever one for throwing myself headfirst into a challenge, I plump for the full-distance course. As the route will be used by the women\u2019s race later that day, it involves a 4am wake-up call and a 90-minute coach transfer to be at the start line by 7am. There\u2019s also a time cut-off in play that requires averaging 28km\/h on the road and 14km\/h on the cobblestones. I\u2019m not too worried about the former and its relatively flat elevation gain, but it\u2019s the pav\u00e9 <\/em>that has me concerned \u2013 particularly if my on-loan Scott Addict 20 succumbs to any mechanicals. Pumping the bike\u2019s 32mm tyres up to 65 PSI, I sacrifice comfort and opt instead to reduce the risk of pinch punctures. <\/p>\n\n

On the warpath <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

As we make our way south to the Busigny start line, there\u2019s a nervous energy in the air on the coach; some riders try to catch up on sleep, while others engage in gallows humour about what lies in store. As dawn breaks, I catch glimpses of the First World War graves that line the roadside: a reminder of the area\u2019s dark past, and the true reason for the race\u2019s L\u2019Enfer du Nord (Hell of the North) moniker. Although not comparable in any way with the horrors of over a century ago, it feels like we\u2019re going into our own kind of battle as riders don their helmets and make last-minute checks of multitools, pumps and nutritional supplies. <\/p>\n\n

Bunched into the start corral, blaring Europop reverberates off the buildings on the narrow street, ensuring that no one in a normally sleepy commune is getting their Saturday morning lie-in. After a compulsory countdown from dix, <\/em>we\u2019re off with a cheer, but it\u2019s not long before the fanfare of the start is a distant memory, the hubbub replaced with an eerie silence that\u2019s only broken by the whirring of hubs. <\/p>\n\n

Settling into a rhythm, I think through my tactics for the ride. I plan to keep things easy on the road and approach each sector like an interval. As chain gangs whizz by, it\u2019s hard not to chase their tail, but I need to reserve my energy for when it matters, most notably the three five-star-difficulty sectors; the first of which \u2013 the sheltered Forest of Arenberg \u2013 is almost 80km in. Even keeping things steady, I\u2019m moving at a fair lick, and the first 10km of asphalt flies by in 20 minutes. <\/p>\n\n