cyclezen

For anyone who wonders what generates so much passion about Cycle racing - and there's lots of great examples in many different arenas
Paris - Roubaix is arguably the most unpredictable, most contentious, on the podium of most difficult, in Pro Road Cycling...
If you can;t sit thru 6 HOURS of unabated nail-biting excitement - and why those who race all think Bike Racing is tops...
NBC has posted a 1 hr extended highlights to youtube here"
enjoy... quick edit note... the race is 258Km or 160 miles with 30 cobbled sections totaling 33+ miles, which start 100 Km from the start - so, 158 Km from the finish in Roubaix Velodrome - when the cobbles become unrelenting... Race is affectionately known as "The Hell of the North"
It never stops... even 1 meter before the finish line!
There's also a full-length feature movie of a 70's edition - available on YouTube - 'A Sunday in Hell' - worth the viewing...
Yuri

raceboy

That race was certainly a test of how much misery can a human endure.

Maelochs

Worst conditions in two decades .... riders knocked down like bowling pins ... I have only watched the first two hours of the race and every major rider it seems, has crashed at least once. Even former winners are creeping around the corners ..... great to watch. I cannot imagine riding 20 yards on those paves.

Lazyass

Yeah those squealing disc brakes didn't seem to help much haha. But that was a bad ass race.

canklecat

Lanterne Rouge did an analysis of this year's Paris-Roubaix mess, with his usual low key snarky commentary. Possibly the best race all year, and pretty much a cycling representative of all of 2020-2021.

OldTryGuy

Stayed up WAY past my bedtime watching the broadcast. HOURS of CRAZY AWESOMENESS !!!!

seypat

Off topic: Why can't we get any of those station wagons in the USA? So much better than a crossover/SUV. I know, they don't sell. That's too bad.

PeteHski

But running is soooo much harder right?

OldTryGuy

Try this one on for size >>

https://marathondessables.co.uk/

PeteHski

It was a joke in relation to another thread. But if we stick to single day events, is there anything harder than Paris-Roubaix? Because it looks shattering on all sorts of levels. Especially in this year's weather.

OldTryGuy

https://www.badwater.com/event/badwater-135/

PeteHski

I dunno, maybe it's the plodding nature of ultra-endurance running (and ultra-endurance cycling too). But Paris-Roubaix looks far more brutal than any of this kind of stuff. Basically riding at full gas through all that **** for 260 km in 6 hours is something very few people are capable of. I mean that's nearly 27 mph average!

Nachoman

I caught the last hour of this race. Crazy and exciting!

jaxgtr

That was one of the best editions of the race I have seen in the last decade. I also thought the woman's race was pretty exciting as well.

msu2001la

Great race. The women's race on Saturday was equally as awesome.

Hard to believe these pros were racing Paris-Roubaix just a few years ago on 23-25mm tubulars and rim brakes. This year, everyone was on 28-30mm tires and discs, and many/most were running tubeless clinchers. Also a lot of 1x drivetrains with clutched RD's.

spelger

How could you tell through all that mud?

Chinghis

Thanks for reminding me of my pet peeve. I suspect it's still true, but I found it hilarious that the VW Jetta SportWagen has more cargo space than their small SUV, the Tiguan. Yet, the Tiguan will outsell the SportWagen, apparently because SUVs are cool, and wagons are for dorks.

We ended up with the Wagen. I also drive a minivan, one cool step down or up from the Wagen, can't decide.

On topic: Thanks for the link, but geez, the non-Liggett guy. "Another pile-up!" ... "And another pile-up!" ... I'm only 8 minutes in, thinking he's gonna get tired of saying that, right? Some of the pileups are just comical (although not to the racers, I know). I especially like when the motorcycle toppled over after "another pile-up!"

seypat

I'm thinking about a used Buick Regal Tour X to replace my long in the tooth Mazda 5. Have to wait until the current auto industry fiasco is over.

PeteHski

You know the biggest argument I hear for why so many people choose SUVs over estates/wagons is because they find it easier to get in and out of them with their dodgy backs and hips. It shows how a modern "lifestyle" impacts general health hey! Just to be clear, I do understand that some people really do have genuine mobility issues that are not self-inflicted from lack of exercise and a crap diet.

PeteHski

It was interesting to hear that QuickStep started on latex tubed clinchers and suffered a boat load of flats. Pretty much cost them any chance of winning thanks to Roval making their latest wheels non-tubeless compatible.

Darth Lefty 

How many riders just fell over because they didn’t have any tread on their tires? Part of this ordeal, clearly, is using the wrong tools on purpose.

PeteHski

They are not stupid. It comes down to risk vs speed. The winner's average speed was around 27 mph and he probably had a few close shaves along the way. That's just how it goes. Do you want to have a chance of winning, but with a high risk of crashing that goes along with it, or do you want to plod along and finish dead last on really slow tyres? That's kind of the choice here.

Maelochs

Tread? Have you ever ridden a mountain bike? You can have two-inch -wide aggressive knobbies and slip in deep mud. You really think 1/16" ribs are the difference between crashing of not? They are essentially riding on ice. The stones are slick, a thon layer of water and/or silt sits atop them, but the liquid moves, dropping the tire at an angle onto an ice-slick rock---and before the rider can react, the bike drops into the mud between pavés, and before the rider can react to that, hits the next pavé. On top of that, they were also riding through pure mud on the edge of the road because they could go faster, more safely through mud than over cobbles, And were riding through deep puddle, not knowing what was underneath.

Yeah, a few 1/16" ribs would have made all the difference.

PeteHski

Agreed. Tread is not going to be helpful in that scenario. High volume tyres at very low pressures are what would help, but it's all a compromise between speed and grip. When Moscon had his flat and got a spare bike, it clearly had higher tyre pressures and his back wheel was bouncing all over the place, almost certainly contributing to his crash. It really is a hard test of man and bike!

I'm surprised there aren't more specialist bikes for Roubaix like the Specialized Roubaix. The FutureShock has to be a significant advantage there and I can imagine a full suspension being even better.

guachi

Lizzie Deignan rode a Domane for her Roubaix win. It had a 1x SRAM drivetrain and I swear from looking at it that she was riding 32mm tires. I own a Domane (same frame) and Trek's isospeed is no joke. Admittedly, I've never ridden on pavé and I'm not in Lizzie Deignan's class, but it does work.