2016 MFP Classics Challenge - Ride Logging Thread
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Okay folks - that's all for the Sheldeprijs... Stand by for the results in the Discussion Thread... Meanwhile, It's time for the Highlight of the Racing Year...
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10.04.2016 Paris – Roubaix
Paris–Roubaix is one of the oldest races of professional road cycling. It was first run in 1896 and has
stopped only for two world wars. The race was created by two Roubaix textile manufacturers, Théodore
Vienne (born 28 July 1864) and Maurice Perez. They had been behind the building of a velodrome
on 46,000 square metres at the corner of the rue Verte and the route d'Hempempont, which opened
on 9 June 1895.
Vienne and Perez held several meetings on the track, one including the first appearance in France
by the American sprinter Major Taylor, and then looked for further ideas. In February 1896 they hit
upon the idea of holding a race from Paris to their track. This presented two problems. The first was
that the biggest races started or ended in Paris and that Roubaix might be seen as too provincial
a destination. The second was that they could organize the start or the finish but not both.
They spoke to Louis Minart, the editor of Le Vélo, the only French daily sports paper. Minart was
enthusiastic but said the decision of whether the paper would organise the start and provide publicity
belonged to the director, Paul Rousseau. Minart may also have suggested an indirect approach
because the mill owners recommended their race not on its own merits, but as preparation for
another. They wrote:
Dear M. Rousseau, Bordeaux–Paris is approaching and this great annual event which has done
so much to promote cycling has given us an idea. What would you think of a training race
which preceded Bordeaux–Paris by four weeks? The distance between Paris and Roubaix
is roughly 280km, so it would be child's play for the future participants of Bordeaux–Paris.
The finish would take place at the Roubaix vélodrome after several laps of the track.
Everyone would be assured of an enthusiastic welcome as most of our citizens have
never had the privilege of seeing the spectacle of a major road race and we count on
enough friends to believe that Roubaix is truly a hospitable town. As prizes we already
have subscribed to a first prize of 1,000 francs in the name of the Roubaix velodrome
and we will be busy establishing a generous prize list which will be to the satisfaction
of all. But for the moment, can we count on the patronage of Le Vélo and on your support
for organising the start?
The proposed first prize represented seven months' wages for a miner at the time.
Rousseau was enthusiastic and sent his cycling editor, Victor Breyer, to find a route. Breyer
travelled to Amiens in a Panhard driven by his colleague, Paul Meyan. The following morning
Breyer - later deputy organiser of the Tour de France and a leading official of the Union
Cycliste Internationale - continued by bike. The wind blew, the rain fell and the temperature
dropped. Breyer reached Roubaix filthy and exhausted after a day of riding on cobbles (setts).
He swore he would send a telegram to Minart urging him to drop the idea, saying it was
dangerous to send a race the way he had just ridden. But that evening a meal and drinks with
the team from Roubaix changed his mind.
The first race
News of Breyer's ride to Roubaix may have spread. Half those who entered did not turn up
at the Brassérie de l'Espérance, the race headquarters at the start. Those who dropped out
before the race began included Henri Desgrange, a prominent track rider who went on to
organise the Tour de France. The starters did include Maurice Garin, who went on to win
Desgrange's first Tour and was the local hope in Roubaix because he and two brothers
had opened a cycle shop in the boulevard de Paris the previous year.
Garin came third, 15 minutes behind Josef Fischer, the only German to have won the race
to date. Only four finished within an hour of the winner. Garin would have come second
had he not been knocked over by a crash between two tandems, one of them ridden by
his pacers. Garin "finished exhausted and Dr Butrille was obliged to attend the man who
had been run over by two machines," said Sergent. He won the following year, beating
Dutchman Mathieu Cordang in the last two kilometres of the velodrome at Roubaix.
Hell of the North
The race usually leaves riders caked in mud and grit, from the cobbled roads and rutted
tracks of northern France's former coal-mining region. However, this is not how this
race earned the name l'enfer du Nord, or Hell of the North. The term was used to describe
the route of the race after World War I. Organisers and journalists set off from Paris
in 1919 to see how much of the route had survived four years of shelling and trench
warfare. Procycling reported:
They knew little of the permanent effects of the war. Nine million had died and France lost
more than any. But, as elsewhere, news was scant. Who even knew if there was still a road
to Roubaix? If Roubaix was still there? The car of organisers and journalists made its way
along the route those first riders had gone. And at first all looked well. There was destruction
and there was poverty and there was a strange shortage of men. But France had survived.
But then, as they neared the north, the air began to reek of broken drains, raw sewage
and the stench of rotting cattle. Trees which had begun to look forward to spring became
instead blackened, ragged stumps, their twisted branches pushed to the sky like the
crippled arms of a dying man. Everywhere was mud. Nobody knows who first described
it as 'hell', but there was no better word. And that's how it appeared next day in the
papers: that little party had seen 'the hell of the north.'
The words in L'Auto were:
We enter into the centre of the battlefield. There's not a tree, everything is flattened!
Not a square metre that has not been hurled upside down. There's one shell hole after
another. The only things that stand out in this churned earth are the crosses with their
ribbons in blue, white and red. It is hell! '
History of the cobbles
Seeking the challenge of racing on cobbles is relatively recent. It began at the same time
in Paris–Roubaix and the Ronde van Vlaanderen, when widespread improvements to roads
after the second world war brought realisation that the character of both races were
changing. Until then the race had been over cobbles not because they were bad but
because that was how roads were made.
The coming of live television prompted mayors along the route to surface their cobbled
roads for fear the rest of France would see them as backward and not invest in the
region. Albert Bouvet, the organiser, said: "If things don't change, we'll soon be calling
it Paris–Valenciennes," reference to a flat race on good roads that often ends in a mass
sprint. L'Équipe said: "The riders don't deserve that." Its editor, Jacques Goddet, called
Paris–Roubaix "the last great madness of cycling." Bouvet and Jean-Claude Vallaeys formed
Les Amis de Paris Roubaix - Its president, Alain Bernard, led enthusiasts to look for
and sometimes maintain obscure cobbled paths.
It was Alain Bernard who found one of the race's most significant cobbled stretches, the
Carrefour de l'Arbre. He was out on a Sunday ride, turned off the main road to see what
was there and found the last bad cobbles before the finish. It is a bleak area with just a
bar by the crossroads.
The Course
Originally, the race was from Paris to Roubaix, but in 1966 the start moved to Chantilly, 50 km
north, then in 1977 to Compiègne, 80 km north. From Compiègne it now follows a 260 km
winding route north to Roubaix, hitting the first cobbles after 100 km. During the last 150 km
the cobbles extend more than 50 km. The race culminates with 750m on the smooth concrete
of the large outdoor velodrome in Roubaix. The route is adjusted from year to year as older
roads are resurfaced and the organisers seek more cobbles to maintain the character of the
race - in 2005, for example, the race included 54.7 km of cobbles.
For more info (including the bulk of the above) have a look at the fantastic Wikipedia page on this race at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris–Roubaix
I’ll leave you with one quote that sums up Paris Roubaix for me…
CBS covered Paris–Roubaix in the 1980s. Theo de Rooij, a Dutchman, had been in a promising
position to win the 1985 race but had then crashed, losing his chance of winning. Covered in
mud, he offered his thoughts on the race to CBS' John Tesh after the race:
“It's a bollocks, this race!” said de Rooij. “You're working like an animal, you don't have time to
piss, you wet your pants. You're riding in mud like this, you're slipping ... it’s a pile of ****.”
When then asked if he would start the race again, de Rooij replied:
“Sure, it's the most beautiful race in the world!”
And just time for a personal favourite picture from the Paris Roubaix...
Lemond and Kelly 1985(iirc)
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Bonus Points
Pave
1pt for "Pseudo Pave" - dirt roads/block paving/smooth surfaced stone setts or textured concrete
2pts for "Real" Pave, but it MUST be the genuine article, as that's the whole deal with Paris-Roubaix
just post the picture, I'll decide which category it fits into
Moulin
1pt for either a modern windfarm tower or wind-pump tower
2pts for a former Windmill now converted to residence or other use (probably sans mill-blades in this case)
3pts for the real thing - a full working (or visually complete looking) traditional windmill
again, just post the picture, I'll decide which category it fits into (oh, and it's 3 points for 1
windmill or 27 of 'em - and if you shoot all 3 types, you'll get the highest point value only not 1+2+3)
Post Ride Face
and one "just for fun" - some of the most powerful images from the Paris-Roubaix have been of the
faces of the riders at the end of the ride. So, if you're feeling daring, post a "selfie" as you get home
from the ride - muddy face and bad "helmet hair" optional, but to be encouraged. 2pts if you do post
one, 3 points for the person I decide looks most authentically shattered!
Supplementary Bonuses
1 point for the Recovery Drink - pretty much any kind of french "Biere" or Vin Rouge is acceptable. One point for either.
1 point only for your choice of...
Any French Patisserie (including brioche etc.) in ride or post ride.
Croissants (presumably as a pre-ride breakfast)
Any Baguette related sandwich action - either as a cafebreak, post-ride refuel - or even old-school bikie
style cut into bitesized morsels and wrapped in aluminium foil then stuffed in your shirt-pockets :laugh:
Eat all three if you do a big enough ride, but again, you're only likely to get credit for one of 'em...
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oh well - I'll start, managed a decent ride today (partly because the weather forecast was better, and partly because the race is being televised right from the start at around 9:30am, so I may just couch-potato out tomorrow...)
https://www.strava.com/activities/540144330 - 75.0km
Some of you will probably spot that this is pretty much one of my standard flat-ish longer routes... Not a mega-distance ride by any standard really, but it was just nice for the day and conditions, and left me enough energy to still be able to grab a few photo's along the way...
First of all, the "moulin" (former windmill, type 2, currently being used as a rather grand "shed" in the back garden of the nearby farmhouse on Moor Lane, just outside of Carlton...
And, quite a bit further on, in the outskirts of Pontefract, I passed this hostelry, which seemed quite in-keeping with the whole theme of the ride...
before returning to my "go to" cobbled sector (it's been a feature, either uphill, or down, in quite a few classics challenges... this time, it was uphill - quite steep uphill, if you look at the %...
https://www.strava.com/activities/540144330/segments/13020222493
the picture doesn't QUITE do it justice - though the average power of 472w for the duration probably does...
and, so to return home, and the bit I really don't like - i've always been more comfortable behind a camera than in front of it - taking "selfies" doubly upsets me... But, needs must I guess...
BAAAD case of helmet hair going on. Couldn't resist a "mono" conversion of this one as well - somehow I sort of think of Post Paris-Roubaix shots as being grainy black and white (I also picture most of them in the old Velodrome open plan shower block, but I've definitely decided against inflicting a shot of me in the shower upon you all. I'm sure you're delighted at that (in fact, It aught to be worth an extra bonus for not doing... No?... Oh, all right then)
Anyway, selfie over with, time for food... preparation's a wonderful thing. Oven on, Baguette in to warm, French Onion Soup in the pan to warm. Upstairs to change into "civies" and after a brief "photocall", time to get stuck into something suitably French as a post ride snack.
(I'm not doing the Bierre - I can't drink more than a couple of units of alcohol in a 3-4 day period or I feel really ill with the current meds, and frankly, I'm not wasting my "quota" on french beer. Sod that, I'll have a bottle of something Belgian another day instead!. And don't get me started on French Wine... Stupidly overpriced, or affordable, but tastes like bat piss, and stuffed to the gills with Sulphites.)
Anyway. After a fairly unpromising start to the week, i'm only 12 minutes short of my allotted 7 hour riding quota for the week, and I'm pretty sure I'll manage to book the shortfall - i've done another 3+ hour ride outdoors, with few ill effects (despite how rough I look in that photo, that's mainly bad hair and lack of food rather than actual fatigue...) and booked my first ride of the year with the "posh wheels" on the bike again. They may only be a pair of Ultegra Hoops but compared to the winter wheels, the bike seemed to climb like a homesick angel... or it would have, had it not been for the fat knacker that was pedalling it...
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10/4/2016 - Paris - Roubaix - 101.1km - 690m - https://www.strava.com/activities/540697695
Pics are in strava link.
The incongruities of living in a modern city. No cobbles to be found but and working mill from the 1830's
Other than a hell of a windy ride nothing much else to report.0 -
13/02/2016 - Trofeo-Laigueglia - 58.6km - 291m
https://www.strava.com/activities/492350991
27/02/2016 - Omloop Het Nieuswsblad - 25.2km - 42m https://www.strava.com/activities/503259452
19/03/2016 - Milan - San Remo - 19.7km - 82m - https://www.strava.com/activities/521156520
23/03/2016 - Dwars door Vlaanderen - 20.8km - 132m -https://www.strava.com/activities/524814214
25/03/2016 - E3 Harelbeke - 14.9km - 11m - https://www.strava.com/activities/526214534
27/03/2016 - Gent Wevelgem - DNS
10/04/2016 - Paris Roubaix - 14.6km - 11m - https://www.strava.com/activities/540854648
Totals: 153.8km & 569m0 -
14/02/2016 - Trofeo-Laigueglia - 50.5km - 306m - https://www.strava.com/activities/493320711
27/02/2016 - Omloop Het Nieuwsblad - 74.0km - 1409m - https://www.strava.com/activities/503453486/
28/02/2016 - Kuurne-Brussels-Kurne - 35.1km - 438m - https://www.strava.com/activities/504497558
02/03/2016 - Le Samyn - DNR
05/03/2016 - Strade Bianche - 40.2km - 404m - https://www.strava.com/activities/509103646 - Unmetalled road piccies on Strava/Instagram
20/03/2016 - Milan San Remo - 41.7km - 262m - https://www.strava.com/activities/521798967 - No bonuses
23/03/2016 - Dwars door Vlaanderen - 21.1km - 128m - https://www.strava.com/activities/524752536
25/03/2016 - E3 Harelbeke - DNR
27/03/2016 - Gent Wevelgem - DNR
10/04/2016 - Paris Roubaix - 12.1km - 39m - https://www.strava.com/activities/541320903
Totals: 274.1km - 2986m0 -
Am I allowed to register SAturday's ride? I was on a plane down to SA today.
77.1km 397m https://www.strava.com/activities/539989955
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13/02/2016 - Trofeo-Laigueglia - 104.2km - 1054m https://www.strava.com/activities/492312839
27/02/2016 - Omloop het Nieuwsblad - 84.6km - 535m https://www.strava.com/activities/503716004
28/02/2016 - Kuurne-Brussels-Kurne - 109.1km - 780m https://www.strava.com/activities/504647290
02/03/2016 - Le Samyn - 14km - 60m - https://www.strava.com/activities/506906310
06/03/2016 - Strade Bianche - DNR
20/03/2016 - Milan SanRemo - 113.9km -707m - https://www.strava.com/activities/521705403
23/03/2016 - Dwars d Vlaanderen - 59.5km - 412m - https://www.strava.com/activities/524366447
25/03/2016 - E3 Harelbeke - DNR
27/03/2016 - Gent Wevelgem - DNR
3/4/2016 - Tour des Flandres - 55.4km - 484m - https://www.strava.com/activities/534447923
6/4/2016 - Schelde prijs - 59.4km - 446m - https://www.strava.com/activities/537152796
10.04.2016 Paris – Roubaix - https://www.strava.com/activities/541494447 - 167.1km - 1582m
All pics in the Strava activity, hopefully some of them qualify:
Pave:
Moulin:
Post ride face: (genuinly f*****)
A beautiful Spring day which started out sub-zero so headed out when it hit 6 degrees knowing that it would warm up and I could try out my new summer gear (see pic in Strava) with a couple of base layers, prob could have done with another base layer though! Still a tad chilly when the sun goes in. turned into a bit of a gurning competition due to 80% of the ride being against a very weird West to East based wind .... wtf. I'd kind of bitten off more then I could chew with this one feeling pretty shattered half way round and constantly battling the wind really took it out of me to the point my asthma started flaring up, it was then just a matter of trying to make it home without collapsing, hence the picture at the end, this is a swift reminder to ALWAYS take my inhailer with me EVERYWHERE .... just in case.0 -
Not quite the ride I was intending. A quick cycle to LBS yesterday to pick up some essentials for what should have been a nice long ride today. However, I woke up full of cold and aching from yesterdays 3 hour row, and never made it further than the sofa :-(
Paris-Roubaix 7 km https://www.strava.com/activities/5401612380 -
10/04/2016 - Paris Roubaix - DNR
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Logged, 0 bonus points.10/4/2016 - Paris - Roubaix - 101.1km - 690m - https://www.strava.com/activities/540697695
Pics are in strava link.
The incongruities of living in a modern city. No cobbles to be found but and working mill from the 1830's
Other than a hell of a windy ride nothing much else to report.
Logged, 3 bonus points for the "moulin", 1 extra for "pseudo pave" on the block paving.KitTheRoadie wrote: »13/02/2016 - Trofeo-Laigueglia - 58.6km - 291m
https://www.strava.com/activities/492350991
27/02/2016 - Omloop Het Nieuswsblad - 25.2km - 42m https://www.strava.com/activities/503259452
19/03/2016 - Milan - San Remo - 19.7km - 82m - https://www.strava.com/activities/521156520
23/03/2016 - Dwars door Vlaanderen - 20.8km - 132m -https://www.strava.com/activities/524814214
25/03/2016 - E3 Harelbeke - 14.9km - 11m - https://www.strava.com/activities/526214534
27/03/2016 - Gent Wevelgem - DNS
10/04/2016 - Paris Roubaix - 14.6km - 11m - https://www.strava.com/activities/540854648
Totals: 153.8km & 569m
Logged, 1 bonus pt for "pseudo pave" - unmetalled track.14/02/2016 - Trofeo-Laigueglia - 50.5km - 306m - https://www.strava.com/activities/493320711
27/02/2016 - Omloop Het Nieuwsblad - 74.0km - 1409m - https://www.strava.com/activities/503453486/
28/02/2016 - Kuurne-Brussels-Kurne - 35.1km - 438m - https://www.strava.com/activities/504497558
02/03/2016 - Le Samyn - DNR
05/03/2016 - Strade Bianche - 40.2km - 404m - https://www.strava.com/activities/509103646 - Unmetalled road piccies on Strava/Instagram
20/03/2016 - Milan San Remo - 41.7km - 262m - https://www.strava.com/activities/521798967 - No bonuses
23/03/2016 - Dwars door Vlaanderen - 21.1km - 128m - https://www.strava.com/activities/524752536
25/03/2016 - E3 Harelbeke - DNR
27/03/2016 - Gent Wevelgem - DNR
10/04/2016 - Paris Roubaix - 12.1km - 39m - https://www.strava.com/activities/541320903
Totals: 274.1km - 2986m
Logged, 0 bonus points.Am I allowed to register SAturday's ride? I was on a plane down to SA today.
77.1km 397m https://www.strava.com/activities/539989955
Yep, any ride over the weekend counts Graham. Logged, 0 bonus points.10/04/2016 - Paris Roubaix - DNR
Noted, and thanks for letting me know Tom.ruthbardell wrote: »Not quite the ride I was intending. A quick cycle to LBS yesterday to pick up some essentials for what should have been a nice long ride today. However, I woke up full of cold and aching from yesterdays 3 hour row, and never made it further than the sofa :-(
Paris-Roubaix 7 km https://www.strava.com/activities/540161238
Logged, and hope you feel better soon.
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Jakess1971 wrote: »13/02/2016 - Trofeo-Laigueglia - 104.2km - 1054m https://www.strava.com/activities/492312839
27/02/2016 - Omloop het Nieuwsblad - 84.6km - 535m https://www.strava.com/activities/503716004
28/02/2016 - Kuurne-Brussels-Kurne - 109.1km - 780m https://www.strava.com/activities/504647290
02/03/2016 - Le Samyn - 14km - 60m - https://www.strava.com/activities/506906310
06/03/2016 - Strade Bianche - DNR
20/03/2016 - Milan SanRemo - 113.9km -707m - https://www.strava.com/activities/521705403
23/03/2016 - Dwars d Vlaanderen - 59.5km - 412m - https://www.strava.com/activities/524366447
25/03/2016 - E3 Harelbeke - DNR
27/03/2016 - Gent Wevelgem - DNR
3/4/2016 - Tour des Flandres - 55.4km - 484m - https://www.strava.com/activities/534447923
6/4/2016 - Schelde prijs - 59.4km - 446m - https://www.strava.com/activities/537152796
10.04.2016 Paris – Roubaix - https://www.strava.com/activities/541494447 - 167.1km - 1582m
All pics in the Strava activity, hopefully some of them qualify:
Pave:
Moulin:
Post ride face: (genuinly f*****)
A beautiful Spring day which started out sub-zero so headed out when it hit 6 degrees knowing that it would warm up and I could try out my new summer gear (see pic in Strava) with a couple of base layers, prob could have done with another base layer though! Still a tad chilly when the sun goes in. turned into a bit of a gurning competition due to 80% of the ride being against a very weird West to East based wind .... wtf. I'd kind of bitten off more then I could chew with this one feeling pretty shattered half way round and constantly battling the wind really took it out of me to the point my asthma started flaring up, it was then just a matter of trying to make it home without collapsing, hence the picture at the end, this is a swift reminder to ALWAYS take my inhailer with me EVERYWHERE .... just in case.
Logged, 2pt bonus for Moulin, 1pt for the "pseudo pave" (though it actually looked more authentically awful to ride over than my "real" stuff) and 2pts for the "post ride face" - as there's only 2 entries in this category so far, and yours is the only one with the genuine "1000-yard stare 'you don't know man, you weren't there...' look in the eyes, it could well be 3pts...0 -
and, as I'm feeling generous this morning (and I'm bored...)
From Strava...
@m1xm0d3 - https://www.strava.com/activities/541856005 28.1km
@ntnunk - http://www.strava.com/activities/541575679 16.6km
@verdemujer - https://www.strava.com/activities/540563382 23.6km
no bonuses on any of the above rides...
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and, that's all folks for Paris-Roubaix Weekend...
Next Stop De Brabantse Pijl on Wednesday... Stay tuned for the Write-up, to follow after I've finished handing out the Cobblestone Trophy...
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Wednesday 13th April - De Brabantse Pijl...
The Brabantse Pijl (English: Brabant Arrow, French: Flèche Brabançonne or Flèche Branconne) is a Flanders Classics road bicycle race held annually in Flemish Brabant and in Walloon Brabant, Belgium. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. In 2011, it was upgraded to a 1.HC event. Edwig Van Hooydonck holds the record for most wins in the race with four between 1987 and 1995. In recent years, Zaventem was the city of start, in 2008 however, Leuven became the place of start. In 2010 the fixed date of the Brabantse Pijl shifted from the Sunday before the Ronde van Vlaanderen to the Wednesday before the Amstel Gold Race. Until 2009 the finish was located in Alsemberg, in 2010 it moved to Overijse.
http://www.debrabantsepijl.be/en
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If I could, still - this is the ride I would add on April 9, 2016 for the Paris Roubaix
https://www.strava.com/activities/540563382 23.6 km, 63 m.
I know I should have posted this much earlier and completely understand if I've missed it. I just had something going on at home that was playing havoc with all things internet. I posted about it just now so anyone who follows me can see what it was. I'm very happy though I had a totally of 4 rides on last Saturday. One of them even managed to get that boy of mine out of the house and off his game console. The ride above was with the husband.0 -
13/4/2016 -De Brabantse Pijl - 30.5km - 79m - https://www.strava.com/activities/5436623450
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verdemujer wrote: »If I could, still - this is the ride I would add on April 9, 2016 for the Paris Roubaix
https://www.strava.com/activities/540563382 23.6 km, 63 m.
I know I should have posted this much earlier and completely understand if I've missed it. I just had something going on at home that was playing havoc with all things internet. I posted about it just now so anyone who follows me can see what it was. I'm very happy though I had a totally of 4 rides on last Saturday. One of them even managed to get that boy of mine out of the house and off his game console. The ride above was with the husband.
Already entered for you, and earned you 9 points...and, as I'm feeling generous this morning (and I'm bored...)
From Strava...
@m1xm0d3 - https://www.strava.com/activities/541856005 28.1km
@ntnunk - http://www.strava.com/activities/541575679 16.6km
@verdemujer - https://www.strava.com/activities/540563382 23.6km
no bonuses on any of the above rides...0
This discussion has been closed.