| The Velo,s
on Tour Initially I was only going to Paris Roubaix in a support capacity,but letting my mouth run away with me on thursday evening prior to the ride, I ended up being rail-roaded into riding,qui a sleepless thursday night and an anxious friday.After loading up the bikes into Daves van friday evening [cheers Dave]it was at the shop saturday for 06.00 to meet the coach,driven by Steve, by now I was in a resigned state of mind ,some-what like a lamb to the slaughter.We were off about 06.30 en route for the Tunnel,picking up Graham in Ashford as we passed through.We were straight on-to the train and in no time we were on the auto-route heading for our 1st stop of the day,petite dejeuner and our rendezvous with Dave and John [John only having got back from Spain on friday,just having time to un-pack and pack again!].The weather was over-cast with a bit of rain and the thought of wet pave and mud did wonders for my self-confidence.On arrival at Compiegne we got our rooms sorted and went out for a coffee.We arranged to meet at 15.30 ready to ride up to the start to sign on.I think the Velo,s made a pretty impressive sight as we motored through town,we got to the signing on about an hour early so came back a bit to a bike shop with a pattiserie next door.While Ivan had a new bottom brkt fitted we all had cake.Then back up to the start at Cambronne-les Ribecourt were rider packs were obtained with the minimum of fuss and race numbers were attatched to bikes.Then, off back to the hotels.Pete had an incident with a kerb and suffered a nasty bit of road-rash on his hip,he,s a tough old soldier though and a bit of "udder cream" soon had him sorted,Good Lad.A quick shower and out for a meal,we found an excellent pizzaria and filled up on pizza,s and pasta,and some of the team had a beer or two.By now our planned early night had evaporated and I wasn,t in bed till nearly eleven,then just as I was dozing off I got a text fromm home asking if I was in bed yet!Then about midnight Graham got a text!From then on I just dozed,I was up at 02.30, made my-self "comfortable" and was forcing rice pudding down my neck at 02.45 in the dark,Graham had set his alarm for 03.00.I was feeling a bit subdued as we all met down-stairs for 03.30 ready for our depart.Soon, we were off,riding in the dark with barely another soul in sight,as Karl remarked, it was a bit surreal riding through France so early in the morning.As we got nearer to the start it started to get busier with lots of cyclists heading in the same direction.After a few of the guy,s had "lightened their loads" we got away at 04.30.Almost straight away we werein the country-side riding in pitch black and the "Velo Express" had already picked up a good few passengers.The pace was,for me,brisk and once it was light and we had covered about 40 miles I opted to get off the express and onto a slower train.This didn,t quite work out though,and I was to spend most of the remaining 120 miles on my own, but no worries as this meant that I could set my own pace.With 82km covered at an ave of 20mph at the 1st feed at Bohain-en-Vermandois ,I was only about 10 mins behind the rest and this high ave gave me a good buffer for the rest of the day.John came up along-side a couple of times and was a very welcome sight.Then 15km up the road I "Hit"the 1st section of pave,Pave de Troisvilles,2200m in length, and with-in 20m my rear light had disintegated and I only had another 45km of this to go.No dvd,picture or description can prepare you for the pave,punishing,brutal,murderous and a few Anglo-saxon expletives were all used during the day.I had made my-self a plan of the distances between feeds so that for example all I was riding each time was 24miles,21miles etc to the next feed,this for me made the distance much more manageable,as my longest previous ride had been 112m.I joined with or was joined by,a few small groups during the day and at one point looked back and found I was towing about 20 riders behind me.I was very slow on the pave but found I was catching people on the road sections,and I managed to increase my speed over the pave from about 7mph to 12+mph as the day progressed.At each feed I made sure that I ate,drank and took food for the in-between sections and this constant feeding kept me going for "most" of the day.My "half-way" point was 160kms leaving 100kms to go,once I had reached this point I only had to do a saturday morning "club-run" to the finish, allbeit with a bit of rough stuff in-between.This "half-way point" coincided with the Wallers Arenberg feed and the iconic, Pave de la Tranchee d,Arenberg 2400m.I copted out here and only rode 20m of pave to get my picture taken ,and then back onto the path that runs by the side,full marks to every-one who rode it,including some of the Velo,s.The sections of pave were now coming thick and fast, and, as I got closer to Roubaix they were getting harder and harder,becoming more and more broken up.My wrists and arm,s were taking a real pounding and as I exited each section it felt like I was riding on silk.Pulling into the Beuvry La Foret feed,John popped up un-expectedly in front of me,he had been waiting over an hour for me to appear,and boy, was he a big moral boost,I told him I was feeling chipper and baring injury or mechanical,I was sure to finish,thanks for being there John.40kms later including 11,170m of pave I pulled into the last feed at Cysoing,17kms to go!.After riding through the Paves,s de Luchin et du Carrefour and then the Pave de Gruson,I hit the wall,"Le Bonk".I pulled over to the side of the road,sat down,ate three energy bars, a gel, and then lay down for 10 minutes.This did the trick and with 8 miles to go I was exstatic to know I was going to finish.One section of pave,the Pave de Hem 1400m,and 300m of cerimonial cobbles out-side the Roubaix Velo-drome and I was there.With about 2km to go I texted our "Capitan" Rob to let him know I was on final approach and requesting permission to land.As I rode into the velodrome there was loud music and the noise of the crowd,not loud enough though,to drown out the roar from the Velo,s as I entered for my lap around the famous track,I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing up.I came to a halt surrounded by the guy,s,I was almost famous there for a few minutes,thanks guy,s.My trusty stead was taken as I was escorted in for my final "Arrive" stamp on my route card.I had my shower in the famous concrete showers,changing in the 1922 winners cubicle[can,t remember who it was].I then bought my "must have"Paris Roubaix Maillot and it was on to the coach with a welcome beer courtesy of our Capitan.We were all pumped up at finishing and vowing "never again"[monday morning I was up for next time!].My one fear prior to the ride was to be sitting on the coach,having not finished and making excuses,instead I was part of the victory celebrations,what a buzz.I have allways looked at Richards Roubaix picture in the shop with a sense of detatchment,believing that that type of ride was beyond me,that it was what the "other"riders did,but now, I,ve been there AND got the T-shirt.A lot of credit has to go to the guy,s for the way that I,ve been "secretly trained" with-out my even knowing it.Particular credit should go to Rodney for all the times that he has encouraged me on our club ride,s Cheers Rod.A fantastic day and I,m so pleased you all talked me into it. Thanks to Dave for his van and John for appearing at just the right moment. Over and Out Mick |
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