Paris Roubaix sportive ? Who's played.

Did it on my own a few years back. I did the long route which is one way.

There’s a lot of logistics in a one way route. Personally I’d go for a shorter loop next time.

There are lots of good places to stay and eat. I liked Cambrai

Did it 2019. Stayed in a great house near the (long route) start, 4 of us rode to the start and rode the long route. Driver and van drove up to roubaix and did the shorter route starting in Roubaix, so we all finished in the velodrome at a similar time with the van parked round the corner.

As a ride I loved it, dry cobbles for us helped a lot I think. One small spill on the pavé as I passed a farmyard so bike stank all the way home, but that’s part of the fun I think.

Couple of our club big wigs did it pre lockdown, part of a weekend that I suspect had some Sky/Dave Brailsford involvement.

Both still talk about it, both want to do it again, both will tell you it's the best and hardest thing they've done on a bike.

I’ve done it 3times in the summer when you used to be able to do the whole ~265km including once at 38C. I’ve done the spring one 3 times too including one where it snowed. The weather clearly is more unpredictable in the winter and wet cobbles require loads more power/skill to keep upright, but so much a better experience of what the pros do. Logistically it’s harder as a place to place sportive. We’ve always done it with a driver (except for the first time when we got the bus from the finish to the start). Having a driver means loads more choice of hotels. You don’t need to be really close to start finish and it’s much easier to deal with mechanicals / DNF. People seem to love / hate the cobbles and you can probably tell where I am and that spectrum!

I did the Velo Club Roubaix one a couple of times about 20 years ago. Drove over on the Saturday, kipped in the velodrome car park for a few hours, got on a bus at 2am to be driven to the start at 5am. Ride bike for 10 hours, shower in the velodrome, drove home for midnight - brutal!

Did it again with a couple of mates, stopped for steak, frites and beers in Mons before getting to the velodrome around midnight. It reached 33C on the ride - it was carnage, folks collapsing due to heat. Got back to the UK to find the M25 closed - spent a couple of hours sleeping in the car in the outside lane. Got home at 5am.

Setting off pre-dawn with just a string of blinking red lights extending to the horizon over the rolling fields of Pays Nord is one of my fondest ever cycling memories - and the sheer brutality of hitting Arenberg at full tilt 100 miles later.

VC Roubaix no longer run the event over the full 270km and the ASO event a bit of a ‘shandy drinkers’ version over a shorter course 🤪 all corporate hospitality types rather than dirt-bagger adventure stuff which is 10x more fun.

I love doing this one. I did it last year and it was brilliant as we finished in the velodrome ahead of the women’s race and sat on the TV2 stand to watch. We then did a recovery ride the next day and took in a couple of pave sections of the mens race, including watch Dylan vB ride away to win.

Excellent organisation, not expensive to enter and you get to watch my favourite race of the year.

As others have said the 170km route is one way so there is a fair bit of logistics to sort and a very early start, but worth it to do all of the pave secteurs. Otherwise the longer circular route starts you off on Arenberg which I loved. We did a few training rides on it with the FDJ and Quickstep riders and it was great to just try and keep up. After that the other bits are definitely less brutal, but make sure to do some shakedown rides to test your bike out. I did it over here by riding farm tracks and bidleways with tractor tyre prints in them to shake anything loose before I went over. The sweet spot for tyre is over 30mm if the frame can take it, but don’t go full gravel as there is a lot of tarmac to get over as well as the cobbles.

Anyway, do it. Definitely worth a trip and I think it is better than Flanders as you don’t get stuck on the route.

The 142km route starts and ends in the velodrome next year.

I've done it a couple of times. Definitely recommend it. It does hurt though, a sort of hurt I've never experienced before on a bike. The pain is all part of the experience though. It took one of my pals nearly two years to fully get the feeling back in one of his hands.

It's worth reading up a bit on the history of the actual race beforehand, or watch some videos (A Sunday in Hell is the all time classic). That gives you a feel for all the history that has passed over what otherwise just seem like cobbled farm tracks.

And do stay to watch the pro race the next day. When you've ridden the cobbles yourself the day before you then really appreciate just how skilled (or just plain bonkers) the pros are. They fly over even the roughest of the sections.

Oh, and as everyone else will say, make sure every nut and bolt on your bike is secure. A good tip is to put tape round the rims of your bottle cages, just to grip the bottles a bit more tightly. The first section of pave is littered with bidons, pumps, energy bars and assorted other stuff that's come loose or come out of jersey pockets.

I'll be ok on the Slayer 🤣🤣

Love the cobbles, but if I do P-R again it will be because I have forgotten the pain. I still remember very clearly. Therefore, not this year! I suspect that by the time I do forget, my body will have given up anyway.

Done the vc roubaix full one five times. Every time at least one frame in my group snapped. One year we came back with four broken frames. The first four times I vowed never to do it again it was that hard mentally. The fifth time I put 28mm tyres on with 50 psi and I floated all the way to roubaix. Still prefer Flanders.

I did the long one a few years ago with half a dozen friends. We stayed at an Airbnb in Roubaix and had to get up very early to take a coach to the start. Roubaix isn’t the most welcoming place but the actual event experience is unforgettable.
We had dry-ish weather and Arenberg was still terrifying (though most people rode the path beside it, not us purists). In the wet it would be a whole other beast.
Mostly we used road bikes with 28c tyres, these days I’d be on my 45c gravel bike at 35psi! There were a bunch of giant Dutch barn doors doing it on MTBs with slicks, so we sat behind them whenever possible until we got dropped.
The pain stays with you - it wasn’t so much my finger joints but my jaw that ached for weeks afterwards. But none of us had mechanicals or spills.
I’d definitely recommend it, but only the once. Doing a loop would be best. If you’re a fan of the Classics then it’s one of the greatest days out on a bicycle.