Categories: Technique

The Rhythm of the Stones

Next time, try it with the other end on the dirt. Photo: Tim de Waele

This picture makes me think, “There’s a right way to ride the cobbles, and a wrong way.” Those riders who have raced on the cobbles of Flanders and Northern France will tell you that riding the stones fast takes a “something” that can’t be taught. The trick seem to be finding a subtle space between steering and guiding the bike where the riders coax their machine through the terrain to find it’s own way without too much interference from the pilot.

Riding over these brutal roads is an honor that I have yet to receive, but I have had the privilege to live in several cities with some semi-legitimate cobbles, even if they were not borne from France or Belgium. St. Paul, MN has a few roads where, if you’re willing to break a few rules suggesting the direction of traffic, you can climb some good, bumpy hills. Seattle, on the other hand, has an entire neighborhood wherein all the steepest hills are still bedecked in stones from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. These are rough, nasty roads and have taught me a thing or two about what does and doesn’t work when riding the cobbles.

Foremost among the things that work is finding the harmony between the size of your gear (cadence) and the speed the bike is bouncing over the stones. I would call it “sympathetic vibration” if it weren’t for the decidedly uncomfortable feeling the whole ensemble gives – there is nothing “sympathetic” about it. A bit more the opposite, actually. When you get it right, however, it is somehow beautiful in it’s awesome, harmonic brutality.

There was one day a few weeks ago when I was doing hill repeats on one of these climbs when everything clicked. The machine, the gear, my rhythm, the amount of The V I was able to dish out, everything came together to form a jarring, rattling unit of cohesion. There was a group of pedestrians on the roadside walking down the hill at the time; they stopped to watch and – dare I say – cheered. I was instantly in Flanders; it was a Great Moment on the Bike.

Yesterday, I turned off the same strip of asphalt onto the same cobbled climb and the harmony that had previously attracted a group’s attention was replaced with a sensation of panic as I fought to keep myself upright. My bike hit the stones in a manner I can only describe as “wrong”; I dumped my speed instantly, struggled with the gear, and nearly fell before barely righting myself and moving into a zone where every turn of the pedals was a struggle tinged with the bitter taste of weighing my odds of getting my foot out of the pedal in time to keep from falling should the last iota of speed and coordination I possessed leave me. No one was around to view this spectacle, thank Merckx.

It all comes down to the rhythm you find on these nasty stones, and this photo shows Jakob Fulsang succinctly demonstrating the difference between the “right” and the “wrong” rhythm. It’s almost as if the arrow mounted on that clumsy bit of scaffolding was set up for the very purpose of pointing out the the wrong approach to riding the pavé.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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frank says:

Sep 15 2010 at 2:31 pm

@Nof Landrien

I can assure you that the chaps who win these events are truly beasts with massive guns.

I remember reading that Museeuw couldn't walk for a week after winning P-R in 2002. Brutal.

As soon as you slow down you start pedalling squares, feeling every stone, having to hold your bars in a vice like grip while the front end wants to Fuglsang you into the kinderkop.

There's a great account in Fignon's book, We Were Young and Carefree, where he talks about the '83 Tour and the stage that went over the cobbles. He didn't know how to ride the stones, so he just gripped the bars like you describe but got through the stage OK. After the finish, he removed his gloves to find his hands covered in blisters; the next day was agony.

@Brett
Hey now, you're just mad that I called you shriveled.

@wvcycling

The cobbles and I have a bad romance going on. Every time we are away, we long for each other. The roughness of the ride, the feel of gliding over each one, praying it will be gentle enough on me that I do not flat... Yet when we meet, it is like we cannot wait to get away from each other. Quarrelsome stints of rutted out sections that could be mistaken for XC babyhead rocks in the mud make me curse the pave like it was a cheating lover. It is okay, the cobbles can take my abuse, and usually dish it out fivefold.

Poetry.
G'Phant says:

Sep 16 2010 at 1:46 am

Makes you realize how much of a monster Spartacus is, riding the stones in the faux TT-bar position, wrists casually draped over bars, so as not to drop the tiny little Luxembourgois bouncing around behind him like a rabbit in an electric fence.
Brett says:

Sep 16 2010 at 2:50 am

G'Phant :

Makes you realize how much of a monster Spartacus is, riding the stones in the faux TT-bar position, wrists casually draped over bars, so as not to drop the tiny little Luxembourgois bouncing around behind him like a rabbit in an electric fence.

Plus he had that motor...
frank says:

Sep 16 2010 at 9:10 am

so as not to drop the tiny little Luxembourgois bouncing around behind him like a rabbit in an electric fence.

The imagery is priceless. Just made a shit day a little less shitty!
wvcycling says:

Sep 16 2010 at 9:12 am

@frank

Thanks for the compliment~ Keep me in mind for future guest contributions???
G'Phant says:

Sep 16 2010 at 1:01 pm

@frank
Actually, while I have seen a lot of electric fences and a lot of rabbits, I have never seen them in contact. But I know what it feels like to contact an electric fence, and I am pretty confident it would make a rabbit jump more than it has made me. It would probably make the Grimplet jump, too. But not Spartacus. He'd just use it to recharge his batteries. Unless Jens had got there first and scared the fence away.
frank says:

Sep 16 2010 at 1:16 pm

But not Spartacus. He'd just use it to recharge his batteries. Unless Jens had got there first and scared the fence away.

That's two for two today, Geof. You must be in the USA.
Roadslave525 says:

Sep 16 2010 at 2:29 pm

I don't see what the problem is. Although I too have never ridden the pave of Northern Europe, I heard Spartacus describe it and it doesn't sound that hard: "you just put it in a big gear and keep accelerating". How hard can it be. [I can't match the poetry above describing the cobbles, inspiring stuff, folks]. Great photo, Frank. That's got to smart a bit.
Jarvis says:

Sep 16 2010 at 2:41 pm

@roadslave
You really need to ride there, or anywhere with similar stones, to understand.
The battering you take is unbelievable. I didn't think to wear mitts/gloves when I rode three or four sections of pave, around 5km. By the end of the 5km I had massive blisters on my hands and then I had to ride back across them.

Despite the Roubaix pave being flat, it is hard work. I had a dry and sunny day with no wind and I was relatively fit. I wanted a relatively "representative" experience of riding the stones, so I tried to keep it at at least 20mph and to do that meant I was riding hard, probably 80% and the effort went up on the slight drag at the of the Carrefore d'Labre section. It put into perspective what the pro's do at Paris-Roubaix because they hit that section after over 250km, I'd ridden just 10km.
j.king says:

Oct 5 2010 at 11:35 am

It's been weeks but I'm sometimes a man of my word. Yesterday I did about 75km in the area where the Tour of Flanders takes place each spring. The photo is from the Oude Kwaremont climb, 2.2k of cobbles. The route included the Paterberg and Koppenberg climbs, it was magical...