The Trench

The Trench at Wallers-Arenberg the first year it was included, 1968

This 1968 photo of the the sector at Wallers-Arenberg shows what it must really be like to ride Paris-Roubaix. The cobbles are uneven and the holes are deep; the safety of the gutter is dramatically reduced by the deep mud. At 95km from the finish, the race can’t be won here, but it can certainly be lost.

I’m not speaking of personal experience because the only cobblestones I’ve ever ridden are the smooth stones in the Netherlands and the semi-legitimate stones on Queen-Anne in Seattle, but racing over the cobblestones of Belgium and Northern France takes a special touch that can’t be taught. Riders talk about being sore for ages after arriving in the velodrome at Roubaix; mechanics speak of destroyed, serviceable wheels.

But these terrible stones don’t appear to affect everyone in quite the same way. I saw Paris-Roubaix for the first time on an old World Cycling Productions VHS of the 1991 edition. I watched in awe as the riders jolted over the stones and struggled through the dust. Suddenly, Marc Madiot seemed to simply float away on the sector of the Carrefour de l’Arbre. There was something different about the way he rode. He was in a cadence that seemed somehow in sympathetic vibration with the road surface. His bicycle moved smoothly beneath him while simultaneously bouncing and jolting over the rocks. He wasn’t mashing a huge gear, but he also wasn’t spinning. Riding on the cobblestones appears to be a perfect balance between harmony and chaos. I know this on some level from climbing some of the steep cobbled ramps on Queen Anne; on some days – when I stay on top of my gear with just the right touch – the stones seem to almost push me up the hill. Other days, it seems like every rock stands up to slap my wheels back and every turn of the pedals is a loosing battle in a struggle to get to the top.

This seems to be be corroborated by Roger de Vlaeminck whose mechanic claimed that while most of the rider’s wheels after the race were useless and as such discarded, de Vlaeminck’s were always perfectly true, were serviceable, staying in the team’s rotation.

A light touch on the roughest stone in the world. Amazing.

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:

Apr 9 2010 at 9:20 am

@Joe
Joe, that sounds brutal and, I might add, and excellent example of the reason why Rule 22 was given such a lengthy clause. If you're a betting man, head over to the Keeper Tip Hotline and make your wager!
Jarvis says:

Jun 6 2010 at 12:45 pm

:archive trawler:
@Dan O
I need to get myself A Sunday In Hell (de Vlaeminck. De Vlaeminck comes to the front, powering across the cobbles). Cycle Sport gave a free video away with their first edition and it had a segment of A Sunday In Hell included. I used to watch that video the night before races as preparation. On Sunday, I was De Vlaeminck

We went to watch Roubaix in '03 and an obvious place to watch the race was Arenberg. We took our bikes. You can't hit it fast as it has a gate across it, but you get to 30kph without much effort. And it goes on, and on, and on...

@marko @frank
my race wheels are Ambrosio tubs. None of this carbon stuff for me. Ambrosio are not a boutique brand, they've been around for years, but like FIR have lost out to Mavic and the encroachment of carbon and factory-built wheels.
frank says:

Jun 6 2010 at 1:22 pm

@Jarvis

My race wheels are Ambrosio tubs.

My God. I would be very interested in picking those up if you ever put them up for sale, mate.
Jarvis says:

Jun 6 2010 at 2:10 pm

They are Chrono rims "only" laced to circa '98 era Ultegra and are a salvage experiment. After a tune-up at my approved wheel-builder they didn't explode when my lardy-arse raced them in a couple of crits last year.

I have another pair of Ambrosio Chrono rims hanging up waiting for the day I can:
a) afford to lace them to very nice, light hubs
b) find the time to do the above

I will bear your offer in mind.
Nof Landrien says:

Jun 22 2010 at 2:30 am

I advocate riding the biennial P-R sportive (even years - next one is 2012). Gravel is nothing like pave. (Gravel is perhaps a better analog for Teo Bro Leon, rather than P-R.) What do the Rules say about riding in the gutter (not that this option is open to the pros anymore, the barriers erected to keep the crowd back force the peleton down the throat of the Trouee)? Is it OK to ride in the gutter if you win? I rode most of the Arenberg on the cinder track alongside the cobbles. I am not ashamed about this. At the finish my hands were swollen. I couldn't open a jar for a fortnight. Savage.
frank says:

Jun 23 2010 at 6:54 am

@Nof Landrien
I think finding a way to preserve your fillings is acceptable. I don't think there's anything in the Rules that says anything about deliberately destroying yourself and/or your equipment. If there's a crash in front of you, you're allowed to avoid it - you don't have to crash too, just because it's more painful that way.

I say, if you're hard enough to do that ride, then you can ride where ever you please.

Christ that sounds brutal.
Cyclops says:

Jun 23 2010 at 7:39 am

I have a riding buddy named Greg - this will be relevant in a moment.

In southeast Idaho we have what is called "chip seal". You take perfectly smooth, virgin asphalt - if you are on said asphalt and there is a tailwind you are in "Gregtopia" - and you coat it in tar and then lay down a layer of fine gravel (and hopefully they come along and sweep up the excess within a week) - if you are riding on said chip seal and there is a 35 kph headwind you are in Gregatory.

The point of all this is that you'll be cruising along in the lower 40's and all of a sudden you are on chip seal and you realize that you are going 5 kph slower. The amount of concentration it takes to keep your pace up on 10 or 20 klicks of mere chip seal is physically and mentally draining so I can't even begin to comprehend what it must be like to spend hours on the cobbles - chapeau
Steampunk says:

Jun 23 2010 at 7:55 am

I was on one of my regular routes yesterday morning, when the road turned black. Brand new layer of asphalt, until it turned out that it was all loose. To compound the problem, the rain started coming down. Another half kilometer up the road I passed a dump truck who had accidentally leaked the asphalt all over the place. In addition to skittering over the loose gravel, it took me a half hour to clean all that crap off my bike...
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