You Can’t and You Don’t and You Won’t Stop
Failure and success are destinations not often visible to the traveller. This is why it is nice to focus instead on the beauty of the journey and try not to be become overly fixated on any particular outcome. It is with some regret that I admit I didn’t invent this idea; there might be a few religions and philosophies out there that have stumbled upon this concept before me. The best you can do when you are born an idiot is read the works of those who weren’t idiots and then proclaim their ideas as your own.
One of the characteristics that separates successful people from the others is less their intelligence or an uncanny ability to get things right, but more their ability to keep fighting even when a situation is hopeless. I haven’t done any research on this, but I can recognize a fact by how it feels, so I’m pretty sure it’s right.
The final of Paris-Roubaix this year was the best edition of the race that I’ve seen during my lifetime and probably the best single bike race I’ve ever watched. It wasn’t so much for the result or the fact that Roubaix is my favorite race, but for the fight that every rider showed. No secteur of pavé is easy, but the Trouée Arenberg and the Carrefour stand out easily as being the hardest of them all. Most secteurs, however brutal they are, hide within them a secret to how to pass through fairly swiftly; they typically have a crown which stands above the rest of the stones and it provides something resembling safe passage. But these two sections are brutal things; the state of their cobbles is such that one imagines a bitter old French road worker dumping wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of stones along the road, taking a look back at his work and deciding that neatly laid cobblestones are a luxury not everyone is entitled to experience.
The Arenberg comes early in the race; a contributing factor but rarely decisive. The Carrefour, on the other hand, is late in the race and decides everything. The biggest problem is that the riders have close to 250km of racing in their legs, and bad pavé has a habit of stopping your bike in ways we don’t often encounter; blow after blow after blow from the stones in rapid-fire succession, soaking speed from the machine one dirty cobble at a time. Accelerating again once the speed is lost is almost impossible; and if you watch the overhead shot of Boonen diving into the last corner of the Carrefour and coming to a stop, you will see the way he fights with his bike to get it back up to speed. He is not of this world; for us mortals, the ask is too great.
I had given Matt Hayman for dropped at the Carrefour, only to watch him claw his way back. Sep Vanmarcke was off the front. Vanmarcke was brought back by a group that was working together perfectly, and Matt came back to the group shortly after, riding like he would rather his legs fell off or his heart stop beating than give up the race. Then came the attacks in the final; each one a do-or-die effort put on by riders who between the lot of them had nothing left to give. But not one of them ever quit; they would be dropped, but they fought back. Attack after attack, they kept the pressure on and not one of the riders was ever willing to give up.
And in the end, the rider dropped on the Carrefour, when quitting seemed the most sensible thing to do, beat the greatest cobbled classics racer of all time. This is the sort of lesson that Cycling teaches us; never give up, always fight through. I take inspiration from this and apply it not only to my own riding, but to my professional and personal life as well: You can’t, and you don’t, and you won’t stop.
Vive la Vie Velominatus.
Yes, what you said, excellent summation.
Easlily the best race Ive seen.
@frank , I hope you’ve had a chance to view the clip of our commentators Matt Keenan and Robbie McEwan in the booth at SBS.
Class act and what a race. I was knackered just sitting on the couch.
Hayman said it both in the 2014 BSP that @Harminator posted in the “How to watch” article, and before the race in this year’s one when he was talking to Luka Mezgec who was racing it for the first time.
If ever there was a way to prove just how right that advice was, he did it!
@Frank thanks for that video link, can’t deny giving a fist pump watching Matty come back in the frame coming off that next set of cobbles, despite knowing exactly what was going to happen!
Also, don’t worry about holding a V-Photo comp this year, @Harminator has the whole podium sown up with that amazing shot.
@Barracuda
Here’s the vid ‘Cuda mentions, not sure if it’ll be geo-blocked outside Aus, if so VPN that shit (you’ll also get access to them live streaming most races without worrying about what’s being installed on your computer).
Nice one, Frank. I agree about it being one of the best races ever televised.
Fifteen times he rides this race, and on his last possible shot… he wins it. I’ll admit that I got a bit misty watching the backstage pass video where you can hear more of the audio as the reality of his win sets in. Such heart. Just enormous.
Frank- slightly ironic place to have a typo: “ The best you can do when were are born an idiot”.
“when were” is wrong.
@tedder
@frank is never wrong, there was that one time when he was, but even then he was mistaken.
Love it that in the first 30 seconds of the BackStage Pass, before he’s even off the bus Hayman says that the best piece of advice he’s been given for Paris Roubaix is from Marc Wauters “Always keep riding” and then goes on to say “Keep believing, keep riding, its not over till you get to the velodrome”.
Then puts that philosophy in to practice for the 15th time.
Result – priceless.
@markpa
How happy do you think Dan Jones was when he remembered he’d filmed that?
@Barracuda
Yeah – that one time with that article title (and final line).
I now have Sure Shot in my head and the vision of those guys entering the velodrome;not a loser among them.
I love how blindingly fast Sep crushes that pavé. I believe the reporter on the motard said he was pedaling at 55+ kph. Taintdestroying fast.
“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed”.
Michael Jordan
Never give up.
@RobSandy
How did your crit go last night.
I did my first race of the season last night, a masters’ crit at Hillingdon.
Did lots of work but all at the wrong time ! Then got blocked in the final run in. Still, all good training.
@ChrisO
I got the race more or less spot on mate, stayed close to the front but without doing too much time in the wind (apart from the odd 80% surge just to keep everyone on their toes). Then I managed to get a really good position for the last lap (thanks to a team mate burying himself and dragging me and a small selection with him), and sprinted past most of the group to the line – result unconfirmed but looks like I didn’t quite get to the line first. But I’m happy with 2nd in my first ‘proper’ crit race.
Did you place/points in yours? An ex-member of our club races at Hillingdon pretty regularly – from his reports there are loads of crashes!
I still can’t organize my thoughts about this day. It’s one of those events that will leave a mark forever. I’m really glad the cycling world has embraced the result and recognized it for its quality. After the finish the mood amongst some spectators at the race was pretty dull. They wanted more for Tommeke.
Allow me a moment to publicly credit William and Alex at Pave Cycling Classics. If any of you get the chance to experience the beauty and the terror of the roads in this region look no further. Top blokes in the truest sense.
Some comments.
If Etixx don’t give Panzerwagon a ride as their #1 next year they’re nuts.
The way Sep laid it over going into those corners on Carrefour is other worldly. The surface is truly awful. Big holes and sharp undulations in addition to the worst cobbles. Don’t diss Sep. If you’re looking for a wheelsucker try Haussler.
There’s about 200m of Tarmac between Carrefour and Gruson where Hayman got back on the wheel. I didn’t see him make ground on Carrefour. It may have even helped to be able to pick his line and effort. He must have sprinted on the road.
On the Backstage Pass: 8:10
“He’s doing his best 10 seconds”
“Fresh”
In the commentary box Robbie’s face at 3.26 is a tangled mess of emotion that sums up the day. Agony & ecstasy for the perfect result for a guy who has given so much to others.
I got some other pics but we only watched from Carrefour so there’s not much change in composition.
Had to watch the last 25 km again after reading this. Still exciting.
@RobSandy
No, well out of the points. I might have done OK – there was a break ahead but I think they were mostly a different category so I was preparing to try for the sprint and had a reasonable position. But a guy came off the front and virtually slammed on his brakes so I got checked and it was too late to get back.
Yeah I’m not so keen on Hillingdon. It’s too easy, in the sense that if you sit in the bunch you can go the whole race without burning any matches, so big fields tend to stay together. But no crashes. Masters riders are a bit less crazy.
The Cyclopark at Gravesend is better as there are some sections where it strings out and while it may not be enough to make a break it does take a toll on weaker riders so the field thins out gradually.
@ChrisO @RobSandy Looking at both of your races last night, it’s amusing to see that you both forgot to turn your Garmins on at the start.
@chris
It’s some comfort that I’m not the only one. I might leave it off for the next race, I didn’t look at it apart from to notice it wasn’t going!
@ChrisO
Masters racing looks hard – some of gnarliest guys in our club are over 40.
You only need a small deceleration at that point in a sprint and you’re done – I ended up out of the main line down the back straight so decided just to go round the outside of everyone. Had the race been 50m long I’d have won by a length – I was still accelerating at the finish.
Maindy isn’t great, really. No corners to string the line out and so the bunch can easily pull a break back. No break got more than 50m away last night. Just too hard to ride 45-50kph on your own! No real incentive to do anything other than sit in – I ended up on the front a bit but I felt strong enough and I didn’t want to get boxed in at all.
Loved it though, can’t wait for the rematch next week.
Great write up Frank….I’m still watching the race, i watch the end probably 3 times a day, absolutely amazing. Blows my mind they were able to answer an attack just to attack or counter another, over and over again. Watching the last few K’s made my legs hurt for them. Is there such thing as sympathy suffering?
Superlative race. Excellent insight. Both pure inspiration.
@RobSandy
Haha, yes, schoolboy error. The first 10 minutes was bloody hard too – it was only when things calmed down a bit that I had time to look and see it wasn’t on.
Even without that I still ended up with an NP of 284 watts.
I kept trying to chase onto breaks, and either being on my own trying to bridge the gap or dragging the field with me. Then as we got close a bunch would go and I hadn’t recovered to go again. I should have sat in more and gone with the attacks with enough energy to help make them stick.
Still, I only did two races last year so I’m reasonably happy at just feeling comfortable again. I was nervous as a cat in a kennel all yesterday.
Tried tried to post from work but no luck. From 50m before the big left handed on Carrefour.
A friend loudly greeted me Tuesday Morning with “not a word! I’m watching it tonight.” All I could say was that it was the best PR in my recent memory.
I watched it Sunday with my sons with the take home message being: quitters never win.
Proof that life is short and unpredictable: MCA is gone. How can that be?
Proof that persistence and never giving up is worth it: Hayman!
Totally transfixed. Love riding in those moments that come in a calculated effort to do something special – especially when your effort is not in plain sight.
@Harminator
Those pics perfectly capture the abysmal state of the pavé – with the crown turned spine – on that specific stretch (virtually all of the Carrefour). Couldn’t help using your shot of Hayman and his quote in the OGE video to whip up my own motivational poster. Cheers!
@Harminator
Here is the poster version:
@oregonrouleur
Nice.
FWIW, I don’t actually think his quote applies to him in this year’s race. When he says “Just keep riding” I think he’s referring to pushing on despite all the types of misfortune that can dog a rider’s effort on race day. Crashes, mechanicals, punctures, (motos), trains and other types of “bad luck”. They can happen to you but they can also happen to your competitors. Don’t assume a bike change will put you out of contention. Keep riding because the worm might turn and often does.
Hayman’s race was free of all of these problems. He did ‘keep riding’ but he stayed out of trouble and was in the mix all day – good luck and good management & racecraft. What did Lee Traveno say? Something like “The more I practice the luckier I get”.
@Harminator
I think that was Gary Player?
@Harminator
The whole Pasteur quote about “Chance favors the prepared mind”, eh?
Always kind of pisses me off a bit when something good happens for me and someone says, “You’re so lucky”.
Fuck that. It is usually b/c I have worked me ASS off for it; luck played no part in it.
@Harminator
“Keep everyone on the sword!” “Stay on the rivet!” “I’m not fucking around!”
Not much I can add to that. What a race. What a guy Matty seems to be. I was definitely cutting some onions as I watched the gravity of the situation set in on him. He was just in total shock! And Boonen, holy shit. All class after the race. No other way to say it, just 100% class act during a moment in which he had every right to behave otherwise.
Looks like the motor loonies were out in full force and causing some problems again at Paris-Roubaix—
At least the last rider up to the crash (left) got in a few choice words after the rider on the right side got crunched by the motorcycle—-
This is “NUTZ”!!!!
https://twitter.com/r8uge/status/719200478475743232
@Matt
Hear hear. I was very impressed by how Boonen handled the result. Good on him.
Okay, now I have to watch the finale again.
@Harminator
I don’t know, a lesser rider could easily have sat up for the Haussler group after Stannard killed his momentum leading in to Carrefour…
@Harminator
love the shot of Durbo in the background of the 2nd to last one…looks like he’s paper boying it trying to get back on the crown!
@Harminator
Those photos !
I’m green with ENVE
@Mikael Liddy
Me too. They all look a bit off kilter I think. This could be a race for Durbo. He’s got another 10 starts in him, Merckx willing.
@universo
Totally. This is the type of racing you get when everyone the front bunch isn’t afraid to lose.
@Harminator
yup, I ‘think’ he’s done reasonably well in the U-23 version in the past, but I could be wrong. I definitely thought he was well placed on Sunday when he managed to make the Boonen group ahead of the crash & had Hayman & Cort up ahead in the break. Never really heard what happened to him in terms of dropping off.
Seeing as Rule #74 is probably one of the most broken rules among the Velominati, I know there’s a few here that’ll appreciate reading through this stuff.
Mat Hayman’s power data from Roubaix & subsequent analysis
@ChrisO
I don’t have a power meter, but I was quite pleased how low I managed to keep my heart rate throughout the race. To be fair, my team were outstanding – they just kept taking it in turns to bomb up to the front and give me a wheel for a bit. We didn’t plan it but that’s how it worked out.
I was crapping myself before the race – because I knew how strong I was and how I did have a genuine shot at the win.
Also, quite gratifying that it turns out I do have the sort of sprint I’d always hoped. Very much like Frank and the pave, I’d always been certain that sprinting was just something I was good at. Nice to find out it’s true! Seen another photo of the finish and it was so close! By the time our back wheels had crosses the line I was ahead, even though his front wheel crossed the line first.
Fantastic write-up of a fantastic race. Maybe I’m biased by nationality (Aussie) but it did seem to play out wonderfully.
Loved the Beasties reference.
Thanks Frank.
“Licensed to Ill” was the first cassette I owned. Spent many an hour in the back of the family truckster (Chevrolet Caprice Classic wagon) on road trips listening to it. Every song kicks ass.
@fenlander
If I was a film producer I would totally have that be the soundtrack for this year’s race for sure.
@oregonrouleur
This is awesome.
@Harminator
Totally agree here actually; the perseverance here isn’t isn’t in the face of hardship but instead against the overwhelming fatigue. The fact that he fought back after the Carrefour being the best example, but every attack in the final was just as much of a mind fuck.
@Bart
Actually, that’s taintpreserving fast. The faster you go, the smoother they feel. His ride over there is incredible, though. He must have practiced the shit out of that one. I feel bad for anyone who doesn’t speak Dutch; the commentary is absolutely fantastic.
A very well written piece that I would be honoured to claim as my own. But I won’t.