Velominati Super Prestige: Paris-Roubaix 2015

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• Ooo, I got 9 points. Looks like I'm in this thing (finally, after a Delgado Spring). Sad for Sir Brad but that is definitely a classic photo.

  But that man has some skinny, skinny calves.

• @RobSandy

  @Dr C

  @Chris

  @Mikael Liddy

  @Geraint

  @RobSandy

  Because Wiggins tried to win, and Rowe didn’t?

  Basically this, Wiggo rode a great race & had a crack where he had a chance to pull it off (10k to go, on a slightly lesser set of cobbles). Rowe could just do what he wanted without anyone paying him attention.

  Fucking cracker of a race. Dare I ask it, is the racing a little better without Fabs & Tommeke?

  Who gives a monkeys what the actual result was when they both looked this awesome at the finish.

  Brilliant! – Not even Beaker looked this much like Beaker – most awesomest picture evr of Wiggo

  All good points.

  Just found out I competed against Luke Rowe’s dad in a time trial last month.

  That is all.

  I'd love to know what's going through Beaker's head.

• @Chris

  @wiscot

  @Chris

  @wiscot

  Indeed, but one of my two crossings is out in the Fens and is Not Very Sheltered At All. I prefer to spend my time feeding my face and trying not to either be blown away by a Siberian gale or go hypothermic.

  I hear you. I did 130 kms yesterday and the SW wind gusts were up to 50kms an hour. My route meant the last 35kms were into the headwind. I used every bit of local know-how to keep sheltered on the way home, but there were a few sections where it was impossible to do anything but suffer. Mind you, it was warm, so there was at least that to be thankful for!

  I was planning on doing a similar distance yesterday on the Rapha Hell of the North ride out of London which looked like a cracking day out. Grave sections and a midway feed/coffee stop in the outdoor velodrome at Welwyn Garden City.

  Unfortunately a momentary lapse of reason and a healthy dose of ineptitude whilst changing pads and discs on my car left one of the brake piston lying in the ground in a puddle of brake fluid.

  The kids ran and hid as I rather noisily contemplated the loss of my Sunday ride.

  Grave sections? They were going to ride through cemeteries? (Forbidden combo of semi-colon, dash and bracket here)

• I was pretty disgusted with the commissaires to be honest.  Spartacus tweeted the race rules around level crossings and it is clear they should have all be DQ'd, this just now means that next time they will go for it again.  Does someone have to get killed for them to apply this rule?  I can forgive the first few riders who could not stop safely but ultimately most of them just went for it.

  I also wonder why the police were not managing this better, the train is a TGV they are fast, reliable to the second and police radio with the driver could have foreseen the possibility and it could have been stopped.

  And we all know if this had been better managed the final result would have been 1. Greg Van Av 2. Kristoff 3. Gee (he would not have fallen if he was less worried about the crossing hazard) 4. Saggy (his brake levers would never have been knocked by the descending barrier) and Tricky Nicky......

  Exactly as I predicted!  I feel robbed!!

• http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/no-sanction-for-riders-who-broke-level-crossing-at-paris-roubaix

• And the guy most likely to have been pasted to the front of the train...was in the French champs tricolore! Talk about a national tragedy!

• @wiscot

  @Chris

  @wiscot

   That being said, I got railroaded yesterday but I was in no hurry . . .

  One of my favourite routes crosses the East Coast Main Line twice. It’s a rare day when I don’t get stopped at least one of them and somehow the timing seems to work out that I have to wait for three trains to go past each time.

  Being railroaded can be a pain (hell, I used to live in Terre Haute, IN) and had to cross multiple sets of tracks to get anywhere. The trains ran right through the center of town and I lived between two sets of tracks. Mind you, railroad stoppage time is always a good time to practice the art of casually deliberate.

  Hell yes! Talk about the perfect opportunity to work on CD art! And the line of drivers behind you can't even get pissed at the fruity dude in Lycra because they're too busy being pissed at that archaic machine holding them up.

  Lots of trains around my town/city. I really enjoy seeing them go by, feeling the ground rumble, thinking back to when trains ruled and smartphones didn't exist, oh the fleeting joy!

• @Ron

  @wiscot

  @Chris

  @wiscot

   That being said, I got railroaded yesterday but I was in no hurry . . .

  One of my favourite routes crosses the East Coast Main Line twice. It’s a rare day when I don’t get stopped at least one of them and somehow the timing seems to work out that I have to wait for three trains to go past each time.

  Being railroaded can be a pain (hell, I used to live in Terre Haute, IN) and had to cross multiple sets of tracks to get anywhere. The trains ran right through the center of town and I lived between two sets of tracks. Mind you, railroad stoppage time is always a good time to practice the art of casually deliberate.

  Hell yes! Talk about the perfect opportunity to work on CD art! And the line of drivers behind you can’t even get pissed at the fruity dude in Lycra because they’re too busy being pissed at that archaic machine holding them up.

  Lots of trains around my town/city. I really enjoy seeing them go by, feeling the ground rumble, thinking back to when trains ruled and smartphones didn’t exist, oh the fleeting joy!

  Merckx know I don't miss living in Terre Hautre, But I do get a bit wistful at the memory of the train horns at 2am off in the distance. There's also something great about the rhythmic clack -clack, clack-clack of the wheels on the track.

  When I got stopped at the crossing yesterday I was the first in line. I took position right in the middle of the lane and carefully picked my way over the tracks before moving over to the right.

• @wiscot

  @RobSandy

  @Dr C

  @Chris

  @Mikael Liddy

  @Geraint

  @RobSandy

  Because Wiggins tried to win, and Rowe didn’t?

  Basically this, Wiggo rode a great race & had a crack where he had a chance to pull it off (10k to go, on a slightly lesser set of cobbles). Rowe could just do what he wanted without anyone paying him attention.

  Fucking cracker of a race. Dare I ask it, is the racing a little better without Fabs & Tommeke?

  Who gives a monkeys what the actual result was when they both looked this awesome at the finish.

  Brilliant! – Not even Beaker looked this much like Beaker – most awesomest picture evr of Wiggo

  All good points.

  Just found out I competed against Luke Rowe’s dad in a time trial last month.

  That is all.

  I’d love to know what’s going through Beaker’s head.

  "Paris-Roubaix is so much fun. I wonder if I can re-negotiate my contract so that I can come back and do this every year."

• @wiscot

  Re the train crossing. In this day of incredible communications technology, is it not possible to communicate with the damn train driver and get things sorted so we don’t have the level crossing farces happening every few years?

  According to inrng.com, they do try and tweak the start time of the race so that they don't clash with the trains. But apparently the tailwind meant that they got to the crossing sooner than anticipated.

  And every single rider who had to dodge around the barriers should get turfed out. I had another look at the video today and it looks like there was about 10 seconds between the last cyclist across and the arrival of train. And then the riders start crossing again before the barriers start coming up. What if there was another train coming?

  Numpties, each and every one of them.