Our man Mike Friedman reports from the pavé.
Anyone who followed the races this past weekend knows I had a brothel of a time. Saturday was one of the worst days I have ever had on a bike. Sunday was much better and I just missed tagging the lead group over the Kwaremont. I was eventually swallowed up by the groupetto.
Today was the perfect time to check out the Paris-Roubaix pavé. We previewed the first section up to and just through the Arenberg. It’s pivotal to know what’s coming up: land markings, what sides to ride on if possible, etc.
After this weekend’s fun, I was feeling awfully tired and lethargic this morning. Riding more cobbles was the last thing I wanted to do today and I had a rough time getting started. I had five coffees during the drive from Ghent to the first section of cobbles in Inchy, and then one espresso to really jolt the system into action just before starting the ride.
The ride was great though. I relearned the sections and added to my memory bank of what to expect using land markings. In the end, we were able to give it some good meat to finish out the day. The Arenberg Forest punched our tickets though, so we called it a day.
