A bumpy road ahead

The cobbles of Roubaix are totally unsuited for bike riding – which is exactly why you should try them, says Frank Strack.

- Frank Strack

Dear Jon

I’ve always felt that I’d be a natural at riding the cobbles, the same way I’ve always been sure that had I been born into the Star Wars universe I’d be a Jedi. We hold these sorts of beliefs about ourselves steadfastly through the mounting lack of evidence to the contrary.

As it turns out, I was right about the cobbles. A youth spent riding rigid mountain bikes over single-track trails and road bikes over gravel roads in northern Minnesota was just enough to make the cobbles of northern France seem that much less terrifying. My Jedi reflexes helped too.

I’m not sure where you live, but I’m guessing it isn’t in Flanders, otherwise you wouldn’t be asking this question. You’d be asking a question more like, ‘Why do non-Flemish riders notice rain and wind? And why are they all so soft?’

Most of us think of Flanders as being a region in Belgium, but the historical country of Flanders flows over into northern France. The roads on which Paris-Roubaix in France is held are every bit as Flandrian as those that host the Ronde van Vlaanderen and the other cobbled Classics in Belgium. Country borders, as it turns out, were drawn by politicians not cyclists.