The first time I rode the iconic cobbles of ParisRoubaix, the legendary pro race in northern France, was in 2016. It was a biennial event organised by Vélo Club de Roubaix Cyclotourisme and was 210km that mimicked, in a slightly shorter distance, the route that the men's peloton tackled at the pro race each April. I'd turned up to France with an aluminium Specialized Allez and managed to squeeze on 27mm tyres. A few days before the event, I rode the famous Forest of Arenberg sector: the roughest part of the course with the most jagged, rutted and slippery cobbles, to familiarise myself with them. It was a baptism of fire and I still can't quite believe how I didn't crash.
Over time, however, I developed confidence for cobbles and it's become an addiction to keep going back. I rode them in 2017, 2018 and 2019 as part of a different event, the Paris Roubaix Challenge (6 April in 2024), and returned once more after the pandemic in 2023. I realised last year how much I'd missed the infectious atmosphere of it; it's so different to any other event. Each edition is slightly different, with some tinkering of the route to include different sectors, but the premise remains the same: flat, narrow roads mixing smooth tarmac with bone-rattling cobbles.
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