blog by: Dale

April 15, 2008

Paris-Roubaix Central Oregon Style

What a great cycling day Sunday was. I rode the Central Oregon facsimile of Paris-Roubaix, Webcyclery's Spring Classic Ride, then I'd be able to watch Paris-Roubaix on the TV...oh well it didn't quite work out like that. When I went to set up the dvr the night before I discovered they won't be televising it until the following Sunday--Lame! So I woke up and followed the live reports on Velonews and Cyclingnews.

It's great to follow what is probably the most renown and hardest one day race in the sport of cycling and then experience a lot of the same elements in a ride. We don't have cobblestone roads here, but we do have gravel ones. The Webcyclery ride has numerous stretches of gravel just like Paris-Roubaix has the pavè. For the first half the ride the group stays pretty much intact, but then, like the Paris-Roubaix the ride becomes a scramble and breaks up into smaller groups winging it home, led by the strong. Riding the gravel is sketchy, I almost dished my front wheel a couple of times, but the ride is no "hell of the north" like Paris-Roubaix being that its only 40 miles(in great weather this year) as opposed to about 160 for the real deal.

About half the riders, incl. myself, ride their road bikes, while half have cyclecross setups or at least tires. When I got back and checked out the tires of those who got back first the ratio was the same, suggesting that what you lose on the gravel you gain on the road or vice versa.

Up until the rest stop, I rode with the group, it was a good pace, but nothing I had hurt myself to get. On the stretches of gravel I stayed at the back and played it safe, reminding myself to keep the front wheel pointed straight. As we'd get back on the pavement I'd have some ground to make up and did. The gravel just before the rest stop starts to string out the group, but the stop comes before the elastic breaks. When I got there I remarked, "not bad for a Spanish climber." That's how I see myself as a rider. I can do big climbs and get distances pretty good but flat fast rides are for the Classics or "Strongman" type of rider.

Why do climbers get dropped by strongman types on climbs? Ironic, huh? Tom Boonen, the strongman winner of Paris-Roubaix led some charges over the shorter punchy climbs in the Ronde van Vlaanderen dropping numerous climber types, who were there to fill out their team rosters. These Riders will daylight Boonen over the big climbs in the Tour. Its the same reason I get dropped on the rollers on Alfalfa Rd. coming back into town or the climb on Fryear Rd. The climber types are running so hard on the flats that they don't have any reserve left to dig into to get the climbs.

After the break we did a few miles that hurt a bit because of the way the wind was hitting. Then we turned on to the longest hardest segment of gravel on the ride and it climbed the whole way. It didn't seem steep but I was in my lowest gear. My tire was slipping as much as it was grabbing. I was losing touch with the group and the ride was spreading like a non-cycling middle age man's belly. I was all over the place trying to get the best line. I was on the left side of the road and a car was approaching. I went way over and got bogged down in some sugar. Foot down and all momentum lost, now I was way back. As I got to the pavement, I was all by myself, into the wind and could see only a few riders at least 1/4 mile ahead.

I passed Dan Wolnick on the side of the road with a flat. This ride even had it's George Hincapie counterpart. Hincapie is always one of the favorites in Roubaix, but falls victim to bad luck. This year he lost all chance with a flat at a crucial time. Dan was in the front group of 3 last year in this ride and was looking to be there this year too but the Webcyclery's Spring Classic doesn't have a team car for you to get you a 15 second wheel change. Reportedly the same same thing happened to Dan 2 years ago too.

I put my head down and caught the the riders ahead surprisingly quick. I rested in the back for awhile, then went to the front and caught another group, rested and then went to the front and got another group. I was feeling good and I have a new frame and wheel set and was enjoying putting them through their paces. We had a group of half a dozen or something and I pulled almost the whole time. I finally rode them all off my wheel...eh, or I missed a turn. Anyhow, I was solo for the last mile and got back on a somewhat circuitous route.

tags: Rides | permalink |

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