Mike Friedman

“Cobble Camp”

// March 11th, 2008 // Sup

Its 10:19 PM and I’m on the team camper after just being picked up from the airport in Pisa, Italy. We are on our way to race Eroica, a relatively new race but historic event in southern Italy. I just came from northern France where some of the boys and I had a recon of the Paris Roubaix (PR) course. We’ve dubbed it “Cobble Camp”.

The camp lasted two days and the purpose was 1.) experiece the stones\sections first hand and see what “tough” really is, 2.) learn from the 2004 champion taking whatever advice was thrown our way, 3.) test various zipp wheels (202 or 404) and various size vitoria pavé tires 24 or 27 mm), and 4.) to experience the sheer pain in the hands that makes it almost impossible to type this.

Het Volk had about 16 km of cobbles. In comparison, using two brutal days we coverd 50 km with each day involving a trip to and from an aiport. It was sunny on one section, hailing on the next, dry everywhere else except the cobbles at times, muddy, dusty, smooth, bumpy, so rough you can’t hang on to the bars, cold, hot, and eventually JUST RIGHT!

It was a rude awakening the first few sections, like being in a cave and seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. You can’t see anything because the shaking is surreal. Bones, arms, fingers, joints, backs, necks, heads, saddle regions, legs, knees, feet, ache and hurt. I quickly realized that I couldn’t ride the hoods the way I did in Het. Its not that the Het cobbles aren’t freaking hard, because they are, its that they are more rectangular shaped and laid in a “more” smooth pattern. The PR cobbles are more pentagonal and in some areas are laid in an actual pattern. Others though, as if a truck drove through a muddy field and pushed the stones out letting them lay where they landed. The gaps inbetween the stones are like well riding through a creek bed or rail road tracks if the ties weren’t so organized. Don’t get me wrong, there are smoother sections and you can tell simply by mere vision comparison. Its like driving in NYC, you point tour front end where you want to go and floor it.

Forest of Arenberg, after going through it. We will be coming the other way.

These two days were spectacular! They were very useful, as I learned and experienced a lot. While this will be my first Roubaix, I have no doubt that the learning curve that I just went through will help carry me further and longer in this edition of the race. My job is to help Maggy, and that is what I intend to do until either I crash so badly I can’t continue, or that I physically can’t go on.

Meatball

Ps: my poor license plate fell off!