Yesterday I paid my respects to The Hell of the North in my own way. For those who don't know, the Hell of the North is a more formally known as Paris-Roubaix and is a cycling road race known for it's many sections of cobbled and muddy roads. It's taking place today. In fact it might be over by the time you read this but as I said I paid my respects to the race yesterday and you can too. All you need is a handful of this :
Respects paid to the race and you can go home or enjoy a normal ride. If you're lucky you might even have a cobbled road (I know there are some in Pittsburgh) or public with cobbled sections. I don't recommend this second method or trespassing.
yes it's gravel
and one of these
a driveway
or just the street.
This is how it's done. Get all dressed up in your cycling clothes. Toss the gravel on the driveway (not to all-over since you're probably going to have to sweep it up). Climb on your road bike. Ride through the gravel. Hop off the bike and go inside to enjoy the rest of the day!
The next way takes a little more effort or premeditation. If you've seen a cobbled driveway or sidewalk near your home then just spin over to it and quickly ride across it so that no one notices that you're trespassing.
Ok so I didn't do either of these but I thought about them as I road. I did ride through a short section (a mile) of gravel on my ride yesterday. This is probably the best route to take if you have the time and sturdy tires and wheels. If you are going to do this just remember to stay seated if you have to do go uphill at all in gravel. If you stand your rear wheel is very likely to just spin and kick up rocks. This is bad. Leave your weight on the seat and suffer. Better yet don't go uphill at all if you're not into torture.
On the subject of torture or self torture I have come to the conclusion that cyclists (or any athletes for that matter) are at least a little masochistic. I actually never thought about this doing any other sport except cycling so I relate this more to cycling than anything else. Completing a hundred mile ride earlier this year for the first time which included a five mile strip of hilly gravel secured this conclusion in my mind. When all was done I told my wife I had fun. And I'm still going back for more.
I'm going back to bed. Ride. Watch the Pros suffer today if you can while you rest or at least be amazed by their suffering after the race and all of the pictures of the muddy dirty riders come out. www.cyclingnews.com is a good place to check out news and pics for cycling.
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