The bus departed at 11:30PM from Redbridge station in London. I spent most of the bus ride and ferry crossing (from Dover to Calais) sleeping as it was the middle of the (expletive deleted) night. We arrived in Compiegne at about 8:30AM and hung about watching the riders arrive and sign in. I planted myself in front of the CSC bus, of course, and took a bunch of pictures there and then, of course, took a picture of Boonen riding down to sign in because he looks so good in those tight shorts.
The next stop was a small town in the middle of nowhere. It's kind of amazing to stand by the side of a tiny road in a tiny town in France with hundreds of other people in the heat and the dust waiting. And there is a lot of waiting. I generally think cycling is better enjoyed on television where you can see all the action (no waiting), but there's nothing like seeing 200 guys ride by at 35mph. It's awesome in every sense of the word.
There's a book about Paris Roubaix called the Road to Hell and a documentary called A Sunday in Hell. I'm sure it lived up to that infamy this year. It was a 60 year record high temperature and astoundingly dry. I felt like I was melting and could barely breath from all the dust kicked off the cobbles and all I was doing was standing by the side of the road. I can't believe anyone makes it through the whole race, but in fact 96 riders finished it (16 less than last year).
The second stop was the Forest of Arenberg which is absolutely crazy. People everywhere, stands set up selling food, totally beyond belief. We stayed near the end of it and saw all the mechanics there. They just stand there with extra wheels (front and back), just in case. There are so many people on the sides of the road in the forest that if riders puncture (which they often do on that section of cobbles) they have to just ride it out and change wheels at the end.
I imagine you've noticed I haven't said much about the actual race action which is because I couldn't really tell you what was happening. They ride by so fast you can barely tell which riders you're seeing. I knew there was a break away fairly early on as one group came though ahead of the others at the first section of cobbles we stopped at. Then, of course, I knew things had spread apart into several groups after Arenberg, but I had no idea who was in each group. We were able to get radio coverage on the bus but it was in French. The tour guide understood it and told us some of the more major happenings on the road but I'm definitely looking forward to actually watching the whole race when I get back home so I can see what all happened.
We stopped and saw one more section of cobbles before going on to Roubaix for the finish. Most of the group on the tour bus with me just stopped in cafes or bars and watched the finish on TV, but I felt I had to go up to the stadium and see the circus. There were so many people there I could barely find room to stand so I went just outside it and watched the race come into the stadium and then went and bought frites. Even though I only spent about 16 hours in France I managed to fit in both bike racing and frites for a quintessential experience. Okay, I know frites are really Belgian and I have to admit I got ketchup on my frites instead of mayonnaise, mayonnaise alone on frites is just disturbing, but I'm still going to call it a quintessential French experience.
In traditional brit style we had a betting pool on the tour bus. Each Euro you put in got you one choice. I put in five and took Boonen, Cancellara, Ballan, Backstedt and Hushovd so clearly I lost five Euro, but it was fun.
I left Munich on Saturday morning to London then straight to France and back to London again. Spent around 40 hours travelling, dripping sweat in the sweltering heat and dust, without showering or changing clothes, but had a (expletive deleted) great time. There's no experience in the world like seeing European pro-cycling live in person. I fully recommend it.
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