Getting pounded: 2010 Almonte Paris-Roubaix
By:  Karl Saidla   (2010/04/30)

 I've kind of wanted to do this event for about 15 years. So last Sunday ( April 25th--took me some time to write this report), I woke up at 5 AM and drove out to Almonte with Ottawa Bicycle Club cyclocross specialist Stephanie Rees. Briefly, it is definitely worth checking out if:

-getting you and your bike pounded by every kind of road you can think of sounds appealing.

-you like the scenery near Almonte ( which you should, by the way )

-you have good map reading/memorization skills

-you have good tire changing skills.

Seriously, this was really kind of different, and mostly in good ways. Obviously popular too because there were something like 150 people in it. Basically, it's an 85k road bike race, but you've got to ride your road bike in decidedly “un-roadbike friendly” places including ones with mud, dirt, rocks, pothills, steep climbs, steep descents, and fierce looking dogs, sometimes all together at the same time. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention flying waterbottles (some people obviously didn't get the memo about making sure your cages were solid).

My day included one wrong turn and one flat tire, but I would say that probably happened to about half the field. At least for me, this didn't take much away in terms of fun. It's actually possible that these incidents actually contributed something in the “fun” category.

Thanks to the Ottawa Bicycle Club for all the good work!

I didn't manage many pictures myself, but I have included a couple, as well as a couple more from some other rides this spring. There are all kinds available, along with race reports and people writing about their particular “set-ups” for this thing. Check it all out here...

General Info: http://www.cyclocross.org/

Results: http://www.cyclocross.org/

Race reports and pictures:

http://talltreerides.blogspot.com/2010/04/my-roubaix-ride-and-steed-report.html

http://talltreerides.blogspot.com/2010/04/steeds-of-roubaix-sleeper.html

http://talltreerides.blogspot.com/2010/04/steeds-of-roubaix-good-bad-and-ugly.html

http://www.ottawabikes.com/home/2010/4/25/obc-paris-roubaix-wrap-up.html

A ride a couple of weeks ago. Obviously, Aidan is in charge.

A nice quiet road out by Mt. Cascades.

Stephanie Rees: "had it so dialed on the trails" according to one observer.

The Almonte and District Community Centre: Starting point for the Almonte Paris-Roubaix.

Justin in Wakefield: "I probably can't eat four cheese buns by myself, so you guys are welcome to have one if you want."