Posted on 10/02/2021 9:46:36 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
Paris-Roubaix is set to be run in a downpour for the first time since 2002. Supporters are thrilled. Riders are terrified.
But for the past few weeks, Doulcier has been rooting for chaos, along with nearly every other cycling fan. That’s because Paris-Roubaix is set to be run in the rain this weekend for the first time since 2002. And while it might seem strange for supporters of an outdoor sport to pray for abject weather—unless you live in Green Bay during the playoffs—cycling fans see something epic in the added peril of riding bicycles on cobbles in the mud.
They know that the race known as the Hell of the North becomes even more infernal when hell gets wet.
What is already a brutal exercise that requires endurance, deft bike-handling skill and a taste for splattered mud turns into a test of nerve and a rider’s appetite for misery. It’s cold. It’s crowded. The surface of the cobbles feels like an ice rink. And potholes, known in French as “chicken nests,” fill up with water and mud, making them impossible to judge. Your front wheel might skip over them, or you might go over your own
“There’s not much you can do if someone crashes in front of you,” he said. “You really need to have no bad luck that day.”
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
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Last weeks F1 race in Scochi, Russia turned into a melee when rain started falling during the last six laps...
Thanks for this heads-up!
We’ll I hope no one gets hurt.
Meh, I’ll pass.
No wait...is John F’kin Kerry in it??? if so let’s pray for a freakin blizzard...
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