Up at 4:00 am to watch a live stream of Paris-Roubaix, I nodded off a few times, but was awake for the five-up sprint finish and saved a few moments with Twitter’s curation tool.
Also, see Twitter’s moments about Roubaix.
It was record-setting fast because of a tailwind and a Spring ritual for me to watch. Who wins or loses doesn’t matter anymore, it’s that I’m tethered to the sport, and this is its most celebrated race.
Considering Boonen’s last-race beef with Degenkold, the Trek is way sexier than the Specialized. And, both have fancy paint and badges with their own words on them too. What I really wanna know is which one looked down and was inspired by his self-quotes the most.
Whoever you think did that, buy from their brand.
Race Sidebar: Sean Kelly does NOT approve of sandbagging.
Disc Brakes and The Classics
Regarding disc brakes, it’s a catch-22 when marketers say the Pros won’t run discs at Roubaix because of tire changes because that technology opens up space for tires that are engineered for rough roads.
Just imagine how a 650b wheelset attached to a featherlight carbon bike, designed by Vroomen, and a 47c tire with speed scrubbed by disc would do; wait, that’s my bike….
Back to my point, if the marketers were to say in some lengthy paragraphs, that the classics are steeped in tradition and thereby ran on hard man principles, and 28s are all you ever need that’d make more sense (ignoring that Paris-Roubaix has always been a proving ground for whacky shit).
But then the marketers couldn’t sell you their road suspensions or 11 speeds, or carbon layup, or aero, or anything else new the factories in Taiwan produce.
During this transition to discs phase, we should give teams that run them in the classics a special award for bravery.
I’ve ridden the Giant they were on too, it’s fast as f.
…
We're riding townies, adventure, and mountain bikes. Find recommendations on our store page. As Amazon Associates we earn from qualifying purchases.