The Paris Roubaix is a part of the Spring Classic UCI series which attracts the big teams and the biggest names in road racing. Ridden in March as a 160 mile day event it's defining feature is the relentless series of pavé (cobbled) roads that endlessly punctuate the route. Add to this the flat, windswept terrain of northern France and the often adverse weather of early spring and you will understand that the Paris Roubaix is a race with a difference.

The VELO CLUB DE ROUBAIX runs a popular cyclosportive in June which follows the route of the Spring Classic event and attracts an international crowd of amateur cyclists keen to sample just a bit of the agony.

Four VCC members went with the London Cycling Group to ride this year's event. The schedule was trimmed to a 'knackering' single night at a 'Formule 1in France which meant starting the ride north of Paris at 4.30 am, riding the 160 miles to Roubaix on the Belgium border and returning to St Albans immediately after the event to arrive home at 2.00 am. Transport was by 'bike bus', a six wheeler coach towing a trailer for the bikes.

An evening meal, which, in the French tradition 'went on a bit' left us with just 3 hours sleep before we rejoined the bus at 3.00am for the drive to the event start. However a strong smell of burning rubber and ambiguous road holding turned out to be a flat tyre - possibly the biggest puncture in the world. It took an hour to change the wheel and so to a late start.

Signed on by 6.00, and away, with fine open roads, rolling countryside and fast moving peletons with fresh legs turning a hard pace, we had reached the first control at 50 miles within 2.5 hours with the 1st pavé sections just 10 miles away. The pace became faster still, with riders really 'going for it' and the ambient temperature already at 32c.

For the initiated the first 'strike' of pavé is unbelievable. The peleton dives of the road, down a narrow alleyway and onto a granite cobbled track that seems uniquely unsuitable for road bikes. Not a single surface is even and the gaps between the cobbles are perfect 'tyre clinchers' with missing cobbles every few yards that ensure the hardest tooth rattling landing for those who hit the gaps. Piles of bits off bikes lay either side of the track, pumps, water bottles, tachos, bike bags, anything you can shake of a bike had been shaken off in that first mile. But here is the amazing thing - the peleton barely slows up! The idea is to go so fast that you hop from cobble to cobble without dropping into the gaps, essentially 'float' above the pavé. It takes some time to get the hang of this and when you do, expect to use a lot of power to maintain speed!

Some very good machinery was being thrown at these roads with C50's and similar in evidence all around and plenty of riders really giving their bikes a hammering - a testament to the actual ruggedness of the modern road bike.

The pavé sections total about 50 miles and come in short 1 - 5 miles lengths interspersed with good relatively fast roads. There are feeding stations every 25 miles or so and these became essential as the temperature soared to 35c in what was to become a 'heat wave'. By half way the groups had really broken up and plenty of riders were clearly in survival mode. The continuous jarring starts to put a real strain on the shoulders neck arms, hands and wrists and one begins to realise what it must be to race this route.

As temperatures continued to rise the locals turned out in their hundreds with convenient water hoses made available outside houses, filled buckets on the roadside and even bottled water being handed out. The countryside is delightful with small villages, hamlets and attractive rural towns. The feeding stations where in schools, village halls and sports halls and were very well run with ample food and fluids.

By midday with 60 miles still to go hard training was beginning to pay off - the distance at least was not the enemy. Many riders were clearly suffering and you began to pass some real 'crawlers' . The essential was to keep hydrated as the temperature took it's toll. Riders began to really seek out the soft verges which are often so much better than the pavé to ride on. The notorious Foret d'Arenberg landed me in the bushes. The soft verge looked like a freshly laid track but is just black, soft dust that slithered my front wheel out from under me.

Finally the outskirts of Roubaix with a stretch of viscous pavé, the sting in the tail that left riders creeping along, trying to avoid any more pain in aching forearms. And then the glide into town and through the triumphal arches and into to the famous Roubaix velodrome for your circuit of honour. Shaken and somewhat stirred you receive your certificate and a nicely mounted cobble stone for the mantel back home. Then a meal and a few beers

and off to the celebrated showers where each cubicle carries the name of a victor in the Paris Roubaix.

You have ridden one of the international classics of cycling. You have experienced just a bit of what Tom Boonen did earlier this year. You have enjoyed a superbly run and organised event where the French love of cycling is evident in all it's glory. Would you do it again? Probably not - but don't let me put you off a once in a lifetime experience.

TIM GRAY