Boone-Roubaix: The Hell of the High Country 4/20

  1. stackout

    offline
    Member

    The Hell of the High Country returns for the fourth year, and now features a Gran Fondo category in addition to the race for cyclists who want to enjoy a Spring Classic at a leisurely pace.

    All categories face a 50 mile course, including 10 miles on unpaved roads, with 3,900 feet of climbing including the infamous "Koppenberg of the High Country," Big Flatts Church Road.

    Prizes three deep for each age group and overall winners for men and women.

    Register for $35 beginning January 14; Registration increases to $40 on January 27, $50 on April 1 to 18, $60 on race day. https://www.bikereg.com/Net/18048

    Pirate Race Productions
    Boone, North Carolina
    http://www.pirateraceproductions.com
    Posted 4 months ago

  2. pa biker

    offline
    Member

    While that sounds really fun and I'm sure that it is beautiful there.

    How in the world does a 50 mile ride with just 10 miles of dirt and only 3900 feet of climbing qualify as "hell" in anyone's book?

    That is easier than our usual Sunday morning shop ride.

    Does anyone have some MTB knowledge of the Banner Elk/Boone, NC region?

    Posted 4 months ago

  3. VA-scooter

    offline
    Member

    Was in Boone last week. There is an awesome Mt. bike park just outside town on 421. Wautuga County runs it. My son & I hiked all over-Have not biked there but it looks incredible. Snow covered peaks in ever direction.

    Posted 4 months ago

  4. stackout

    offline
    Member

    Over 200 people are signed up, there is $2K in cash and prizes for the race and a sweet raffle for the Gran Fondo. Sign up! https://www.bikereg.com/Net/18048

    *pa biker - your Sunday morning shop ride sounds awesome

    Posted 1 month ago

  5. jmdirt

    offline
    Member

    Why are races that include dirt/gravel roads called ______-Roubaix when they don't end in or near Roubaix. Paris-Roubaix is not so named because of the stone roads, its named that because it ends in the Roubaix velodrome.

    Posted 1 month ago

  6. C2K_Rider

    offline
    Member

    "Why are races that include dirt/gravel roads called ______-Roubaix when they don't end in or near Roubaix."

    Really? Everyone knows what "Roubaix" stands for. It isn't just a town anymore, it's a concept. When I first started riding many years ago the guys took me out on an unpaved muddy road and said we were doing "roubaix riding." I had no idea what that meant, except, apparently, riding on muddy, rough roads.

    We have a road race here in california they call California Roubaix. It doesn't have dirt roads, just really, really crappy "paved" roads (copperopolis road race).

    "The stone age didn't end because the earth ran out of stones, and the oil age won't end because the earth runs out of oil" -- Amory Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institute, rmi.org
    Posted 1 month ago

  7. jmdirt

    offline
    Member

    So should all stage races be named the Tour d France?

    Posted 1 month ago

  8. C2K_Rider

    offline
    Member

    That's been going on for years. Tour of this. Tour of that.

    Posted 1 month ago

  9. jmdirt

    offline
    Member

    Yah, but they are the tour of their location: ie Tour of Cali not the Tour d France.

    Posted 1 month ago

  10. lochness

    offline
    Member

    This is cool. Y'all have unwittingly entered the netherworld of Kripke's _Naming and Necessity_. While names are obviously denotative and not connotative, and so Dartmouth college need not be the College at the mouth of the river Dart, there is some signification going on with these race names nonetheless. The Boone "roubaix" is attempting to short circuit the referent, and go straight to the emotional weight of the signified. In essence, any race that calls itself "roubaix" is ascribing itself into the mythic tradition of Belgian attitudes towards cycling. No biggy.

    Posted 1 month ago

  11. longslowdistance

    offline
    Member

    All Madisons may only be held in Madison Square Garden.
    All Kierins must be held in a beer bottle in Japan.

    Posted 1 month ago

  12. KidWok

    offline
    Member

    Nuts...should have called my event a Roubaix instead of a Dirt Rally...

    Tai

    http://www.thepeoplescoastclassic.org/
    Posted 1 month ago

  13. george

    offline
    Member

    Lochness!:^)

    Posted 1 month ago

  14. jmdirt

    offline
    Member

    lochnes, Darmounth is named for the Earl of Dartmouth.

    lsd, the Madison is a type of track racing first raced in Madison SG. The Kerin is a type of track racing first raced in Japan.

    Roubaix is not a type of racing nor is it the first place where bikes were raced on stone roads, it is the finish location for a race. To name a race ____-Roubaix just because it is on a poor road surface at best shows no creativity and at worst complete ignorance. Plus, if that is the case, every road race that I have ever done is ____-Roubaix.

    Posted 1 month ago

  15. jmdirt

    offline
    Member

    Oh yah, I just pulled my tongue out of my cheek! ;}

    I was just being goofy with my first post, I didn't expect a response.

    I learned something new though because I didn't know why Darmouth was named Dartmouth until today.

    Kid, we have a great mixed road surface (pave, dirt, grav, sand...) race here called the Dirt Bag Dash.

    Posted 1 month ago

  16. longslowdistance

    offline
    Member

    jm, thanks for the lecture.

    Posted 1 month ago

  17. 79pmooney

    offline
    Member

    I probably should tape all the handles of my adjustable wrenches not made by Crescent to remind me not to call them "crescent wrenches" like I have all my life.

    Ben

    Posted 1 month ago

  18. jacobus

    offline
    Member

    In essence, any race that calls itself "roubaix" is ascribing itself into the mythic tradition of Belgian attitudes towards cycling.

    Or is that the Belgian attitude of Frenchmen? :-)

    Posted 1 month ago

  19. lochness

    offline
    Member

    @Jacobus: hah! Given the flourishing presence of the "leon de Bruxelles" moules et frites chain restos in Paris, I might be able to get away with sugesting that Parisians wish they were Belgians, anyway. But you get my point; it's less a geographical distinction than it is an emotionally powerful myth.

    As to crescent wrenches, I have no dog in that fight, aside from the fact that it was a crescent wrench with which my brother opened up the back of my head lo these many years ago.

    And I do think it's funny that, no matter what group one is riding with, the instant the ride hits rough pavement, there's _always_ some joker who finds it appropriate, in their fervid imaginations, to shout "Roubaix!" Yeah, one stretch of steel-grid decking sucks, but it's a far cry from being a Franco-Belgian hardass with posterior conditioned by years of hard shocks (it's a wonder that any Roubaix rider manages to procreate afterwards).

    Posted 1 month ago

  20. dkri

    offline
    Member

    The whole "put a lion on it" thing has quite jumped the shark. I pulled up to the line at a cx race last year with some blue and white Lizard Skins bar tape (complete devotee of that stuff) to go with my red shifter hoods. The entire row behind me, in unison, said "who are you supposed to be, Jeremy Powers?" Turning around, I saw 8 guys with bikes and bodies encased in red/black/gold, each with a Lion of Flanders somewhere. That was a good chuckle.

    For disclosure purposes, I am a partner in November Bicycles. This fact probably colors everything I say. I'm clearly not to be trusted.
    Posted 1 month ago

  21. jmdirt

    offline
    Member

    Ben, the main thing is to determine if they are metric or standard open end adjustable wrenches.

    lsd, did you read post two after the t-i-c "lecture"?

    Posted 1 month ago

  22. lochness

    offline
    Member

    @ JM: The dirt bag dash sounds like a great race, but it would surely become a more quality experience if it were renamed the "Flanders Dirt Bag Roubaix", with the slogan "only for Spartan Warrior Lions." Catchy, no?

    Posted 1 month ago

  23. nightfend

    offline
    Member

    I agree and Battenkill should be renamed Battenkill Roubaix.

    Posted 1 month ago

  24. longslowdistance

    offline
    Member

    Here's one with a good name:

    "Harris-Roubaix"

    pronounced "Harry roubaix

    http://svbcoalition.org/events/annual/the-harris-roubaix/

    Posted 1 month ago

  25. 79pmooney

    offline
    Member

    A little perspective on this. Who wins with the city name Roubaix being thrown allover this country every time a couple of cyclists hit less than perfect pavement? Just maybe, the city of Roubaix and the towns along the route of that bike race.

    Just think about the Americans who have dropped serious cash to watch that race or just swing through that city while in France for other reasons. I'll bet much more American coin is dropped in Roubaix that along all of say the Flanders route.

    An aside re: the lions. My middle name is Lyon, from an aunt I loved. During my accident recovery years I spent many Thanksgivings and X'mases with my distant Lyon family as that family was centered 49 miles away, not 3000 like my immediate family. I wear my lion of Flanders sock with pride on my best bikes when I'm in form and usually when planning on serious climbing. My challenge is that they are SockGuy socks. So comfortable it is hard not to stretch those rules. This year will be especially challenging. My form is way off due to a long break after the new year and little since as I have been focusing on my house indoors.

    So if you come to Portland, bring your darkest shades. Maybe even blacken your cheeks baseball style so you won't be blinded by the bright yellow socks on this imposter. (There's not a chance I will disappear up the road out of sight!

    Ben

    Posted 1 month ago

Reply

You must log in to post.