I've emailed them so fingers crossed!
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Paris-Roubaix 2013
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No joy - they are fully booked! Back to the train and velodrome!
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good on you for trying BW. your boyfriend's a lucky guy.
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Hey Bikewidow...check your PM (on the top of the page!!)
It is his word versus ours. We like our word. We like where we stand and we like our credibility."--Lance Armstrong. -
Do you also know there is a citizens fondo the day before? Not sure if bikes are involved in your plans, but to me riding a portion of the course would be more fun than watching the race. Do they require tickets to get ino the Drome and watch?
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Hello,
Being as we are going for a weekend in Paris and flying there, we won't have bikes so no. But there usually is isn't there. I don't believe you pay or need tickets to get into the velodrome (unless you want to go to the VIP section) but you need to get there early!
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Wah! Tickets booked now. Train arrives in roubaix 12:19 and leaves roubaix in the evening at 19:40! Hopefully those times will be fine - have a long wait in Lille at the end of the day so hoping there will be somewhere near by to grab some food?!
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One doesn't just grab some food in France. Even in a train station you will never be short of options for a quality food experience.
One of my favorite bike related experiences is still the 3-week trip I took with two buddies riding from NL to the Mediterranean on 3-speed bikes. Every afternoon we spent several culinary hours before slowly getting back on our bikes again. Those culinary hours were typically spent in your average roadside cafe, rubbing shoulders with the local workers coming in for their lunch, which also seemed to take hours. La Vie Francaise.
The wise man said follow me...and he walked behind. -
OC, "Those culinary hours were typically spent in your average roadside cafe, rubbing shoulders with the local workers coming in for their lunch, which also seemed to take hours."
One of the hardest things to get used to when traveling in Europe was waiting for waiters to bring a bill. Geez, we are way too fast here in the US. Even a nice restaurant here we are out in under an hour. In Spain on business we did 4 hour dinners every night. course, Wine, Course, wine, course, wine etc. My butt was more sore than when I ride! in italy I was always having to go find the waiter so we could get out of there. ugly American, I guess!
"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 -
BW, ham & cheese baguettes are ubiquitous in france. and OC's correct; smaller town train stations either have a fast food counter or a nice restaurant within easy walking distance.
où se trouve un joli restaurant près d'ici?
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Well I think we have a 40 minute wait so not long enough for a restaurant visit unfortunately!
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C2K: I can speak for Italy, at least, but I think the same is true for France. A waiter would NEVER bring a patron a bill until the patron asked. That is, they consider it rude to bring you the bill outright, as if they are asking you to leae.
Sat in a restaurant one of my early visits and wondered why the owner/waiter was sitting over there watching "football" instead of bringing our check. Finally we asked -- and he was ready, just didn't know we were!
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Whenever I am in Italy, I don't get to pay, just drink and eat, and bike of course :-)
This year with the Italians visiting us, we're gonna turn the table big time.
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Hello!!
Just thought I'd update you - it was my boyfriend's birthday this weekend and he loved the present. V excited for next weekend now!!
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Awesome!
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If you take the train, be sure you have directions to the velodrome- it is NOT very obvious, as I unfortunately found out last year.
At the time I was living in NL and visiting Antwerpen- got a late start on the train to Roubaix. I figured it would be pretty obvious when I arrived- indeed there was a sign outside of the station, but I was completely lost within a few minutes as the signs were not consistent. When I saw the helicopter overhead several km's away I knew I'd completely wasted my time/money...ugh. Good luck- hopefully your experience is better than mine! Someday I'll make it back.
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Good advice - thank you. Hoping to be there in plenty of time!
Thanks
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Hello!
Just a quick message to say thank you so much for all the advice. Firstly, my boyfriend loved the surprise! Secondly, Paris-Roubaix was a cracker. We have just sat down to watch the highlights and overall I really feel for Stybar (boyfriend loves cross too so we were cheering for him)- bloody spectators! Cancellera - what a man (or should I say machine)!
The train from Paris to Roubaix was easy - a little stop off at Lille. Roubaix itself is, well it's a bit of a dump to be honest. Not worth planning to spend any time there other than to get to the velodrome. Do not follow the road signs to the velodrome - they take you on a 4 mile trip in the opposite direction (as we found out, unfortunately) so just get a map. We did well to get there early (about 3 hours before the end) as it does fill up quickly. We sat in the stands and watched the majority of the race on the big screen with beers and french baguettes. About a hour before the pro's you get yo see the junior Paris-Roubaix coming in which is great. some of the Estonian junior riders came and sat up in the stand to watch the pro's too. The atmosphere is great (lots of wonderful Belgians). At the end you can go around the back of the velodrome to all the team coaches etc. this bit was crazy busy but lots of fun - you et to see the teams washing the bikes and handing out water bottles, freebies if you are lucky. You also can get a chance to meet some of the riders - we saw Geraint Thomas & Luke Rowe (both fellow Welshmen and we were routing for GT for a possible win but unfortunately had a crash) which was fantastic. The Radio Shack coach was absolutely heaving with fans trying to get a snap of FC but we didn't see him.
A special thanks to Keith Richards for supplying us with the great Monsère T-Shirts - did our best to give some information to a few Belgians that enquired!Thinking Giro de Lombardia next!!!
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