Seeing Paris Roubaix

[Greg Kilroy]

I hope to see Paris Roubaix live this year. I will be traveling to that region from southern Spain
and would take advice on what airport to fly into, as well as how to get to the race itself. I am
hoping to avoid renting a car. Besides Arenberg, what are some good spots to spectate? I haven't
previously traveled in Europe by myself, so I am a bit concerned that I'll end up wandering around
lost in Belgium.

Thanks for any advice,

G Kilroy Arizona

 

[Bart]

Greg Kilroy wrote:
>
> I hope to see Paris Roubaix live this year. I will be traveling to that region from southern Spain
> and would take advice on what airport to fly into,

Paris or Brussels are obvious right ? London usually has cheapest intercontinental fares though, and
is worth considering as the high speed train connects well to Lille near Roubaix.

as well as how to get to the race itself. I am hoping to
> avoid renting a car.

how about a tractor.

Besides Arenberg, what are some good spots to
> spectate?

the track is glorious. Roubaix has a railway station.

I haven't previously traveled in Europe by myself, so I am a
> bit concerned that I'll end up wandering around lost in Belgium.

you're welcome

Bart

 

[Michael Macclan]

In message <[email protected]>, Greg Kilroy <[email protected]> writes
>I hope to see Paris Roubaix live this year. I will be traveling to that region from southern Spain
>and would take advice on what airport to fly into, as well as how to get to the race itself. I am
>hoping to avoid renting a car. Besides Arenberg, what are some good spots to spectate? I haven't
>previously traveled in Europe by myself, so I am a bit concerned that I'll end up wandering around
>lost in Belgium.
>
>Thanks for any advice,
>
>G Kilroy Arizona

There's actually an airport in Lille but flights to Spain appear to be limited to Madrid and
Barcelona. You're more likely to find reasonable prices into Paris, Brussels or London. Easyjet
(www.easyjet.com) is a British budget airline and flies from various places in Spain into several
London airports. Gatwick (LGW) is south of London and has the easiest connection into downtown
London (Victoria Station). The Eurostar train to Lille and Paris departs from London Waterloo.
Eurostar also runs from Brussels to Lille and London.

If you haven't been before take the opportunity to visit Paris and London. I don't know the race but
it would have to be very good to attract me to spend my holidays in the Lille-Roubaix area. It's not
the most attractive part of France!

Hope this helps!
--
Michael MacClancy

 

[Robert Chung]

"Greg Kilroy" <[email protected]> wrote
> I haven't previously traveled in Europe by myself, so I am a bit concerned that I'll end up
> wandering around lost in Belgium.
>
> Thanks for any advice,

Well, since you asked for any advice, I'll mention that in general I've found much more interesting
stuff while wandering around lost than when I knew exactly how to get to what I was looking for.

And I ain't just talking about Belgium. I think that applied to my very first girlfriend, too.

 

[Bart]

Michael MacClancy wrote:

I don't know the race but it would have to be very good to
> attract me to spend my holidays in the Lille-Roubaix area.

Basicly it's a kinda coffeehouse ride with a little track sprint at the end. For that particular day
riders mess up their clothes and faces a bit. Euro folklore really.

 

[Steven L. Sheff]

In article <[email protected]>, "Robert Chung"
<[email protected]> wrote:

> "Greg Kilroy" <[email protected]> wrote
> > I haven't previously traveled in Europe by myself, so I am a bit concerned that I'll end up
> > wandering around lost in Belgium.

March 1983. My first day in Belgium, about 5 weeks before my 17th birthday. Get off the plane, go to
our temporary housing in Montgomery Square (which is really a giant round-about, and not a square at
all), in Brussels. My parents are beat from the flight and jetlag and decide to take a nap. I'm
feeling antsy, and decide to go for a walk.

I neglect to find out what the address and/or phone number of our apartment is. In fact, I didn't
even know that we were in Montgomery Square until later.

I wander around downtown Brussels, checking out a lot of different things like the Mannekin Pis
and the Grand Place (which actually is relatively square), wander through the red light district,
grab some frites and a gaufre from one of the many stalls throughout downtown Brussels, and so on
and so forth.

About 2-3 hours later then decide to head back home ... and then realize I have absolutely no idea
where I am. My general sense of direction tells me, "It's that way," and off I go ... I find my way
back home and take a nap, then get up and tell my parents about my little adventure.

They pull out a map and ask me to show them where all I went. That's when I realize that there's no
such thing as a square block in Brussels, and just how many "square" roundabouts there are ... and
how lost I really was.

It's easy to get lost in Belgium ... but like Robert says, that's the best way to find the
interesting stuff.

> > Thanks for any advice,
>
> Well, since you asked for any advice, I'll mention that in general I've found much more
> interesting stuff while wandering around lost than when I knew exactly how to get to what I was
> looking for.
>
> And I ain't just talking about Belgium. I think that applied to my very first girlfriend, too.
>
>
>

--
Steven L. Sheffield stevens at veloworks dot com veloworks at worldnet dot ay tea tee dot net bellum
pax est libertas servitus est ignoratio vis est

 

[Bob Schwartz]

Robert Chung wrote:
> And I ain't just talking about Belgium. I think that applied to my very first girlfriend, too.

Heather,

Was that before or after the surgery?

Bob "Enquiring minds want to know" Schwartz [email protected]

 

[Tony]

Bart <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Michael MacClancy wrote:
>
> I don't know the race but it would have to be very good to
> > attract me to spend my holidays in the Lille-Roubaix area.
>
> Basicly it's a kinda coffeehouse ride with a little track sprint at the end. For that particular
> day riders mess up their clothes and faces a bit. Euro folklore really.

And the winner gets a big rock or something. Quaint.

 

[Heather Halvors]

Bob Schwartz wrote:
>
> Robert Chung wrote:
> > And I ain't just talking about Belgium. I think that applied to my very first girlfriend, too.
>
> Heather,
>
> Was that before or after the surgery?

oh grrrreat! i see you two are now working as a tag team..

> Bob "Enquiring minds want to know" Schwartz

"enquiring" huh? so is that what you call it?

my own enquiring mind asks- are you gonna be providing an "eat your way thru the classics" report
for us again this year?

heather "double team me" halvorson

 

[Ronde Champ]

"heather halvorson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

>
> heather "double team me" halvorson

Isn't Heather great?

 

[Greg Kilroy]

I'm finding many of these posts pretty funny. Comedy aside, I don't know about flying into Paris any
time soon. Perhaps I am being a bit over cautious, but I don't think Americans are too popular there
just now. I am okay with getting lost in Belgium, as long as I don't miss the race. Someone
mentioned that Belgium is the last place they'd spend any free time. I was thinking about trying to
catch Amstel Gold as well, what about flying into the Netherlands and heading to Belgium from there?

Greg [email protected]

 

[Robert Chung]

Greg Kilroy wrote
> I don't know about flying into Paris any time soon. Perhaps I am being a bit over cautious, but I
> don't think Americans are too popular there just now.

Why would you think that? Maybe the French aren't very popular in the U.S., but I don't think you
can automatically project American boorishness onto the French--the French have plenty of their own
boorishness, they don't need to borrow any from anyone else.

> I am okay with getting lost in Belgium, as long as I don't miss the race.

I think it's safe to say that if you were wandering around in Belgium you wouldn't see much of the
Paris-Roubaix race.

> Someone mentioned that Belgium is the last place they'd spend any free time. I was thinking about
> trying to catch Amstel Gold as well, what about flying into the Netherlands and heading to Belgium
> from there?

I'm not sure how much of the Amstel Gold you'd be able to see from there, either.

 

[Ewoud Dronkert]

On 18 Mar 2003 09:46:26 -0800, Greg Kilroy wrote:
>I was thinking about trying to catch Amstel Gold as well, what about flying into the Netherlands
>and heading to Belgium from there?

The Gold Race is in the southernmost part of the Netherlands. I think Zaventem Brussels might even
be closer than Schiphol Amsterdam. So don't choose Schiphol for proximity. On the other hand, it's
all fairly close: Brussels-Amsterdam 2.5h by train. The Gold Race is near Maastricht:
http://www.agr.nl/ws/nav_2003_heren/img/route_heren_2003_big.gif (this area is in reality about 36
km wide). For trains in the Netherlands try http://www.ns.nl/cgi-ns/nsbaliecgi?language=3D2 In
Belgium see http://ari.sncb.be/default.asp?langue=3D3

 

[Stan Cox]

Yeah a rock is all we can afford in poor old europe. Third place gets a handfull of Gravel.

Stan Cox

"Tony" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Bart <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> > Michael MacClancy wrote:
> >
> > I don't know the race but it would have to be very good to
> > > attract me to spend my holidays in the Lille-Roubaix area.
> >
> > Basicly it's a kinda coffeehouse ride with a little track sprint at the end. For that particular
> > day riders mess up their clothes and faces a bit. Euro folklore really.
>
> And the winner gets a big rock or something. Quaint.

 

[Stan Cox]

Dont sweat it. Most people can disagree with a governments policy without blaming individuals from
that country. You would get a friendly welcome 99% of the time if not more. Well maybe not in Paris
but Parisiens can be a very rude bunch at any time. All The Best

Stan Cox

"Greg Kilroy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm finding many of these posts pretty funny. Comedy aside, I don't know about flying into Paris
> any time soon. Perhaps I am being a bit over cautious, but I don't think Americans are too
> popular there just now. I am okay with getting lost in Belgium, as long as I don't miss the race.
> Someone mentioned that Belgium is the last place they'd spend any free time. I was thinking about
> trying to catch Amstel Gold as well, what about flying into the Netherlands and heading to
> Belgium from there?
>
> Greg [email protected]

 

[Bob Schwartz]

> my own enquiring mind asks- are you gonna be providing an "eat your way thru the classics" report
> for us again this year?

One of these years when the school district gets spring break to match up, my kid and I are going to
catch Milan- San Remo. But not this year, sad to say. This year I think my international bike race
travel is limited to Hamilton.

I was going to mention to the guy that is concerned about getting lost in Belgium that while I
wasn't exactly lost I did run into some fine escargots and RVV analysis while wandering aimlessly in
Belgium. So I would recommend it highly.

Bob Schwartz [email protected]

And I *always* click on your **** links. That's not true for at least one frequent rbr ****
link poster.

 

[Robert Chung]

"Bob Schwartz" <[email protected]> wrote
> I was going to mention to the guy that is concerned about getting lost in Belgium that while I
> wasn't exactly lost I did run into some fine escargots and RVV analysis while wandering aimlessly
> in Belgium. So I would recommend it highly.
>
> Bob Schwartz [email protected]

That was a very fine report. I see it is still online at:
http://www.execpc.com/~cvcc/ronde/ronde.html

 

[Stewart Fleming]

When I was there about 10 years ago for Amstel Gold there was a good express train service from
Amsterdam to the Limburg. I stayed with a mate in Aachen across the German border then back to
Heerlen for the start when it started there. Valkenburg was the best place to see the race then,
Maastricht might a better centre now. Very nice people too. Free samples of the Amstel Gold as I
recall... STF

Ewoud Dronkert wrote:
> On 18 Mar 2003 09:46:26 -0800, Greg Kilroy wrote:
>
>>I was thinking about trying to catch Amstel Gold as well, what about flying into the Netherlands
>>and heading to Belgium from there?
>
>
> The Gold Race is in the southernmost part of the Netherlands. I think Zaventem Brussels might even
> be closer than Schiphol Amsterdam. So don't choose Schiphol for proximity. On the other hand, it's
> all fairly close: Brussels-Amsterdam 2.5h by train. The Gold Race is near Maastricht:
> http://www.agr.nl/ws/nav_2003_heren/img/route_heren_2003_big.gif (this area is in reality about 36
> km wide). For trains in the Netherlands try http://www.ns.nl/cgi-ns/nsbaliecgi?language=2 In
> Belgium see http://ari.sncb.be/default.asp?langue=3

 

[Ewoud Dronkert]

On Wed, 19 Mar 2003 09:40:09 +1200, Stewart Fleming wrote:
>Valkenburg was the best place to see the=20 race then, Maastricht might a better centre now.

Nooo, I just said Maastricht because it's the bigger town and on the main railway where the
express train ("intercity") stops. Valkenburg is still the place to be, especially now that the
finishline is there.

 

[Heather Halvors]

Bob Schwartz wrote:
>

> One of these years when the school district gets spring break to match up, my kid and I are going
> to catch Milan- San Remo. But not this year, sad to say. This year I think my international bike
> race travel is limited to Hamilton.

well, ****. don't know if i want a tour of the cuisine of hamilton (do i?) but i do admit having you
go "over there" annually would be asking a tiny bit much.

> And I *always* click on your **** links. That's not true for at least one frequent rbr ****
> link poster.

yer giving me performance anxiety!!!

heather