Rouge Roubaix PreRide

Today Ryan, Frogge, and I drove down South to St. Francisville, LA. Along the way, we stopped in Woodville and rode out to the 2nd of three gravel sections on the 100 something mile course. I’m glad we had the chance… the lead-in from the main road to the gravel featured a short but uber-sketchy plank bridge that could easily catch a wheel and thrown you to the ground (or off the side of the bridge) if you didn’t stay in the middle. The gravel itself is unlike any other I’ve ridden- rather than being hardpack dirt with rocks on top, it was a mix of small rocks and loose, sandy silt that’s randomly shallow and deep. Tough stuff, but it should be pretty fun.

The rest of the team drove in from Dallas yesterday, so they went for a ride earlier in the day. When we got to the hotel, everyone had just come back from dinner, so I left my bike with the team mechanic and went with Ryan & the other Memphis Velo guys to the Magnolia Cafe for dinner. When I got back to the room, Casey and Whitney filled me in on the tactical details for tomorrow’s epic… time to polish the bike and pic numbers!