Hi Madison Bikes Community, I’m Steph! I am a new member of the Madison Bikes Board, an avid cyclist and coffee drinker. I will be contributing to the Madison Bikes blog on a weekly basis to provide a voice of bike-related encouragement, insight, and amusement. While I am not a bike expert by any means, I am obsessed with all things bike-related and look forward to sharing my thoughts on a new topic with you each week!
Last week, I learned about a new bike event called Paris-Roubaix. To be honest, I had no idea what the heck a “roubaix” was, where it was, or even how to pronounce it (ROO-bay, FYI). What I did deduce was that the Paris-Roubaix was a BIG deal in certain segments of the bike world because there were heaps of references to the event in the popping up on my Facebook feed.
Here were just a few events in the area that Facebook thought I should know about:
Regardless whether spring has truly sprung in Wisconsin or not, the rip-roaring biking community is ready to go and there are events galore. Most of these events do not require advanced registration and most event organizers would be glad to see you come out at all! There are bike events for people from all backgrounds and abilities. There are no-drop rides for women, scavenger hunt rides, hardcore training rides and SO many more. In addition to bike events advertised on social media, you can find a plethora of bike events on our Madison Bikes “Community Bike Calendar“. One of our biggest events this year will be Madison Bike Week! We will be organizing the week of events and plan on it being the best Bike Week ever. Please consider having your place of work get involved by hosting an event or sign up to be a volunteer!
Oh, and for those still wondering, Roubaix is a city in Northern France and Paris-Roubaix is the name of a one-day, boneshaking bike race that has been held in France since the 1800s. The previously-mentioned iterations of the Roubaix involve races on grueling terrain (including gravel) at very challenging speeds.
Happy riding!
P.S.: Want to know more about Paris-Roubaix? Take it from the perspective of the race itself and watch this video:
