6. You know that saying about treating or even beating something “like a rented mule”? I hereby suggest that we change that saying to, “like a rental car in Paris-Roubaix”. Honestly, I’ve used rental cars before, and done stupid things with them (I still smile every time I see one of the few remaining Oldsmobile Aleros that are still on American roads, as I remember playing trash can bowling in the Hollywood Hills many years ago)…but what happens when you drive at very high speeds through cobbled sections on the race’s route is simply insane. The car groans and knocks as it’s oil pan smashes against the crown of the cobbles. Panels in the plastic interior begin to creak, and become loose. Fans on the race’s route pound on all metal panels when the caravan comes to a halt. No rented mule has been treated this badly.

7. If you are in a car in the race’s route, as I was, watching the race live on your phone is not an option. At least if you don’t have a European data plan. Because for someone like me, watching the race on my phone would incur data costs equal to or in excess of the cost of my plane ticket to Europe. So for me, the race happened in short episodes lasting only seconds (when they ride by one of the places where you are able to see the race go by). It’s only when you arrive to the velodrome that you finally find out what has actually happened in the race. There was a big crash? The break went when? You are clueless, and it’s only then that people who have actually watched the race fill you in. Amazingly, however, you can even miss things that happen in the velodrome itself while you are there. I couldn’t see the big TV screen, or the curve where Cancellara crashed. So I completely missed that happening, and didn’t find out until literally two days later. Cycling is a funny sport that way. It doesn’t happen in a stadium, but even when part of it kind of does, you can still miss it. At least I did.