Jan of Biedler Bikes invited Rollapaluza DE to the launch of Dirtland Hamburg. We loved the venue, right under the flight path of the nearby runway the launch was fittingly entitled “Airport Flights” and the kids were soon flying high on the new jumps.
Great night, thanks for inviting us, here’s some pics, all Rollapaluza results and photos will be up soon on RollapaluzaDE.
Winston of Rollapaluza DE was in London for the Rollapaluza UK National Series Final 2012. He also took the opportunity to visit the traditional Good Friday international track meeting at Herne Hill Velodrome catching up with old friends and meeting new ones including visiting German pros Christian Grasman and Marcel Kalz. Two nice guys, they even invited Rollapaluza to their team launch next week!
Marcel went on to win the main event of the meeting “the Golden Wheel” scratch race and returned to Germany £1000 richer!
Trikots sind hier!
The Rollapaluza rigs will feature at “Airport Flights”, the kick-off party for Dirtland Hamburg this Friday the 30th March, from 6pm. Hope to see you there!
Bikeradar popped down to the Bristol round of our UK National series to film this:
Winston grabbed the opportunity to ride the famous section of cobbles from the upcoming Paris Roubaix.
After a 9 hour drive en route for the first event of Rollapaluza France. Bored in my Etap Hotel Box room, after a cheap dinner with cheap wine I was checking out the local area on google maps thinking about a short ride in the morning. Browsing the area one word jumped out at me “Arenberg”.
Was this THE Arenberg, the forest of Arenberg, the Trouee d’Arenberg I had seen so many of my heroes race through on the TV over the last 20 years, Duclos Lasalle, Museeuw, Van Petegem, Tafi, Hammond? On satellite view, I could see the mine, the railway crossing the old bridge…it was! 2.3km of angular, irregular, cobbles through a miserable damp forest, famous amongst cycling fans around the world.
It was cold and misty in the morning, I thought I was lost, I stopped to ask directions, then realised Iwas across the road form the mine, so I carried on, and a couple of hundred of yards ahead the railway crossing that the pros will ride over just metres before the entrance to the forest. At the entrance is the monument to Jean Stablinksi, a local miner who rode his way out of poverty and became a great professional and cobbles specialist.
So to those cobbles, well we have cobbles here in my region of Germany, plenty of them in fact, I live on a cobbled street, there’s also one section 3 kilometres long, I ride them regularly, hands on tops, high gear lifting my bum out of the saddle and putting down the power, I thought I had cobbles wired. But those are German cobbles, old, yes, but ordered, clean, tidy and well maintained, Arenberg is something else, everything they say it is, you can’t tell what it’s like from TV footage, the cobbles aren’t smooth topped, they are irregular, angular and the “surface” itself is not flat there are constant rises and troughs. Cycling on such a surface is close to unbearable, it’s not a challenge like tree roots or rocks, it’s pergatory, incessant rattling vibration and frustration and don’t think about slowing down, once you’ve lost your momentum, it’s impossible to get it back.
So no, I didn’t ride the whole sector, nor would I, unless forced to by a sadistic race or sportif organiser in a competitive environment. Interestingly the pros used to have the option of dodging the crowds and riding the mud path on the side, however in recent years the organisers do indeed force them onto the cobbles by installing barriers.
There have been recent news stories about Arenberg not being included in this year’s race, because of too much moss and grass, well to be honest I thought that this might soften the ride, but the issue seemed to be, as I could see it that the grass and moss have encroached along large sections on the left side meaning it’s impossible to tell what’s underneath, holes, bumps…or indeed the edge of the cobbled road itself…see pictures.
Paris Roubaix Arenberg 2011:
And 1986:
Secret project to be unveiled in coming months.
Angemessen von einem Oscar! Rollapaluza von den Britischen Nationalen Meisterschaften.
Thanks to Matt Cox for creating this epic!
A visit to the Berlin six seems to be becoming an annual pilgrimage for Rollaplauza DE.
This year Winston joined members of the bikesberlin forum in the stands and hooked up with London’s track supremo, ex junior National champ and six day rider the famous JC and his lovely lady for a night drinking beer and getting dizzy.
Also spotted was Berlin’s FXD Nostra crew, promisng parties after. Plus Winston put the hard word on the one and only Robert Forstermann (see below) and we all bought genuine six day madison jerseys (10 Euros!), which JC will be sporting at the Herne Hill track league and Winston claims he will race in on the Rostock track.
The big news is that the amazing Condor Cycles theUK’s finest independent bike brand are supporting Rollapaluza Germany with a stable of their Rollapaluza specific fixed wheel bikes.
En Route to the Ravito Rouleaux Sprint in the South of France Winston stopped at midnight in the car park of a seedy hotel in Northern France’s grimmest town: Calais for a pre-arranged meeting with Rollapaluza crew member tasked with delivering the goods…the brand spanking new Condor Rollapaluza bikes. His reward 11 bottles of finest German beer selected personally by Winston in his local Lidl with a total value of less than seven quid……thanks Shaun.
For his trouble Shaun was bothered by French and UK immigration and UK customs on his way back and nearly missed the boat, they were all curious to know why he had spent less than an hour in France.
The bikes feature in the excellent movie we posted last week.
Condor Rollapaluza bike arrives in mainland Europe
The payment!
Rollapaluza UK Blog