The Paris Roubaix (and a Go-Karting win)

Super day Easter Sunday...

16 mile short spin from Laarne to the town of Donk. There's not much there apart from a water feature in a pond. Eve nearly went over the handlebars trying some crazy manouvre (she thought I didn't see her....)!
We rode back to Laarne and then packed up to watch the Paris Roubaix at the Arenberg forest. On route we spied the course and also saw the Junior race - which rider from our boys team Chris Latham was riding - cross over the motorway bridge in front of us.
We parked up with the crowds and started to walk in the direction everyone else was walking. So many people had turned out to watch the pro's at Arenberg. Apparently Arenberg is an old mining area and the rumour is that a miner who rode the Tour De France found the route through the Forest that Paris Roubaix is famous for.
The cobbles are the nastiest I have ever seen, they proved difficult to walk on so riding a bike must have been horrendous.
The vehicles started to pass through and soon the helicopters following the race were almost above us signalling the bikes were nearly here. The crowd started to go mental so we knew the bikes were upon us. A group of 5 riders passed through with number 83 getting a puncture right next to us, the mechanic seemed slow to change the wheel and probably ruined the riders 5 minutes of fame.........

A gap of maybe 5 minutes and then the bunch passed through, the expressions on the riders faces a picture showing the efforts they were having to put in. 10 minutes later the riders were gone, the noise of the vehicles had cleared and it was time to go.
We walked down to the entrance to the Arenberg stage where the noise started again with many Flandrians giving it the beans for Tom Boonen who was having the race of legends. 50km to go he jumped off the head of the race completely destroying the riders behind him who had no answer to his power and strength.

Afterwards we went to the Go Kart at Koksidje, for some more racing :). The racing was over 12 minutes and despite the speeds being slow the course is really twisty and technical - pretty sure Icould get round it faster on a bike! I took 2 seconds of my lap time from last time I was here and managed a win! Eve has a special Go-karting style which isnt that quick but didn't crash once so big improvement from last time.....