That sounds like a great idea, Dave. I highly recommend it.

Personally, I think that for the real Classics experience you should try and check out at least one of the three races of what I like to call The Classics Week. It all starts with the Ronde van Vlaanderen on April 4th – Easter Sunday. If you can only take in one event and are looking for the crazed Euro-fan, knock-down, drag-out bike race experience, this is the one to take in. The Ronde van Vlaanderen is admittedly not as much on the radar of American fans as Paris-Roubaix is, but most of us consider it to be the harder of the two. Also, without too much difficulty, you can check out at least a couple different sweet cobbled climbs without having to break too many laws. In fact, I have often talked about bringing a small group over for the Ronde and riding bikes from one cool viewing spot to the next.

If you’re free for the entire week you could then check out Gent-Wevelgem on Wednesday. This semi-classic is one the favorite races I rode – it is fast and has lots of side-wind. There isn’t much in terms of interesting places to watch other than on and around the Kemmelberg, but the people I know who have checked it out always report having a great time on top of the Kemmelberg. If all you did was plant your flag in that one spot you’d get to see plenty of dudes suffering over the top of it … twice.

Sunday the 11th of April is obviously Paris-Roubaix. It is an incredible event and pretty much a must-see for true cycling fans, because until you actually see it live, you cannot understand how gnarly it really is. However, Paris-Roubaix doesn’t offer as much opportunity to see multiple places on the course without quite a bit of effort.

My vote … do the whole week, but if that isn’t a possibility hit one of the Sundays. I would say that Flanders is more spectator-friendly, but that is mostly based on the fact that I have seen the same faces at multiple points on that course, but didn’t remember that same thing for Paris-Roubaix.

If you want an even more immersed experience, check out one of the various tour companies. I found this one just looking for next year’s race dates.

Have fun!

Kevin Bengtson – Minneapolis, Minnesota

It’s also really hard to pin down what the absolute best races were, since they all have some cool, redeeming qualities to them. My pick for the most amazing Tour de France ever is definitely Greg LeMond’s 1989 8-second victory. Other than that, every race is pretty special.

For me, if you really want some motivation while you are suffering in solitude in a dank basement in the (612), (651), (763) or wherever you are, pick up a copy of any Paris-Roubaix ever ridden, but primarily the rainy ones. The Tour of Flanders works pretty well also. Heck, any of the classics will suffice since they are quite often raced under quite adverse conditions. Watching these racers suffer in the wind, rain, cold and cobblestone conditions might just lessen the pain and boredom you have to endure. Living where you do, you have quick access to Mr. Grady’s fine cycling movies, of course, but I have also found a whole gaggle of stuff on YouTube. Now I know that you’re never going to get fit watching 2 – 8 minute clips, but I’ve seen that there are races from the old days that you can purchase via some of the people who post these clips on YouTube.

When I lived in Minneapolis I spent many a mind-numbing session in my basement and the only thing that worked for me (before I got my CompuTrainer) was to stare at the wall and hope to have at least half of my brain shut down like that of a dolphin. Two 4-hour sessions on rollers with wind resistance is my record. I am pretty sure that I am only now recovering from that 8 hours of torture.

Fernado Castro -  Chula Vista, California

Fernando, I am hereby a bit stymied.

I can tell you 100% for certain that synthetic is better than natural when it comes to the “chamois” in your bike shorts. As for tire technology, I lack all that much wisdom.

I believe I have mentioned before, on this site, that I do like motorsports. I was even employed in that world for a couple of years. As such, I have been able to glean some knowledge almost, you could say, through osmosis. In the world of motorsports, tire compound, car setup, track temperature, tire temperature and air pressures all play a roll in determining how much grip the car has on the racecourse, as well as how fast it will go and how long the tires will last. In cycling, I think you could say the same thing. Of course, in car racing the teams can watch and interpret tons of data, and therefore, can make more calculated changes to the car. Although I think we’re someday going to see quite a bit of data acquisition being used (live) in bike racing, we’re not quite there yet.

I do remember riding various different tire brands/models that were absolutely fantastic in one condition and complete junk in other conditions. When I first turned pro, my team, Transvemij (later known as TVM) was sponsored by Gommitalia for tires. The ones we got were so incredible in dry conditions, but so slippery in the wet that most of us bought our own tires for use in the rain. In Belgium, rainy conditions are quite frequent, as you can imagine.

On IOC-Tulip, we did some tire testing for Wolber and had a frightening experience on day in the Tour of Ireland. As soon as it started raining, the two teams on the prototype Wolbers started crashing and getting flats. I could see one of those two things happening to a tire when the skies open up, but both? It was really strange.

As I’ve alluded to previously, the sport of cycling has changed a lot since I was a racer. Frame materials, wheel construction, components – everything is lighter and stronger. Riders themselves are better trained but race less than during my era. Their position on the bike has changed quite a bit as well – some of which comes from mountain biking.

I think what we’re seeing in all the crashing comes primarily from the fact that with so many riders being able to pedal so fast, the sport has perhaps become more competitive, although I honestly don’t see the same level of bike handling as back in the day. Some of the Paris-Roubaix crashes I saw this year had me completely confused. But then again, I wasn’t there.

So to answer your question — tire pressure and construction definitely play a part in the crashes we all see, but why and how much is a mystery.

Speaking of tire pressure, most people run way too much air in their tires. I believe this negatively affects the ride quality of a bike and its handle characteristics as well. This past weekend I had a chance to get down to Laguna Seca to see some of my friends from the world of car racing, and to introduce some of my friends to the sights, sounds, and smells of the track. One of the nicest dudes in the paddock, my pal Charles Espenlaub told me about a bike ride he’d been on recently, where his front tire exploded. Now, who’s to say that he didn’t pick up a little sidewall nick or something that resulted in the armadillo-scaring explosion, but the factory Mazda driver, who drives with and rides bikes with this guy, was definitely running too much pressure – about 30 psi more than I do.

Check out this neat little graph from Michelin. How many people are running too much pressure?