# Breakaway Cross Ti Roubaix tested



## enr1co

A few pics of my Breakaway Cross Ti after the 2014 Paris Roubaix Challenge at the Roubaix Velodrome finish last month. 

Extremely pleased with my Breakaway Ti Cross' performance during the 141 km ride option. Added some extra fizik gel under my bar tape, a R45, Belgium + wheelset w/27 mm Vittoria CG III Pave tyres at 95 psi which complimented the Ti and helped me with surviving the ~ 30 km of legendary pave!

Thanks Ritchey Dave for the fork advise- the Pro Comp cross fork is working out well on the bike!


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## burgrat

Nice! Do you have any pics from the ride? 
I rode the pave a few years ago (Arenberg, Carrefour de l'Arbre, etc.) and I could not believe how rough those "roads" are. Imagine putting pavers or bricks in the ground, leave them about 3 inches above the ground surface, space them about 6 inches apart, then ride over them for miles on a road bike. That sh*t is brutal, but super fun to ride after all is done.
I'm glad to here your Breakaway handled it well!


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## enr1co

Thanks Burgrat! 
You summed it up very well: " That sh*t is brutal, but super fun to ride after all is done."

Was surprised to find some short vid clips from the ride that the organizers provided at the Arenberg, Carrefour and Velodrome finish. They had timers set up at those sections also. Even in the videos, the pave doesnt look too rough but as you know, when you are on it, the stones are so uneven in height and space between, there is no good line through them! Makes for a great feeling of relief and accomplishment after each section!

All in all, kudos to the organization that puts these rides on- for the 25 euro (~$40 US) entry fee, its a great deal! 

The challenge of course is the cost of getting there from the states  Was fortunate to get a cheap Spring Break air deal from Virgin Atlantic to London and train to Lille/Roubaix- even if you dont have a Breakaway size bike case, Virgin wont charge a fee if you are bringing along a full size bike box or case. Although you wouldnt want to deal with lugging around a full size bike box thru the airports, euro stations and trains.

Arenberg ( I'm at ~ 00:25)

Paris-Roubaix Challenge

Carrefour d'Abre

Paris-Roubaix Challenge

Roubaix Velodrome finish 
Paris-Roubaix Challenge


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## burgrat

That is really cool. I would love to do something like that. I'm going to bookmark that event for the future!
Did you go by yourself or someone? I'm just interested to know the logistics of doing something like this. When I did my ride there, I did it with Velo Classics and it was to watch Paris-Roubaix, but we rode part of the course a few days before. It was a paid tour company. I would love to do this event or something similar and put my Breakaway Road to good use. Maybe I'll have to look into getting a Cross now.


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## enr1co

burgrat said:


> That is really cool. I would love to do something like that. I'm going to bookmark that event for the future!
> Did you go by yourself or someone? I'm just interested to know the logistics of doing something like this. When I did my ride there, I did it with Velo Classics and it was to watch Paris-Roubaix, but we rode part of the course a few days before. It was a paid tour company. I would love to do this event or something similar and put my Breakaway Road to good use. Maybe I'll have to look into getting a Cross now.


Thanks for asking- Glad to share the logistics. 

Briefly, I ended up planning this Flanders/Roubaix trip on my own as I enjoy the sourcing, travel planning exercise. A tour package with a group would have been nice but had a schedule I needed to work around and after gathering quotes, the premium cost for their services was sounding a bit pricey. Figured I could save some $ to cover the cost of the pre-owned Breakaway Cross I just purchased 

This trip actually evolved from our spring break vacation plans with my wife and daughter originally scheduled for APR 12-20 to London and Paris as we snagged a Virgin Atlantic airfare deal of $599 each way, SFO-London Heathrow.

I realized that the Paris Roubaix pro race was on APR 13 and got permission to break off for a day trip on the TGV to Roubaix to just watch the race at the Velodrome. 

This led to learning of the Paris Roubaix Challenge event the day prior and got further permission to leave a couple days earlier than 4/12 to do the ride and watch the race. 

The couple days turned into four days so that I could at least ride a couple days before the PR event and make the most of the effort/expense of bringing a bike over. (Bike hire rentals were found to be limited or difficult to source so it gave me an excuse to buy the Breakaway 

Here was my basic itinerary:

4/8 Depart San Francisco, TUE 7:30 PM, Virgin Atlantic Air
4/9 Arrive London Heathrow, WED 2:00 pm Virgin Atlantic Air
4/9 Heathrow Express train to London St Pancras Station 4:00 pm
4/9 Depart London St Pancras Station 6:00 pm, Eurostar Train
4/9 Arrive Lille France 8:00 pm, Pick up Hertz rental car
4/9 Drive to Oudenaarde Belgium, (40 min)
4/9 Arrive Oudenaarde 10:30 PM, Check in to Hotel De Zalm (excellent hotel)
4/10 Ride in East Flanders, sample climbs as the Koppenberg, Kwaremont, etc.
4/11 Ride more in East Flanders Check out of Hotel DeZalm and drive back to Lille area and Check-in to the Ibis Hotel, Tourcoing France 
4/12 Ride the PR Challenge Event
4/13 Check out of Ibis Hotel, Tourcoing France, drive out to the Arenberg to watch the pro race with hundreds of other crazed cycling fans on the jumbo tron set up there.
4/13 Return rental car in Lille and catch the train to Paris to join my wife and daughter for three days and then back on the Eurostar to spend ~ 4 days in London before flying out of Heathrow back to CA.

With all the travel sites, Travelocity, Trip Advisor etc, planning a trip as this was fairly painless. I do speak/understand some elementary French which was helpful but plenty folks in Belgium and France speak English. Also lucked out with the weather as it was near perfect, no rain and temps in the 60s -70s.

If I am fortunate to do it again, would definitely plan for a few more days to do the Ronde the weekend prior as well as exploring more of the Wallone, Ardennes region.

Put it on your calendar!


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## burgrat

That's cool you were able to do the trip. Sounds like you have a very understanding family too! I will definitely keep that ride on my calender.


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## flatlander_48

Other than mine, you have the only other Campagnolo-equipped BreakAway I've ever seen...


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## Ritchey_Dave

What a fantastic trip! Great to see our bikes getting people through such fun and faraway events with ease (at least the travel part!). Thanks for sharing!


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## enr1co

flatlander_48 said:


> Other than mine, you have the only other Campagnolo-equipped BreakAway I've ever seen...


We're definitely the minority- with fine taste  

Its all good stuff but have always preferred the Campy levers and thumb buttons. I like the light feel of Shimano shifting but could cared for the floppy brake levers nor the external cables before 7900 finally had them routing under your tape.


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## enr1co

Ritchey_Dave said:


> What a fantastic trip! Great to see our bikes getting people through such fun and faraway events with ease (at least the travel part!). Thanks for sharing!


Looking forward to traveling with it more!


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