If you've cycled in Europe to any extent, you'll have encountered cobblestones. If you've cycled in Montreal or other older cities on the east coast of North America, you'll have encountered cobblestones. They aren't that uncommon.

Do a search on "cobblestone classic" cycling. Buffalo NY has or had a crit called the "Cobblestone Classic", as does Winnipeg, MB. No doubt other places have one as well.


And these riders would have definitely ridden cobblestones before. Many will have ridden the Paris-Roubaix:
http://www.letour.fr/indexPRX_us.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris%E2%80%93Roubaix
http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/28...assic-win.aspx


I've ridden cobblestones on a number of occasions, and I'm a "serious amateur road cyclist". Rowan and I stayed in Ieper, Belgium several days and many of their roads were cobblestone. We've also cycled up the Champs-Élysées. I didn't ride anywhere close to race pace, but your comment wasn't about racing cobbles, it was just about amature cyclists out riding.