When I went to Belgium (Brasschaat, north of Antwerp, on Dutch border) for my very short racing trip, I trained pretty much daily on cobbled sections of road. This was true simply because I had to ride on cobble roads just to get out of my parent's neighborhood.

Of course I'd dreamed about riding cobbles forever so I took every opportunity to ride them. At home I'd ride cobbles next to Central Park (between the park and the sidewalk), or in driveway entries where they cobbled the first 10 feet of driveway, etc etc etc. I also rode on dirt roads for a long time, and enjoyed beating up my bike on rough roads.

Mind you in Belgium I had a Cannondale 2.8 frame, AL fork, so a very rigid bike. I had 28H FiR Isidis (box section) rims I think, with tubulars of some kind (CX/CG probably). No extra tape, very aggressive position (14 cm stem, flat, slammed down). A lot of disapproving clucks by other racers and their dads.

I didn't mind riding cobbles, but there are different flavors. The rougher the cobbles, the more fun. Smooth cobbles seem like a waste - might as well brick or pave the road and save some money. On the rough stuff you have to go fast (smoother, 27-28 mph or faster) or very slow (10-12 mph), hold the bars loosely (smoother), and use your big ring (keeps chain from bouncing as much). We ran moderate pressures, 100-120 psi. Longest stretch of cobbles maybe 2-3 km, but if you find a block surrounded by cobbles you could have yourself a cobble crit.

City cobbles are terrible, like riding on big blocks of melting ice. Oil, antifreeze, diesel, and the inevitable rain combine to make them super slick. Plus just when you think it's as bad as it gets, you get some tram tracks going at about a 30 degree angle to the road. Cornering is tricky when you're going fast in the wet, I just slowed down, and racing wise I just followed the others.

Most of the races had some cobbles in it, we went too fast for me to make any judgment on how to ride it ("well, riding in a 54x12 in the drops didn't work...."). Also I got dropped within a few minutes of starting pretty much every race. Max speed in my first race was over 70 kph (43 mph) and I got dropped so hard in 5 km that I was pulled (means I was 3 minutes down I think).

But overall it's much like riding mountain bikes (or 'cross, but I haven't done cross).

Driving on cobbles is a pain. I keep thinking shock absorber companies sponsor cobble streets. Nothing romantic about driving on them.

cdr