161 miles in 6 hours ... on a bicycle.

It wasn't to be for George Hincapie and Magnus Backstedt during last week's grueling Paris Roubaix, but Team Chipotle did come up with an exciting fourth place finish. The riders covered the 161.4 mile trip from Paris to Roubaix, over 28 sections of rough cobbles in just under 6 hours. Now, these "cobbles" aren't the kind of relatively smooth decorative cobbled sections you find in historic downtown districts, these are skinny, ancient country roads more for moving cows and farm equipment from one pasture to the next than for bicycles (see photo below -- just imagine if it rains). Lastly, I count any 161-mile bike trip covered in 6 hours to be amazing, let alone one where you're practically off-roading half of it.