On Sunday, in France, the legendary* Paris-Roubaix race took place. It is a near-mythical jaunt across the cobbled farm roads of previously-war-torn Northern France. Some 140 miles of bone-jarring Napoleonic stones that make legends of some riders, but breaking far more. It is truly “epic”.
Inspired, I got out on the two-wheeler Sunday morning to find and ride what pavé (French for cobblestone) still exists in the 502, for what could be termed a pathetic but pleasant meh-pic homage.
There are relatively few of these area left in town that I know of. I haven’t given a whole lot of time to finding them, but given my life spent in this town coupled with the wisdom that only Google Maps Street View can provide, I found these handful of sections. They fall into one or two categories: ridiculously steep or quaintly maintained as a curio. I prefer the former.
As do many cycling trips in town, I started from Cherokee Park, riding a lap of the Scenic Loop, before getting to the proper steep stuff. You can find my entire route, “Crescent Hill Cobbles” on bikely.com
* legendary in cycling circles, anyway
Coming up after the jump, a pictorial of the journey and details.
Appetizer: Maple Road, Cherokee Park
Length: 2100 feet.
Altitude gain: 101 feet.
Gradient: 5% average, 11% max.
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Sector #1: Peterson Avenue @ Grinstead Drive
Length: 529 feet
Altitude gain: 65 feet.
Grade: 8.8%
Old, weathered, at times unruly.
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Sector #2: Bickel Alley between Payne Street and Bickel Road
Length: 700~ feet
Altitude gain: 50 feet
Grade: 6.5%
While not cobbled, it is a nasty stretch of uneven asphalt, concrete and gravel. Interesting collection of houses on the way up, as well.
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You might also be interested in slogging up the nearby Saunders Avenue, just east of there. Not cobbled, but concrete slabs on a straight silly incline.
Sector #3 – Sycamore Avenue between Keats Avenue and Jane Street
Length: 420 feet
Altitude change/gradient: Eh.
Here lies an interesting curio. One block, untouched by the hot wrath of the asphalt-layer. Mostly flat with tidy paving bricks that deal a 10% quaintness bonus to all houses nearby.
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Sector #4 – Haldeman Avenue at Brownsboro Road (US 42)
Length: 449 feet.
Altitude gain: 49 feet.
Grade: 11.1%
What makes it worse is that many of the paving stones on Haldeman are actually laid into the street in a stair-step manner, I assume to keep cars from hurtling down it in damp or icy conditions. Imagine attempting to bike up your stairs, if they were 1/8 scale, and jagged.
PS – Apparently so fearsome that the Google Maps Street View car wouldn’t dare it!
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Sector #5 – State Street between Frankfort Avenue and North Charlton Street
Length: 968 feet
Altitude Gain: 34 feet
Grade: 3.5%
At the bottom, a tidy selection of stones as seen in the photo above, but at the top there is a wonderful patchwork of new and old stones, as seen below in the Google Street View.
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After-dinner Coffee - Stevenson Avenue @ Mellwood Avenue
Length: 100 feet?
Altitude Gain: 23 feet
Grade: 23%
So this one isn’t cobbled, nor is it much longer than a baby’s arm, but it’s plenty steep.
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Dessert – Mellwood Avenue to River Road and Mockingbird Valley
No need to blather on about this stretch. It’s not cobbled, it’s mostly flat and it’s beautiful. Mellwood Avenue is a tree-lined avenue with low traffic that runs from Old Louisville through to the affluent Mockingbird Valley. Mockingbird Valley is a rolling, tree-shrouded tour that intersects with Brownsboro Road. Say hello to the Dancing Bears, if you can find them.
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