Rapha Hell of North London 2015

Rapha's Hell of the North (London) is a homage to Paris-Roubaix, the real Hell of the North, and takes place on the same day as the legendary race. The idea is that you spend the day riding round the lanes, bridlepath, footways and gravel paths of Hertfordshire and then catch the last two hours (or less, depending on your speed) of the real Paris-Roubaix on the television in a Barnet pub.

The Hell of North London is roughly a 100km ride, with a different route each year. It is free to enter and has approximately 350 places available. Entries sell out ridiculously quickly and you need to follow Rapha UK's Twitter feed (@rapha_uk) closely to see when the entries are on offer (last year all 350 places went in under an hour!).

Setting on from Pond Square in London's Highgate (almost outside Kate Moss' front door, trivia fans!) it takes in plenty of cobbles and gravé around Barnet, Hertfordshire and north London.

The event ends at a pub in north Barnet where a free Belgian beer and portion of frites is on offer for all registered riders, as well as the screening of Paris Roubaix.

Riders are recommended to bring decent 25mm or wider tires (we rode on 28mm tires with no issues last year) and plenty of spare inner tubes. There will be a feed stop at approximately 60km and knowing Rapha it will involved large quantities of high quality caffeine and some excellent flapjacks.

Read a ride report on Hell of the North 2014.