Cobbles: love or hate riding them?

■ Gutted I can’t get over this year to ride the cobbles, it’s a must for any avid cyclist, bit like Marmite, and I love Marmite. Gary Taylor

■ Love them for the first 500m when my adrenaline gets the better of me, then start thinking ‘when will this end!’ Gerry Hetherwick

■ Great fun. Prefer going uphill on the cobbles to riding the flat sectors. Giles Mockford

■ Yes, who wouldn’t like cycling up the Passo San Gottardo? Mike Stafford

■ They are great, but even more mental when doing them on 23s and 50mm rims (those wheels didn’t last long!). Hands go numb, everything shakes, a bit of dust as cars come by. Roubaix sectors are my favourite, but can’t beat the carnage of the Paterberg or the Oude Kwaremont. Tom Knight

■ Would never ride them, I value keeping my bones in one piece too much! Rob Simpson

■ Rode 27 sectors in 2015, best day ever on the bike. Not physically tired at the end, but mentally drained. So much concentration required. Simply awesome. Lazenby George

■ It’s as if as if someone emptied a skip-load of bricks on the road and you have to ride over them. Geoff Armstrong

■ Did the Paris Roubaix challenge in 2018. Got about 6ft onto the first sector of pavé and vowed never ever again! Finished it, mind, and now I see how superhuman the pro peloton is! Robin Bassett

■ Did Roubaix a few years ago. Seatpost broke after the first set of cobbles and had to do the rest standing up. Still love the cobbles though. Flanders next on my list. Dan Oakley

■ I enjoy those occasions when I can get out to Roubaix or Oudenaarde and ride them, it feels like ‘proper’ cycling somehow. Martin Perryman

■ Hate them, especially around the Pennines, always steep, wet and slippery. Norman Lomax