I was planning to ride Paris-Brest-Paris this year as it's only every 4 together with Paul, Matt & Nick but needed one last qualifying ride. I had ridden my 200 & 300km rides in March and my 400km in early May but had to complete the 600 before the end of June and I was cutting things fine. May was taken up with organising the club's May Flyer sportive and a tough mountain bike race in Scotland which took a couple of weeks to recover from ( did I say it was tough, it was). In fact this was the last weekend to do a qualifying ride so it was this or not go to PBP.
Paul had decided he needed a bit more training so I met him at the start outside Leighton Buzzard railway station, hence the event name. Paul, Matt & Nick had done their 600km event in May at the Bryan Chapman event that crosses Wales, twice. Again you have 40 hrs to complete or from Saturday morning till Sunday evening.
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| There were about 30 riders at the start |
We set off and I spent the first hour chatting to Paul but at the first climb Paul just rode away from me and I never saw him again which was just as well as he was doing it fast without a stop. Me, I'm more of a leisure cyclist these days, spending a bit too much time in the tea shops along the way to get around in a decent time. This event was X rated which mean there were no facilities put on and you have to buy something at the controls and keep the receipts as proof of passage. There were 8 controls over the 600km so one every 75km or 50 mile. I had a saddle bag of food and so could bump the first control at Pangbourne but by the second I fancied a stop so headed into a Costa for a panini and wash my hand after a puncture just before arriving.
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| My brevet card and receipts at the finish |
In Salisbury I had what Paul always recommends, a standup stop, where I just got some drinks (pepsi and tea) and had some more things from inside the saddle bag.
Near here I passed by the Fovant Badges, cut into the side of the hillside and almost 100 years old.
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| The Fovant Badges |
The day was nice and sunny but there was a nagging head wind that did slow me down and as the day progressed my arrival time at the halfway point in Exeter drifted back further. I had to stop for some hot food in Crewkerne before things closed for the evening. I opted for Fish and Chips as it was quick and was soon back on the bike. I arrived in Exeter a few minutes before midnight and bought some very expensive water from the service station petrol station but that's all there was I needed. I was about 4 hrs ahead of the cut off time. I was planning a few hours (3) kip at the Travelodge in Taunton so had to keep going. This time I was heading home and what wind there was was behind me but it still took another 3 hrs to reach the motel and I was glad I had booked it as I gave me some much needed shut eye. I woke before my alarm had gone off thinking I had slept through it. I decided to get up, eat the porridge I had brought from home and get going. Across the Somerset levels it was easy and I could see the Glastonbury Tor in the distance, home to this week's music festival. By 8am I had reached Wells and I was up for a cooked breakfast which I found after asking a rather large local gentleman. He pointed me in the direction of the Wetherspoon pub which remarkably was open at 8am and doing a full English for £3 and coffees for £1. I was straight in there.
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| Wetherspoon's breakfast - Only £3 |
I was set up for the day well until the next nice looking coffee shop, which I found in the middle of Bath. That was after some very steep back roads that lead me into the City.
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| Not a Bath bun |
I was a couple of hours in front of the cut off times at each control I stopped at on Sunday and barring an accident I felt I would get back to Leighton Buzzard at some stage. With 50km to go I still had an appetite so found a nice looking kebab shop and sat out in Brackley market place for my final meal of the ride. I arrived back at the station at 9pm, 38 hrs after starting and with a qualifying brevet card and receipts to prove it.
Registration for PBP was quick and two days later the audax website had my code which allowed me to complete my on-line entry form. I was in and this years 1200km event was one step closer.
