I wanted to do a reasonable time, but as a first timer , intended to have time to take in what was happening . Matt and Paul had explained that the key to a fast time was not really how fast you ride -which was true to an extent as they both rode very fast reflecting their strength , with Paul held back by a sore back which has troubled him this year, but how fast you get through the 12 controls.
I could not have ridden faster but I could definitely have got through the controls much quicker -faffing as Matt would describe it. How Alan managed to rush through the controls last time -with so many people to talk to -I am not sure.
early on in the ride , looking a lot more relaxed than it felt at the time.
Inevitably adrenaline kicks in at the start - first hour, 34.5 kms , second hour 34kms , after 3 hours nearly 60 miles done and only then do things seem to calm down a little. We were in a peloton of over 200 riders taking up the whole of our side of the road. After about 40 kms when a group came through going faster than us they had to pass on the wrong side of the road. This was fine until , shock horror for rural France, a car appeared from the opposite direction. Solution- the faster group simply merged into our group. Actually -tried to merge into our group -as there was not quite enough room as our side of the road was already full- so biggish crash -fortunately ahead of Alan and me and behind us . We slowed down but rode through unscathed and off the group went again.
About this time I am thinking -100 kms done -good. 1130kms still to go -not quite so good.
After this I never rode in a large group again. I rode in a succession of small groups during the first night or on my own for a fair portion ,never finding a group going at just my pace. This was fine and riding through the night under a black , black sky , with no wind and on dry , smooth roads was fine with me. Then suddenly the calm was interrupted by a group coming by and the club training kicks in and you stretch to get on the back. I remember one coming through some time on that first night -the first time I had ridden through a night on the road - I remember a large , black bearded East European rider coming past at the head of a small group and yelling at me to get on the back. I obliged and spent over an hour going significantly faster then felt comfortable -with about 5 of us taking turns of about 10 minutes -or was it only a couple ?- at the front until we split up in circumstances I cannot accurately recall.
Over about 55 hours of riding some parts of the ride are vividly remembered , others merge so I cannot really recall what happened at all.
After making it to Brest in 26 hours , arriving at 6.30pm I indulged in non-South African faffing -and so luxuriated in sitting on something other than a saddle , eating about 4 courses , including oh joy of joy , two bowls of ( it being France ) home made cold rice pudding. What a fantastic cycling fuel that is-it never disappoints -always easy to digest and makes me feel so much better. I then really let the team down by having a shower. Pathetic I know but at least I did not change my shorts or socks.
Result. As Martin Lucas who tore round on a single speed in a very fast time said when recommending la belle douche -"it somehow restarts the clock".
Eventually I restarted the ride and arrived at the next control at about midnight. Time to sleep. Lesson about to be learned. Always test your kit in advance. In this case the alarm on my new watch. I set it to allow 3 hours sleep -on the floor in a crammed control full of riders on their way out and others on their way back. 5 hours later I woke up -my tactic of wrapping my buff round my face working far too well.I woke up to chaos of riders asleep everywhere and massive queues for food and drink. Fearful of what Matt and Paul would think of such weakness I set off into the dark eating the banana I had carried up the hill from Brest.
flash new bridge at Brest
I did at least take off my shoes but this guy had ridden the 1600kms mille miglia so knew taking off his helmet would suffice.
flash new bridge at Brest
I did at least take off my shoes but this guy had ridden the 1600kms mille miglia so knew taking off his helmet would suffice.
The flip side of perfect weather during the day was cool nights and the temperature really does drop as dawn comes up. Each of the 3 mornings I was riding at dawn and on each one the temp dropped by at least 2c to 5c, 5c and then on the last morning a balmy 6c .
This was too much for some of the riders from warmer climes. On the second morning , after the coldest night , I was riding with a German guy called Marcello who I was to ride with for 17 hours from 5am to 10pm that night. At 7am we stopped at a bar tabac for a coffee -my sole stop for refreshment other than a control -forgetting for the moment what Matt and Paul would think.
Inside was another rider who explained he was from Brazil where 4 days earlier he had been enjoying 40c heat. I should add that by now we had ridden about 850 kms and were on the way back. He was still on the way out and over 200kms behind us.
He already has wrapped a space blanket round his body underneath his jacket. He then proceeded to insert two newspapers under his jacket as well. The cafe owner's attention was now well and truly grabbed. His piece de resistance ( as it were ) was then to take another newspaper and wrap it round his head , tuck it down the back of his neck and jam his helmet on top. He then rustled out sadly admitting that his aim was by then to get to Brest and take the train home as he simply could not cope with the cold.
One had to feel for him.
How would we fare riding 1200kms in 40c I wonder?
Marcello was a great guy who I bumped into in the pitch dark and we readily agreed to stay together at least till it got light. To put PBP into context he had last year ridden a 1400kms event in Bavaria with 20,000m of climbing (nearly double PBP) including slopes of 20degree where the drop out rate was over 70%. PBP is the big long distance event but it is evident that there are many much harder long distance events out there if one wishes to partake of them.
Marcello against a not very attractive backdrop . He is an extremely strong rider and we only parted as with 230kms to go at about 11pm he decided it was time to go to bed, whereas as I felt ok , decided to press on and ride the 90kms to to the next control to give myself a nice "relaxed" 140kms to do on the last morning.
That 90kms was a long pull made hard by repeated straight climbs on a very hilly stage. That you could not see how far the hills stretched ahead of you into the depths of the dark night did not make them any easier. I rode this with a Brit Peter Simon from South Wales -who incredibly Alan and I had started next to what then seemed like a long time ago. We bumped into each other in a village with an informal refreshment stop about 45 hours into the ride. As I saw him and Marcello needed some water we stopped. I had a chat with the couple below. Their pride in hosting the oldest cycle "race" in the world was palpable -even my horrible French allowing that to be communicated . All along this stretch were villages and towns with people exhorting you to stop for food, coffee, and a chat-all of this free .
Indeed , this was the highlight of the event for me . Coming across a village in the middle of nowhere , with a group of mixed ages sitting in picnic chairs , cheering you on with the inevitable , bonne route, or bon courage , was humbling. But to find this at 1am was truly astonishing . So deeply engrained is this event in the life of the towns and villages on the route.
To give another idea of how all riders are treated is to tell you that at a control at 3am , once I had my food, an 11 of 12 year old then appeared asking if they can please carry your tray to the table for you( yes that is how bad I looked at that stage ) or else perhaps they thought they could pinch one of my two bowls of rice pudding without the befuddled rosbif noticing.
"courage"
After 3 more hours of sleep -pretty soft again -a very strong US rider from North Carolina audax on fixed and a few years older than me , on his 4th PBP , told me that a sleep cycle was 90 minutes and that would be enough. Unconvinced , even though not feeling totally exhausted, the ability to sleep through to 7 am and so miss the dawn freeze up , was too tempting . That and Peter was definitely up for the 3 hours sleep session and we had agreed that it would be good to ride together to the end , which we did.
there was a lot of power napping . Not very attractive to me but perhaps the way to a quicker time.
The last two stages were great. Two of the prettiest sections of the ride and though definitely not flat -with less climbing that we had so far experienced- this is definitely a ride with plenty of ups. It was another stunning sunny day and with only 140kms to go , barring any last minute problems , we knew were nearly there.
quite a few velo-mobiles on the ride. They do not enjoy the hot weather . We saw this guy a lot over about 48 hours -with him regularly over taking us with a whir suddenly prefacing seeing him scream past us at often twice our speed. Here he has opened up the roof as he labours up the hill to try to cool off a bit. Once he crests the hill the roof comes down and he screams off again.
Peter on the final morning before the layers come off.
After leaving the final control at Dreux we managed to latch onto an Italian-German-French group which we rode with to the end. The non-French continental riders all ride their national audax jerseys, while the Brits and the French and US riders wear their club tops.
extra lite head torch to try to avoid Schermers neck - just ask Matt about that.
The end!
Nick
