Paris Brest Paris (PBP), what a ride! I rode this with Sigman, and this has been the last time I rode with him since (a year later... this post is a bit late.) I rode my first brevet with Sigman in 2011, and he has been my long distance cycling partner ever since. We were planning to move out of the bay area and so squeezing in PBP, the hallmark ride for a randonneur, became a high priority. I knew there wasn't a strong Randonneuring presence in Southern Oregon and without that support I knew this might be my only chance for PBP. Having quit my job in May, selling our Oakland house, running a 100 miles in Tahoe, and moving to Ashland, I knew this summer would be chaotic. But why not throw in a 3 week vacation to France and do PBP to kick things off? The plan was to do the ride, catch the trains back to CDG where I'd meet my fam (Kim was in Germany with the boys visiting her cousin Neal), fly back to SF, have a good bye party, drive up to Ashland where the boys would be starting school the next day.
Brief History: Originally a 1200km bike race starting in 1891. The winner finished in 71 hrs and 22 min (I finished in 70 hours 55 minutes, so take that Charles Terront! nvm that he only had a single gear, unpaved roads, etc) In 1931 amateurs were separated from the pros, and folks like us could join.
For us, we had to complete the 200k, 300k, 400k, and 600k earlier this year to join the 6673 other riders from all around the world to ride in this year's ride. For us, we were newbs and read the handful of ride reports, talked to anciens, and generally gathered info wherever we could. All of our brevets consist of much less riders. Some of the more popular 200ks might have a hundred riders, but the longer riders separate out the less fool hardy. For example, the inaugural cabeceras faro 600k had 3 riders. Riding a brevet with 6000+ riders would be a whole new experience. Also, folks along the PBP route know about it and many folks come out to support the riders. You feel like a Tour rider when you are coming into a new town.
Another unique experience of PBP is that you get to ride in a peleton the entire route. There are riders the entire time! It's great, you can take a 2 hr break and still group up with a similarly paced group with no problem. I had great chats from folks from Barcelona, England, India, Japan, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, etc. Such an amazing experience. I also saw folks with Shermer's Neck, which I had only heard about, and talked extensively about the dangers of Rhabdo.
Next time:
- start with the 84 hr group, and maybe go for Charlie Miller?
- spend less time at controls, eat along the route
- having a place to sleep is critical.
more pics here
more links:
- Roy's ride report
- Metin's ride report, pics, strava
- Apidura's amazing website on all you need to know about PBP
- Campyonlyguy Youtube channel
- PBP USA wiki
- There are tons of ride reports out there...
- Check out this 12 time ancien!
Paris Brest Paris
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| Lovely johns at the start... |
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| The velo mobiles are pretty awesome.. |
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| Typical meal on the route. Gotta say it wasn't the best. |
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| Check out the fat bike. There were several folks on those. And the person on the ground was fine. |
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| Chocolate croissants! |
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| my favorite randonneur jersey I've ever seen. On a rider from Taiwan. |
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| More scenes of carnage |
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| Check out the crowd! I felt like a real hero here. |
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| My last sunset in France |
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| At the finish! |
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| Soon, I had finished, showered, caught a few trains and an Uber to the airport to see these stinkers. |
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| Who instantly went back to their stinky ways. |
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| Finally got some rest... |
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| Hey! Not bad. I got 10 hrs of sleep during the 70 hr ride. |
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