Although this was my third Paris Brest Paris (2003 & 2007) this was going to be my toughest. Sickness, the weather and work had kept me off the bike for half of June and most of July. I only did 375kms of riding in July and not much more in June. Fortunately up until then my riding was ok, but this was not good preparation.
Well they say that this endurance riding is 50% mental and 50% physical. Mentally I knew how to ride this. I was hoping for 40 out of 50 for the mental, as this was my seventh 1200 or greater, then I would only need about 15 out of 50 in the physical to get a good pass! Not sure if it works that way, but I was about to find out.
PBP started for me at the start line realizing that my back brake was rubbing on my back wheel. Not a great start at 5:00am in the light shower. The 84 hour group was destined to get the worst weather of all the groups this year. Brakes fixed (an English guy told me later - what do you need brakes for, they only slow you down) and we were off. The 84 hour group is a fairly sane start but it still surprising how badly some of the people ride in groups, especially when you come to the transition into a hill.
Just for a change, this PBP I rode a Bike Friday Crusoe. A 20" (406) wheel, fold-up bike. As it turned out, I rode much of the ride with Dave Minter and Judith Swallow who were on Moultons. At times the little wheel bikes out numbered the big wheel bikes. The bike was great fun to ride.
It was a tough first day, especially when the weather broke and the storms hit us. They were spectacular electrical storms with forked lightning. Riding through a couple of the villages the lightning would strike and the street lights would go out. As one of my tweets said at the time "rain, rain, rain. Thunderbolts and lightning. Anyway, at Villaines 220km..."
The body and legs were already getting tired and sore, but the head was still winning.
At Tintineac I saw one poor guy face plant his dinner as he fell asleep/passed out. The medics came to check him out. I think his ride may have been over. it didn't help that the restaurant area was so hot.
The golden rule for many is "don't sleep before Loudeac or your chances of finishing will not be good". Well we were getting hit by so many storms, the three "English" people (2 Aussie expats) and I decided to cut our losses in the storms and sleep at Quédillac. A couple of Canadiens I would ride with on the last two days did not stop here and pushed onto Loudeac and got physically and emotionally hammered by the storms. It was a great call, but it did mean we'd be chasing the clock for quite a while.
Twitter reminds me "Breakfast at Loudeac. It's a new day - but I'm still stuffed :)". The French guy next to me had a different approach to breakfast. Two beers.
Somewhere after Carhaix, we were all waved off the road to put our reflective vests on. It was day time, but my automatic front generator light stayed one for much of the ride on the way out. This time there was no view from the top of the climb before Brest but we did get to see a lot of the 90 hr riders as they were climbing back out of Brest. As there was a bigger gap between the start of the 90 and 84 hr groups this year we did not see as much of them. this gave a really different feel to the 84 hr group.
Normally this photo opportunity is very crowded (1/2 way). This time it was deserted due to the weather. A quick stop and self portrait, and back on my way.
Just because change is good, someone decided that the course into Brest should take the route that was the hilliest, and had the most traffic and most level crossings - and then, take us to a Control that had NO food left! I can't blame them for the headwind was well (but I'd like to).
I ran into Darren from Canada, who I had seen at many controls but not ridden with much, and he had some spare sports bars and a bag of chips from his Dad, Aunt and friend who were trying to support him. They were later to get very lost and so his support sagged. This bit of 'food' got me going and the fact we were now half way, gave me a good boost. We were still chasing the clock, but with some time to spare and the return journey can be a bit slower. So all was good(ish).
Sizan became our refueling stop halfway up the hill and ham and salad baguettes tasted pretty good.
Twitter reminds me that "at Carhaix, finally have some dry weather... On the way home".
Again Loudeac was going to be our target, but again we made an conference decision to sleep at the extra minor control at St-Nicolas-du-Pélem. Meant we'd be chasing the clock again into Loudeac, but safer. This meant we have used both of the extra stops around Loudeac, Quédillac on the way out and St-Nicolas-du-Pélem on the way back in.
So after a shower and a short sleep we were off again. Loudeac came and went and it was at Tintineac that I tweeted that "I got to put sunscreen on today. Very exciting. Currently at Tintineac. Seen a few other Aussies. All good."
The section from Villaines to Mortagne was really tough. Tough section in any case, but it was night and we'd been riding since before Loudeac. I did not have a lot of strength left in my legs so I had to make sure I kept spinning. Fortunately my head was still in the game. By this time I was riding with the Moultons again. One real advantage is, when you stop at night to check something and have to catch up, you don't have to wonder who is who, just look for the small wheels. I stopped to change the batteries in external battery pack powering my Garmin, a 30 second job, but with he help of some locals it turned into a five minute job. One of the old guys helping had done Paris Brest seven times and you have to respect that. It was around midnight and they were still out cheering.
By the time we were heading into Paris, life was good. Dave and Judith headed off from Montagne early to catch up with some of the 90 hr riders they knew and I had a bit more sleep and headed off with the two Canadians, Darren and Ross. By Dreux, Darren was pretty tired so stopped for a sleep. Ross and I continued, just taking our time, enjoying every moment. I even stopped to tweet, "Paris-Brest has stopped while I sit under a shady tree and eat two ice creams. 29km to go"
You can never take anything for granted, especially with tired riders. Some clowns decided to do a 'victory lap of the roundabout and took out a couple of riders. Ten metres from the end of 1230kms!
The end had come and this PBP had taken more of a physical toll than the other two. Any finish of a Paris Brest Paris is always a great moment, but it was even better this time with my wife Elizabeth and daughter Bethany right on the finish line to welcome me in.
"Finished PBP in just over 80 hrs (actually was 80:35) on a #bikefriday Crusoe. Little wheels going a long way".
That sums it up.
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