PBP Update #2

Support:        For a randonneur event, you can only receive support at the designated checkpoints, not anywhere else along the route.  If the riders run into trouble, they have to be able to make it to the next checkpoint to get any help from a support crew (though they can make their own way to a bike store or whatever they need along the way).

So Julie and Fred were providing support for Colin and me.  They had a minivan loaded with supplies, registered and labeled as an official support vehicle.  In PBP, because of the large number of riders, you are allowed to provide support within 5km either side of the control point.  We decided that we wanted to have all our support before the controls, not after.  And we had heard that it can be pretty chaotic, so we wanted to be a few km out, not right close in.  To help identify the van, we heard that a distinctive flag was they key, so Fred took a Colorado state flag and adorned it with some PBP flair.  He turned the central "C" of the flag into a coat of arms, with "Partager La Route" (Share the Road) inscribed in the "C", and a pair of spear-wielding marmots on either side.  It was destinctive to say the least, and got many stares and comments from cyclists as they rode by.

Support van with infamous flag

So the routine went something like: within 5km of the control, Colin and I would begin to scan for the flag.  It turned out that because we were at the front of out group, and Fred and Julie founds spots that were away from the crowds, it was easy to find them.  They early supports were fast, simply an exchange of bottles and resupply of food items, maybe changing out some items of clothing.  Then we were off to the control to get our cards officially stamped, then back on the route to the next control.  We were usually fast enough to be back among the lead riders after the control - but after a couple of controls, the lead peloton was separated into a number of smaller groups.

Somehow, Colin ended up in a ditch between Villaines-la-Juhel and Fougeres.  We're not sure how it happened, but he overlapped wheels with me, I moved to follow the wheel in front of me, and he went down on the chip seal (yes, they have chip seal in France, too).  Luckily it was still very wet, and he slid quickly into the grass, but not without a nice hole in the knee and road rash on his hip.  The Frenchman we were riding with stopped and helped us back up, and the three of us continued on to Fougeres. 

Apart from that, the rest of the day was fast and we arrived in Loudeac ahead of plan, about 9:30pm  That's 280 miles in 16.5 hours.  It was a great start for us, despite Colin's crash, and now it was necessary to get a few hours sleep in preparation for Day 2.  We had a good hotel near the course, which catered to PBP riders by setting aside a conference room for all the bikes.  Shower, recovery drink and a bite to eat, and it was lights out for another middle of the night wakeup call.

PBP Tracking

For everyone concerned about the apparent abandon, don't worry.  It's clear that they've had some big problems with the final stage electronic tracking, there are lots of people listed as abandoned because it looks like they entered many finishing times as 23:04 or some such.  They're probably doing this just to get results out of the system and then manually check them against the control cards.  

As for me, I definitely saw the woman stamp mine and write 11hr and some number of minutes (eyes not working so well at that point).  So my final time will be 78 hours and change.

Right now we've arrived in Nice, where it is a pleasant 75* at 11pm.  Five days of r & r on the shores of the Mediterranean, maybe day trips to Monaco and Italy.  The bike is securely packed away in the basement of a Paris hotel.

Further updates on the ride tomorrow...

You can chose one of three 'time slots' to start PBP.  The 80 hour group is the first to leave, 5pm on Sunday, and this is where the elite racers are, those that ride all the way through with no sleep, finishing in under 50 hours.  The record is something like 42 hours!  Other fast riders can chose this option too, and I know many from Rocky Mountain Cycling Club did.  This group leaves first and mostly stays ahead of the other riders so they can get through the controls with little fuss.  Next is the biggest group, the 90 hour group, leaving at 10pm Sunday night.  Finally, an intermediate 84 hour group leaves at 5am Monday morning.

This is the group Colin and I chose, mainly because the start time is similar to many of the rides we do here in the US, that start in the wee hours of the morning - so it was familiar territory.  Riders are sent off in pelotons of 300 at a time, 10 minutes apart.  Colin and I decided that we wanted to be in the first or second group to leave, so we figured we had to get there about 4am.  A 2:15 wakeup call had us at the Gymnase des Droits de l'Homme at 3:50 and we were with the first 50 riders.  Perfect.

The first riders arrive for the 5am 84 Hour start

An hour later we filed through to get our first control stamp, and lined up under the start banner.  Then we were off, and the first 10 or 15 miles or so is all about surviving the Paris suberb road furniture, and there is a lot of it.  Most of these riders are also racers and know how to ride in a peloton, so it wasn't too bad.  As we got further out, the roads open up and the lead group began to get down to some serious riding.  Colin and I made our way to the front 30 or so riders to make sure we would be in any group that began to separate itself off the front.  Colin in fact rode in 4th or 5th position for much of the time.  We had a pace car and motorcycles leading us through all the lights and intersections, that was pretty cool, like we were in some kind of big race or something!

Eventually, I looked around and counted about 25 or 30 lead riders, and we had left the rest behind.  I was being careful monitoring my heart rate to make sure I didn't start too fast, which has been my downfall in the past, but also I had been practicing faster starts.  Hit my pre-set limit a couple times on some of the longer rises, but not for long, and the pace felt really comfortable.  I saw Colin take his turn on the front for a while, and thought that I'd like to do that too.  Made my way up and eventually the last rider ahead of me pulled off at the end of his turn, and here I was, behind the motorcycles, leading our start group's peloton through the French countryside in one of the oldest bike races around.  It was a pretty sureal feeling.

As dawn broke, we could start reading the jerseys of our fellow riders, and we had a nice diverse group.  Prominent was a group of 4 or 5 Austrians in their country's special randonneur jersey, a similar number of Germans, at least one Brit and a Dutch, a handful of Italians, and many French and probably a Belgian or two.  Colin and I represented Randonneurs USA.

As you can see from the data at the first checkpoint, we rode pretty fast, 30kmh for the first 200km+ (that's 18.5mph for the first 137 miles for the imperially-minded).  In fact, at 100 miles, I saw our time was 4:58 - my first sub-5 hour century.  But in a large group with no long or even steep hills, it felt easy.  And that average includes a 5 minute resupply stop at 80 miles.

OK, gotta go have dinner and catch the highlights at the Louvre this evening, will continue later...

PBP Update

Sorry to have been out of touch during the race, but I never did figure out how to text to Twitter in France, and that really was the only realistic way I had to communicate.

Anyway, it turned into an epic which I shall detail in the next day or two.  It started perfectly with the first day going to plan.  What was not in the plan was getting no sleep the first night and catching cold at the same time.  So that put the sub-60 out of reach, but sub-70 was still possible after I thought I had recovered on the morning of day 3.  That was not the case, it caught back up to me that evening.  Stayed an extra unplanned night at the last control point before riding in this morning in 78 hours and change.

I'm a little upset at not riding the fastest I could, but I'm very excited to have finished despite the obstacles.  Finding ways to overcome the problems along the way is what randonneuring is all about, and I did that in spades.  Hope to have some time to begin recounting the details tomorrow...

Start in 8 hrs

Long day of registration and logistics.  All organized and ready to roll.

Sent from my mobile phone

In the Shadow of Notre Dame...

Arrived in Paris 6am Wednesday morning in preparation for Paris-Brest-Paris.  All luggage arrived safely; found the train; found the apartment; immediately went to a patisserie for croissants.  Then assembled the bike on the terrace under the watchful eye of the Cathedral de Notre Dame.



Not too shabby a location



Sleep was calling, but rather than surrender, we went for a walk to find a local street market.  They were tearing down just as we got there, so we found an Italian cafe for a late lunch, then a little more walking just to stay awake.  Early dinner at a cafe near the apartment, then after 32 hours since leaving Albuquerque, hit the sack for a solid 10 hours of sleep.

Fred and I took the train back out to Charles de Gaul to meet Colin and Julie coming in from LA.  With their two bikes and luggage, the minivan was not big enough for 4 of us, so Fred schlepped back to the apartment via train, while I drove with Colin and Julie to their hotel near the start in Saint Quentin.  I mainly wanted to do this in order to take the train back to Paris so that I would know the stations and if there were any peculiarites to the route.  Turns out there is construction on the RER C line on the section that contains the St. Michel - Notre Dame station.  But they had a free connecting shuttle bus.  Very glad to get all that sorted out before trying to take the bike.

Yesterday, Fred and I reversed that route (with the bike) and met Colin and Julie at the station in St. Quentin.  Colin and I met up with a large group of American riders for a preview of the first 25 miles of the course, while Fred and Julie sorted out the GPSs and maps, practised driving the country roads of France, and met us at the turn-around point.  During the ride, found and chatted with 4 Rocky Mountain Cycling Club members (Billy Edwards, Paul Foley, Vernon Smith, Brian Rapp).  They're all having a big Colorado dinner tonight in St. Quentin, but unfortunately I won't make it back out there for it.

After delicious coffee (for Fred, Julie and Colin, I'm still on the caffeine/alcohol wagon), rode back to St. Quentin for a shower and lunch.  Then off to do chores (hardware store for PVC for a flag pole for the support van ID flag, auto store for a Thule rack for the minivan for Colin and Julie's tour of the Alps after PBP (yeah I know, Colin's nuts), then drove 80 miles out to the first support point so we could nail down the exact location for a swift exchange.

Train back to Paris, arriving about 9pm.  Andria had already eaten dinner, but joined us for a drink as Fred and I had a late meal.  Another 10 hours of solid sleep, and it's time for a little sight seeing before Colin and Julie meet us here for dinner.

So far everything has gone very smoothly, jet lag was minimal, and the bike is working well.  Tomorrow is official bike inspection and registration, and the first groups of the fastest riders leave tomorrow afternoon.  We'll be staying in St. Quentin Sunday night, ready for a 5am departure on Monday morning.

Shawn Gregory finished the Colorado Trail Race CTR in 5 days 15h & 44m on a singlespeed mountain bike

I just posted the Colorado Trail Race CTR highlights and pics on my blog at http://shawngregorymountainbiker.blogspot.com .  Finished in 5 days 15 hours and 44 minutes on a singlespeed mountain bike.

They still haven’t applied a time adjustment for the additional miles the leaders rode and won’t until everyone is in.  It took me about 2 hours and 40 minutes longer to ride that section which should put me in the top ten but I don’t know exactly how they are going to calculate it.

Awesome race!  The toughest I have done!

Happy finisher