the madness of Paris-Brest-Paris........

the ride reports of Paris-Brest-Paris
are starting to show up, read this
shocking one

http://zecher.org/clare/PBP2007RideReport.html

There are several ways to mentally approach brevets- mine is to think of
them as a really long enjoyable ride. I look at the scenery, talk to
people, enjoy each moment as best I can. Crappy weather really cuts
into that strategy, though, and my mind set would not have been positive
at this PBP and as such I really don't much mind having missed it. I am
a hedonistic slacker and I don't feel much need to place myself in
adverse circumstances for the sake of overcoming adversity. Rather than
getting an ego boost out of overcoming such travails, I think "WTF were
you thinking, Timothy, you idiot?"

The other approach is, to my thinking, much more grim. The focus is not
on the process but the goal and in many cases the goal is simply to beat
the time cutoffs. There was some of that in this report. There is a
tendency in human functioning that you follow what you focus on- if
you're focused on the closing times I think that you will tend to cut it
close and be really stressed out by it, which decreases your performance
and brings you ever closer to the cutoff. The people whose goals are
realistic but well in advance of the closing times of each control seem
to have a happier ride. People whose goals are just unrealistic (e.g.,
finishing in 60 hours when they are really capable of 85 hours) also
seemed to suffer a lot. In 2003 I saw way too many people- almost all of
them American, whether by coincidence I don't know- who were way to
wigged out and had turned just nasty towards others, even others who
were trying to help. They were quickly left to stew in their own
juices. Speaking even a little bit of French (even if just enough for
the politenesses) helped a whole lot, but many Americans didn't seem to
have bothered to learn those- even though you can learn enough French to
seem polite in about 30 minutes.

PBP is an interesting thing. If you read the memoirs of people who did
them 50 years ago, there was greater adventure. There were only a few
hundred riders, not 5000. The route was minimally marked and you had to
pay close attention to the cue sheet. The checkpoints were a guy
sitting at a table in a restaurant rather than full-service pit stops
with beds, meals and mechanics. There were no drop bags- riders mailed
their supplies to the checkpoints in advance which required careful
planning to make sure that your supplies were in the right place at the
right time. Over the years the event has gotten bigger, better supplied
and vastly more popular. The miles are still as hard to ride, though.
-----------------
Very good summary, as I've done some
brevets myself. What people don't know,
it isn't like most rides or races, where
you suck some wheel most of the time,
there is a lot of strategy involved.
But in the end, it's how well you ride,
but having the right supplies, clothes,
lights, that will make you do that.
Adverse weather seems to turn it into an
Everest climb survival of the fittist
type of an event. But in acceptable
weather, it's for me the most enjoyable
riding you can do. There is a clock to
keep you honest, but unlike races, it
isn't the whole game.

What I've heard is that Colorado-Kansas
1200 is similar to what you said pbp use
to be like. Some think it might be too
lonely, where you only might end up
riding with 4 riders of similar ability.

The recumbent rider who went off the road may have been uk.rec.cycling's
own Dave Larrington. He's fine now with no lasting injuries, although
he was actually claiming to be the Mayor of Mortagne when they took him
to hospital (sleep deprivation/caffeine overdose). His bike and other
bits have also been recovered and taken back to England.
----------------
Rumors are rampant on those things, it's
inevitably "I think he/she died." I use
to always discount the body counts I
heard, until last year someone actually
did get killed (hit by a car) on a ride
I was on. When you are in near death
yourself, it doesn't take much of an
imagination to think people are all
dying around you.

T
LOL! In 2003, with the excellent fair weather, lots of people slept by
the side of the road, in city parks, etc. Most of them had "space"
blankets and it looked like UFOs had been dumping bodies out of the
hatch all over western France. It was really kind of hilarious (after
riding 450 km in 24 hours, one is either easily amused or
semi-comatose). In 2007 I doubt that people were voluntarily sleeping
outside.
---------------
I think that may have led to many of the
DNF's, the inability to sleep on the
side of the road. Of the 9 I knew who
went to this pbp, only 4 finished. Two
of them, were hard as nails, did a 400
that I DNF'd in that were in conditions
that I can only describe as a night long
hurricane, with water up to the hubs for
half of the 400 (I got hypothermia).
I'll be interested to see what happened
to them, when I hear from them (they
didn't even make it to Brest). But I'm
guessing there wasn't even enough hotel
rooms for all of those people, so maybe
if you couldn't get a dry place to
sleep, you just quit.

The first (US) American back to Paris this year was Jan Heine, publisher
of Bicycle Quarterly, on a 1973 Alex Singer with 700 x 30 tires, a 6
speed freewheel, "compact" crank gearing, generator lights and a
handlebar bag. He rode the 1200 km in 50 hours. Criminy.

----------
That is unbelievable. That was one of
my best changes, was using a wider tire.
I could only go to a 28, with bikes I
have, but I see a lot of people still
using 23's. You need all the shock
absorbing you can get, and at night they
give you more confidence.

On your doing a previous 1200, before
pbp, maybe people think they only have
one 1200 in them. And as you know when
you do those pbp's, there's a lot hype
that goes on about that. RUSA, sent a
book filled with ride reports from your
2003 pbp, that really tell you what
you're getting into. It was enough to
keep me away. One report related that
the day after, everyone swells up, even
to the point where you can't recognize
people because of their bloated facial
features, couldn't fit into shoes etc.
Did that happen to you?

In article ,
Crescentius Vespasianus wrote:

the ride reports of Paris-Brest-Paris are starting to show up, read
this shocking one

http://zecher.org/clare/PBP2007RideReport.html

My goodness. Well, the condition were horrible and it was her first
PBP, so that explains a lot. There were 5000+ starters and 1800+
abandons, something like three times the normal rate. The organizers
estimated that this was the worst weather for PBP in 50 years.

In 2003 we enjoyed ideal weather- sunny skies with high temps in the mid
to upper 70s and nights in the upper 50s to lower 60s (Fahrenheit, of
course- I can't think in Centigrade). Thankfully the deadly heat wave
that had killed thousands in France had ended literally the night before
PBP started. The ride ended up being very low stress- relatively
speaking- as a result (too bad I didn't finish due to knee problems).

PBP always has stories that are- in retrospect- amusing. Hallucinations
are de rigeur. In 2003 a recumbent rider was so sleep deprived that he
got lost in one of the checkpoint parking lots and kept circling the lot
until some of the officials caught him and made him get some sleep. My
friend Tim hallucinated alligators in the ditches along the road.
Clare's story about Todd breaking into some French farmer's barn,
locking his bike inside the barn and then walking away into town is
right up there.

The best story I have heard is the guy who fell asleep on the side of
the road, was picked up by an ambulance and driven back to Paris where
he finally woke up, and then had a friend drive him back to his bike so
that he could finish the ride.

On Aug 31, 9:49 am, Tim McNamara wrote:
In article ,
Crescentius Vespasianus wrote:

the ride reports of Paris-Brest-Paris are starting to show up, read
this shocking one

http://zecher.org/clare/PBP2007RideReport.html

My goodness. Well, the condition were horrible and it was her first
PBP, so that explains a lot. There were 5000+ starters and 1800+
abandons, something like three times the normal rate. The organizers
estimated that this was the worst weather for PBP in 50 years.

In 2003 we enjoyed ideal weather- sunny skies with high temps in the mid
to upper 70s and nights in the upper 50s to lower 60s (Fahrenheit, of
course- I can't think in Centigrade). Thankfully the deadly heat wave
that had killed thousands in France had ended literally the night before
PBP started. The ride ended up being very low stress- relatively
speaking- as a result (too bad I didn't finish due to knee problems).

PBP always has stories that are- in retrospect- amusing. Hallucinations
are de rigeur. In 2003 a recumbent rider was so sleep deprived that he
got lost in one of the checkpoint parking lots and kept circling the lot
until some of the officials caught him and made him get some sleep. My
friend Tim hallucinated alligators in the ditches along the road.
Clare's story about Todd breaking into some French farmer's barn,
locking his bike inside the barn and then walking away into town is
right up there.

The best story I have heard is the guy who fell asleep on the side of
the road, was picked up by an ambulance and driven back to Paris where
he finally woke up, and then had a friend drive him back to his bike so
that he could finish the ride.

Do they do drug testing? If not, I could imagine any number of ways
to avoid falling asleep, or severe muscle pain, or exhaustion.-- Jay
Beattie.

In article ,
Crescentius Vespasianus
wrote:

the ride reports of Paris-Brest-Paris
are starting to show up, read this
shocking one

http://zecher.org/clare/PBP2007RideReport.html

A total whine-fest. I'm no iron-man, and
quit when she got nauseous and could not eat.

--
Michael Press

On Aug 31, 10:25 am, Michael Press wrote:
In article ,
Crescentius Vespasianus

wrote:
the ride reports of Paris-Brest-Paris
are starting to show up, read this
shocking one

http://zecher.org/clare/PBP2007RideReport.html

A total whine-fest. I'm no iron-man, and
quit when she got nauseous and could not eat.

--
Michael Press

That Michael Press...what a humanitarian. A real empath, him.

In article
.com
,
Hank Wirtz wrote:

On Aug 31, 10:25 am, Michael Press wrote:
In article ,
Crescentius Vespasianus

wrote:
the ride reports of Paris-Brest-Paris
are starting to show up, read this
shocking one

http://zecher.org/clare/PBP2007RideReport.html

A total whine-fest. I'm no iron-man, and
quit when she got nauseous and could not eat.

That Michael Press...what a humanitarian. A real empath, him.

You must have been empathizing nineteen to the dozen
when you go to this.

"Little did I know Mother Nature would pick this day to
present me with my monthly bill, no wonder I was
nauseous! I guess it was a good thing we were rain
soaked."

--
Michael Press