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| Bike inspection in front of Chateau Rambouillet |
This is my fairly detailed post about the 2023 Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) 1200K ride, held on 20-24 August. I write these to preserve the memories for my future self, but share them because some others actually read them word for word. If that's not you, feel free to just look at the pictures.
Objectives for PBP 2023:
(1) Get out of the "bulge" (the thousands of 90-hour riders, like me, that start within a couple hours of each other on Sunday evening. When this bulge hits stops for food, etc., the lines can be long and the delays lengthy. Compared to my first PBP (2019) when I started in a fairly early wave ("G", 5:30 PM), my 2023 start wave was an hour later ("K", 6:30 PM). This was because my 2022 rides qualified me to preregister in the second increment, vice the first increment I earned for the 2019 event. So I planned to ride swiftly (but but not outrageously fast) early on to get out ahead of the bulge, then...
(2) Earn membership in the Adrian Hands Society so I could wear the jersey I purchased earlier this year when it was available. To do so, I had to finish in the final 65 minutes of the 90 hours allotted (between 88:55 and 90:00 hours), so I would have to slow WAY DOWN late in the ride.
(3) Stop frequently for some local flavor. I did almost none of this on my first PBP, wanting to see how quickly I could finish. This time I planned to hit roadside stands, tabacs, whatever looked interesting along the route...those things that PBP riders all talk about.
Preparations:
(1) Lots of miles. About 1000/month this year, about double 2019 mileage.
(2) A "big" ride close to the event. In the past I've taken it easy after the spring qualifying rides and just kept doing my monthly miles. This time I did a 300K 15 days prior to PBP to see if that would help fitness. My bike was fully laden with the worst-case loadout of everything I might need to carry, including a full complement of wet- and cold-weather clothing. It was a real confidence builder - even fully loaded it was a personal best 300k time for me.
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| Worst-case PBP bike load out that I carried on the 300k training ride. Game-day forecast allowed me to leave most wet- and cold-weather stuff (most of the top half of this photo) behind. |
(3) Reserved an Airbnb near Loudeac on the 2019 PBP route, for two sleep/logistics stops at roughly the 1/3 and 2/3 points of this nearly out-and-back route.
(4) Created a GPS route to cover the 20km between my hotel in Marepas and the start in Rambouillet. Although there is train service, I watched riders pour off the train in 2019 and was concerned that the train might be overcrowded on start day. I thought I might lose control of my destiny, so I would ride the bike to the start. I also created GPS routes for start-Airbnb, Airbnb-Brest-Airbnb, and Airbnb-finish, and loaded all into my Wahoo.When the 2023 route was finalized the Airbnb was still on the return route, but ACP had moved the outbound route about 3k north. The GPS route I had built minimized the extra riding required by routing me on a path that slowly diverged from the official outbound PBP route, then after the Airbnb slowly converged back. HOWEVER, after I completed the GPS work I remembered that there were secret controls in 2019... what if they put one on the PBP route that I was skipping enroute to/from the Airbnb?? I checked the rules and sure enough we were expected to stay on the official route, so I had to replan such that when I returned from the Airbnb it was at the same point from which I departed the official route.
(5) About a year and a half of daily Duolingo French lessons. Last time all I knew was "Ou est la sortie" (where is the exit?)
(6) Replaced my oldest components...chain, cassette, rear wheel, and tires...before the 600k qualifier. By PBP this stuff was still almost new, and had been properly "burned in"/proven reliable.
Getting from Maryland to the start:
For my flights my bike box was "checked luggage", my oversized backpack my "carry-on", and my rear-rack bag (on a shoulder strap) my "personal item". The last 2 were crammed with clothes, bike parts, chargers, cables, etc., so I was not surprised when my rear bag was pulled by TSA for inspection. They asked if there was anything sharp in there (no), and they proceeded to tear apart this carefully packed bag while looking at the scan. They decided that what they saw was just the presta valve stems on my spare tubes and were very apologetic, smoothing things out by engaging me in some light conversation about the upcoming ride. They then asked me if I wanted them to repack this bag, knowing that I'd say I'd do it myself. I grabbed the large plastic x-ray bin full of stuff, moved off to a table against a wall, and repacked the bag.
I figured out that you shouldn't get too concerned if your Apple Air Tagged bike box doesn't get to the plane right away. This doesn't seem to happen until about boarding time.
It turned out Misha H., Hamid A., and Shab M. were all on my flight. When traveling with oversized luggage it's always an adventure finding where to claim it. After landing in Paris Misha and I were both looking for an oversized baggage claim but couldn't find it. In 2019 I had flown Air France to Charles Degaulle Airport (CDG) terminal 2 and the oversized luggage window was not too hard to find. This time on United we were in Terminal 1. Just as we were seeking help from an agent, a handler arrived pushing a large cart with 3 bike boxes on it (there is no designated location for oversized stuff in terminal 1).
I got my rental car and drove to the B&B Hotel in Maurepas. A very different experience: the front desk is only staffed a few hours a day. To check in you enter your reservation number and name into a video console and pay by credit card. You are then given a 6-digit number that gets you into the front door, into your room, and into the parking lot (locked at night).
The room was quite spartan - no mini-fridge, microwave, or even ice bucket (or ice machine on premises). I went food shopping at the Auchon Hypermarche next door, which was quite the monstrosity. Easily the biggest store I've ever been in, I'd estimate 2-3 times as large as a typical Costco, and mostly groceries. I picked up some groceries not requiring refrigeration, as well as a 6-pack of my favorite beer Leffe Ritual 9 and a bag of ice for my makeshift ice bucket. I returned to my room and spent the evening building my bike. My oldest odometer would not come to life, as it did briefly just prior to the trip when I reset it to metric mode, but that's why I carry 2.
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| Bike is built. Room was too small to show the whole thing. |
The next day (Friday) was an extra day I planned in case of any problems, but there were none. I decided I'd first test-ride the route to the start but immediately ran into problems when, 2k into the ride, GPS directed me to turn left where there was nothing but a forest. Not even a path (maybe once upon a time?) I returned to my room to replan, and set off again, but quickly ran into similar issues. Many of what Google Maps and RWGPS considered "roads" on the west side of highway N10 were dirt/mud logging roads or horse trails (one "road" was a 1' wide mud path full of horse shoe prints). I bailed from this route and did some ad-hoc navigating with phone in hand to get back to paved roads and eventually to the PBP start/finish area in Rambouillet. I had a cola "slurpee" with a sandwich while looking for a better route on my phone. There had been one rider post that said there was a good route on the east side of N10, so I gave that a look. Setting the Google Maps routing for "driving" and "avoid highways" gave a very promising paved result. After first visiting a memorial in town that I had heard about that honored the American soldiers killed in an ambush 2 months after D-Day (the fighting was far from over after D-Day), I set off for my hotel. The navigation problems had killed my thoughts of maybe visiting Versailles on that extra day.
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| The Memorial in Rambouillet |
The route was excellent, and upon entering Coignieres about 2k from my hotel I ran into Pat O. from DC Rand walking down the street. We had dinner at a steakhouse near his hotel, and the Duolingo lessons came in handy when trying to communicate to the server that we wanted the tab (l'addition). In general I found that I knew more French than the locals knew English, even though I felt I just BARELY knew a little French. I certainly can't understand 2 locals having a conversation, but I had fun trying to ask for stuff in french.
Saturday was check-in day. I took the train to and from Rambouillet just to see how it went, and immediately ran into problems. The ticket machine only seemed to want to sell me tickets to Paris, but fortunately an agent opened a window after about 20 minutes and sold me my round-trip tickets. RUSA and DC Rand planned group photos in front of the Chateau Rambouillet which I just barely made, then I went to collect my ride materials. The jersey I ordered was too small (a common occurrence), but I was there early enough that I could exchange for a larger size. I also bought a couple t-shirts, and visited Danial Webb who was there promoting the London-Edinburgh-London 1500k and handing out candies.
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| Danial's London-Edinburgh-London 1500k swag |
Afterwards I had a sandwich in the parking lot in front of the Hotel Mercure where they had set up tables, hay bale seating, and concessions. Rambouillet was much better prepared for the thousands of PBP riders this time compared to their first time hosting in 2019, when they probably didn't understand what was coming and food was a little hard to come by at times.
I had dinner with Pat at an Italian restaurant near his hotel, and spent the evening/early morning riding out food poisoning until about 4 AM Sunday morning. I believe it was the calamari appetizer.
I woke at 8 AM, but laid in bed till 3:30 to rest for the day's start. Based on the weather forecast, I ditched cold weather gear (except knee warmers) and rain gear (except the Showers Pass jacket.) The forecast proved accurate, the only clothing I took on the bike that I didn't end up wearing were knee warmers. Since I was checking back into the same hotel 4 days later and had their permission to leave my rental car in their lot, I loaded all my non-ride stuff into my bike box and locked it in the car.
As planned, I rode the 20k to the start, and saw maybe 2 fellow PBP riders along the way. The start was a little more organized this time, but the plan was not well communicated. Instructions were to report to the chateau for bike inspection about an hour before start time, but it was not obvious how to navigate the crowd there. I eventually found out all we had to do was find the guy holding the large "K" sign, and he would lead us through inspection to the start. I found Pat O. pretty quickly, both Roger H. and Pat O. from DC Rand were in "K" with me.
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| Pat O. and me before the start |
We made our way through a very quick inspection of our lighting, then got our control cards stamped and headed to the start box.
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| In the start box |
Anticipating a couple idle hours between leaving the hotel and starting the ride, I packed some Golden Oreos and cranberry juice on my bike to stay fueled and hydrated before the start. I finished half the cookies and all the cranberry juice and asked a fellow rider in the start box to hold my bike while I ran to a recycle bin to get rid of the bottle. I also had 4 energy bars on my bike to get me through the 120k to the food stop in Mortagne, only 2 of which I actually ate by then.
The Ride:
At 6:30 PM, we were off. I hit a comfortable but swift pace as we headed west into a perfect sunset. The beginning/end of the route is fairly flat, but nothing else is.
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| First hour of the ride |
From time to time I was riding with Roger, but we stopped to get Roger a sandwich perhaps 2 hours into the ride (I wasn't hungry) and he said I could ride on. I didn't see him again for a while. I also saw Pat briefly after this stop, and saw him once more the next day. I was feeling very good and moving along smartly, passing hundreds of riders and only occasionally getting passed myself by fast-moving pace lines. I saw the first rider from the "J" wave that had started 15 minutes before us after an hour of riding , and successive earlier waves about every 30 minutes later, eventually finding 80 hour riders from A-E waves. There was a Steely Dan playlist running in my head the entire ride: mostly Doctor Wu, The Fez, and The Nightfly (OK, that one was a Donald Fagen solo).
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| Georgi S. found this photo of me on the Facebook page of photographer by Dom Vidom. Approaching Tinteniac Monday morning |
After the short ride to the Loudeac control (435k) I got a sausage baguette, fries, and drink with a rando from Minneapolis (Jonas?) I was very impressed with his French when ordering, he said he had lived once in France for 7 years. I saw Pat O. across the control on the other side of a barricade, but by the time I got around it to talk to him he had disappeared. The ride out of Loudeac into the setting sun was worth stopping for a photo:
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| Riders westbound from Loudeac Monday into the setting sun |
I hit a secret control in Canihuel (no services...just a quick stamp on the control card), just prior to the services at Saint Nicolas (482k). I hit the next control, Carhaix (514k), at 1:21 AM Tuesday which always seems to be packed in the evening. It was hard walking around the place with bodies strewn everywhere. Every square yard of floor space seemed to have a sleeping rider on it...you had to step over several just to get into the men's room.
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| Carnage at Carhaix. No more floor space indoors |
From there it was on to Brest. For the only time this PBP I got so sleepy I thought I might fall asleep on the bike (this happened many times in 2019, causing me to ditch nap to clear my head). I knew this year the leg to Brest was not an out-and-back trip like 2019, but I thought the climb over the Roc'h Trevezel (highest point of the event) was on the return trip. So, for the second PBP, I summited the Roc'h without realizing I was doing so (the climb is more gentle than some would lead you to believe.) I was certainly climbing, towards a glowing white blob of light through a heavy fog that turned out to be a huge transmitting tower. Only after the descent into Sizun and seeing the Cafe du Centre that was my salvation on that freezing night in 2019 did I realize I'd gone over the Roc'h. I got to Brest (604k) at 6:09 AM and tried to table nap because of my sleepiness enroute there, but by then I was no longer sleepy so I just took off on the return trip to Rambouillet. Unlike 2019, it was daylight when I crossed the Pont Albert Louppe bridge.
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| Tuesday sunrise in Brest. Beginning the return trip |
The return trip back to the Airbnb outside Loudeac was the low point of the ride for me. Yeah, it was warm, but not as warm as Maryland or the previous month's RAGBRAI ride when the heat index was around 115F. Or maybe I was tired, or maybe it was my sore contact points, but decided that if my wife came alongside with my car and asked if I wanted a ride I'd abandon right there and then. For me the fun in this sport comes before and after the ride, not necessarily during, so I'm glad the option to abandon so easily was not available. At some point some French guy passed me on the right without warning and with very little room to do so. I was pissed..."That was dangerous! Dangereux!"
There was a new feed stop for 2023, Gouarec (731k), that had excellent baked goods for the riders (or maybe it was the secret control at Pleyben, I'm not sure). On my second pass Loudeac (782k) was a ghost town...I was clearly out of the bulge. I arrived at the Airbnb at 6:30 PM, at which point I had 42 hours to cover the final 435k. It was time to put on the brakes if I wanted to finish in Adrian Hands time. I didn't want to just ride slow, for that meant more time for the contact points on that torture machine that my bike was becoming. I also didn't want to fritter away all that extra time sitting in one place (how boring!), so it was time to start a series of short time-wasting stops. I started by sleeping almost 7 hours.
My hand-washed SPP kit that I had started the ride in was now dry and I put it back on. I had grabbed some food before stopping there so I had something to eat when I got up, and discovered my host had left some snacks as well.
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| Airbnb snacks. These were awesome. I ate all that my host had set out. |
I forgot a can of Coke I had put in the fridge. I hope my host enjoyed it.
I departed the Airbnb at 1:45 AM Wednesday with zero time-in-hand so as to make the control in Tinteniac by its 8:15 AM closure. Riders were rolling past me on the return route as soon as I stepped outside the door, which was quite energizing.
During the night I found one large and lively roadside concession in Illifaut and spent some time there eating and drinking, and dancing a little to their stereo.
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| Roadside in Illifaut, Wednesday 3:15 AM |
It was followed by a beautiful sunrise
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| Wednesday sunrise, just before La Budorais |
I made it to Tinteniac (867k) by 6:11 as day broke, and said hello to Misha in the line to get control cards stamped. Just before the next control, Fougeres, I heard someone yelling "Jack! This way!" It was super volunteer Shab Memar, directing the riders to a last-minute detour while snapping my photo.
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| Fougeres. Hello Shab!! |
I killed a little time in Fougeres (928k) having an extended snack, but left with time-in-hand at over 3 hours and increasing.
At 11 AM I stumbled upon the famous postcard stop in La Tanniere: free eats and drinks if you promise to send Paul a post card when you get home. I perused the USA section of his display and saw several familiar names from his 2019 collection.
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| La Tanniere. Free eats and drinks for a postcard when you get home |
That killed some time. I hit some more roadside stops and two more were offering the same deal. At the last one there was a man and two little girls. I had 2 DC Randonneurs pins in my pocket (3 originally, but one got tossed accidentally with some wrappers from that pocket), and I presented them to the girls as a "Cadeau" (gift).
Then I got more serious about killing time. There was a big party in the middle of Le Ribay, and I hung out there for 45 minutes eating a sandwich and plate of pasta and drinking a beer, which a local jokingly warned me wasn't good for me.
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| Party in Le Ribay |
Shortly before Villaines I ditch napped in a grassy spot under some shade trees with a bunch of other riders for 35 minutes.
Villaines (1017k) did not disappoint...the town always puts on quite a spectacle and makes you feel like you just finished a stage of the Tour de France. Live bands, what seems like the whole town there to greet you, a big festival. I saw Hamid there and he gave me the Band Aids that I had been looking for. I then napped on the lawn there with other riders, killing another hour there.
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| Awesome Villaines |
About halfway to the next control, Mortagne, I was passed by Misha and her "Party Train" of maybe 10 riders. Shortly thereafter, in the tiny village of Les Hautes Haies, I spotted the perfect spot for the next ditch nap: a grassy field surrounded by a hedgerow with just a small gap in it. No one would see me there. I went for it.
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| Les Hautes Haies. Actually, sometimes I DO sleep with my bike. |
I woke with a start, in the dark, thinking I overslept the next control. Adding to my panic I could not find my phone (to check the time) or wallet. I thought I left them on my front wheel, but after turning on my helmet light I found them right next to my head. I had been there for 2.5 hours but it was still not time for my alarm to go off. I got back onto the road and rolled into Mortagne (1099k) at 1:08 AM Thursday with only an hour and a half time-in-hand...excellent! Mortagne has best food. I had the same big plate of spaghetti that I had there in 2019 along with two cans of Orangina, and took my time eating. Being middle-of-the-night, the place was absolutely packed with bikes and floor sleepers like it was in Carhaix.
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| Mortagne was packed |
There were bodies everywhere, even one in a diarama by the front door! I did notice, however, that when I departed at 2 AM the bike racks had emptied out considerably.
An hour and a half later I came upon a bunch of riders crowding around a tabac/bar in Neuilly Sur Eure called La Bonne Franquette, with an outdoor seating area next to it. It looked promising, and the Oranginas had worked their way through me, so I stopped in to check it out. It was a quite lively mix of both riders and locals.
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| La Bonne Franquette in Neuilly Sur Eure. |
From there I found another roadside gathering in Senonches, very low-key, where I dozed in a chair for an hour.
At some point I pulled off the route down a side road to gaze at the very black sky of the countryside, and found myself right next to a man/woman pair of cyclists doing the same thing. I only stayed a couple minutes and gave them back their privacy.
I reached the penultimate control, Dreux (1176k), at 7 AM with 2 hours time-in-hand. I napped there for a while, then got up to eat some breafast - a huge and satisfying plate of scrambled eggs. While carrying the plate to the table Roger called me over. I hadn't seen him since the first 2 hours of the ride. After almost 2.5 hours in Dreux I couldn't stand to sit still any more. I said goodbye to Roger and headed out for the final 42k to the finish trying to hold my speed down (I only have 1 speed - "Ride Your Ride").
It was either before or after Dreux that I chatted with a Turkish rider for maybe 30 minutes. He was quite up on things in the U.S - space program, politics, the military - despite being a dentist. I was quite impressed the analytic abilities he displayed, I wish him the best in his quest for citizenship.
On the way to the finish I was passed by a 3-bike pace line. The first rider snapped a photo of me, the second rider just rode, and there third said "He likes your (SPP) jersey." But apparently not enough to trade (I asked).
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| The cockpit, near the finish. That's (1)218k on the odometer. |
Finally we were in terminal homing. We were on the same road I'd ridden into Rambouillet on my scouting ride last week. There were 15k-10k-5k countdown markers on the road. I checked the time and it looked like I would finish 6 minutes into the Adrian Hands window, a safe margin to account for timing errors.
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| Finish line in sight |
I finished at 11:31 AM (89:01 after the start), and immediately checked my time on the rider tracker website. It showed me at 88:57...? What I had overlooked was my elapsed time started not at 6:30 PM on Sunday but 4 minutes later when I actually crossed the timing pad after hundreds of other riders in my wave. But happily I still finished in the time window I was shooting for. I got there final stamp on my control card and a finishers medal.
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| Done |
I had almost 13 hours of "stopped" time out of the 34 hours since departing the Airbnb outside Loudeac. Like 2019, not once did my alarm have to wake me up...the body just knows you have to make the next control before it closes.
I got in line for the free meal at the finish, but whereas in 2019 the food tent was empty for my 5 AM finish, it was now noon and the line was over 100 yards long and did not move for the 20 minutes I was in it. I bailed and then waited at the finish line for Roger, and he showed up a few minutes later. Still hungry, I went into town for a baguette and beer lunch and before catching the train back to my hotel. It started raining as I sat there at the same place that I had lunch a couple days ago, the only rain of the event.
Après:
I had a great 3 days of exploring Bayeux, Caen, and the Normandy beaches.
I Ieft my passport at security screening at CDG. Fortunately I discovered this pretty quickly and, after a heart attack, got it back after about 5 minutes.
Notes for next time (2027):
Maybe do the 84 hour start. I've either finished or shown I could have finished in under 84 hours twice now, so maybe see PBP from a different perspective with its early morning vice evening start.
Try to stay in the start/finish town of Rambouillet. I did this in 2019 and had an Airbnb there reserved for 2023 until it was sold, my reservation canceled, the Airbnb remodeled and the rate jacked up. Maurepas was fine, but very commercial and less accommodating. This would be really helpful for getting to the early-morning 84 hour start.
Same prep regimen. The 1000 miles/month and 300k training ride 2 weeks prior turned PBP from a challenge in 2019 into a very enjoyable ride. Many said this edition had much more climbing in it, but to me it felt much flatter than 2019 (when I felt unprepared for the continuously hilly terrain.)
Again take food and drinks for the pre-start waiting period, and maybe up the energy bars from 4 to 8. I only needed 2 to get to the first feed stop (maybe because of the pre-ride food/drink), but after all 4 were gone I kind of wished I had a few more.
Make that jersey a 2XL or 3XL. I'm actually an M, but this is some whole other sizing system.
