Chip's PBP experience
My most memorable bike ride took place in August, 2007 – Paris-Brest-Paris – a 1200K bike event that had a must-finish time of 84 hours. Here is my experience and what I took from it.
I landed in France, with Jim and Jane Levitt and about 25-30 other DC Randonneurs on Aug 15 and got checked in late in the afternoon. The PBP was not to start for us until Aug 21 at 5:00am – the 84-hour group. Jim and I got in 2 great local rides over the next 2 days (Thursday and Friday) with some riders from DC Rand and some other riders that had similar ideas. Saturday was Tour-Paris-Day on a bus. It was a great time and we saw lots of Paris. Great food and wine was enjoyed by all. On Sunday, the Provenza's joined us and it was then we learned that Clint's bike didn't make it. While Clint focused most of that day on finding his bike, it was officially PBP bike inspection and sign in. My first challenge was how to get the XXXL jersey they gave me downsized to my size. It was no easy task as the PBP volunteers all but totally ignored me and that made me angrier and more determined. I believe I heard someone on the intercom telling me to step away from the table. I was pretty ticked off, but decided I didn't need to start my PBP with a time penalty. Clint and Jim also got checked in and don’t believe they had jersey issues.
During the afternoon I went off on my bike on a route that took me to places unknown. I came upon part of the Spanish team and chatted with them for a moment, but I just kept pedaling and found myself totally lost in France. I just kept turning right and found myself back to the hotel 26 miles later. It was such a unique feeling being someplace by myself not knowing where I was going; finding a couple of beautiful old towns and relying on instinct to get me back. I got back just in time to hook up with Jim and Jane and some DC Randonneurs – Randy, Dave, and their wives.
On Monday, the day before the ride start, we spent some time at the start / finish, getting lunch and some needed supplies for the road. Clint and Sherri went to Paris to, hopefully, bring back a bike and gear. It didn't happen. The afternoon was spent helping Clint get on his back-up bike supplied by Bob Sheldon. Bob had crashed two days earlier and broken his left arm making it impossible to ride. The front wheel had to be trued and Jane Levitt supervised that operation. Back at the hotel, Sherri and I were putting together a list of needed items. Riders had become aware of Clint’s bike situation and were donating extra things like arm warmers, leg warmers, jerseys, socks, sunglasses, etc. Clint was out buying new shoes. We then went and got the bike set-up for him and found the trucks that would accept his drop bags. It was certainly a mad dash. With the purchase of a helmet, he was ready. Jim and I were also ready. We agreed to leave the hotel the next morning by 4:15.
Tuesday, August 21, 4:15am: We began the roll towards the start – Jim L, Clint, Bill Beck and I. We checked in at the Controlle and joined the expanding crowd of riders on the track outside the Gym. The group slowly rolled to the street and after a few more delays in the street, we were officially off. It was a very fast start with many slow downs. You had to watch for medians that popped up out of nowhere and roads that quickly narrowed. It was pretty crowded over the next 25 miles and then groups and pacelines started forming. Around 45 miles into it, I backed off the pace a little and saw Jim and Clint ride off. I didn't know if I'd see them again that day. It also began to rain very hard and steady. I had a plastic rain jacket that helped a lot. We did get back together about 15 miles after the 2nd Controlle at Villaines-La-Juhel (mile 142). We spent the rest of the day getting into the other Controlles at Fougeres - 190 miles and Tinteniac - 226 miles. At Tinteniac, it started getting dark and a little chillier, so we put on the necessary layers and reflective gear. We had about 80 kilometers or 50 miles to go to Loudeac, the stopping point for the day. Our original plan, was to get to the hotel by about 11:00pm and sleep to about 5:00am and role by 6:00am. We got in to the Controlle, however, at about 1:30 am and found our bags (soaked from rain), got something to eat, and checked into the hotel. By the time we got showered, and took care of equipment, it was about 3:30am. We slept for 2-3 hours.
Wednesday, August 22, 7:30 am: After getting some breakfast at the 24 hour breakfast bar at the hotel, we set out for Brest – the half-way point. At some point on the previous day, we lost Bill Beck, so it was down to Clint, Jim and me. The mission for the day was to get to Brest (100 miles) and back (100 miles) and sleep a few more hours. We rolled out together, but within 25 miles my butt was so sore that I could hardly stay on the saddle. Clint was a little ahead of us riding with another group while a suffered along. Jim stayed back with me. We made it to Carhaix where we checked into the Controlle and hooked back up with Clint then got some food. After lunch, Jim had some chamois cream so I put that on and it seemed to help.
After Carhaix, we made our way towards Brest. Jim was starting to suffer from an Achilles issue and I hung back with him up the climb to Roc Trevezel while Clint found the wheel of a tandem and made his way up the road. Jim's problem got worse the closer we got to Brest and he convinced me to go on ahead. When I got to the bridge crossing over to Brest, it was a great feeling knowing that this was the half-way point; however, it was now about 4:30 pm and I had this incredible feeling that I was one of the last riders to cross, which was far from reality. I felt like I should have been there hours before. Clint and I actually arrived at Brest only minutes from each other but never saw one or other. It was now about 5:00 in the afternoon, well ahead of the Control cutoff times, but still it would be another 100 miles to ride in order to get back to Loudeac and I wouldn’t leave Brest until almost 5:30 pm. I thought to myself, what a strange time to ride a Century! Jim came in about 15 minutes after me and was in some pain. He said we wanted to rest about an hour and convinced me to go on. After a baguette and a couple of bowls of coffee, I started the return leg. I made good time back to towards Carhaix. I came across a couple of DC Rand riders – Matt Settle, Roger Hillas prior to the climb up Roc Trevezel. At the top of Roc Trevezel, I put on layers and reflective gear, turned on some lights and made the 30 mile push to Carhaix where it was starting to rain and darkness was setting in. I found some other DC Rand people and had dinner with them. Jim came in just as I was leaving dragging his leg. I had a desire to stay and help him, but again he convinced me to keep it moving. At about 10:30 pm I made the final push back to Loudeac, the stopping point for the night. It was completely dark out in the countryside of France and raining hard. My lighting system worked great and also found that removing my clear glasses improved visibility immensely since I wasn’t looking through the rain drops and fog build-up. I left out of the Controlle at Carhaix by myself and felt quite alone out there and sometimes in doubt whether I was on the right road until I finally saw some tail lights. I hung with a group of riders for about a mile but they were going way too slow so I went around them and soon found others. I wanted to ride in a group, but they were always going slower than I wanted to go. I found that it was OK to pass them because I was always going to see more tail lights. Through the dark and rain, I finally made it to Loudeac about 2:30 am on Thursday. Clint had been there about 30-45 minutes. He had Motrin, some butt cream, and newspaper (to stuff in and dry out soaking wet shoes) all laid out. He had found a pharmacy on the way back to Loudeac. What a sweetheart of a guy! It was so nice to see everything I needed just laid out there. After grabbing some food, we hit the sack. I was hoping we would see Jim later that night, but he never made it. 2 more hours of sleep.
Thursday, August 23, about 7:30: Clint and I left Loudeac and headed back to Villaines La-Juhel. Mileage for the day was about 143 miles. The plan was to ride hard and get in fairly early to the hotel, maybe get a nice dinner and get to bed early. Instead, we made several stops along the way in search of a crepery. We never found one open, but we did find a nice sidewalk cafe for lunch close to the Controlle at Tintiniac and later a bakery around the Controlle at Fougeres where we refortified on some French pastry and coffee. We were well off course, but could see riders making there way out of town and on course. We were having a great time of it, however, knowing we had some time to make up. We made our way back to the course and notched it up a bit. We rolled into Villaines-La-Juhel around 8:00pm. We had some dinner at the Control and then got our drop bags and set out in search of the hotel. They were not prepared for us. We actually had to leave our bikes out in the rain under an umbrella in the courtyard all night. The room was tiny but we knew it would be for just a short nap. Clint did find a couple of glasses of wine and we toasted a successful day on the bikes. We got in bed around 11:00pm and set the alarm for 1:00am. 2 more hours of sleep.
Friday, August 24, 1:00am: Summit day! We were set to roll into Paris on this day. We had great plans to have a sub-80 hour ride. The MUST-FINISH time was 84 hours or 5:00pm. We grabbed some breakfast and headed out. I thought I had lost my camera and that cost us about 10 minutes and we finally left the controlle at about 2:15am. Immediately, I started having light problems, but after a stop I got it corrected. Our individual paces were a little off from normal as we left. I was in high gear and Clint was in a slightly slower gear, wanting to chat with everyone along the course. We discussed it and I decided to keep going. I had a feeling I'd see him again. About a half-hour later, he passed me and didn't know it was me. I said, Clint!!! He said he knew it was me because nobody else out here could catch him. I said I knew it was he that passed me because of the same reasons. We rode on together through the darkness to the next Controlle at Mortagne Au Perche about 6:00am. Only 88 miles left to the finish. Somewhere along the way some Italian rider came up and we rode with him for a while. Clint kept riding with him while I backed off the pace some. Shortly after that I realized my brake pads were wiped out, but we soon got out of the hills onto a lot flatter terrain. It was all I could do to keep my eyes open. The last Control before the end finally came and I got some more coffee, some fruit and rolled on. I found a couple more DC Rand people and then put it back into high gear I was getting excited about nearing the end. At about the 50K point from the end, I got into a great paceline with an Italian and a couple of Americans and we took that through some beautiful old towns until the paceline fell apart. I pedaled into Paris (St. Quentin En Yvelines) around 12:45 with about 15 minutes to spare to get in under 80 hours. I hadn't seen Clint for the last 4-5 hours, but all of a sudden he passes me again (again, didn't say hello). I caught up to him and we came in under the banner together with about 10 minutes left to check in for the under-80-hour time. We got the bikes parked and ran inside only to find long lines. Clint ducked under a table and joined a shorter line. I finally stepped up to the final Control stamp and card swipe at 79 hours and 57 minutes. DONE!!!
It was a most incredible experience! I believe the most memorable part of the ride was the people on the side of the ride and in the small towns that shouted encouragement to all of the riders. There were old people, young people, parents and their children who came out to wish us well and to provide nourishment with cookies, coffee, and water.
What also stands out in my mind was the awesome feeling of being totally alone out on the road at 1:00 in the morning in a driving rain thinking this is totally insane, but at the same time being totally exhilerated. I could look way up the road in front of me and spot a tail light or turn around and somewhere back there I could spot a head light of another rider doing the same thing, turning the cranks and heading for the next Controlle and ultimately, Paris.