Paris Brest Paris 2011 Final 21052012

An Amazing Ride through the French Countryside This note is about my personal experience related to participating in the Paris Brest Paris 2011 Super Randonneur event held every four years in France. A 1230km ride to celebrate the capabilities of the bicycle. It is my attempt to document what I experienced in order to assist me and perhaps others in planning future events. Warning! It contains a lot of “I” in it and has an obsession with food! Nigel Grey September 2011 Index Page Introduction 1 Qualifying 2 Getting to the Start 6 The Ride 8 The Outward Journey 8 The Return Journey 18 The Final Leg 24 Appendix 1 : What I took with me 25 Appendix 2: What I did right 26 Appendix 3: What I would do differently next time 26 Appendix 4: PBP 2011 Arusan Results 27 Appendix 5: Original plan for completing the ride 28 Appendix 6: Cyclists Hands - Handlebar Palsy 29 Appendix 7: History of PBP (ex PBP Website) 36 Introduction This note is an attempt to capture my PBP 2011 experience as it happened, so that I can recall the experience when time has dulled my memory. It is written with the hope that it will help to make future rides more pleasurable. As such, to those that do attempt to read it, I hope it is not too boring! Audax riding is more about the enjoyment of the ride than speed, although speed can be a part of it. Medals are handed out to those that complete rides and although your time is recorded, it is the completion of the ride that is important. Audax Rides in South Africa are held under the auspices of Aurasan, the South African Affiliate to the Audax Club Parisian A special note of thanks to Eddie Tomlinson, who has been the life behind Audax rides in South Africa for so many years, to Jean who has supported him in this endeavour and Clive Collier who has assisted on many occasions. Page 1 Paris Brest Paris 2011 Qualifying During 2010, Brian Rowbotham introduced me to Audax Randonneuring (meaning Bold/Audacious Riding) which is the participation in rides of 200km or more in length and is quite popular in France, UK and the USA. At the time I thought it would be a good way for me to improve my endurance capacity for the summer racing season, little did I know what lay ahead! I remember it was in August 2010 at a 200km ride that I heard that the 17th running of the Paris- Brest-Paris Randonneur (PBP) was to take place in 2011. The PBP is one of the oldest cycling events in the world having first been held in 1891. (If you would like to read a little of its history it can be found in Appendix 7 or at the following link http://www.paris-brest- paris.org/pbp2011/index2.php?lang=en&cat=presentation&page=historique_pbp. What a fabulous excuse for a holiday in France, I thought! For some reason there was this big box that needed ticking in life’s long journey! Little did I know that I was about to embark on a trip which has tested me at times to the limit. To be honest I had no idea how hard or difficult riding 1230km unaided would be but, I was about to find out, starting at 19h15 on 21st August 2011. I had only done a few 600km rides (3 in total) to date and that’s far! The organisers often refer to this type of riding as one which requires determination, endurance and tenacity and they are not wrong – believe me. Over a period of eleven months before the start of PBP, I came to appreciate that your body can cope with a lot more than what you may think possible. But I was about to embark on a journey where I had to double up my longest ride in one go! In order to qualify for the PBP one has to complete a series of qualifying rides covering 200, 300, 400 and 600km which I did, beginning the end of August through to end November in 2010. On each of the rides I learnt something new, from eating and drinking regularly before you need to eat and drink, to having the right equipment. New shoes, the very best riding shorts and a new saddle were soon acquired. On my first 300km ride just outside a small town called Balfour, I managed to lose Brian who was also on the ride. I know, how do you lose a person on a straight section of road, but I did! How, would take too long to explain. I plodded on by myself towards the finish in Benoni via Delmas and Springs, which was not very clever as I had not studied the route and was relying on Brian to show me the way. That day there was a stiff “berg” wind blowing and it was hot. On nearing Springs I took a wrong turning and promptly headed off into one of the townships around Springs just as night fell. As the lights of Springs started disappearing into the distance, I realised my mistake which meant having to turn around and cycling back through the Township in pitch darkness! I can tell you with great authority that the extra 40km detour was done at a brisk pace and a certain amount of trepidation! The 400km was perhaps the hardest ride of the series as we started at 04h00 and only ended at 23h30. It included a long section from Villiers to Denysville, a 70km long stretch of straight road, during the heat of the day. I must admit arriving in Denysville absolutely exhausted, totally dehydrated was the one time when I thought of quitting, but after a rest and as the temperature dropped and the sun set we set off again at a reasonable pace. That ride finished with us having to climb Impala Drive and Butchers Hill in the south, two particularly brutal hills. Page 2 My first 600 km ride was long and hard in the early summer heat and I learnt all about endurance and conserving energy. Riding from Villiers to Balfour in the early hours of the morning, pitch black and a really bad road (actually non-existent road would be a better description) will be long remembered. At the end of the ride I had qualified for the PBP. At long last I could now relax or so I thought. In early 2011, I learnt that I had been mistaken in believing that all the rides we had done in 2010 would be considered as part of the qualifying process for PBP by the French Audax Association as they were done before the time for qualifying for the 2011 PBP had begun! On the previous rides, a few aspirant riders had not completed some of the qualifying rides and so a new series of qualifying rides were organised. These were held in the period end January to end March 2011 when another series of 200,300,400 and 600km rides were done. Amazingly in the space of seven months a group of budding PBP aspirants had qualified twice for the PBP and chalked up another Super Randonneur medal!!! No mean feat even to an ardent Randonneur! By now I had become well-schooled in the concept that with this sort of riding, “slower is faster” and I had learnt the meaning of riding at a uniform pace. On the second 600km ride we started at 22h00 on a Friday evening, rode through the night on the Friday and Saturday and finished at 09h30 on the Sunday morning – a total journey time of just over 35 hours, three of which were spent sleeping. Things were looking good and I must admit riding through the night was a lot easier on the body than in the heat of the day even if you do have to resort to singing and playing twenty questions in order to stay awake! (ably led by Michelle Gahan). I have to admit I dozed off once or twice in the early hours of the morning but once the first rays of sunshine appeared the fatigue seemed to dissipate. There is a problem with coming from the Southern hemisphere. The French and other Northern hemisphere countries were only thinking about preparing for PBP when we were at the top of our game!! The only solution was to keep on doing the rides. In early April there was a 200km ride which started from Benoni. It routed via Springs, Delmas, Devon, Balfour, Nigel and back. There were a lot of riders participating and the nature of the initial part of the route resulted in the formation of a large peleton which was travelling at a relatively brisk pace. The group I ride with decided to let the others disappear into the distance, we usually would pass a lot of folk who started out too fast in any case. Just outside Delmas a young rider lost control when he hit a cat’s eye and took down another rider. The cats eyes out that part of the country are like those you find on Chapman’s Peak drive. Something you don’t want to actually hit. Luckily for them they only had a nasty case of road rash. I guess it was just one of those days, but a little further on we came across a group of riders who had stopped along the road. A young lady had fallen and broken bones in her shoulder/ upper arm.

Load more