Towards The Ocean - PBP 2011

[blueskies]

Hello everyone, here's a link to a short (14 mins) film i made about my PBP experience.

I had a few problems with the equipment, the camera mount broke on the first night so
everything after that is hand held, so apologies for the poor sound and occasional motion
issues but I think I managed to capture what my event felt like, maybe yours too?

[Pip]

Loved it Pete  .

A couple of stories to tell there re: hotel and missing brevet card

[Hummers]

Good stuff that man. 

H

[arvid]

Nice. I'm probably just outside the view you took at Fougeres at 10:30. I was in the corner completely to the right. You left Fougeres around the same time as me.

[Salvatore]

Excellent stuff, even though not quite as gripping (will he? won't he?) as your LEL video.

[LastGasp]

Very enjoyable, Thanks Pete.  I had a similar experience - left my handlebar bag complete with Brevet Card on the table at Carhaix and went 20km towards Brest before I realised.  Then had to TT it back, found it at the cash register, and headed off again.  Could've done without the extra 40kms, and it took a while before I realised I would be OK for time at Brest - I kept thinking I would be out of time, but I wasn't factoring in the extra time I would gain (over the minimum) on the 100kms or so to Brest, so I had a couple of hours in hand in the end.

[marcusjb]

Great video, does really capture a lot of the experiences of the ride that I had (fortunately not the lost brevet card which may have brought on tears by that point!).

Very enjoyable

[blueskies]

Thanks everyone for watching and your comments. As Salvatore mentions i made a similar movie, albeit made from stills and my twitter postings during LEL 2009. That was my first ever long distance ride, indeed my first audax event, and consequently suffered like a dog. I was the very last rider to be accredited and I hated pretty much all of the last 48 hours. However, i did make for a good film at the end of it - i had decided to pack on at least 3 or 4 occasions all of which were documented through the magic of twitter, and subsequently on that film.

Doing PBP for me was a chance to put right all the things that went wrong for me on LEL, the weather was much more favourable which helps but i was much better prepared this time round, physically but more crucially mentally. When i couldn't find the hotel in Brest (which i'd been so looking forward to having not slept up to that point) I managed to accept it and just turn back towards Carhaix rather than waste more time looking. Note for future ref, don't book F1 hotels, they are usually miles out of town on motorway intersections. Similarly with the lost brevet card, it was frustrating but it was my own fault and I just had to let the situation play out, I had plenty of time in hand although it did put pay to the sub-75 hour ride i was on target for.

Anyway, making the film was a wonderful way to finish off my PBP experience. Now it's time to look forward to future cycling endeavours, starting with the Anfractious 200 next month...may see some of you there.

[Salvatore]

The big Guidon Gorronais cyclist, at about 10:50 in blueskies' film, is one of those things which punctuates the ride and seeing it again every 4 years is almost like meeting an old friend.

He always used to be on a grassy area on the western approach to the town, as seen below in the company of two resting Danes in 2003, but now his lights have been enhanced and he's moved to the town centre.

[trixie]

Absolutely loved it!  Do I recognise the trees of Huttopia at the start?  I think you were just round the corner from us.  It's interesting to see the ride from a 'faster' rider's view - everywhere was much busier for me - especially the controls.

Thank you for sharing 

[wwatts]

I enjoyed your film a lot, and I think it does a very good job of showing what it is like from a rider's point of view.  Interestingly, i have somewhat  similar experiences.  I attempted LEL in my first season of randonneuring, and made all sorts of mistakes.  After weathering the horrendous storm coming into Edinburgh, I made a wrong turn on the way to Eskmuirdale, and lost 50 miles before I knew what had happened.  I didn't finish.

I learned a lot from that experience, and was much better prepared for PBP.  Between Villaines and Mortagne,  I lost my wallet.  For a little while, I was totally flummoxed.  Here I was, in a foreign country, in the middle of light, very short of sleep, and I hadn't even enough money to feed myself.  But then I gave myself a good talking to, and decided I couldn't let the loss derail my ride.  Pretty soon, I ran into someone I knew a bit, and he lent me 50e euros, and I finished the ride.

A week after the ride, my wallet came in the mail, post-marked from Barcelona.  All of my money and credit cards were intact.   Sometimes, things just work out, and we find that the world is a better place than we imagined.

[Nuncio]

blueskies.  Good film.  That was recognizably the same ride that I did even if the timings were a bit out.  I laughed at the 'Get that man a bed' comment.  Salvatore's post made me revisit your LEL 'film'.  The two really show the benefits of 2 year's experience, of both randonneering and randonnee film making.

wwatts. So does this mean unfinished LEL business?  Will you be back in 2015? Nice story about the return of wallet by the way.

[Pete Mas]

Thought this was very well filmed and edited...just the right length too.

[wwatts]

I absolutely have business to take care of at the next LEL, and it pains me that that there are two years to go until it comes around.  Now that I have done three years of randonneuring, I understand that LEL is easy in terms of time.  I am also better prepared for the hills in Scotland (I come from a flat land), and I have a much better chance of making my way through the kind of storm we had--I know, for example, to carry a hat with a brim that keeps the water out of my eyes so that I can see.  The remaining challenge of LEL, for me, will be navigation.  If you are used to the rectilinear streets of North America, the roads and many of the route directions of LEL are just crazy.  Navigation in PBP was a breeze in comparison to LEL, but I am eager to tackle the latter again.

[DrMekon]

Wonderful film. Lovely to get a bit of sunshine and New Order to begin, and to see you with your boys at the end. In between, you've managed to make audaxing look like great fun. Top stuff.

[wwatts]

Where can bluesky's LEL video be found?

[Greenbank]

Where can bluesky's LEL video be found?

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/UNuL70xHyH8&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/UNuL70xHyH8&rel=1</a>

[LEE]

Loved the film, helped me with the missing chronology of my blurry ride.

What camera did you use? (did you need to take loads of batteries/memory?)

[wwatts]

The LEL film is good, but the PBP one is better, both in terms of production values and cycling skill.  One of the fun things about randonneuring is that you can see yourself learn.  I am 52 now, and most of what I learn is subtle and of interest only to myself.  In randonneuring, though, you can see yourself move from infancy, to toddlerdom, to adolescence pretty quickly and dramatically.  To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, I am an old man but yet a young randonneur.

[blueskies]

Thanks again for all your positive comments. With this film particularly I wanted to tell a story that would have some impact outside the world of long distance cycling, and to make what we do seem appealing, something others might consider doing. We've all been met with dull comprehension when explaining our motivations for riding these distances, but the fact is any reasonably fit person with the some training and the correct motivation can do this. A friend of one who has only ever commuted 10 miles or so now wants to do PBP2015 as a result of this film, if he does that's great but at least he is now aware of it's existence as a distant but achievable goal - he too said it looked like great fun, not the grim trudge he envisaged.

To answer a couple of questions; Lee -  I used a gopro camera and an iphone4. The gopro is great but i'd never used it before so didn't really know what i was doing. It can shoot over 10 hours on a 16gb flashcard, and seems to last for ever on one charge but i still managed to fill up the card as i forgot to turn it off on numerous occasions, i have 5 hours footage of the inside of my pocket if anyone wants it. There's no screen though so you have no idea what you have taken, or what's in the frame, but the lens is a wide angle fisheye so you can't go too far wrong. The iphone camera is particularly good for filming yourself as you can see the screen, the last part of the film is shot on this camera as theby then the gopro card was full. The gopro comes with a handlebar mount which is great for long tracking shots and being closer to the ground than a helmet cam you get a greater sense of speed, unfortunately mine snapped on the first night so not sure if its quite designed for continuous use.

honor - yes, i think you were just down the road (was that you you family, blue tent?). Sorry, i should have said hello but i guess we were all a bit wrapped up in getting prepared and spending a little time with the family before leaving. The weather was a bit rubbish to come back to wasn't it, not sure i'd camp again on my first night back. I only got round to drying the tent out last week...

wwatts  - like the Thomas Jefferson quote and thanks for a US perspective on this. I've enjoyed riding with US randonneurs, always very positive in outlook which makes them good companions to have on such rides. Good luck with LEL, pretty sure i won't do this ride again unless the gulf stream takes up permanent residence in these isles.

[vorsprung]

Very enjoyable, Thanks Pete.  I had a similar experience - left my handlebar bag complete with Brevet Card on the table at Carhaix and went 20km towards Brest before I realised.  Then had to TT it back, found it at the cash register, and headed off again.  Could've done without the extra 40kms, and it took a while before I realised I would be OK for time at Brest - I kept thinking I would be out of time, but I wasn't factoring in the extra time I would gain (over the minimum) on the 100kms or so to Brest, so I had a couple of hours in hand in the end.

In 2007 I dropped my Brevet card at VJ, the first visit.  Loosing the card at the first control is pretty good eh?  I didn't realise for about 20km and then had to go back and find it.  English chap called Ken who was helping at one of the junctions helped me, I saw him again this year and stopped to say hi.  Then I wore myself out catching up enough time again so I could sleep that night at Loudeac

This time I also left my handlebar bag on a table at that St Nicholas control but only went about 200 metres ( downhill of course! ) before realising it wasn't there.  I went back and all was alright.

[Pip]

i have 5 hours footage of the inside of my pocket if anyone wants it.

  Very funny 

I like the idea of taking this to a wider audience.

Have another go at LEL, the conditions were pretty awful last time, but some of the terrain is spectacular, and like PBP, all of the volunteers were fantastic.

[Sergeant Pluck]

Blueskies, thanks for posting that. I really enjoyed it, and found it quite moving. Which is a bit odd since I've never done PBP or LEL but still. Excellent music choices 

[Lordy]

Fantastic film Blue Skies, my only criticism is not capturing the bloke who threw bricks at us in the last 2kms!!  thanks for bringing back some great memories

[blueskies]

Hey, Lordy - good to hear from you. Apart from that little incident (anyone else get stoned about 5k from the finish, outside those flats just before you descend onto the dual carriageway?) we finished well, even managed a sprint finish with those other Brits. Thanks for your expert navigation, hope to see you again sometime.