Arrived at Victoria in plenty time for the coach, having detoured via Evans cycles to buy two water bottles which I had forgotten. jwo was there, as was Jon Chapman who I thought had failed to qualify - nice to see he had managed it in the end.
The coach duly arrived, we headed off out of London, and eventually got to the hotel about 11.30 french time, checked in and got into our rooms and straight to bed. I had a sore throat so was taking strepsils for it.
The next day was bike assembly day, and I found my bike to be in the same shape it started off. I decided to retrue the wheels, though others thought they were within tolerances.
I went off to a pharmacy with jwo to get some stronger stuff for the throat but the best stuff is "contraindiquee pour le dopage" or something. So I got some tablets. jwo then headed into town and found some food and went for a picnic by a lake in Guyancourt (I found it because there was a blue splodge on the GPS. It was a nice spot).
At dinner, a buffet was served. I loaded my plate full and set down to eat, and it was only after having eaten all of it I found out that was just the starter! Still, it does pay to eat lots before PBP I guess.
Bike check Sunday came along, and with some apprehension I rolled up for my 10.15 bike check and was a bit confused by the lack of activity around the bike check tent, and eventually found the check had been abandoned due to the weather. There would be a cursory check on the start line, but no proper check. So, I joined the queue for getting my brevet card and medal etc which took about 45 minutes. Back to the hotel
and then jwo, myself and two others headed into town again and went to an italian cafe and had pasta and stuff. Whilst we were there, it rained heavily again. Fortunately there was a large canopy so we stayed dry.
The rest of sunday was taken up by an afternoon snooze and some fettling, and some comments from Vorsprung about my fettling too much. Then dinner again (this time I deliberately had lots of buffet). Off to bed, and my first PBP anxiety dream, which went thus:
- running out of time whilst riding with Jon Chapman
- him suddenly turning into my ex girlfriend
- her mother complaining about the amount of noise we were making at the control
(which was a stall in the street outside her flat)
Bizarre.
On Monday, more fettling occured and a huge dither about bar bag or not, I eventually settled on taking it as my rack pack wasn't allowing me to take enough food. I also walked to the Super U and bought some fig rolls and stuff. At about 5.30 we met up (jwo, me, vorsprung, phil - not an acfer) and set off to the meal. vorsprung went his own way as he wasn't joining us. We got into the meal quite early, it was very efficient
and the food was good. We shared feelings of terror with other entrants, particularly a lady from Alaska (one of only 10 entries from there) who sounded and looked petrified. We met a few other acfers (charlotte, comet, mega10, rollo, m. pumpe, mr larrington) before heading down to the start and joining the back of a massive queue, wondering if we had already left it too late and would be standing there til 11pm!
There was a bit of activity suddenly as the first group of vedettes went away on time, there was a buzz of excitement - all we could see was the tops of helmets, they got away very fast at the front. Eventually the queue started to move and we slowly found our way round the roundabout, into the underpass and onto the running track. It became clear we'd be in one of the early groups. It was a very slow process, and a mexican wave started and eventually we had it going round the running track a few times. Some people went clockwise round the track, others anti, and charlotte and a few other acfers were making their way round the back, and they arrived at the start control at the same time as us so we ended up in the same pen, for the
3rd wave (10.10 start).
Soon, we found ourselves in the road and waiting for the off, with the tension level rising. We were some way back from the front of the pen so we didn't move off at any great speed, I thought it went very well. There was no stupid riding that I saw at this stage and were having a ball heading out on the dual carriageways. The police were stopping traffic at all the junctions so we swept through at 25kph. After a while jwo decided to join a faster group, but I stayed with the group I was in. Eventually though I started group-hopping, pushing up the pace to move forwards when faster groups came past, or to bridge the gap when groups split. The weather was perfect, and the worries about the rain subsided. Then it started raining and I passed loads of people stopped to put on their rain gear, in bus stops, etc. I had my rain jacket
on from the start, so didn't need to stop. However it didn't last very long and I soon dried out.
The best sight I remember from the first night was looking up the road, to see a weaving line of red lights heading uphill to pass a church which was illuminated by floodlights at the top of the hill. It was beautiful. It was like the DD, but on a far, far grander scale.
I rode alonside a Canadian chap for a while, then found myself riding with some fixie types. This would be Emily the fixie chick, her boyfriend (sorry, Charlotte!), and a.n. other, all from the USA. They set a good pace so I was happy to sit in with them. I did eventually decide to drop them, though.
The cafe at 80km was a bit too busy for my liking, so I just pressed on. There were some great descents (twisting and wet) but people were taking them far too slow and holding me up by riding in the middle of the road. I left people for dead with my dual solidlights setup when I could get past.
The rain came back again with a vengeance and it chucked it down for ages up to Mortange where I met Rollo and M. Pumpe who had arrived, unseen by me, about the same time. I got some food - pasta and bolognese - and joined them. I asked to ride with them for a bit, but we got separated quickly as I had solidlights trouble, the bayonet connector was not making good contact all the time (on the dynamo
light). I managed to make it work again, and we descended rapidly from the control in the pissing rain. My spirits were suffering with the constant rain, being cold, and perhaps a bit of tiredness. I have never had such shit weather on any audax ride I have ever taken part in.
With dawn, the rain was subsiding a bit, but we had a long slog up a more major road into a headwind to contend with. I was grateful when we turned left away from the wind and eventually rolled into Villaines. This control's bike parking was the worst organised since everyone had to make their way down a narrow aisle between the rows of parked bikes. I never found the restaurant so ate two apple tarts from the snack bar, and had a can of coke. This, plus the improving weather and daylight perked me up, and I set off in better mood.
I can't remember much about the ride to Fougeres, but I met up with Jon Chapman on the road and we formed a two man chain gang and were making good progress. Struggled to find the coach, but eventually did and looked for energy bars but they were all on the other coach. Pressed on leaving Jon behind for a snooze if I recall correctly, and did the short section to Tintineac. Ate some food, saw Steve Abraham
and Charlotte again. I took over an hour at this control, and waited for JC. Charlotte arrived about 15 mins before I left, and left pretty quickly. JC and I rode together for a bit, but we split up for some reason and I rode with a group which was making a good, comfortable pace. I was chatting to a German (I think) guy in this group and was doing well, it looked like a midnight arrival at Loudeac (450km in 26 hours) when whilst I was on my own for a bit, disaster struck: as I went to change down on the rear shifter, I felt the resistance on the lever go away and the bike jumped into the smallest sprocket: the cable had snapped.
I pulled into a driveway to have a look, and it soon transpired that the break was in the lever and I didn't have enough frayed end to get it out. I spent over 30 minutes futilely trying to fix it, before giving up. I phoned the Carhaix coach to say I might be forced to pack, and they said I could get there and kip on the coach, and I could help with the bag drop operations. Perish the thought! It was also suggested if I could get to a control, it might be fixable. So, I rigged up the rear mech with a spare cable in the downtube adjuster and clamped it into the 25T sprocket so I had a low gear for the climbs, and pushed on. It wasn't too bad, though I could only spin out to 32kph and had to let groups leave me on climbs as I couldn't match their speed so well. My arrival time at Loudeac from the GPS suddenly improved by an hour as I had mis-ordered some points, so there was a large extra distance in the route which was not real. I arrived at about 1am, an hour later than anticipated, still with about 4h in hand though.
Attempts to get it fixed took up a lot of time. Initially they looked at it, and I went away to get some food. I returned to find they had fixed it, but it soon transpired the lever wasn't working properly. Maybe I had damaged it when trying to extract the old cable? huh I felt pretty bad at this stage. However then the mechanic found there was still old cable in there which was jamming it. So he had a go at getting it out, and I went back to the control. I went back again later to be told it was now working, which I was slightl disappointed by, due to the rain! I think I set off at aftetr 3am after a 20 minute snooze on the floor. I had lost a lot of time and I would've been able to have a 1-2h kip if it wasn't for the breakage.
I also lost time due to having to run to the cash point to get enough money out to pay for the repair. Angry
The next bit was lumpy, and it was a definate benefit to have all 30 gears! At this point we started seeing the first returning riders. I was riding on my own again. There was a secret control here but I elected not to use the sleep facilities and pressed on to Carhaix, which I arrived at about 8am. I asked mike to get my bag for me, and he refused, saying how could he find it. Roll eyes But he did help me look for it. He'd been
there for two days but it had never occured to him to organise the bags so he could find them quickly. I got my energy bars and fig rolls out, but decided not to change until the return visit. I slept on the back seat of the coach for about 45 mins, then pushed on about 9.30am.
After climbing out of the town I had to strip a bit, it was sunny and warm, and charlotte and phil overtook. I got onto the minor road climb into the headwind and pushed hard after my longest sleep so far, and passed them on the climb. I kept pressing on into the headwind and was pushing 30kph at times. I backed off a bit after a while as I saw a sign saying Brest 67. I caught garryb and we chatted for a bit, then I got to the main road and the climb of the Roc. I stopped for a banana and was passed by garry and then this huge peloton with Charlotte and Phil right in the middle. I set off again and saw garry be sucked in the front, and after not very long, spat out the back. I got to the top to find Charlotte, Phil, Garry and we rested briefly before pushing across the plateau to the descent, which was very fast. Phil left me behind and I pushed on
to Brest, starting to flag. I arrived there after over 40h but well in time. I saw what looked like a possible fatality: 3 ambulances, a car with a smashed front, a pair of cycling shoes sticking out from under a tarpaulin, and a lack of activity from the medics. (Update: he wasn't dead, just injured).
At Brest, the food was shit. I didn't know about the restaurant across the road. I had a chat with some Americans and then went outside and snoozed for 20 minutes in the sun, surrounded by japanese cyclists. Then I pressed myself back into action for the return leg. There was a strange feeling of having got the job done in getting to Brest, and it took some mental persuasion to remind myself it was only half done and not get carried away. The ride out of Brest was very blustery and hard going and I was relieved to arrive at the cafe which I had seen on the way down, and decided to stop this time. I saw Charlotte having an ice cream, so I had one too, a coffee, and an orangina. Then I went shopping for bananas, and a nectarine, and bumped into garry again. I also saw the McTaggarts who had been yo-yoing around me for ages. Lucy told me it was much harder than last time.
On the roc, I stopped near the bottom to clean my backside, which made a huge difference to comfort, and then I pushed my way up the climb overtaking large numbers of people on the way. There were still people coming the other way, surely out of time unless they had a dispensation. The climb went really well and
it was much easier than the other way, and then on the descent I was passing still more people - far too much timidity on the descents in my view, and this was in broad daylight!
I arrived back at Carhaix about 20.55. The control closed at 23.30 and adding 40 minutes meant I was back to 4 hours in hand - time for a sleep. Unfortunately this didn't work out very well:
- coach bloody uncomfortable
- trying not to wake anyone leading to doing everything very slowly
So, I got very little decent sleep, and lost 3.5 hours. Bah! Off at 00.30. So I had to push on to Loudeac. The rain came back. It wasn't great and I had my first dozy moment on this section. But I got there and had made up time again, so it wasn't too bad. Ate food there, had a kip on the floor, about 20 mins, pressed on. It was getting light and I got to see the section I'd done with the 3 gears. Lumpier than I'd realised!
Tintineac was probably my quickest control up to this point, I met up with Mal Volio and other acfers. I told him about my mechanical and being disappointed at not being forced to pack: he pointed out I didn't want to pack as I'd have to attempt the ride again and did I really want to do that? I knew exactly what he meant!
Off again, and into Fougeres for a clothing change, to hear a loads of whingeing from the Baxters guides about people not being able to find the coach etc. My experience of finding the carhax coach was that the directions given were woefully inadequate. It really doesn't help when you're pushed for time to have to search for the coach and go half a mile past it for want of decent directions.
Climbed out of Fougeres slowly, and once past that it was undulating terrain. I got mixed up with a bunch of mad Danish riders, and had the most fun section of the entire ride taking part in their chain gang. I got told off for going too fast on the front "It's not a race". Well I was having fun and feeling full of energy! Their leader suggested coffee in 10k and we stopped at a cafe by a bridge at the bottom of a descent to a river
in some village. They ordered grande cafe au lait with coke chasers; when in rome... then some danish ladies arrived and we went off again, but I decided they were getting too frisky for me. They claimed to have had 6h sleep per night and planned to be finished at 5am then home for tea. Bah!
I rolled into Villaines about 8.30 so this seemed to have gone well, was well up on time and felt ok. found restaurant this time, so had better food. Also found vorsprung, and suggested we ride together for the night section. We set off and it was nice to have some company. Way marking and other cyclists were becoming scarce and we were a little worried about maybe having gone off route, though the GPS seemed to think it
was ok - though the track supplied by acp was wrong in places. However I was finding it harder to read the screen.
Whilst we were stopped at the roadside for a rest, two marshalls stopped to check on us and started talking to Jamie. They got this much sense out of him: nil. Eventually one of them tried to speak to me, and I replied "il est fatiguee; nous restons par quelque minutes; c'est pas probleme" or something like it and they were satisfied and went on their way.
After a while jamie really slowed up, was dozy. There was a giant haystack in the field on the left, so he got on there. I got out my space blanket and put out on the verge, very noisy. I worried about keeping jamie awake but then I heard the snoring. It must have been bizarre for anyone cycling past. grin
I woke him up after 15 minutes (I didn't get to sleep) and he was much more with it (after the initial "where am I? what's going on?").
We pushed on again. I was worried about the pace we'd made but Jamie was faster now. Then it was my turn to be dozy and I had a brief rest at the roadside, no sleep, and pushed on to Mortange. We went our separate ways. jwo was there, having had some sleep, so we chatted for a bit. I then fell asleep in my chair 3 times before getting going at about 4h30 after finding some coke and more overstim. The ride out of Mortange was lumpy but it was a nice road in forest; a patisserie was open so I got some food there, and then pushed on. But then we got onto a flat section with top dressing which I found tedious. After the sun came up I started to see double and was truggling to stay awake, so I had 15 minutes kip at the side of the road, which sorted me out. I pushed on, and arrived at a cafe and had a coffee. then we went out into the
most tedious countryside ever. A top-dressed road, going along very flat countryside between fields full of stubble. I hated the road surface, the dull grey sky, the landscape, the lot. I couldn't go above 23kph on the top dressing (on decent surfaces I was able to get to 30kph). And there was that steady northerly wind. And we arrived at Dreux and it was a depressing hole. Some arsehole had parked their tandem blocking access to one of the sections of bike parking. I got inside and the food options were poor, and opted for chicken with pasta. It was a leg, and it was very hard to eat with a plastic knife and fork. Angry I was thoroughly fed up with the place so finished off the pasta, and left. I happened to sit down opposite Dave Kahn so met him for the first time.
