Author Topic: Paris–Brest–Paris in 2019 – what steps to get there?  (Read 22573 times)

Phil W

Re: Paris–Brest–Paris in 2019 – what steps to get there?
« Reply #75 on: 17 May, 2018, 06:44:10 pm »
Plenty of places to eat outside of the controls if you were happy to stop at the all night road side stalls and BBQs.  One place also had recliners in a tent so you could have a dose. On the right at the top of a hill at a cross roads, behind the hog roast.

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
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Re: Paris–Brest–Paris in 2019 – what steps to get there?
« Reply #76 on: 17 May, 2018, 07:18:31 pm »
I think Vedettes makes life a lot easier at the controls. On the return, I used a few of the roadside stalls, and a cafe open all night in Ambrieres-les-Vallees. I was pleasantly surprised to find such a welcome at 4am. I've visited that cafe on 3 PBPs but the first two were full value 90h rides and it was during the day.

The café in Ambrieres-les-Vallees was open on night one as well. I remember a welcome coffee and slice of cake at 4am ish Monday morning.
Yes, the first night was ace (even on the wet one!). It all fizzled out rather quickly after the 2nd night.  I hadn't considered the "Vedette effect" before.

I put it mainly down to the horrendous soaking people were getting hanging around for us in 2007. I can't honestly recall whether 2011 was an improvement in this respect - I know the 84h riders got a proper soaking, so presumably the locals did too?

But I know for a fact there was nothing/nobody on the last night of 2007, and just a lady with some delicious apricots on the final day. [I have a witness/ride-buddy that confirms this!] Admittedly we were vv near the back of the field, YMMV ...
Has never ridden RAAM
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No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

wilkyboy

  • "nick" by any other name
    • 16-inch wheels
Re: Paris–Brest–Paris in 2019 – what steps to get there?
« Reply #77 on: 17 May, 2018, 07:49:46 pm »
I think Vedettes makes life a lot easier at the controls. On the return, I used a few of the roadside stalls, and a cafe open all night in Ambrieres-les-Vallees. I was pleasantly surprised to find such a welcome at 4am. I've visited that cafe on 3 PBPs but the first two were full value 90h rides and it was during the day.

The café in Ambrieres-les-Vallees was open on night one as well. I remember a welcome coffee and slice of cake at 4am ish Monday morning.

Is that the one where I fell asleep face-first into my omelette at 4am?  Hmm, could be  :facepalm:  There's a photo of the incident somewhere; I haven't seen it.  Yet  ::-)

EDIT: no, my mistake — that happened in Le Bocage café, in Gorron, 15km further up the road.
Lockdown lethargy. RRTY: wot's that? Can't remember if I'm on #8 or #9 ...

Martin

Re: Paris–Brest–Paris in 2019 – what steps to get there?
« Reply #78 on: 17 May, 2018, 08:30:00 pm »
The Vattenrundan 300 was pretty expensive at £100; may be even more now. You got a few buns and some sickly juice all the way round and one meal, plus as much 2% beer as you wanted at the finish! there were no closed roads or much signage from memory and neither were needed.

also worth every penny! I really don't think it's worth stressing about these things; after all look at the ££££££'s we don't spend in the UK by only doing Audax rides

going back to the OP I'd recommend an SR this year even if you've already got one, a great moral boost IMO even though it will not provide any guarantee that you can actually get through PBP as I found out. When I did it there were no pre-qualifications the year before, so many of us did the earliest SR we could in the actual year. It was apparently all academic as all entries went off together irrespective of who rode first.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Paris–Brest–Paris in 2019 – what steps to get there?
« Reply #79 on: 22 May, 2018, 12:16:06 am »

Anyone know what the qualifying ride date windows are for other eu countries?

Am wondering if I start training now if pbp might be plausible next year.

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: Paris–Brest–Paris in 2019 – what steps to get there?
« Reply #80 on: 22 May, 2018, 10:55:17 am »

Anyone know what the qualifying ride date windows are for other eu countries?

Much the same as for France- your national randonneur organisation will know.

Quote
Am wondering if I start training now if pbp might be plausible next year.

Almost definitely. It's not without the bounds of the 'average' cyclist, with a bit of (mostly mental) training.


mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
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Re: Paris–Brest–Paris in 2019 – what steps to get there?
« Reply #81 on: 22 May, 2018, 12:45:47 pm »

Anyone know what the qualifying ride date windows are for other eu countries?

Much the same as for France- your national randonneur organisation will know.

Yup - and if they haven't published details yet, their 2015 schedule is almost certainly much the same.
Has never ridden RAAM
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No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

Redlight

  • Enjoying life in the slow lane
Re: Paris–Brest–Paris in 2019 – what steps to get there?
« Reply #82 on: 24 May, 2018, 01:15:33 pm »
Am wondering if I start training now if pbp might be plausible next year.

Definitely.  At the beginning of 2003 I had never ridden more than 160km in one go. I was 42 and my "training" comprised a short commute and the occasional 100km or so on a weekend - plus the SR series that I needed to qualify and a handful of sub-200km events.  I finished comfortably.

See you in Paris  :thumbsup:
Why should anybody steal a watch when they can steal a bicycle?

mr ben

  • Some routes may be arduous.
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Re: Paris–Brest–Paris in 2019 – what steps to get there?
« Reply #83 on: 10 August, 2018, 08:56:05 pm »
Steps to get there: just ordered a headset (no not that sort) for my computer so I can take advantage of free access to Rosetta Stone as provided by my employer.  My current French vocab consists of: bonjour, sil vous plait, ici, au revoir, and je ne comprends pas (and I can usually approximately understand menus).  So anything will be an improvement.
Think it possible that you may be mistaken.

simonp

Re: Paris–Brest–Paris in 2019 – what steps to get there?
« Reply #84 on: 14 August, 2018, 02:29:38 am »
Have ridden a 2018 400k which will should hopefully be sufficient to reserve a place before it's full.

Have just entered 2019 SR series, using earliest 600k currently available in the calendar.

My rowing club captain may not be impressed, but PBP is only one year in 4.

Phil W

Paris–Brest–Paris in 2019 – what steps to get there?
« Reply #85 on: 19 August, 2018, 12:51:01 pm »
200 and 600 qualifiers booked. Pencilled in 300,400's qualifiers which interest me. 

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Paris–Brest–Paris in 2019 – what steps to get there?
« Reply #86 on: 19 August, 2018, 06:18:44 pm »
The rides I want to do aren’t open for entries yet but I can see I shall have to be on the ball when they do...

I still have no idea whether or not I’ll be able to do PBP 2019 but I might as well do the qualifiers to at least give myself the option. My 1000 this year should do nicely as a pre-qualifier - and was almost certainly much harder than PBP will be.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: Paris–Brest–Paris in 2019 – what steps to get there?
« Reply #87 on: 19 August, 2018, 07:29:32 pm »
We have provisional dates from Peak Audax

21/04/2019 - Plains 300
04/05/2019 - Llanfair-something-or-other 400 
08/06/2019 - A Pair of Kirtons 600

All start from Poynton (we won't be changing the start location, unlike some events I could mention) but we might change the dates.

Re: Paris–Brest–Paris in 2019 – what steps to get there?
« Reply #88 on: 19 August, 2018, 07:56:15 pm »
Exeter Wheelers also have a full set of qualifiers, with multiple 200s, 400s and 600s.

rob

Re: Paris–Brest–Paris in 2019 – what steps to get there?
« Reply #89 on: 19 August, 2018, 08:04:01 pm »
I fear the nearby qualifiers will get horribly busy so I’ll more than likely ride the Lincs series using my parents place as a base.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Paris–Brest–Paris in 2019 – what steps to get there?
« Reply #90 on: 16 September, 2018, 12:45:04 am »
I’ve now got my 2019 work schedule. And it turns out that PBP falls in the best possible week in the four-week cycle.

So that’s one more excuse for not doing PBP crossed off the list...
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: Paris–Brest–Paris in 2019 – what steps to get there?
« Reply #91 on: 26 September, 2018, 08:47:23 pm »
It's fair to say that if you do PBP without learning any French then you're going to encounter a lot more difficulties than people who can speak even a little French.

Being able to ask for hot/just-boiled water in a bowl (that's just how the French do tea) and some cold milk means you can then make your own tea with your own tea bags.

Same goes for being veggie. If you don't know how to ask for various things then you're going to struggle.

Point taken. I must admit I have something of a blind spot with French - I think it's something to do with the spelling and pronunciation having so little to do with one another. But speaking the three most widely-used languages in Europe and being able to get by in a few others means that I can make myself understood across most of the continent: but somehow not in France.

And I do take my own tea bags. However asking for hot water/heisses Wasser/goryachoy vody etc. causes even more confusion, and ends up with me taking out a tea bag and miming dunking it in something. It still comes lukewarm, though.

This is how the french do tea. It is not an inability to boil water, for them it is how it is done. It is cultural. Living in a dual-nationality household even after nearly a quarter century of marriage, my wife is nearly unable to boil my tea water and my youngest daughter's attempts are just a waste of good PG Tips. My other french daughter however drinks her tea like me and so has really mastered the technique. But it is CULTURAL, like eating cheese before the dessert and pouring your pinard into your soupe. Don't expect otherwise; boiling your tea water yourself is the only reliable solution and not very practicable on PBP. (Now whose going to set up a "real tea" stop by the side of the road at a strategic distance?? ;)

Re: Paris–Brest–Paris in 2019 – what steps to get there?
« Reply #92 on: 26 September, 2018, 08:59:08 pm »
Steps to get there: just ordered a headset (no not that sort) for my computer so I can take advantage of free access to Rosetta Stone as provided by my employer.  My current French vocab consists of: bonjour, sil vous plait, ici, au revoir, and je ne comprends pas (and I can usually approximately understand menus).  So anything will be an improvement.

Sounds like you've got enough to get by on if you use your words strategically and show willing to communicate. My uncle restored his first building in Britanny with no more than that, although he did look in his dictionary before going into the builders merchants (over 40 years ago when there weren(t anything like as many british and french spoke french almost exclusively). Willingness to communicate always goes a long way to overcome a lack of vocabulary; not being shy or self-conscious helps!