Author Topic: A rider who successfully finishes PBP and enjoys it...  (Read 9445 times)

Re: A rider who successfully finishes PBP and enjoys it...
« Reply #25 on: 25 September, 2018, 03:53:23 am »
Chrisheg's 2011 account was very good on the geology of the Armorican Massif, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armorican_Massif   but the link to that article is broken.

Sorry, it is available here:
http://www.chrisheg.net

Re: A rider who successfully finishes PBP and enjoys it...
« Reply #26 on: 25 September, 2018, 09:45:55 am »
Chrisheg's 2011 account was very good on the geology of the Armorican Massif, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armorican_Massif   but the link to that article is broken.

Sorry, it is available here:
http://www.chrisheg.net

All I get is 'can't find server'. Which is a pity, as it's a good example of research into the area.

I tend to the view that it's easy to get overwhelmed by culture-shock, and that some knowledge of what  you're passing through lessens the onset of 'penguinitis', when everything starts to look the same.



Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: A rider who successfully finishes PBP and enjoys it...
« Reply #28 on: 25 September, 2018, 02:27:16 pm »
try these:

Adding more specific paths to the URL won't help a DNS problem.  ESL probably needs to apply the drain rods to his intertubes or something.

(I've tried and the server doesn't like being accessed by IP address, unfortunately.)

Re: A rider who successfully finishes PBP and enjoys it...
« Reply #29 on: 25 September, 2018, 03:43:13 pm »
Worked for me off Zed's link.

It is a very informative and inspirational read.

Re: A rider who successfully finishes PBP and enjoys it...
« Reply #30 on: 25 September, 2018, 03:55:35 pm »
try these:

Those work for me, I was using Safari, but I'm no computer expert. Nice to see some detail about the route again. The historical stuff reminded that the lack of tolls on Breton roads is supposed to be a legacy of Anne of Brittany the 15th century Queen Consort of France. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Brittany

That's not true unfortunately, the lack of tolls is a regional economic policy dating from the 1960s. That decision has influenced the development of the Breton road system, the Route National roads have been upgraded to expressways. That means that they haven't been bypassed, and are completely unsuitable for cycling. It does mean that supporting riders by car or motor-home is pretty easy from Fougeres onwards.

There's a rock opera about Anne of Brittany. The original cast featured members of Barclay James Harvest and Fairport Convention. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_de_Bretagne_(rock_opera)
It's a pity that she's had no lasting influence on Breton transport policy as that would have made an interesting diversion.

zigzag

  • unfuckwithable
Re: A rider who successfully finishes PBP and enjoys it...
« Reply #31 on: 25 September, 2018, 07:42:37 pm »
regarding feeling cold - my best advice would be to keep consistent calorie intake. lots of calories are used up to propel the bike and not enough left to keep the body warm. this is especially noticeable from day two onwards. first night was the coldest in 2015, 10-11deg, but i didn't get too cold as i was munching energy bars whilst riding. second night was warmer, but i was getting colder than on the first one as i've run out of food, and my appetite wasn't that great to eat enough at controls.

Re: A rider who successfully finishes PBP and enjoys it...
« Reply #32 on: 25 September, 2018, 09:51:41 pm »
It is a very informative and inspirational read.

I wonder if the American rider has read it - the one who got chatting too in Brest and encouraged him to keep going.
Nice.
Garry Broad

Re: A rider who successfully finishes PBP and enjoys it...
« Reply #33 on: 25 September, 2018, 10:06:00 pm »
try these:

Those work for me, I was using Safari, but I'm no computer expert. Nice to see some detail about the route again. The historical stuff reminded that the lack of tolls on Breton roads is supposed to be a legacy of Anne of Brittany the 15th century Queen Consort of France. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Brittany

That's not true unfortunately, the lack of tolls is a regional economic policy dating from the 1960s. That decision has influenced the development of the Breton road system, the Route National roads have been upgraded to expressways. That means that they haven't been bypassed, and are completely unsuitable for cycling. It does mean that supporting riders by car or motor-home is pretty easy from Fougeres onwards.

There's a rock opera about Anne of Brittany. The original cast featured members of Barclay James Harvest and Fairport Convention. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_de_Bretagne_(rock_opera)
It's a pity that she's had no lasting influence on Breton transport policy as that would have made an interesting diversion.

The lack of péages (and thus autoroutes) was I believe the legacy of Pompidou. It is something that came to a head recently with the battles over the ecotax on hgvs who historically did not pay tolls on the principal routes in Bretagne (sorry, brittany, just thinking in french again :facepalm:). The local transorters fought the ecotax proposals tooth and nail.
It is not completely true that there are no parallel routes to the express ways. While I have never had to look at the parallels for the central and north brittany routes the southern one now has the old Nationale in parallel to the expressway at least from Lorient to Vannes. Very nostalgic it was too, taking it to escape the traffic on the expressway coming home from a family holiday, the expressway was only just being built when I was there as a teenager. there are a lot of places in France where old Nationales have been replaced by autoroutes or expressways and a little bit of looking reveals the old roads still in existance, bypassed by the new.

I have not done PBP and probably never will. The principal reason is something that hasn't been mentioned: get your family and friends with you in the project; it'll boost your preparation no end. In my case my wife is totally against my riding at night (which I actually enjoy) so no PBP or no family. In my case the choice is easy!

Re: A rider who successfully finishes PBP and enjoys it...
« Reply #34 on: 25 September, 2018, 11:20:36 pm »
My wife is OK with me riding at night so long as I am with others. On PBP that is not a problem.
It is almost impossible to do PBP if you don't have that support so you need to get the agreement fairly soon.

Re: A rider who successfully finishes PBP and enjoys it...
« Reply #35 on: 26 September, 2018, 09:22:22 am »
I couple of years ago I had a new girlfriend. She felt uneasy with me riding full nights on my bike. One evening when we returned from a restaurant in a forested area I simply switched on all my bikelights. After seeing that amount of light she didn't feal uneasy about me riding at night anymore.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: A rider who successfully finishes PBP and enjoys it...
« Reply #36 on: 26 September, 2018, 01:21:42 pm »
I couple of years ago I had a new girlfriend. She felt uneasy with me riding full nights on my bike. One evening when we returned from a restaurant in a forested area I simply switched on all my bikelights. After seeing that amount of light she didn't feal uneasy about me riding at night anymore.

Front lights, or back lights?

My bike still has all the gubbins on it that RatN mandated, meaning that from behind, in the dark, you'd look like a total moron if you tried to claim in court you didn't see me... Given how many audax rides I'm the lantern rouge for, my trio of red rear lights is just reinforcing my reputation...

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

Re: A rider who successfully finishes PBP and enjoys it...
« Reply #37 on: 26 September, 2018, 09:57:44 pm »
I couple of years ago I had a new girlfriend. She felt uneasy with me riding full nights on my bike. One evening when we returned from a restaurant in a forested area I simply switched on all my bikelights. After seeing that amount of light she didn't feal uneasy about me riding at night anymore.

Front lights, or back lights?

Front lights
Son Edelux 2
BuMm Ixon 40 lux
Bumm dynamo light 60 lux.
All three toghether in a forest ;)

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: A rider who successfully finishes PBP and enjoys it...
« Reply #38 on: 26 September, 2018, 10:00:54 pm »
Did leaves start smouldering?
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

Re: A rider who successfully finishes PBP and enjoys it...
« Reply #39 on: 27 September, 2018, 02:40:14 am »

All I get is 'can't find server'. Which is a pity, as it's a good example of research into the area.


What ISP are you connecting from? I will try to sort it with my domain host.

Zed43

  • prefers UK hills over Dutch mountains
Re: A rider who successfully finishes PBP and enjoys it...
« Reply #40 on: 27 September, 2018, 09:45:28 am »
chrisheg.org is not listed in the DNS (anymore?) and from your chrisheg.net page you're linking to pages on the .org domain. Changing the links to point to chrisheg.net as I did in my previous post (or even better: remove the hostnames altogether and make the urls relative) should fix things.

rob

Re: A rider who successfully finishes PBP and enjoys it...
« Reply #41 on: 27 September, 2018, 09:51:56 am »
The fashion for really bright front lights baffles me.   You don't need 1,000 lumen lights.   I run my front on the 250 lumen setting and it is more than enough for dark lanes.

It really caused me a problem on the last 2 PBPs when I went over the ROC in the dark.   The vedettes were coming back but with the misty conditions I couldn't see a damn thing as I was getting dazzled by their lights.

zigzag

  • unfuckwithable
Re: A rider who successfully finishes PBP and enjoys it...
« Reply #42 on: 27 September, 2018, 01:10:54 pm »
bright front lights can be an issue when you are on the receiving side (i hope 2000lm will be enough to counter the most antisocial ones). otoh, i was pleasantly surprised that riders in the group i rode with from the start with had their rear lights gently glowing - nothing too bright or annoying/distracting.

Re: A rider who successfully finishes PBP and enjoys it...
« Reply #43 on: 27 September, 2018, 01:43:39 pm »
Yeah but what about the fast ones coming back with no lights, scary.

Newbies, should remember, you will need good reliable lights in the mornings too.

Edelux II + SON makes sense

Re: A rider who successfully finishes PBP and enjoys it...
« Reply #44 on: 28 September, 2018, 03:13:37 am »
chrisheg.org is not listed in the DNS (anymore?) and from your chrisheg.net page you're linking to pages on the .org domain. Changing the links to point to chrisheg.net as I did in my previous post (or even better: remove the hostnames altogether and make the urls relative) should fix things.

Fixed, thank you.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: A rider who successfully finishes PBP and enjoys it...
« Reply #45 on: 30 September, 2018, 12:00:31 am »
The fashion for really bright front lights baffles me.   You don't need 1,000 lumen lights.   I run my front on the 250 lumen setting and it is more than enough for dark lanes.

It really caused me a problem on the last 2 PBPs when I went over the ROC in the dark.   The vedettes were coming back but with the misty conditions I couldn't see a damn thing as I was getting dazzled by their lights.

I used to run double 300lm front lights when commuting too/from college in Kent. Riding down hill on unlit country lanes at 55+kph, you needed all the light.

Downside was going round a corner, finding a parked up construction van with all the retro reflective paint on the back, and getting most of those 600lm thrown back at me.

Riding round with both lights on full was the only way that motorists would dip their main beams. Unfortunately most of them would then get closer, realise I'm a cyclist, and whack them back up to full just in time to blind me.

Grrr...

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