Author Topic: Unofficial PBP  (Read 10466 times)

Re: Unofficial PBP
« Reply #50 on: 10 February, 2019, 06:09:43 pm »
I suppose one group that might be tempted to do an 'unofficial' PBP are those who've failed to finish in previous events.

They paid for the use of controls in their year of failure, so they could argue to themselves the they're just swapping their use of the course and controls for those who are dropping out in the current event.

Perhaps that could work if they used McDonalds' up to the point where they packed in the past.

That would be a sub-set of previously non-homologated  riders. Amongst those riders who have packed for various reasons, such as illness or a failure to meet time limits (not something of which I can claim even the remotest experience), will be those who packed out of sheer mindnumbing boredom.

They are unlikely to return as either official or unofficial riders.

I've got a 2015 Brevet card with just the Depart stamp on it. I'd had cataract surgery a month or so before, and wasn't supposed to exert myself. So I rode the first bit to Mortagne, in order to film, and then rode a motorbike for the rest of the event, filming.

That card does feel like unfinished business. I know I wouldn't have got round due to the interruption in training, but the double vision from the cataract was a bit annoying, and I don't like to muck the NHS about.

There's a temptation to do something with the card, perhaps riding the course over a number of days, coinciding with some of the key points. I've finished four times, so it's just a case of there being an itch to scratch. I can understand the disappointment of someone who had their heart set on a finish, but wasn't aware of the impending demand, and can't get a place.

Graeme

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Re: Unofficial PBP
« Reply #51 on: 10 February, 2019, 09:45:14 pm »
The PBP website:

Quote
We might be led to restrict the number of registrations in order to ensure the safety and quality of this event

An unofficial PBP does increase the difficulty the organisers have in achieving their goals of a safe/quality event. In this thread, a quick review of the adjectives describing those who "ride anyway" includes immoral (or at least impolite), a failure, an arse, a freeloader, a twat, a Kudos seeker, a bit sad, a thief*, an anarchist, dickish, swampists... and I'm not sure but maybe even shittists (?).

On the positive side, at least one person riding an event they hadn't officially entered was a charitable fundraiser.

The consensus here - even among those offering riders the benefit of the doubt - doesn't sound hugely positive. If anyone is searching Google for 'unofficial PBP' I hope they find this resource informative and that, should someone choose to go ahead anyway, they'll have accepted an appropriate adjective for the duration.

*debatable and debated