PBP2015 - Notes to Self for 2019

[Aunt Maud]

Shouldn't you be at a birthday party ?

[LittleWheelsandBig]

I would be, if I weren't working in Asia (just) at the moment.

[Andrew]

Bring a lightweight hi vis jacket so you don't have to use the official PBP gilet

Indeed. An excellent souvenir perhaps but not an item of clothing for those than run hot.

[LEE]

Bring a lightweight hi vis jacket so you don't have to use the official PBP gilet

Indeed. An excellent souvenir perhaps but not an item of clothing for those than run hot.

The PBP Hi-Viz is a superb bit of kit for the UK, where I use it as a "half windproof" but too warm for warm evenings. 

It fits well and is VERY Hi-Viz.  Useful now Autumn is clearly here in England.

[Assasin]

]Most of the time to stay with Rufus on descents solos needed to be able to travel at round about 60kph.  No mega descents though as we didn't get to 79kph, Rufus' all time best.
[/quote]

Interesting.
The slow trike with the dodgy bearings managed 74.6 kph coming into Landernau.
Must have been those extra crates of Rochefort 10 from the supermarket...

[Somnolent]

Bring a lightweight hi vis jacket so you don't have to use the official PBP gilet

Indeed. An excellent souvenir perhaps but not an item of clothing for those than run hot.

Quite so - and if you are riding in company at night, useful to be able to distinguish your partners from the herd of similarly clad.

[T42]

Bring a lightweight hi vis jacket so you don't have to use the official PBP gilet

Sweaty bloody thing - and it made the view ahead very monotonous during the ride.

[Redlight]

Pick up a couple of extra bags of jelly babies before leaving the UK.  They are hard to find in France and the local substitutes just don't do it.

[Ian H]

Bring a lightweight hi vis jacket so you don't have to use the official PBP gilet

Indeed. An excellent souvenir perhaps but not an item of clothing for those than run hot.

The PBP Hi-Viz is a superb bit of kit for the UK, where I use it as a "half windproof" but too warm for warm evenings. 

It fits well and is VERY Hi-Viz.  Useful now Autumn is clearly here in England.

I surprised myself by finding it just right for the hours of darkness and the cold last day rain.

[Tomsk]

Pick up a couple of extra bags of jelly babies before leaving the UK.  They are hard to find in France and the local substitutes just don't do it.

I stocked up on the French version of 'Sour Patch Kids', not least because the Americans in the sweetie aisle were rolling about at their name: 'Very Bad Kids'. They were excellent nosebag fodder for the first night.

[simonp]

Target sub 70h. That's it.

[Ian H]

Target sub 70h. That's it.

On fixed?

[igauk]

Target sub 70h. That's it.

Target sub 80h = drink more beer and take more ibuprofen. That's it.

[simonp]

Target sub 70h. That's it.

On fixed?

That's to be decided. If I could get stopped time down to 15h I wouldn't need to ride any faster.

[caerau]

Bring a lightweight hi vis jacket so you don't have to use the official PBP gilet

Indeed. An excellent souvenir perhaps but not an item of clothing for those than run hot.

Glad this was not just me.  I got stopped by a marshal leaving one control as I had it on inside out.  When he ensured as to why it wasn't done up I replied 'tres chaud'.
I was quite amused by his response which was to laugh and tell me chaud was the same word in French. 

[T42]

It's true that it fits well, though.  My other gilets are flappy FFCT handouts with a single patch of Velcro as closure. Eminently detestable.

[Exit Stage Left]

I didn't encounter anyone complaining about the warmth of the hi-vis gilet at St Martin des Pres on the Monday night, Tuesday morning. Everyone was wearing everthing they had.

[zacklaws]

I have one or two things to remember for 2019, the main one being, learn what French is for cooked, uncooked and ready to eat etc. Sat in your hotel room the night before registration digging into French bread and cooked ham that you bought from the Carreforth vast array of meats is a tasty delight, until you become a aware that there is something amiss with the ham and just as you have about scoffed the lot, reality sinks in and you realise your eating uncooked bacon. But end of the day it did not kill me.

And another one for me to remember, road signs for motorways. Since getting home, I have replayed from my GPX track how I ended up on a motorway on my bike by looking at the road signs that I passed in Google streetview before I rode onto the motorway down a slip road, and all I can see is a tiny blue square with a white car in it on the right hand side. Very easy to miss.

[zigzag]

notes to self:
carry less food (came back to paris with 1.5kg uneaten "bonk rations")
have a good nights sleep before pbp - 3hrs of sleep before 64hrs awake is not ideal..
be organised at controls
learn some french

[madcow]

Target sub 70h. That's it.

Target sub 80h = drink more beer and take more ibuprofen. That's it.

Target sub 90 hours =more beer , more sleep, more enjoyment .

[HK]

Rufus' speed recorded by the Garmin, not on some doggy old cateye technology! Double checked 68kph max. Perhaps being a light boy is making a difference?

[Ivo]

Rufus' speed recorded by the Garmin, not on some doggy old cateye technology! Double checked 68kph max. Perhaps being a light boy is making a difference?

That's not an unusal speed. I logged the same maximum speed on my Garmin for a solo bike.

[SR Steve]

1) Try a caffeine gel if beginning to feel sleepy and don't just automatically stop for a power-nap.

I stopped for a roadside sleep shortly after Fougeres on the way back, partly because I couldn't find anyone to ride with. As soon as I laid down, a group of about 25 rode past at a good pace. When I woke up, I didn't really feel like carrying on and stopped for another sleep on a camp bed at the next village. At the finish, I had a couple of caffeine gels left that might have saved me at least one of those stops.

2) Set alarm for any roadside power-naps

I always used to do this, but this year I couldn't be bothered, so slept longer at times than was needed.

3) Don't forget to carry some savoury snacks.

I'm vegetarian and took some Quorn sausages to France with the idea of eating them during the PBP. I forgot and left them in the fridge in our wood cabin. It would have been nice to have something savoury rather than just having energy bars. France lacks the delights of traditional British garage food. My favourites being cheese and onion pasties, cheese ploughman's sandwiches and egg and cress sandwiches.

4) Consider using a bar bag as main bag.

There were quite a few riders with nice big traditional looking bar bags. My main bag this time was a 6 litre, 3kg seat post bag. This would have been good if it's rack hadn't broken on the first day, however it also meant that I couldn't use my carbon seat post which would have saved weight and added comfort. Ideally I'd like a light aerodynamic bar bag that gives easy access to my stuff, especially food for eating on the move.

5) Consider the 80 hour start.

I was a bit worried about choosing the 84 hour start this time as it gives away 6 hours potential overall time and makes some of the intermediate controls a bit tight if things go wrong. I had a bad back going into the event, so wished I'd given myself the full 90 hours. Lucky for me though my back sorted itself out during the ride, enabling me to stop taking the painkillers and ride faster than expected. Although the 84 hour start worked very well for me, I'd probably have done a quicker time from the 80 hour start. Still undecided as I'm not keen on the mad, road race style start and I'd probably have finished in the early hours of Wednesday morning, making it trickier to get back to accommodation than my 7pm Wednesday finish.

[Smeth]

Too tight to waste brake block rubber - 106kph on one of those lovely payback wide smooth descents.   

Note to anyone 2019 - do not change diet/pig out beforehand or gorge on anti-inflammatories. This can lead to severe blockage - vicious cycle of scared to eat and drink, dehydration, more grief. Took 36 hours living on fruit and forced drinking to sort out. Much time wasted. And I still want to do it again.

I know how to eat and drink on an event and am always wary of this. What caught me out was the opportunity to scoff too much in the couple of days before so I started with problems.

Also, do a 600 the year before and get a choice of start time. 1945 meant far too much hanging around (there's a lot anyway) and a pretty late arrival in Brest for a kip in my case.

Sort accommodation Waaaayy before. On the route if you want it but in Paris as well. I was happy with control sleeps though had to wait 40 mins for one of them. The dorms are unheated. The silk sleeping bag liner was very handy to add to the paper-thin blanket.

Otherwise I'd travel a little lighter than for a UK 600 (depending on the weather forecast). Controls involve queueing but there is everything most need including spare cables, tubes, tyres sustenance etc. I didn't take a tyre casing - just boots, and only two tubes.

I'd avoid queueing too much by using local shops/cafes/supporters. Just get the card stamped - no real queues for that apart from the first control, maybe 5 minutes.

The rapid food tends to be very "bready". OK for a while but boring and queuing for hot meals can take an age.  As the ride stretches out queuing reduces but a meal can still involve half an hour of standing at a busy time. Village shops don't open for long hours so take opportunities and have space for topping up bananas/dried fruit and anything else. Check out a convenience store before the ride to find stuff you like and could get during the ride. You won't commonly find some UK favourites like cereal/trail bars. Chocolate milk came to the rescue once or twice.

Use the alfresco facilities in a suitable spot before a control to avoid WC queues.

Do accept the support of the locals. It's a choker to ride even if only once in a lifetime where people "get" it.


PS - to support the OP's point - I rode the Brimstone/Hellfire as one 600 and it stood me in good stead for the relentless rolling. Also rode Avalon Sunrise 400 1030 pm start as a good sleep deprivation prep, plus a Perm Porkers 400 starting at my PBP start time. More hills and getting used to missing sleep on night one.

[Nelson Longflap]

1 Take less stuff.
2 Sleep more by reducing faffage in controls.
3 Take much less stuff.

That's it.

Very happy with riding for maximum enjoyment, rather than minimum time.

Strategy-wise, consider aiming for the earliest 90 hour start and riding hard initially to escape the bulge.