Paris-Brest-Paris Randonneur 2019

Controls: Rambouillet, Villaines-La-Juhel, Fougeres, Tinténiac, Loudéac, (Saint Nicholas Du Pelem – Secret x1), Carhaix-Plouguer, Brest, Carhaix-Plouguer, (Saint Nicholas Du Pelem – Secret x2), Loudéac, Tinténiac, Fougeres, Villaines-La-Juhel, Mortagne-Au-Perche, Dreux, Rambouillet.

The Lead Up

“It’s a year out of your life mate”, this is what my friend Jim Churton said to me when I first suggested to him that I was interested in riding PBP 2019. Turns out he was absolutely correct, which is no surprise – given he is a 3 time finisher of the event. It started with a Super Randonneur series in 2018, the PBP pre-qualification ride being the Yorkshire via Essex 600K Audax, and then it rolled into 2019 with the SR series of qualifiers along with the ongoing maintenance work of turbo training and other DIY Audax rides. I enjoyed the training and the qualifiers for PBP, they were well spread out and I found it reasonably OK to accommodate the workload into a pretty busy work and family schedule.

Before I knew it the final qualifier was done (WCW) and August was approaching – I had to keep the Km’s going on the bike as there felt like there was quite a big gap between the final qualifier and the start of PBP – certainly enough time to falsely relax and feel as if all the work was done already. Some bike preparations were also made, I replaced all the cables, chain and rear cassette, greased derailleur jockey wheels, replaced tyres and tubes and sorted a light clunking out within the headset. I also got hold of some smallish stuff sacks of different sizes for packing different kinds of things within my bike luggage. Luggage itself was a Swift Industries Handlebar Bag and Saddlebag. I’m not going to write a pack list, but my overall feeling was that I took too much stuff, and my bike was too heavy – compared to the rest of the field. I may have been able to get away with just one of the bags?

I had sorted out start and finish accommodations earlier in the year, when the change in start location from St Quentin to Rambouillet had been announced. I left it until after the last qualifier had been completed and validated to book my channel crossing. I had decided to drive over as opposed to the Eurostar or cycling – just easier for my situation. During the application process for PBP I had selected to start in the 84 hour time limit group – which started at 5am on Monday the 19th August. I drove over to France on Friday the 16th and had a really nice journey over – loads of time and really relaxed just thinking about what lay ahead and listening to a mix of music.

Arriving at my accommodation on Friday evening (Huttopia – camping facility very close to Rambouillet) was good – there were loads of Audax people there, and there was a real anticipatory vibe to happenings.

I settled into the accommodation and then went to get something to eat and drink at the site restaurant. I was on my own, but it wasn’t long before I recognised a face and was invited to sit with others. The face I recognised was that of Chris Asher, a very strong rider from Derbyshire whom I had ridden a 400k perm and the 300K Elyndd with in 2015. We chatted and had a catch up and there were several other Audax faces at the table whom I chatted with, these included; Dave Minter, Steve Abraham, Ian Hennessy, John Lilley, Sarah Dowden and Michael Stanford. It was really nice to meet and chat with these people, some of them absolute veterans of Audaxing, and others there for their first PBP, like me.

Saturday was just a scoping day for me, I had a nice breakfast and chatted with the Cannon Hill CC folks (Sarah, John and Michael) at Huttopia before heading into Rambouillet with the car to see where the long stay car parking was and to see what the layout of the bike check, registration and Départ were like. I wandered around and saw Danial Webb and Nick Wilkinson manning the LEL stall so had a chat with them, thanking Nick for the detailed GPS routes he had posted to YACF, and also thanking Danial for his excellent organisation of my 600K Qualifier; Windsor Chester Windsor. Close to the LEL stall, I also saw the rather understated stall of the Diagonales De France – a group of which I am a member (ADF)! I chatted very happily with Alain Odelot, a person I had emailed many times in search of a DDF Jersey and Patch. Well, Alan had a patch with him that I could buy and also had some jerseys in his car, so he would bring a large jersey for me the following day! Brilliant. I also met Jean-Michel Vermeire a Diagonaliste who had completed 34 diagonal crossings of France, to my 1! The nice thing here was that all the people involved knew of me and Jim – the only 2 Britons to have completed French Diagonales so far.

It was soaking wet, the rain had started on Friday night and hadn’t let up, so the grounds at the Sheepfold were absolutely sodden and the riders queuing for bike check for the 80 and 90hr starts on Sunday evening were all getting very wet. I chatted to several people who I vaguely recognised from Audax UK circles – Marcus JB, Olaf Storbeck, Nigel Laws, Damon Peacock (and Heather) and Lee Killestein to name a few. I met my work colleague Paul Sear at the Sheepfold, and after his bike check we had a bite to eat and drink, before heading off to a local Carrefour Supermarket to stock up on supplies. After the supermarket trip we headed back to our respective accommodations, Paul was staying in Chartres which was 30-40Km away.

Back at Huttopia, I relaxed for a while and when the rain settled down a bit I decided to have a little shake down of the bike – I headed back into Rambouillet and just cycled around a little. There were a lot of cyclists in the town of course and it was cool to see. Rolling back to Huttopia I bumped into Judith Swallow and had a nice chat with her – turns out she knows my friend Jim pretty well. I had dinner with Judith and a number of the Audax UK contingent staying in the same place.

Sunday started off lazily – I had some breakfast by myself in my accommodation before heading off to the Sheepfold for my scheduled Bike Check at 11:30am. I took the car as the rain was absolutely hammering down and I didn’t want to get my cycling kit soaked before starting. I got soaked heading up to the bike check, but afterwards the rain died down and the sun started to show itself. Registration was simple and there were no where near the queues of the previous days – an advantage of being in the 84hr group. I went to see Alain again at the DDF stall, picked up my jersey and was wished well for my first PBP. I also saw Damon Peacock and Heather again and chatted with them for a while. I had downloaded Damon’s 2015 PBP video, and had watched it several times in anticipation of my attempt. Damon has a very calm and knowing narration style as he talks over his video’s, very nice to listen to. You can buy or rent Damon’s full video’s of PBP 2015 at Vimeo on Demand, but you can check out the trailer here; https://vimeo.com/ondemand/parisbrestparis2015 http://www.damonpeacock.com

After bike check I headed back to my accommodation for a final bag pack up – no time pressure at all, I took an age faffing around with kit, stuff and bags until I was satisfied with the final pack. I thought I had minimal kit, but I could have gone much leaner I think. I put my bike in the car and transferred my bags and stuff to the car ready for the early start the next day. I had dinner again with Judith Swallow and Nigel Winter along with a few other cyclists. The restaurant felt empty now with the majority of cyclists starting in the 80/90hr groups whilst we were eating. I tried to get an early night after a shower, but was buzzing so couldn’t sleep very well.

First Stint

My alarm was set for 02:30am – enough time to have a quick coffee and some porridge, deliberate over toiletting, drive down to the long stay car park then get ready with bike and kit in time for a 04:15am line up time at the Sheepfold.

I left Huttopia around 03:00am, the long stay car park opened at this time, so had plenty of time to deal with any unforeseen circumstances – which is what I found at the car park. The long stay car park gates were locked, with no signage and no stewards at the gate to direct people to other areas. There was a Dutch rider already at the gate with no clue as to what to do. I lead us round the town and into the other side on the Sheepfold where fortunately, we both got parked next to a load of motorhomes. It was annoying how the organisers didn’t sign up the official long stay car park entrance. Once parked, I got the bike out of the car and loaded it up with the bags and got myself ready. It was pitch black but my headtorch was lighting things up for me, so I made my way up towards the start area nice and slowly. I was one of the first riders to start queuing in the X area, there were also some Y riders queuing in another line. I heard no English voices, only Austrian, German, Dutch and American. After 20 minutes or so of waiting in line – I was a bit nervy, but was just looking forward to starting, we were asked to roll forward to get the first stamp in our Brevet Cards. One of many. Then it was onwards to line up behind the Départ banner. Several nervy and anxious people, lots of very light carbon bikes, some people fixing punctures already and lots of headlights and tailights.

05:00am Monday the 19th August – I rolled over the start line, heard the beeps of the timers and it had begun! Austrian and German peloton’s formed and I just rode along nice and easy. There was a lot of bunching up and concertina-ing as we negotiated junctions and tight turns through some of the early villages, but once out on the open road amongst the vast fields the pelotons picked up pace and I decided that I wouldn’t fight to stay with them. I just rode at a pace I knew was sensible for what lay ahead. Already there was a headwind which when in the wheels you could find protection from, but when on your own was a persistent force that had to be fought against – this made me push a little harder than I wanted to at that time and I was seeking out smaller groups to ride along with, but there weren’t that many – there were either biggish peloton’s or the odd 1 or 2 riders, followed by another big peloton. In any case I was riding fine and fell in with some American riders, ranging from Pennsylvania, Washington State, Arizona and Colorado. I met Gallusdude (Jeremy Shlachter) a Boulder CO frame builder that I follow on Instagram, and we rode with each other and chatted for a few Km’s, but him and his bike were a lot lighter than me and he was dancing up the climbs, so I didn’t put the efforts in to catch myself up to him – knowing that it is troublesome to ride at another’s pace. Several of the American riders were returning to France for their Nth PBP.

Weather was fine, a little cloudy to begin with but with the sunshine slowly coming through the clouds. I saw the aftermath of a nasty incident, the result of which a woman rider had lost some teeth and had a blooded face. A reminder that group riding with nervous cyclists has its dangers. No matter what had happened I felt very sorry for the woman cyclist, as all of that effort to get to where we were and the ride unfortunately now looked terminal for her. I hoped she was OK. After around 4.5hrs and 118Km we got to the first official feed stop at Mortagne-Au-Perche, this wasn’t a control so no need to get a stamp, but we could stop at the designated facility if we wanted to. I stopped at a boulangerie and ordered a pain au raisin, Jambon-beurre and a can of coke. Necked the pastry and then kept the rest for ride food until the next control. This is where I met Grace for the first time – another Instagram meeting. I had commented on a picture of her number (X157) with my number of X155. She had seen my bike outside the boulangerie with my number on it and had decided to rest her bike on top of mine. We said a quick hello outside the boulangerie before pressing on.

Another 100Km to go until the first control at Villaines-La-Juhel, the riding was pretty tough with a lot of climbs – not that steep but there were many of them. I was riding conservatively, but was starting to feel the Km’s in the legs and was looking forward to a sit down and some hot food. I rode with a French guy and a French Woman along with Grace for a while, not much chatting going on but I said a few words to Grace along the way. Lots of cornfields and quiet roads, marshalled at cross roads and punctuated with ensembles of neighbours cheering us on, offering refreshments and encouragement in the form of “Bon Courage”, “Allez, Allez” and “Bon Route”. Very good.

After around 9hours and 217Km, I arrived at Villaines-La-Juhel, the first control. It was great to get another stamp in the Brevet card and to get some hot food. No problems with queuing or overcrowded controls – facilities were rather spread out, but wasn’t really a problem.

The wind was still blowing in the face as I left the control, I was on my own and was happy to press on without company. For me, you have to be prepared enough to ride these events solo. If there happens to be some favourable company to ride with along the way then great, but I was ready for a solo slog to Fougeres. Not so long after leaving Villaines-La-Juhel, a small group passed me and as passing one of the group complimented me on my Mercian. I recognised the guy quickly – it was Anton Blackie, a guy I had ridden a little bit of my 300K Qualifier with. From the qualifier I knew Anton was very strong, so I pedalled up to him and remembered myself to him, and we proceeded to chat together. I knew Anton was on his 4th PBP, and so I would be in experienced company. Anton was riding with another guy called Phil Wareham, and Phil and I chatted away merrily as we made progress towards Fougeres. Landscape wise, we had more hills, more corn fields and some big skies. We hit Fougeres around 18:15 and 306Km – Feeling OK after some quick riding over the last 20Km or so.

Necessaries were done at the Fougeres control; a 3rd stamp gained, food and drink inhaled, tolieting sorted, water bottles filled up and additional layers of clothing put on for the evening stint. To my surprise, myself Anton and Phil stuck together throughout the control. I was pleased about this as I was enjoying their company and it was helpful for motivation, passing the time and progress. This was the evening stretch, another 50-60Km to go until the next Control at Tinténiac, the shortest distance so far between controls. Upon leaving the Control at Fougeres we saw the aftermath of another accident, this time a rider lying still on the ground with an ambulance crew about to slide him onto a stretcher – couldn’t tell what had happened, but there was a car parked in a strange way close by and we assumed it was a road traffic accident. Not good. After clearing the city we were into more up and down cycling, more French villages, and we also had some weather – a light sprinkling of rain for 30 minutes or so, nothing major and was actually quite refreshing. The sky was a mixture of moody and sun burst which made it atmospheric.

Time to reach for the Pot Belge yet?

We hit Tinténiac control around 21:30 after 16.5hrs and 361Km ridden. Had a quick-ish stop with brevet card stamping, water top ups, a small bite to eat, a toilet stop and a chat with Grace again who we saw upon leaving. This was the first control where Phil commented on the Brutalist architecture of the control – a style that was to be re-visited at many of the commandeered school building controls.

I had set up a WhatsApp group of friends and family whilst I was on the tunnel over to France. Several people had asked me to keep them informed of my progress and I thought the group could be a good way to do this and to see some encouraging messages. I was checking the message group at each control, and the messages I was receiving were brilliant – they were making me laugh and it was really comforting to be sharing the ride with my friends and family. Essentially, it felt like I wasn’t riding alone so to speak. I was sending a picture of my Garmin data screen every time I got to a control, to show the group progress, distance etc. I received responses every time in reply and at Tinténiac – from my mate Chris;

“Time to reach for the Pot Belge yet?”

Pot Belge, or “Belgian mix”, as it is generally translated, is a combination of amphetamines, cocaine and heroin. It’s a cheap and dirty performance-enhancing drug for cyclists.

Well, no it wasn’t, it was now off into the night for another 90 odd Km to the next Control. I rolled out with Phil and Anton, and it was simply into more of the same – just in the dark. More hills, not much flat riding at all and with the temperature dropped it was pretty cold. At some time around midnight we passed through Ménéac and I saw a bar open, I needed some caffeine and a quick stop so I stopped just for 5 minutes, like some other riders. I cant recall, but I’m sure Anton and Phil carried onwards, but somehow we managed to maintain a grouping which saw us arrive at the next Control together.

I’m not really explaining the difficulty of the ride so far – I’ll confirm now – it was tough. The constant hills, the headwind and the elevated pace of the earlier part of the day were all accumulating in my legs, feet, hands, arms, neck and arse, and I was very much looking forward to having some time off the bike at the next Control at Loudéac.

Finally, at 01:35 after 20.5hrs and 446Km, we had arrived at the infamous Control at Loudéac. It’s infamous, as many people use it as a sleep stop, and it can be a very crowded control with outbound and inbound riders passing through in close proximity. No such issues for myself and Phil though, we got a stamp in the Brevet card, had another massive inhalation of bland pasta with some kind of sauce, then we headed off to see if we could get beds in the dormitory. We were in luck there were a fair few spaces available, so we chose slots and wake up times (the volunteers will come and shake you awake at your stipulated time), and then we were off into the dormitory – a cavernous gymnasium completely packed with fold out beds and blankets in rows and columns. We were guided to our sleep spot and we walked past snoring, farting and faffing riders in all sorts of states of dress and disarray. You could feel the exhaustion in the place, and you could see on the faces of the riders the ‘4am courage’ required to raise oneself out of the bed and back onto the roads.

Sleep well? Nah, not great, you?

The dormitory was not exactly the most restful of places to be. It was absolutely lovely to lie down and not be on the bike – but it was difficult to get off to sleep. Annoyingly I had left my earplugs in my bag on the bike, so the faffing noises and the snoring needed to be blocked out mentally. Eventually, I got off to sleep, but in what seemed like about 10 minutes rest time (must have been more like an hour or so) I was awake and shivering. I couldn’t believe how cold I was. I had a sleeping bag liner and a blanket as well as several layers of (albeit sweaty) cycling gear on, but that was not enough to keep me warm. After a bit more time a volunteer came and shook me at my stipulated time; 04:40. Phil had elected for a slightly later wake up time – he wasn’t in love with the thought of setting out in the pre dawn darkness. I got up and started to get myself geared up for setting out again. I Just wanted to get warm, so was actually quite keen to get moving, heading to the facilities there were bodies everywhere – heads on tables, asleep in corners. One thing was clear – I had to maximise riding time and minimise time off the bike as much as possible. The control closing times and the overall time limit weren’t in danger at this point, but I was always conscious to have margin.

I left the control in the darkness and on my own – tout seul. I suspected Anton and Phil would catch me up on the road. My bike luggage provided me with a significant weight disadvantage over Phil who was on an Orbea carbon bike with lightweight bikepacking luggage on the rear only. Anton was on a steel Stelbel with a traditional handlebar bag, so I guess was somewhere in between Phil and I in terms of weight. Of course the morning was cold and the roads felt like they were constantly going uphill. There was a lot of mist in the dips which was picturesque with a calm atmosphere – I really like the early morning time on a bike. I didn’t ride with anyone particularly but there were plenty of cyclists around and passing through St Nicholas Du Pelem we were directed into a Secret Control. St Nicholas Du Pelem was an official feed stop, but I was pleased to pass through it as a Secret Control and gain another stamp in the Brevet card. I may have picked up a Jambon Beurre? I cant recall exactly, but I do remember eating an awful lot of them on the bike.

Another thing which is difficult to remember clearly is exactly where I joined up with Anton and Phil again. I think it was at the Secret Control, as I remember us all rolling into the next Control at Carhaix-Plougeur together (after 523Km and nearly 29 hours), and also remembered that Anton would be meeting some of his family at this control on the return leg (they were holidaying nearby). Phil had slept about as well as I had during the night. The most memorable thing about the Carhaix-Plougeur control is it was here that I had my one and only Paris-Brest pastry.

Off to the Coast

As we left Carhaix-Plougeur, the sun was strong and the temperature was ratcheting up. We had been very fortunate so far not to have any serious rain and it was a pleasure to cycle in good weather, although the headwind was still pressing on us. We passed a lovely looking village called Huelgoat which was set on a lake, and seemed to be very popular with tourists – probably the first of which I had seen on the ride so far. More up and down cycling took us through forested roads and to the eastern ascent of the only “real climb” in PBP – Le Roc’h Trevezel. It is situated halfway between Huelgoat and Sizun, and from the east didn’t pose too big a problem for us. It was clearly a focus point for spectators and supporters at the summit, however we didn’t stop but chose to enjoy the long descent into Sizun. I say enjoy, but every minute or so of descent Phil, and I were thinking – shit, we’ve got to climb back up this in a matter of hours. We passed a few riders we knew on the descent, my work colleague Paul Sear, Isen Workshop’s Fenella Reed, and another acquaintance Kev Payton from Stourbridge.

Sizun was lovely – it was pretty, hot and chock full of outbound and inbound cyclists. There was a really nice atmosphere to the place and we stopped for toiletting and a quick snack. We were almost halfway, 35Km till Brest and we knew that we were going to make it well in advance of the control closing time. A few more ups and downs to go on the road and we would be there. The run into Brest was busy and industrious. The city felt a little grey, even though the sun was shining as I crossed the infamous Plougastel Bridge (aka the Albert-Louppe Bridge) where almost every cyclist stops to get a picture of the Atlantic ocean and the cable stayed Pont de l’Iroise road bridge. Both Anton and Phil pressed on up to the Control, but I had to get the pictures. The Control itself was in the Northern part of the city and of course there was a long hill that had to be ridden up to get there and it seemed to take forever to finally arrive there, although it was probably only 10 minutes or so.

Mentally, it is always good to make it to the halfway point, physically after 613 bloody hilly Kilometres ridden in just over 34 hours I was feeling the effects of my efforts. The soles of my feet were painful, as were my hands, legs and arse. I was desperate to take my shoes off for a while and enjoy some foot freedom, but there was a bit of walking to do between the control, the toilets and the restaurant facilities before I could do that. I met up with Anton and Phil, and I was pleased to see them and rest with them for a bit. Anton was keen to get moving as he was meeting his family back at Carhaix-Plougeur and wanted to see his kids before they went to bed, so he pressed on whilst Phil hung around with me whilst we had a short spell off the bike.

The Turnaround

Leaving Brest with Phil felt good, we were on the way back! The route out through the East of the city felt a lot easier than the route in. In general, the route back was similar to the route out, but there were some differences along the way. Another rider in a Diagonales De France jersey left the control at the same time as us, so I rode with him for a while and we chatted. I cant remember his name unfortunately, but he had ridden several diagonales and obviously knew the ADF club members, some of which I’d seen on the ride already.

Phil and I had been catching 90hr riders from a long way before Brest, some of which we thought would be in trouble against the time limits, you could see from the frame plates the numbering of the rider and from the letter on their frame plate you know roughly what time they would have started (A-V) all started on Sunday afternoon-evening, whilst W-Z started on Monday morning). Now we were on our way back, we were seeing some of those riders that we had passed earlier again, still on their way to Brest. I felt bad for them somehow, knowing they had more to go in front of them than I had. We arrived in Sizun around 17:00 for the second time in the same day, and again there was a positive atmosphere with a lot of the locals volunteering to help out with all sorts. A young girl gave me and Phil some water for our bidons and then we stopped in the shop on the corner of the square for a snack. I got us some rice puddings, which are one of the best quick foods you can have on a randonée – they are tasty, they go down very easily, and you can eat them really quickly.

Leaving Sizun, we were heading into the evening and were straight uphill – the west side of Roc’h Trevezel. Really, it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as we were expecting it to be from our earlier descent. It took some time, but we were making good progress and passing other riders quite regularly. With the Roc’h behind us we had some easier roads in front of us towards the next Control, which wasn’t far away. On the way we were passed by Jean-Michel Vermeire (my ADF clubmate and 34X DDF finisher), he was riding very strongly and was standing up and powering up every inclination in the road, we kept him in sight, but he maintained a gap.

We arrived at the Carhaix-Plougeur Control just before 20:00 after 697Km and 39.5 hours. The brutalist school structures looked more imposing in the dark, but were a beacon of rest and nourriture for riders taking some time out. I was in need of a solid hot meal as I had just been snacking since we last ate at this same Control earlier in the morning. Phil and I ate yet another meal of pasta, this time with a slab of meat laid on top. Phil saw someone that he knew from his Rapha Cycle Club (RCC), her name was Hanna and she was in a bad way. She had arrived at the Control a few minutes before us, but had started the night before us. Hence, we knew from her frame plate number (R) that she was really up against it time wise. When we said hi and asked how Hanna was doing, she began to explain that she had had no sleep at all in 48 hours and that her knee had practically locked up, she began to cry, but there wasn’t really much more to say other than that we could see her pain, and felt for her. She ended up packing at Loudéac. After eating and toileting we saw Grace again just before heading off. We had a brief catch up, she was doing well and making very similar progress to us. I started to notice that I was getting a spiky throat, which I think was from all the fluid consumption, Phil also had a similar feeling. We didn’t see Anton again, and we assumed he must have already headed off for sleep with his family at their nearby accommodation.

Into the Second Night

Another 90Km in the darkness to the next Control at Loudéac was ahead of us and re-mounting the bike the aches and pains were amplified for a spell, until I could settle down into a riding rhythm. It often feels difficult to get riding again after such a distance, and the first 10 minutes or so when you are colder and your legs (and arse) are reminded of what you are telling them to do is a little uncomfortable. Our pace had slowed, the road had become lumpy again and the cumulative effort was impacting. Faff time had also increased along with a more frequent desire to make an excuse to stop for a couple of minutes – putting a jacket on, having a pee, looking for my Garmin charging cable (that I lost, so had to use my spare), replacing the coin battery in my power meter, etc.

Riding along with Phil we cold hear Abba music coming from behind us. We were engulfed by 4 or 5 riders from Brazil who were in party mode. They had a speaker on the front of their bikes and were blasting out some pop classics for motivation and entertainment. They were funny and were full of beans, riding at a pace just a tiny bit higher than ours, but one that Phil and I didn’t want to stick with. There was also a train of other riders on the back of the Brazil guys and Phil wasn’t keen to ride with that group. Tiredness, the dozies and the potential for poor group riding were not worth any advantage in speed. We were happy as a duo for now, and enjoyed the night silence, punctuated by the odd piece of Abba! There is a video of the Brasil guys on my Instagram.

Around 23:00 we were directed into another Secret Control at Saint Nicholas Du Pelem, same as on the way out. We got a quick stamp in our Brevet cards and then continued on. We were riding pretty slowly and were growing increasingly in need of a lie down, but we had to press on to Loudéac before we could do that. There were some riders at the Secret Control who were having to take rest wherever they could.

Finally, arriving in Loudéac around 03:30 after 786Km and 46.5 hours, we parked the bikes up and Phil went straight off to see if he could get massage on his left knee. It had started to swell up and was causing him some discomfort on the bike. Whilst Phil was doing that I was again faffing at my bike, trying to work out what I needed to take into the couchage for a sleep – I remembered my earplugs this time and was cursing myself for not making it simpler to extract exactly what I needed from my bags for a sleep control. My handlebar bag was particularly annoying, as the loop closures were becoming difficult to get undone with tired brain and hands, so I was delving into it when it was half open and hoping I could grab what I needed. Not a great strategy. As I finished faffing, a pissed up local old man appeared to be trying to gain entry to the control and was shouting a lot at the volunteer stewards (no idea what). One of the volunteer stewards eventually lunged at the guy and tried to wrestle/eject him from the outskirts of the control. It was all very physical and totally unexpected. Must have lasted around 2 minutes, but was a bizarre scene compared to the conviviality of normal proceedings in PBP. I had arranged to meet Phil at the couchage, where I had already reserved us 2 sleeping slots. Phil arrived, pleased with his massage and then we were led off to our allotted sleep areas. Lots of snoring and rustling going on, but we were very familiar with this now. Lying down was bliss, as was drifting off into sleep. But again, I was awoken by the cold an hour and a half later, so the last 30 minutes of rest were spent trying to arrange covers to make myself warm, mostly without success.

Another Early Start

Phil and I got up and made our way to the restaurant for some breakfast. No pastries available, so guess what? Pasta again – at 05:30. Wasn’t very appealing, but it all went down as of course we needed the fuel. I had been sending updates to the WhatsApp group I’d set up and the update I sent during breakfast read;

“Total sleep so far is around 3.5hrs. Was absolutely on my knees last night – a very challenging day, so many strength sapping hills that my legs had little power and I was fighting the dozies for a few hours. Up again now and eating pasta for breakfast”.

I got some lovely messages through from the group throughout the entire time, so encouraging and amusing. I was really pleased to have set this group up, my friends and family also seemed to be enjoying the updates and the banter. As we were about to leave Loudéac, Phil thought he saw Anton, so was shouting after him. It wasn’t him though….. as we checked the tracker times and saw that Anton had entered Loudéac at around 02:00, so he for sure would have left by the time we were heading off. It was a beautiful morning, chilly to start with but with the promise of sunshine and no rain. We had certainly been fortunate with the lack of rain, but the headwind that we had battled on the way out had somewhat turned around with us.

We just rode on and on through the morning. I cant really remember too much about the mornings riding, other than I think it was this morning that we saw Damon Peacock and his wife Heather, filming inbound riders. I cant quite recall the town where they were filming either, maybe in Saint Méen le Grand? In any case, I shouted a hello and then we pulled round to stop and have a chat. Damon switched his camera on us and asked us how we were feeling, I’m sure we garbled some kind of nonsense back and hopefully gave a good reflection of our feeling and progress.

We got to the Tinténiac Control at 11:10 after 873Km and almost 53.5 hours. There was a French folk band playing and some people dancing, the Controls were a place of congregation for the community along the route and probably provided some kind of different entertainment for everyone. As per my previous thoughts on crossing France, it can feel deserted at times and I can imagine PBP being a big deal for everyone along the route. In the short queue for the restaurant I got chatting to a VC167 rider. She was tired and I was able to help her with her food ordering in French, the staff were not quite delivering what she needed and she was getting exasperated trying to explain. For the first time at a control, we were able to get some potatoes, Phil and I loaded up with a plate each. They were coated with butter and were really good. The VC167 rider was in the 84hr group like we were and she was concerned about control closing times. I mentioned this to Phil and then we looked at the closing times as well and realised that if we weren’t careful we could end up losing our margin against the control closing times. We sat near a French couple who were a tandem pair, they wanted to try our potatoes – they claimed that they had never just had boiled potatoes before! We called them Pomme de Terres and upon leaving the control saw them a few times later on the road, shouting a hello to them, “Bonjour Pomme de Terres”, we would say and the reply would come “Bonjour Potatoes” from them. On the way to Fougéres we also saw a French guy who had fashioned the Eiffel Tower on to his helmet.

“I’m Late”

Past the castle again and into the Fougéres control after 928Km and 58.5 hours. The Brevet card was almost full now, we only had 4 more stamps to get. I really felt like we had broken the back of the ride here, we were within touching distance, but in reality that meant that we still had around 300km to ride. Phil and I were still riding together, all going well, aside from the persistent aches and pains. For Phil it was his left knee, which was looking very swollen now. Every time we stopped he was keen to get some massage to it, for me it was my hands and feet, I was desperate to get my shoes off as soon as I could at every opportunity. It was a given that the legs and arse would be in a state, but as long as we kept fuelling well the legs could keep pushing (not big power, but enough). However, long distance riding will find any of your weaknesses, and these weaknesses can turn into problems that can be difficult to find solutions to – other than to just treat as best you can to be able to keep moving forward.

Phil and I ate at the control again, and I saw a few people that I knew or recognised. I spotted Jean-Phillipe Battu (a decorated Diagonaliste) over at the food counter whilst we were sat down eating. I had learnt of Jean-Phillipe from the DDF website, and during a work trip I had managed to meet up with him. 4 years previous I had spent an evening with Jean-Phillipe at his home in Grenoble, this was prior to my first Diagonale and he kindly dispensed plenty of advice for me to help plan and execute my first Diagonale. So, with enthusiasm, I went to say hi. Jean-Phillipe, very directly said to me “I’m late” that was all! Haha. Looking at his numbering he had started in the 90hr group, so he definitely would have been very close to running out of time. So, I totally understood.

Sitting down eating there were some German riders to our right. I looked over and recognised Claus Czycholl. Claus had featured in an excellent film that I had purchased from Vimeo called “Brevet” which chronicled some riders in their 2015 PBP ride, Claus being one of them. Claus didn’t speak English but the guys he was with from A.R.A Hamburg did and we were able to have a chat. Turns out he was an Audax ride organiser in Hamburg. It was nice to say hello and I think Claus was quite used to being recognised along the ride.

Lastly, I saw John Gallagher from Crewe Clarion. I had met John once before on Windsor-Chester-Windsor, and I knew of John from another Crew Clarion rider (Ady Dean) whom I had ridden a 600K with in 2018. John had been riding the whole time with Caroline Wrench, also from Crewe Clarion but unfortunately Caroline had had to pack at Tinténiac due to injury I believe. John was disappointed for Caroline, and as for himself he was very tight up against the time limit so we only spoke for a few minutes before he had to leave.

It was seriously hot as we left the control, we had been drinking a lot of fluid throughout (pretty much 2 large bottles in between controls) but it was totally necessary. As we progressed we caught up with Jean-Phillipe Battu on the road. He was much more talkative on the road whilst he was making progress. He had told us that his right gear shifter was feeling very tight and he had a concern for its remaining durability. There were quite a few riders around and Jean-Phillipe was on and off the groups and after a while he dropped off and we weren’t to see him again. I knew from Damon Peacock’s 2015 PBP video that there was a famous roadside stall coming up in La Tannière. I wanted to stop there and get a crépe, the payment for which is to send a postcard from your hometown to the owner of the stall Paul Rogue. We entered La Tannière, saw the stall and stopped. We were straightaway offered juice, coffee and a crépe. Really lovely and a great atmosphere.

Relentless Forward Motion

Relentless forward motion. That is what I had to keep remembering and attempting to do. However, it becomes very difficult as the distance and discomforts increase. The desire to have time off the bike grows with distance too. Phil was in need of some cream for his knee, so it was at Lassay-les-Châteaux, where we saw an open Pharmacy where Phil could get some treatment. There were a lot of other riders scattered around the town and whilst Phil was in the Pharmacy I took some time sitting down with my shoes off, which was so nice but my concern was growing as the balls and toes of my feet were now very sore. Phil was happy with the application of some cream to his knee, wether it was placebo or really actually doing some good Phil was unsure, but who cared if it helped. We chatted briefly with a bigger rider who was sat down eating stuff from the local store. He had a couple of bits of bread and half a camembert inserted into the middle. That kind of food would not sit well with me at this stage of a ride. Leading into the town I had noticed that Phil’s rear wheel had been rubbing towards his right chain stay. So, we messed around with the wheel so it wasn’t biasing to the right, but a few Km’s later it was clear that maybe Phil’s rear wheel had picked up a buckle as it kept biasing off to the right. We opened up the brakes as well, but we would have to get it looked at by a mechanic when we got to the next control.

Into the evening we rode with a couple of Japanese riders. I really liked their kit, and I spoke some words of Japanese with them. (I work with the Japanese every day, so pick up some words occasionally). We had a fun chat for 20 minutes or so and we wished them well, before moving on. They were in the 90hr group, and were looking fine so would hope that they would finish before the cut off. I ticked over 1000Km whilst riding with Phil and the Japanese, just ahead of a beautiful sunset.

“Bougez Pas”

We arrived at the Villaines-La-Juhel control at 21:20 after 64hrs and 21 mins with 1017Km ridden. By chance, right at the entrance to the control we met John Gallagher again, and he was keen to ride with us through the night as he was still up against the time limit. So, we made a plan. Phil was to go and get his rear wheel looked at right away, John and I would get our Brevet cards stamped and then go to the restaurant, then Phil would meet us in there.

Phil had to leave his bike at the mechanic and would pick it up after having eaten. We ate another big pasta meal (best control food here), then whilst Phil went to sort his bike, I wanted to shut my eyes just for 10 minutes. One of the best things I had brought with me was an inflatable pillow, it packed down small and was a total luxury for when you wanted a quick sleep. John had gone off to the toilet and to fill his bottles, and I had asked him to fill mine too if he could find my bike in the racks. So, chatting with one of the volunteers in the main building I got more layers on and explained that I would sleep for 10 minutes right here. She was amused at this, but after 5 minutes she shook me and said I couldn’t sleep where I was, another volunteer had found a quieter place for me just across the lobby, so I got up and went in there. Much nicer. I set my alarm for 7 minutes time and slept very easily. Getting up was a little tough, but we had to keep moving.

John was waiting for me as I walked into the lobby and we proceeded to go outside to see if we could find Phil. John hadn’t managed to find my bike to fill my water bottles up, so I went to get my bike and to wheel it down towards the toilets, then I saw Phil. He too needed water, but the news on his bike was that he needed a new rear wheel! His wheel had begun to split at the weld and was failing, hence the unrecoverable buckle and biasing to the right. So, Phil had had to buy a new rear wheel, and get the Powertap hub taken out of his junked wheel so he could give it back to the mate he was borrowing it from (he almost forgot to do this and had to go back to the bike shop as he remembered). I had left my bike leaned up against a railing and some locals were holding onto it for me. With Phil’s wheel sorted, we went to use the toilets and get some water. We were stopped by a couple of little girls who wanted to get water for us. “Bougez Pas” (don’t move) they said to us as they took our bidons on a walk to fill them up with water. They were very sweet and we were grateful, the girls were clearly loving helping out and playing a role.

We had lost John somehow, and returning to my bike to put the bidons in the cages, we chatted with the locals whilst sorting kit out for the night, we had a lovely time there and whilst putting some carbohydrate powder into one of my bidons we joked about “dopage”. The locals were keen to know where we were from and have a chat with us, and of course we obliged. So much encouragement from them as we left. We found John, he was waiting at the end of the control road near the bike shop. The 3 of us set off together into the final night, it was 23:00.

30 minutes after leaving the control, it was clear that John was struggling, he was seeing double and his mind was telling him he was seeing crevasses in the road which were being presented by the occasional black lining you get on certain road surfacing. He was slowing and clearly needed to stop. We sat him down against a wall in a tiny village and told him to get 20 minutes sleep. John agreed and Phil and I carried on from there, leaving John on his own. Some may have felt a twinge of guilt or reluctance about leaving John there, but we didn’t. PBP is your own ride that you have worked bloody hard for – you need to be selfish about that so that you can finish it, and experienced people like John totally understand that. He was fine with us moving on and grateful that we had recognised that he needed quick rest.

The dreaded Shermer’s Neck

An hour later, 35Km after leaving the control near Rouessé-Fontaine, I had to stop on top of a plateau and rest my head. My neck had become very sore and weak and I wasn’t able to lift my head up suitably to cycle normally. Losing the power of your neck muscles is a common occurrence on PBP and other such long distance rides. I had heard of it before, but had never experienced it. Some road angels stopped in a car, the guys in it were not associated with the PBP organisation, but they clearly knew what they were doing. They asked if I was OK and they advised that the only thing I could do to help my neck would be to rest regularly, and cycle whilst supporting my head with my fist under my chin.

This was very difficult to do, as the condition of my hands made it painful to ride with just one hand on the handlebars, whilst the other was clenched in a fist propping my head up. I would swap hands frequently, but found that I couldn’t maintain the fist under the chin support for very long periods. A coping technique developed and consisted of the following;

1. Ride close to the centre of the road, lifting my head enough to see the white lines of the road on my left, keeping the front wheel to the right of the white lines and keeping another eye on Phil’s rear wheel to my right.
2. When it got too much, use my right hand under my chin to support my head for a few minutes.
3. Swap to left hand under my chin.
4. Go back to #1.
5. When it got too much again, stand up and pedal with my head down, maintaining my white line boundaries, accelerate past Phil 10 metres or so, then freewheel. When freewheeling, I could lift my head all the way back and rest the muscles. When Phil caught me up during freewheeling – go back to #1.
6. When it got really bad, I had to stop at the side of the road and plant my head onto my handlebar bag, just to rest the neck. I would count up to 60 and then get moving again, rotating through the developed coping technique.

Needless to say, this was making the night bloody hard and the overall progress slow. My legs were actually feeling strong and I didn’t have any issues with them during the times I was having to stand up and pedal. But the desire to rest and especially with the neck problem I was increasingly wanting time off the bike, with faff times increasing every time. We saw the road angels agin, they had pulled over and were serving coffee and cake out of the back of their car. We stopped and had some, and they asked how I was doing. “OK” was my reply. 15Km later in Courgains, I was having a strong feeling of the dozies and I had to stop and have a 20 minute sleep, Phil was keen to do the same. We slept on the ground outside the church door where there were a couple of other already sleeping riders dotted around too. These were hard, hard Kilometres. It felt like the longest 85Km I’d ever ridden to the next control, and it certainly took us a while until we got to Mortagne-au-Perche.

At 04:42, After 1102 Km and 71 hours and 41 minutes we arrived at Mortagne-au-Perche Control (was a feed stop on the outbound side). Another stamp gained, and Phil urgently wanted to sleep at the control. I would have slept absolutely anywhere, but sensibly we looked for the couchage, and Phil sorted out 2 slots for us. There were quite a few slots available, but we were taken to a cluster of sleeping riders. Phil got put right next to the loudest snorer in the room, and he went on a micro rant about it. Exclaiming that it was “F***ing typical” and “why me” etc etc. I had to laugh, I could hear the snorer too, but I had earplugs. We had the best sleep yet here, and after 2 hours we were awoken by the volunteer shaking us.

We’re Going to Make It!

Upon getting up and making our way to the restaurant, I really fancied a nice pain au raisin or a croissant, but unfortunately the breakfast options were really poor. Rock hard baguettes and a banana or 2 were the best of the lot, but at least there was coffee too. Upon checking the tracking app we’d seen that John Gallagher (who we’d left asleep at the roadside earlier in the night) had entered the Mortagne-au-Perche control just 15 minutes after me and Phil. I later learned from John that he had bounced the control, grabbed a snack as soon as a boulangerie opened, felt a ton better, then pressed on to finish in 88hrs 39mins. He was up against the time limit with a hares breath of margin, and that was the motivation he needed to push through – fantastic courage from John to pick himself up out of the situation he was in, both Phil and I thought it was touch and go for John in terms of finishing within the time limit and he really had to dig in to finish.
We saw Grace again upon heading to pick the bikes up. It was funny how close we had been throughout the ride, but had not actually ridden much at all with Grace. There were still riders strewn across the control as we left.

The sun was up and we were feeling better for getting through the night. From leaving Mortagne-Au-Perche control, we didn’t say it but I think Phil and I both knew that we would make it to the finish within the time limit. We had 125Km to ride until the finish and we had just under 10 hours until the cut off. Thankfully, the road had flattened out somewhat, there was still some inclination but we could deal with it OK and make better progress. My legs were feeling good, and had been for the last day or so, the problem areas remained my neck, my hands and my feet. I could have cut my feet off and been in more comfort, and I had resorted to a 3 fingered technique on the handlebars to try and alleviate the pressure put onto my palms. This sort of helped, but not really and I couldn’t keep it up for very long at a time. I had been very conscious to move my hands around a lot during the ride, but my hands are clearly a weakness I have which is difficult to mitigate against.

I was still rotating through my neck coping techniques as well, but the effort to maintain my head in as much of an upright position as I could handle was increasing all of the time. If you can imagine someone with clasped hands pulling your head and neck down towards the floor, then you try to fight that by lifting your head up as hard as you possibly can, then you are somewhere near the perceived effort I felt trying to keep my head lifted enough so I could see enough of the road not to be dangerous. Other than this the riding was nice, with Phil and I riding sometimes in silence, sometimes chatting, sometimes riding close to others, sometimes just us two.

Looking at my printed map, I was picking off the junctions, the churches, the main road crossings and the villages until the next control at Dreux. We arrived around 12:00 after 1179Km and 78hours 27minutes. After gaining our last stamps before the finish Control, Phil tried to find massage for his knee again, whilst I tried to find someone who could help me with a neck brace. No luck for me, there were limited medical supplies available at the control and there were certainly no neck braces. We had a good lunch and ate with Grace and one of her Bristolian friends. I was receiving some lovely messages on the group chat from my friends and family and with the realisation that I would finish in time (barring any disasters) it was becoming emotional to read the messages. I saw a couple of other riders with neck braces on already, but upon asking where they got them from they had had them on for a while already since the last couple of controls.

It was really hot leaving Dreux control, and there was just 35Km to go till the finish. The route had been changed at short notice from Dreux as there were roadworks on the planned route. I saw Jean-Phillipe Battu near the train station and I assumed that he was out of time. We knew we would make it within the time limit, and our pace had picked up relative to the easing of the road inclination. My neck was still hell, as were my hands and feet, but it’s amazing what you can convince your body to keep doing when you have a goal to achieve, and you are almost there (same applies even when you aren’t almost there!). I enjoyed the massive fields and numerous water towers of Northern France on this final stretch, (it reminded me a lot of my 2015 Diagonale) the wind seemed reasonably kind and the high sun and big sky were making for great wide vistas.

We passed through a forested section which was nice and rolling, these were the kind of roads I absolutely love. Fast and rolling where you can make good progress, smooth surfaces and some roll to them where you can pull up to maintain speed and then continue to lay down consistent power on the flatter sections. My homing beacon had definitely come on, and before we knew it we were cycling into the cobbled section in Rambouillet near the Sheepfold again. We had to ride up the roads within the Sheepfold, and it was a bit of a mess. There were casual walkers up and down the road, riders coming back the other way, no lane discipline at all and we had to weave our way to the finish. We passed under the banner, but from there we had to continue to the finish line where we would pass over the sensors for the trackers. Annoyingly the organisers had routed us through some ridiculous cobbles ahead of hitting the sensors, and Phil was furious about it. We just wanted to stop.

Finished

Finally, it was done. We could stop. 81hours and 15 minutes. We were exhausted and elated. We parked the bikes up, and proceeded to get our final Brevet card stamp. Then we had to hand in our cards for processing. I took a picture of my Brevet card before handing it in, and once done we were presented with our finishers medal. From here we went off to get our finishers meal and thankfully it wasn’t pasta. It was actually a nice chicken curry. I didn’t really feel like eating much but I ate it and also had a small Cider from the tent. I sat next to a guy from Florida and chatted with him whilst trying to absorb the fact that I had done it. Phil was sat the other side of me and was chatting to a Dutch guy (Camiel de Leeuw) who we had seen several times along the ride. He had his father meeting him at points along the way in a camper van. Nice guy. After this we went off to the medical tent for some treatment on Phil’s knee. Whilst he was getting that I called home and chatted with my wife, then checked in with the WhatsApp messages. So lovely to read the congratulatory messages. They had all been looking at the tracking app to see when I had finished.

Phil came down to my car with me before heading off to the train station. He wanted to get back to London that night so was on his way from Rambouillet to Paris and then to London. We swapped numbers and reflected briefly on our achievements, and thanked each other for our company. I was very pleased to have Phil’s company throughout most of the ride, he was a solid guy who had patience, humour and strength. I got myself changed, put the bike in the car and then headed off to the hotel I had booked in Rambouillet. It was absolute luxury to have a shower and a shave, then fall asleep on a nice bed.

The following day I had some bullshit to deal with, I had parked where the hotel had told me to – outside the hotel in a public car park, but when I pulled my curtains I could see no cars in the car park! I went down and spoke to the staff who suggested that the cars had been towed due to a military event taking place in the town that day. Several other hotel guests later found themselves in the same situation. I was up early with an American guy and we were the first to get to know about the problem! We had to go to the Police Nationale and prove ownership of the car (difficult when all your docs are in the car that has been towed away), anyway we got through it, then the Police would write you a ticket to authorise the release of the car. We then had to walk 35 minutes to the garage where the cars were stored, pay 125€ for release and then get back to the hotel to pick up our stuff (not easy when half the roads are closed for the military event). I was very happy to leave Rambouillet. I had a lovely drive back up to the Tunnel, spent some time at Cite Europe buying stuff for home, then got on an early tunnel crossing. Friday night traffic in the UK was as expected but I got home to my family around 20:00. Tired and very pleased to be home.

Post PBP

I had a cold for a week, my hands and feet are still sore and my right hand is weak nearly 3 weeks after the finish. I have hardly ridden on the bike, just 2 turbo sessions of very light load, this is due to my hands rather than my legs. I have a general fatigue that is hard to shift, but hardly surprising given what I had just put myself through.

Would I do PBP again? Probably, but don’t need to make a decision for ages on that.

Did I enjoy it? Yes definitely.