Pre-PBP
Arrived Charles DeGaulle Airport Thursday morning, August 16th. Took RER and Metro to St. Quentin. Section of Metro closed for construction. It required one additional correspondence and a walk across road. Great view of Eiffel Tower while crossing road. Arrived in St. Quentin. Staying at the Mercure Hotel, which is a short walk across the plaza from the train station. Not a difficult trip. Bike box under 50 pounds to avoid airline charge and everything else in a backpack.
Assembled bike. Everything looked fine. No cracked crank arm like I found before PBP 2003, but I inspected everything closer when I packed the bike this time. Bike this year is my 1999 Look 271, which has a carbon fiber frame. I used my steel Erickson for other PBP’s. The Erickson was custom with eyelets and fender clearance. This Look frame is a bit noodley, comfortable for long days in the saddle and actually better suited for long touring than criteriums, but no room for fenders. PBP is in France and the Look is a French bike; reason enough to take it. Wheels were VeloMax Ascent, 18 spokes front and 24 spokes back. These wheels were factory rebuilt after being tacoed in an accident a couple of years ago. They had very few miles on them. Decided on low mileage lightweight wheels, rather than my heaver well-worn wheels. Lighting: Cateye EL 500, Cateye EL 530 and small Blackburn LED (runs on 4 AAA batteries) mounted on handlebar. Also a helmet-mounted Princeton Tec. I run the EL 500 full time, switch on the EL 530 on fast descents, and flip on the helmet light when approaching intersections. Blackburn is kept for backup. I did not carry any spare batteries.
Took RER and Metro into Paris on Friday, August 17th. Spent half the day in the Muse d’Orsay. Walked around the city, lines were too long to get into Notre Dame cathedral. Returned to St. Quentin and saw that Dr. Ken Krichman had arrived. He will be my roommate for the next couple of days.
On Saturday, August 18th, rode a leisurely 35 miles with a group from S.I.R. This was first time on bike. Everything is functioning fine.
August 19th, Sunday morning: packet pickup, but no bike inspection anymore. Afternoon: rode with Dr. Ken to try to find PBP return route back to the finish. Got lost and rained on.
PBP
I start at 8 PM; instructions in packet say the gate opens at 7 PM. Decide to arrive a few minutes early. Already find a large group ahead of me. Walk through the walkway underpass. Line is halted about a dozen riders in front of me. Assume they just cut off the first wave. It was the second wave; I am in the last wave of the 80 hr start. Meet Larry, rider whom I met during the Davis 400K brevet. He informs me that the supported riders who are gunning for first place had their support crew wait in line with their bikes from before noon to hold a place at the front. Lots of festivities at the start. Fireworks announce the start of each wave.
And we are off! Try to ride reasonable and safe. Hear several crashes in the early miles. Every once in a while I work a little harder to close a gap with a group that is off the front. An Italian woman decides to chase down a group about a quarter mile up the road. I go with her. I do most of the work. Worked much harder than I wanted to. A while later, after making a turn leaving one of the small villages, we see a group of riders coming back the other way. We are sure we saw the “Cateye” arrow and keep going. We see a second group coming back. Well, I guess we did take a wrong turn. We turn around and get back on course. So much for my big effort earlier that night.
Stop in Mortagne au Perche to refill water bottles and mix some “Sustained Energy”. We have a bit of a head wind, but still dry. Stopped in Villlaines la Juhel to have card stamped and get water only. Sun is coming up and sky is looking threatening. Ate in cafeteria at Fougeres. Starting to get damp. Quick sandwich and coffee at Tinteniac. Started raining harder as we approached Loudeac. Saw and rode behind Ken Carter. He jumped after another rider who went off the front, but I waited too long. When it finally dawned on me that they were getting away, I had to put in a big effort to chase them down.
Arrived in Loudeac wet and warm. Ate in cafeteria. Changed clothes and rode out chilled but dry. Quickly overheated, I put on a heaver jersey. I expected it to get colder and wetter as we approached the coast, but found the opposite. I left with Ken Carter. A few miles out I realized that I left my brevet card, wallet, passport, and credit cards in Loudeac. Turned around and time trialed back into Loudeac. The gentleman guarding the bag drop area had my stuff. Fortunately someone found them on the ground and turned them in to him.
Left Loudeac for the second time. Rode alone to Carhaix. Reached to get a drink and found bottle gone and most of the cage broken off. Must have broken when I hit the train tracks at full speed going back for my stuff in Loudeac. Stopped at the bike mechanic tent at the Carhaix control and buy a new cage and bottle for 5 euros. See Ken and Nigel at the cafeteria. They are getting ready to leave. I stop to eat and tell them I may take a sleep break here. Finish eating, see it is not raining and still have some daylight left. Head off for Brest.
Arrive in Brest. Take a hot shower. Sounds like a gay men’s steam room, with all the oohing and ahhing . (Not that I’ve ever been in one.) Drink my free beer and sign up for 2.5 hours of cot time. Asked to be woken up at 4:30 AM. I awake at 3:30 on my own and decide to sleep another hour. I then wake up at 5:45. They forgot to wake me. I can’t find my bike gloves. I waste 15 minutes or so looking for my gloves. (I stuff everything under my cot when I take sleep breaks.) Oh well; I ride the next 600K without gloves.
Lesson learned: Sleep in 1.5-hour increments. Before the ride Dr. K. told me that your REM sleep cycle comes in 1.5-hour increments. That fit with my natural awakening at 3:30.
See patches of blue sky riding out of Brest. Pass several stands along the road where children are handing out cookies. Don’t want to stop at the first few; then, what the heck, slow down and grab a snack. Later I see two very cute young women handing out apples. I slow down and grab an apple and say, “Thank you”. Yes, I know the word is merci, but mind is a little foggy. One replies with a perfect, “You’re welcome”. Couldn’t imagine eating anything more desirable than an apple at that point. Wait in long line at the Carhaix check-in due to the 90-hour riders still heading to Brest. Then I wait 10 minutes or so in cafeteria line and see it will take too long to get through. On the way out, notice that the bike mechanic has some food for sale. Buy several “Overstim” bars and big piece of home made cake.
Return leg same as outward bound. I ate at the cafeteria in Loudeac; quick sandwich and coffee in Tinteniac. At Tinteniac, I purchase new batteries for the EL 500, it seems to be getting dimmer. Ate in the cafeteria at Fougeres. Notice rear light going dim. Started with new batteries; expected them to last longer. Perhaps it shorted out from all the rain.
About a kilometer or two after leaving Fougeres, two women pass me. With the “midnight voice of a beckoning saint” (sorry Bruce), one says, “Would you like to join us, it is better to ride together at night”. They are Mini Kalivianakis and Christa De Bruins from the Netherlands. They end up finishing in less than 66 & 1/2 hours. We pickup and drop many other riders. They seem to know what language to address every rider we catch. The 2 of them, Tim (from Colorado), and myself work well together. While I am in the front, my headlamp picks up two beady eyes on the side of the road. A fox crosses the road about 15 feet in front of me. Since this is the last night, I am using the Blackburn headlamp in addition to the two Cateyes. Have more lighting power than anyone else I am riding with. Later, Tim drifts off the road in front of me and does an endo in the grass. At this point it is raining hard. I know a person should lie still until you are sure there are no serious injuries. It is too cold and wet for that. “You OK? Yea! Lets go. We hit this endless downhill. All is fine until one of the Dutch women mention that she didn’t remember a long uphill coming out. (I had the same thoughts at the moment.) I’m also sure she addresses me by my first name. I don’t remember telling her my name. Hmmm… riding with two babes, they know what language to speak, endless downhill, know my name. This is too good to be real, this is a dream. I must be passed out in a ditch or in a coma in some hospital. I bite the inside of my cheek, yea that hurts, but I could dream that also. Thought sticks with me until we arrive in Villaines la Juhel. In retrospect, the strong tail wind made it feel like a longer downhill. I stop to eat in the cafeteria and the two women ride on.
I see Ken Carter and Nigel at the cafeteria. We finish eating and take a 20-minute nap on the hard floor. We leave together, but I am feeling a bit fatigued. It is raining hard. I drop off the back and ride into Nogent le Roi alone. Rain stops before sunrise. See Ken and Nigel at the control eating. I join them. Still feeling fatigued, I go and pay for a cot (1 hour) while Ken and Nigel ride out. *Lesson to learn: Should have taken a real sleep break in Villaines—I am now sleeping after the sun is up.* (Also sleeping when it is not raining.)
One hour of sleep does wonders for me. I am riding much faster. On the first downhill after leaving Villaines, Carel Ten Have (also from the Netherlands) passes me. I pass him on the next uphill. We leapfrog a couple of times until we both realize that it is better to work together. We end up riding together until the finish. We catch and pass lots of other riders. Some hang on our wheel for a while but very few do any work at the front. We stop to eat in Dreux. See Ken and Nigel again. Carel and I leave before them. Carel and I had talked about finishing in less than 70 hours. Carel mentions that we won’t make our goal. I think he must have been confused with the time. I think we have plenty of time and say so. His response is, “Of course you do, you’re American.” Interesting observation. Europeans must view Americans as optimists. Dry until the last 15 to 20 kilometers from the finish. Rain picks up and we frustratingly encounter more red lights, as we get closer to the finish. I finish in 69:08.
At the finish I whine to another American about the weather. He says he is from South Carolina and had done all his qualifiers in Florida. He thought the weather during PBP was much better than the high 90-degree temperatures and high humidity he rode during the brevets. I was able to stay warm and comfortable the entire ride, actually more comfortable than previous PBPs, which were hot. This is my 4th PBP. I’ve managed to improve on my previous time at each PBP until this year. Can’t blame the weather. If only I haven’t had to turn back leaving Loudeac or oversleep in Brest… Well, there is 2011.