Paris Brest Paris 2015

Paris Brest Paris 2015

Paris Brest Paris 2015 was my 6th visit to this ride.  I love this event.  It has history, culture, France, and a little bike ride during the week.  Although the event is in August the preparations are years long.  In order to even enter I have to ride a full brevet series(200K, 300K, 400K, 600K) in 2015.  To get a “good” starting spot you get preference for rides in 2014.  I had done a 1200K in Ireland(Mille Failte) so I could sign up a little earlier than riders that had not done a longer ride in 2014.  That gave me a good starting group(psychological as much as anything).

We had a ton of snow in New England this winter(9 feet in a month) and cold, cold temps.  I was off the bike for 2 months and then started biking with snow still everywhere and bitter cold in March.   Our qualifying brevets went well with typical crazy weather.The 300K was never over 50F, the 400K was over 90F for much of the ride and the 600K featured tropical rains for much of the ride.  Typical brevet series.

I tried to not over train for PBP this year keeping my mileage up but only a few 200K and 300K rides in June, July and August.  Lots of early morning wake ups to get mileage in before work.  I commute by bike so that is  a big source of miles especially with extra in the AM and PM.

I was communicating during the year with several fellow New England Randonneur riders as to their plans for the event.  This led me to hooking up with John Jurczynski, Ann Rasmussen and Henry Van den Broek for my travel companions.  John and Ann were a powerful tandem couple and had ambitious plans for PBP.  John had done PBP in 2003 and we had finished together in 54 ish hours.    We traveled together and shared taxi service and angst over travel issues.

We arrived in France and quickly got oriented to our hotel and started to get our bikes together.  I took a short ride to test the bike and see the surroundings including the new velodrome that is the PBP start.  Even 2 days before the start the place was loaded with cyclists of every description.  60 countries and 6000 cyclists converging on this small town.

The next day was bike check in which is painfully slow but it is a good chance to catch up with lots of international friends in the long lines of registration. 

Henry and I went for a short ride along the route and returned for lunch.  I tried to take it easy for the next 24 hours until I would start with the first “A” group.

Retrospectively, I did  not feel well rested for the event.  My employment requires some night call and leading up to the event I missed 2 nights  of sleep from work and the overnight flight to France.  I slept 9 hours on the 2 nights I had at the Mercure in Saint Quentin but I am not sure it was enough.

Off to the start on Sunday afternoon.  Due to some streamlining in the start process, we were all given a 200 person start time that did not involve elbowing for a start position.  We also had timing devices on our ankles so no matter when you crossed the start threshold you would be a time zero.

4PM start meant that I could get to the first controle at Mortagne-au-Perche(140km) before dark.  Mortagne outbound is not a official controle but is necessary for someone like me for water and a bathroom.  Supported riders fly by this stop with a quick trip to their support car.

A side note about unsupported riders going for fast times.  I have been the first woman twice at PBP and doing it unsupported.  It was conventional wisdom that anything under 50 hours required support and certainly the male first finishers all had support.  This year an unsupported German rider got the fastest time, completely unsupported!  It is amazing and here is the link to his story .https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=92653.msg1912980#msg1912980

5 minutes at Mortagne and I am off the Villaine La Juhel.  Just getting dark but lots of bike lights to show the way.  Villaine is easily the best controle on the route.  Super supportive people at all hours of the day out there cheering for the riders.  You feel like  a star coming in there.  I got water and with the snacks in my handlebar bag I was ready for the ride to Fougeres.

I got there in good time  but was sleepier than I expected to be on day one.  I got a coke and some breakfast item and closed my eyes for 10 min.  Ready to go! On to Titineac.

I was alone at this point(go figure with 6000 riders) and made 2 wrong turns.  Cost me  a few minutes but got to Titineac at dawn.  Hot chocolate looked good so I had that and it immediately ended up in the toilet.  What is wrong with me,  sleepy, lethargic and puking early in a ride???

Onward to Loudeac..  The dawn brought a gorgeous day to Western France.  Not a cloud in the sky and the cool morning air warmed up slowly.  The ride to Loudeac  was quite pleasant.  I leap frogged with a bunch of riders some of who I had seen the day before and some I would see again.  One was Alan Parkinson from London.  He entertained me with stories from Audax UK and it was the not the last I saw of Alan.

I got another Coke and a snack at Loudeac and rode out of there to start the endless hills of Brittany.  This is the toughest stretch of the ride.   The roads are narrow and bumpy with short, sharp ascents and descents.  It seems to take forever to get to the next controle at Carhaix.  It still looked like I could get to Brest before dark so I kept moving as I know the biggest climb in the ride is out the door of Carhaix.

I felt good on the climb of the Roc Trevezel.  It is a mammoth geological formation but the climb is never very steep.  The view from the top is wide open and about as pretty that afternoon as I have ever seen it.  There were lots of camper vans at the top cheering on riders and offering up food and drink.

Over the top and the long and annoying trip to Brest.  It seems like you endlessly circle around, up and down some hills, up and down some more.  Are we there yet?  Finally the beautiful bridge that connects us over the water to Brest.  Then a steep climb up to the controle.

The Brest controle is very friendly and well staffed but everything is so spread out.  I really wanted some food, needed a bathroom, needed to wash up a bit and needed water and my controle card signed.  I was probably there 30 minutes to get all of this done.  It was still  light when I got out of there but it would be dark by the time I re climbed the Roc.  I dreaded the fast descent off of the Roc as I was already feeling a little sleepy as night approached.  I hoped to get to Carhaix quickly and take an “extended break”  , maybe an hour.

I got to Carhaix and immediately sat against a wall and closed my eyes for maybe 10 minutes.  I felt better and got a good meal.  As I was eating  my  friend from the UK Judy Swallow joined me with her tandem partner.  They cheered me up with their funny tales of the tandem they were riding so I was feeling ready for the overnight ride to Fougeres.

It was a tough section, made harder by the increasing numbers of outbound riders headlamps burning into my tired eyes.  I don’t remember much about that section but I was glad to see the lights of Fougeres!  I was pretty hungry by then so I got a big breakfast.  I took one bite of my eggs and again got sick.  Really embarrassing in the cafeteria.  I ran to the bathroom and their was a guy in the girls room washing his bike clothes in the sink.  We had a little standoff about where he belonged but I was able to clean up the puke on my clothes and return to my breakfast.  Slowly I ate my meal and felt better, starting to think I came to the start of this ride with a virus making me throw up food and be abnormally sleepy.

Dawn always sorts out a lot of weirdness that the night demons bring on and it worked again as I made the trek back to Tintiniac.  It was another beautiful day and I got to Tintiniac feeling good.

I got a bunch of friends to ride into Fougeres but lost them just as we got into town.  A local rider saw me and tried to help with navigation.  He insisted that I should return on the road I just did as I must be heading to Brest.  I was heading to Paris but I stupidly followed his direction for 5 minutes.  I turned around and checked in at the controle.

The ride to Villains was great.  We got a great pace line going over rolling hills and we had a tailwind.  I was hopeful this would be a great push to a good time.  The weather was brilliant and the company was good.  I was riding with several strong women and an few guys.  As we got near to Villaine the crowds along the way grew and grew.  So many people came out to see the spectacle that is PBP!

At this point I realized I was probably in the lead group of women.  I was number 2 into Villaine I was told.  With a strong final 200K I could finish well.  I rode out of Villaine with a Danish woman who thought she probably came into Villaine first.  Her boyfriend was riding with her but he was having some problems and slowing her down.  They proceeded to have a few heated arguments so I dropped back and let their drama unfold.  I was fine all  alone with the setting sun.

I was then overtaken by a young Frenchman who wanted to piggy back with me through the night as his lights were dead,  I wasn’t too happy about that but told him we could ride to the controle at Mortagne together and he could buy some lights there.

We rode along as it got dark and that is when my head betrayed me.  I started to have some very vivid hallucinations and was having trouble focusing on the road and my fellow rider.  I was sure he was going the wrong way multiple times.  Somehow I got to Mortagne and should have packed it in for a few hours…..but I didn’t.   I took off out of there knowing I just needed to hang on for 85  miles.  After that it all goes black as to what happened. I was very confused, trying to find someone to ride with.  I remember sitting down on the side of the road to get my head to clear.  I had many hallucinations about being lost, seeing riders go by, lots of bike lights in my head and fragments of conversation, real or imagined, in my head.

I finally came to in a village square that was deserted.  I had lost about on hour of my memory as it was now 1AM.  I looked around for something that was open but there was nothing and nobody.  I finally just sat back down and tried to get warm.  It was probably 45F that night.  Eventually a police patrol came through and asked if I needed anything.  I said I wanted a ride back to Saint Quentin as I was done with my ride.  I did not see how I could continue to ride when I was still puzzled over where I was.  They said they could call a cab and get me the 60 or so miles back to SQY.  They were well aware of PBP and wanted to see my controle card to see where we had been.

In retrospect, I could not have been far off the course and I should have at least asked them where the course was.  With some more rest I may have been fine to continue in a few hours at daylight but I was too freaked out by this point.  I just wanted to be in my SQY hotel bed.

A cab came and we got me and my bike all inside.  I told the driver where I wanted to go and off we went.  It then became a little more surreal as I kept falling asleep and I got the impression that we were not heading straight back.  I asked him why we seemed to be circling around and he just shrugged.  I sort of panicked at this point and called my sister in New Hampshire to tell her I felt pretty unsafe at the moment.  We talked for a while then I told her that we seemed to be heading down the highway now and things were looking up.  My sister took charge of the situation and called the American Consulate in Paris.  This wonderful man listened to the situation, called me and the spoke to the driver in French.  Something clicked because finally we were heading the right way and I eventually saw a sign for SQY.  The meter was up over 300 euros for this joy ride.   I am sure he saw an exhausted person and took some detours to ring up the bill.   The guy at the consulate said to just put it on the credit card and dispute the charge with Visa which is what I did.   Finally at 5:30AM I arrived back to the Mercure in SQY, happy to be in a hot shower and safe.

I slept for a couple of hours then texted John and Ann to see if they were back.  Max Poletto got in touch(all three of them had been finished with their rides for a while, John and Ann in 52 hours, Max in 53).  We met up in the hotel lobby to discuss our rides.  John said “I assume you are going out to finish the ride?”  It never even occurred to me that I could DNF and then un DNF.  I had about 14 hours left of the 80 hours allotted to do about 60 miles.  Max plotted out on a map my last known position based on the route and my odometer.  John and Ann’s support driver was heading out for a trip in another part of France so he offered to drive me to the point that I had left off.  Incredibly by 3PM I was back on the ride.  I had to be in Dreux by 6PM but then I had 6 hours to complete the last 40 miles.  With a huge tailwind now blowing it was a pretty easy task.

I made it to Dreux at 4:45PM.   I had a yogurt and one of their nice pastries then the home stretch.  I started riding again with my UK friend from Day One, Alan Parkinson.   He was fun to ride with and gave a big wave and “Hello” to all of the people who were camped out on the side of the road to watch the riders.  In 6 PBP’s I have never seen so many people out.  Maybe the nice weather but it was so special!

The ending at the velodrome was great.  Amazingly I ran into Henry van den Broek.  He had started a couple of hours after me and in the end he finished about 5 minutes in front of me and we never saw each other out there.  We headed into the mob to get our controle cards signed and then made plans for dinner.  My final time was around 77:45, plenty of space under the 80 hour window.

We found Brad Tanner, Steve Lavoie, John and Ann at a restaurant and had a big meal to celebrate everyone’s official finish.

In trying to analyze what happened to me I don’t know.  I guess it was sleep deprivation, maybe a little viral thing and I think riding without a companion let my mind wander around by itself a lot which kept from being grounded in the event.

Another PBP in the books!

 

Mille Failte 1200K Ireland 6-2014

I saw a small post on an internet list in December 2013  for a premier 1200K ride in Ireland the following June. It was snowing, a few funerals of youngish friends had just happened, my back hurt from work….so I signed up.

It sounded low key.  Day rides of 300k or so through the Southern Irish countryside with night accommodations at local hostels and hotels.  Mille Failte means “a thousand welcomes” in Gaelic and was promised to be a friendly and welcoming ride.

The entry was easy and not expensive.  The goal was for cyclists to follow the route using local business to re supply during the day.  The route was a zigzag of routes along the southern and western coasts of Ireland with some inland farm scenes on Day 1 and 4.  Controls would be mostly receipts from stores with the option of “selfies” at town lines to identify your location with a time stamp.  The bike inspection pre ride was a single question “Do you have a bike?”  I am not sure that PBP will ever endorse such a relaxed approach.

I packed my bike and gear in Boston for the flight to Shannon, Ireland.

From there I asked information desk for the best way to Cork and was told their was a direct bus line leaving in one hour.  20E and I was on my way to Cork.

I then took a short bus shuttle to Midleton where our ride would start. Finally I had a place to dump my back pack and bike! The An Stor Hostel would become a great home base for my ride.

Maria Murphy was our host there and she was awesome. She made us very comfortable with cheap rooms and super breakfasts. I did a few short rides in the area with the VC167club out of the UK to get used to the left side of the road thing after I put my bike together with my new friend Molly.

The afternoon before we were scheduled to start we had a short briefing with the host club, Audax Ireland.  A few road hazards were pointed out along with a lot of dark Irish humor regarding the ride.

That night I met my roommate for the next few days.  Birgit Zimmerman was a an energetic cyclist from Germany.  We were both traveling alone so she was welcome company.

At 8AM on Saturday we were off from the start.   The weather was gorgeous and the laughter among the riders set a tone for the ride. We traveled east along the coast, winding inland and then back out to the water many times. Part of the morning was spent along the so called “Copper Coast”  of Ireland.  Waterford was lunch and the largest city that we would pass through on the ride

I met a group from Pennsylvania Randonneurs at the start.  I had met Bill Fischer at another ride once so I tagged along with his group of Tim, Matt, Chip and Gavin that morning, and as it turns out, for the entire ride.  Their navigation skills were flawless and they laughed all lot so I wasn’t going to let them go!

After a lunch at a convenience store we headed up into some small hills west of Waterford.  The roads become very small and the only other traffic was farm equipment.Our progress on the day was slower than I had thought it would be.  Between route finding, checking in at stores for controls and stopping for the endless photo ops, we were still riding late into the evening.  We were to return to Midleton on this first day’s loop.  Around 7PM we ran into the one manned control of the day and were treated to sandwiches and rice pudding before the final 100K of the day.

The last stop was in Linsmore at a pub.  It was the only place to get a receipt for our control.  I had a 1/2 pint and listened to live music. Finally some nice Irish music at a pub.  How Irish can it get.  It was actually a guy doing Eagles and Jackson Browne covers. Pretty awful.  The next last 50K featured tricky turns in the dark and some surprisingly steep short hills. Some of the roads looked more like jeep tracks than roads.  At one point I heard my front fender crack and partially fall off. I removed it for the remainder of the ride.   This section was slow so we didn’t get back to Midleton until 1AM.  Supper ,shower and I fell into bed with a 5AM wake up call for the next morning.

Day 2 dawned sunny and calm again.  Full Irish breakfast of eggs,toast, mushrooms, tomatoes and sausage went down with some tea and we were on the road by 6AM.  We had an easy 20K to a ferry in Cobh. 

We were packed tight for the 5 minute ride across The Passage West.

The morning control was in Kinsale, a very picturesque seaside town on Ireland’s south coast.  Out of Kinsale the climbs began to announce themselves with steep ups, speedy descents and gorgeous scenery around every corner.

We were now on the West Cork coastline which is wild and beautiful.   The hills were steep and the pavement was getting bad. After rounding the peninsula we headed into Durras for lunch at a lovely cafe.

Next up was the Sheepshead peninsula.  Very isolated and pretty we flew down the southern tip, awed by the views.  Then we turned right.  Uh oh, is that a car way up on the hill on a switchback?  We were heading over the peninsula which meant a brutal climb an a barely paved road.  Parts of the climb were around 15% gradients.  Finally at the top the view was breathtaking, literally.  We rocketed down the other side with cliffs dropping off to our left.

Arriving in Bantry we had one last pennisula for the day.   The Beara penisula is very primitive looking with barren landscapes and nothing but sheep for company.  The afternoon was getting long and our progress was slow over the short, steep hills.  We had a control at a hilltop store that featured homemade meat pies, baked potatoes and pastries.  That really hit the spot as we headed out for the last kilometers into Killarney, our overnight destination.

We arrived at the Killlarney hostel around midnight.  Being one of the few women on the ride, my dorm room was small and not full.  My only roommate was my new friend Birgit, who had cut her day short and headed to the hostel early. The guys were all in rooms of 10-14 snoring men.   Good to be girl as I headed to sleep with a 4:30AM wake up call.

Our last long day and it was going to be a beauty.  Another sunny day in Ireland and we had some much anticipated roads in front of us.  First off was the Killarney National Park.  Climbing up to Moll’s Gap in the early morning was beautiful. Lots of wildlife was out with us including red deer, billy goats and sheep.A long descent into Sneem and it was time for a nice pastry break at a cafe.  We then headed onto the famous Ring of Kerry.  We had been warned about tourist traffic on this popular drive but it was still early.  Sweeping ocean views awaited us around every corner.   The sun was out and the wind was calm. S

Just after we headed off of the peninsula the tour buses began arriving.  Dozens and dozens kept coming as if the whole country was celebrating this picture postcard day.  

The trip to our last peninsula of the trip was busy with traffic on a narrow, bumpy road.  Our group was uncharacteristically quiet as we all tried to power through this stretch.  A few detours along smaller roads near the ocean helped but we were getting tired and sunburned out on this open stretch.  The three long days were starting to take their toll. We finally arrived in Dingle with a ton of traffic and pretty warm sun beating down on us. We headed to a pub for some lunch before doing the loop out to the Dingle penisula and back.  Dingle was really busy so I couldn’t wait to get out of there.  The 40 kilometers around the penisula made up for all of the traffic and tourists.  At Slea Head we reached the farthest point west in Europe. When we turned back we felt like we were heading home.

We rode back to Dingle and had one more(we thought) big climb for the day-Connors Pass. It was a couple of kilometers to the top.  Quite steep and exposed but so pretty.  Sheep everywhere.  We got to the top and were awestruck by the view.The descent was terrifying!  No guard rail and sheer drops on either side.  My arms and hands were killing me at the bottom from hanging on for dear life the whole descent.

Now an easy ride back to Killarney(we thought!).

Through Tralee and then a gently climb up a ridge.  It was very pretty at dusk.  We had our last control with Audax Ireland treating us to snacks before the last 50K.  We figured 2 hours and we would be back in Killarney.  I should have been scared when Paul O’Donohue tells us that it is “a wee bit hilly”.

Right away out of the control we got lost.  After finding the way the road went up and up and up.  The pavement was narrow and bad making any descents no fun.  It felt like we were going in circles in the dark with no sign of Killarney.  At one point I just gave up on a steep and rutted climb and fell sideways off my bike.  I wasn’t the only one to lose traction as a few others went down as well.  Finally after 3 hours we made it to the hostel.  I was done, mentally and physically.  The only consolation was that we only had 160K back to Midleton the next day and all day to get it done.

We “slept in” and left the hostel at 8AM.  Happy to be on the road after a big breakfast, the sun was out again!  A busy road out of Killarney but we eventually turned off into the country.  Our control at Millstreet featured a superb pastry selection for breakfast #2 of the day.  A few ups and downs into the afternoon but nothing like the previous few days.  Our last control in Tallowbridge was the celebratory lunch.  We all had a beer and Tim from New Jersey had an entertaining discussion with the bartender about sports and much more.  Finally to convince Tim that Cork City rugby was the greatest team in the world he presented Tim with a Cork City banner to take home.  Tim promised a NY Giants banner in return.  In the meantime some of the boys were helping a local with car repairs.

They must get a time credit for helping the locals?

Big pacelines started forming as the whole field was starting to move in on Midleton.  We had a little competitive fire left as we cruised into Midleton.  The roundabout that had freaked me out the first day was no problem. Cruising through that and on to the finishing pub at the Midleton Park Hotel was a joy.  We got our medal and a round of applause.  Beer all around for the great bunch of riders and the hosts of Audax Ireland! Cead Mille Failte!