A good piece of fiction with several references to real PBPers (e.g. the Australian riders). The French people's enthusiasm for the event and its participants is certainly accurate. Doing PBP should be on every cyclist's 'do before I die' list, the experience is utterly amazing.
That story was one of the reasons I rode the 2003 PBP on a modified 1965 Stowaway Duomatic. Luckily for me, the 'legendary rain' held off until the 2007 PBP and even then we didn't have to worry about flooding.
By the way, PBP is a 'brevet', not a race.