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05-28-07, 05:46 AM
WOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!
I completed my 600 yesterday! I'm going to PBP!!!!!!!! I'm so happy!!!!!!
OK, a small report now...
I was going to do the whole ride with 2 other cyclists from my club who were also doing their first 600. We started at 6am, and were very lucky to be accompanied with 2 guys who gave us a really good rythm for the first 120 km, very comfortable and regular. Then we got to the seaside, there was a bit of rain but not too bad. The 3 of us were doing a good job taking turns and keeping a regular rythm. We found another couple of friends (riding bents) and we rode with them to dinner. We found a cafe and got some hot water for our deshydrated meals, then we got back on the bikes to go to Calais. Then it got really hilly, and dark. We stopped at a hotel (more like a motel actually) and had a really good and long sleep (5 hours!!!), so it was almsot daylight when we started again, with only 250 km to go. It was still very hilly, and started to be windy. In Amiens (100 km before the end) we found our 2 friends on bents plus another cyclist, and we were so lucky to find them, because it was really windy and rainy and cold... We were going about 15 km/h on the flat and getting very wet. But it was so good to have these 2 friends, especially for moral support. We finished in 39h20mn, there were still quite a few cyclists out on the road plus a number of DNFs. Overall I wasn't feeling so bad at the end!
One thing that really helped was to minimize the stops at checkpoints (between 15-30 mn) and be on the bike as much as possible (as Machka said). It allowed us to have lots of time to rest during the night, and I never had these moments of intense tiredness like on the 400 when I had to fight to keep my eyes open.
So, good luck for those going for a 600 in the next weeks!
I completed my 600 yesterday! I'm going to PBP!!!!!!!! I'm so happy!!!!!!
OK, a small report now...
I was going to do the whole ride with 2 other cyclists from my club who were also doing their first 600. We started at 6am, and were very lucky to be accompanied with 2 guys who gave us a really good rythm for the first 120 km, very comfortable and regular. Then we got to the seaside, there was a bit of rain but not too bad. The 3 of us were doing a good job taking turns and keeping a regular rythm. We found another couple of friends (riding bents) and we rode with them to dinner. We found a cafe and got some hot water for our deshydrated meals, then we got back on the bikes to go to Calais. Then it got really hilly, and dark. We stopped at a hotel (more like a motel actually) and had a really good and long sleep (5 hours!!!), so it was almsot daylight when we started again, with only 250 km to go. It was still very hilly, and started to be windy. In Amiens (100 km before the end) we found our 2 friends on bents plus another cyclist, and we were so lucky to find them, because it was really windy and rainy and cold... We were going about 15 km/h on the flat and getting very wet. But it was so good to have these 2 friends, especially for moral support. We finished in 39h20mn, there were still quite a few cyclists out on the road plus a number of DNFs. Overall I wasn't feeling so bad at the end!
One thing that really helped was to minimize the stops at checkpoints (between 15-30 mn) and be on the bike as much as possible (as Machka said). It allowed us to have lots of time to rest during the night, and I never had these moments of intense tiredness like on the 400 when I had to fight to keep my eyes open.
So, good luck for those going for a 600 in the next weeks!