howsteepisit

On longer brevets I mean. Do you all just find a comfy spot in the trees? Or a hotel?

Machka 

I have napped in the following places:

-- on someone's front lawn in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere at 4 am
-- in the tall grass in the ditch on a few occasions
-- on the lawn of a church
-- on numerous sidewalks
-- in the middle of a gravel road
-- on the floor of a convenience store on three occasions
-- on the bench at a table in a small restaurant
-- on top of a picnic table
-- in communitiy halls etc. where there was a designated sleeping spot
-- in hotels

Whatever seems appealing at the particular moment!

The Octopus 

The long brevets I've done have either had bag drop/motel accomodations at a point that it made sense to plan on sleeping there, or have been "loop" routes (the Ohio Randonneurs 1000K from this past fall) that made it easy to sleep at the start/finish at 400K and 700K. So I've had a lot of motel "naps" in my brevet riding career. I did one 600K without any real sleep break two years ago, but my riding partners and I ended up taking an inadvertent snooze in a McDonalds at 6AM. The three of us had just eaten breakfast and apparently all fell asleep on the table for a few minutes. Very odd and not too restful. I've heard all sorts of stories of folks napping under trees and in fields at PBP. And on the Last Chance the post office lobby in Philipsburg, KS, is used by some for a nap. Last year two riders slept on a porch outside a closed convenience store. Two guys three years ago used an abandoned school bus in which to catch a few winks.

It seems that folks go with whatever works for 'em, and that sometimes sleep just has to happen when it happens, without any real planning for it at all!

Stallionforce

I understand if you pull a 'Robic' and just plow through at some point you start seeing Arabian knights chasing you and purple Polish-speaking unicorns. Can't wait!

thebulls

On the two 600k's I've ridden, I reserved a hotel room at about 240 miles, and got about 2 hours sleep each time.

On BMB, I slept about 3 hours at Middlebury, then coming back from Canada, between about midnight and 2, my friend and I were so tired that on several occasions we stopped by the side of the road, leaned over the handlebars, and took a little standing nap. Slept 45 minutes at Rouses Point before the control closed and we got evicted. Somewhere along Lake Champlain, several of us took a 20-minute nap lying in a lovely spot in the grass just above the lake. About thirty miles after Burlington, I noticed I was getting drowsy on a long downhill, so we pulled over and took another 20-minute nap in the grass near a decrepit old barn. In Middlebury, I tried to take a 10-minute nap in a cot in the middle of the afternoon, but I don't think I even fell asleep. I got a nice, solid hour-long sleep in Ludlow. I had reserved a room in Brattleboro but arrived at 8 am. Tried to take a nap but couldn't fall asleep. An hour later, climbing over Pisgah I had to get off my bike for a bit and push, and while I was doing that I nodded off a couple of times before deciding I'd better take a nap. I slept just uphill from a big oak tree in the mud and had a very pleasant 10 or 15 minute nap. A couple of hours later I was riding on a long, straight, flat bit and nodded off again, twice, which is a very bad thing to do on a bike -- I stood up and sprinted as hard as I could, which did a good job of waking me up. I was good to go until the early afternoon when I was feeling drowsy again, so I asked a nice lady if I could take a nap over next to her barn. She said "Oh, no, surely you'd prefer a bed." What flashed through my mind was the image of myself, still covered with sunscreen, sweat, and mosquito repellent, waking up in her nice, comfortable bed 8 hours later, having failed to complete BMB on time. I took a 10-minute nap next to her barn, interrupted by someone doing aerial stunts in a Cessna. That was it until Boston. Maybe about 6 hours of sleep in 3 days.

Hope to get more sleep on PBP.

jibi

What an interesting thread, in as much as it made me think of some the places I have napped

Bus stops, behind walls, under trees, grass verges ( several cars stopped because the driver thought I had been knocked off, so not much sleep),
On a 600 stopped in a Little Chef for breakfast and was woken 2 hours later when they needed the table.
park benches,,,, and the list goes on.

I agree with what has been said about sleep happening when you need it rather than planning a stop. I would hate to prebook a stop and find I could not sleep.

george

tkatzir

I have a related question -
When you nap, where's the bike?

Do you lock it? Does it mean you carry a lock for brevets longer than (YMMV) 400km?
I'm thinking of getting a flimsy lock, just for this purpose.
Something like this one: https://www.rei.com/product/47793865.htm


Last week I rode 365km with friends (as practice before the brevet season that starts in less than 2 months.)
It didn't require any sleep, but we have many long stops.
In one of the stops I managed to "rest my eyes" for 15 minutes.
Anyway, in all our stops, we stopped at a gas station, and were inside (outside was too cold, below 10 degrees C,) and the bikes were left outside, unlocked.
It was ok, but in some of the stops I was a little stressful.

Tal.

Machka 

It depends ...

Often my bicycle is lying there right next to me when I'm sleeping. Sometimes it might be propped against a nearby building or picnic table. Occasionally I put it somewhere and kind of wander off. Rarely do I ever lock it.


On the PBP, we are all supposed to park our bicycles in the bicycle racks provided for that purpose. The facilities for food, sleep, toilets, etc. might be right next to the racks, or might be quite a ways off depending on the control. As I recall, at both Fougere and Brest, the buildings were fairly scattered, so it was a bit of a hike from the racks to the other things we needed.

When I slept at Loudeac and on the last night, my bicycle was in the rack with a couple hundred others and I was elsewhere. When I slept at one of the secret controls, my bicycle was propped somewhere (they didn't have racks, so I'm guessing I left it against the building or against a fence or something) and I went around behind the building to sleep in the sun.

Outside of the controls, however, I left my bicycle wherever it was convenient. On one occasion, I recall, I decided I needed something in a grocery store I was going past .... now this was near the end of the PBP, and my brain functions were kind of shutting down a bit ..... I handed my bicycle to one of the people standing on the street corner cheering us on, walked across the parking lot and into the grocery store, and then wandered aimlessly around the grocery store. I couldn't remember what I had come in for, so I left, got my bicycle from the person standing on the street corner, chatted with him for a moment, and kept riding.


On other 1200K events, the organizers usually get us to leave our bicycles propped or lying around outside ... often unattended. That has made me a bit nervous on a few occasions, but as far as I know, nothing has happened ....... or I assume that the organizers would be a bit more attentive than they are.

When I'm riding on my own, I just pay attention to the situation. I often ride through very small towns in the middle of nowhere, where everyone knows everyone else. On those occasions, I'm not particularly nervous walking away from my bicycle for a little while. However, other places I tend to be a bit more wary ... and on the odd occasion I have actually locked my bicycle.

2manybikes

In the middle of a road ?

Machka 

Well yes!!! There was a dead snake on the shoulder of the main road ... I didn't want to lie down anywhere near the ditch where there might be live snakes .... so I opted for the middle of a gravel side road.


Unfortunately two lovers on Harleys decided to part company on the other side of the main road, all while revving their engines, which kept me awake ...... and then a school bus has the audacity to drive up the gravel road toward the main road, and I had to move.

pokalex92

in a big wide grassy field. nice and comfy when you need the nap.

2manybikes

I've never been to a place where I thought I could do that. I guess I've always had another option, maybe that's why. Sounds like you had no other choices, and you were so tired it was dangerous to keep riding.

Please stop sleeping in the road !

Machka 

Well, that was the first time I slept (or tried to sleep) on a GRAVEL road. But I've been in the way of traffic before.

This photo was taken of me on the PBP. I'm the one on the right, and I'm lying right in the middle of a parking lot. Another friend took the photo, and then unfortunately 5 or 10 minutes later we had to move because a car pulled into the parking lot.

.

The Octopus 

We're pretty fortunate here in Ohio. Most of the riding is through small towns where not only everyone knows everyone else, but the proprietors of the places we stop often know us, by sight if not by name. Someone boosting one of our goofy looking bikes would be pretty shocking and, at least around these parts, it's totally unheard of. Now do I leave my bike unattended in the college towns -- Oxford, Athens, Bowling Green, etc.? I do, but admittedly with some hesitation....

2manybikes

I thought I knew a lot about long rides before I came to bike forums. You still surprise me with things I never thought of. When you were trying to sleep did you always have another person around to watch for traffic ?

I met a local guy berfore Christmas that did the last BMB. He said he did it in about 86 hours. He had a lot of interesting stories.

Machka 

When I was napping on the gravel road ... and BTW, gravel is surprisingly comfortable when you're tired, it has a bit of cushion to it ... Rowan was somewhat apprehensively standing guard. Apparently the way I was lying, and the way I'd dropped my bicycle on the side of the road, made it look like I'd been in an accident and might be injured or dead.


On the PBP, that parking lot was right outside a little cafe. A whole group of us had stopped at the cafe for something to eat ... the atmosphere was just like we'd all gone out for coffee after a movie or something - very relaxed, everyone chatting etc. Then some of us went out, and a couple of us decided to get a few moments of shut-eye before continuing on. There wasn't really anyone standing guard, just a lot of people milling about.


I was on that BMB. I might have met him.

2manybikes

That's better, having others around to wake you if needed. Or to tell the drivers you are not dead !

I remember reading that you had done it. After I talked to him I checked the results page, I never did get his name. I thought by the home state and the time I could identify him. I couldn't be sure.
I think I remember you saying something about being sick ? I saw your "time"