Machka 

Well ... you can't necessarily assume civilised weather, of course. You might get lucky.


And yes, you can get things outside of the controls, but that can require some hunting which may take as much time as you would have spent in line at a control. There are shops, cafes, etc. etc. along the way, but you do have to keep your eyes open for them. The route isn't exactly lined with shops (much of the route is rural), and the shops won't necessarily be open when you're there (in Europe, shops aren't necessarily open all day), and you could end up in a line-up in the shop with all the non-cycling customers.

Both supermarkets I stopped at were spur of the moment. I happened to glance over and spotted them. But then, I had to do something with my bicycle, find something I wanted to eat and drink in the supermarket, and wait in line with the rest of the customers. It might have been a bit faster than the control ... or maybe about the same.

On the way out, I waited in a lot of lines at the controls, but on the way back it wasn't so bad.


And who is "they" that are going to do your laundry for you?


Many of the people who live along the PBP route do seem quite pleased to have the cyclists come through, but they've got lives of their own too. And in the middle of the night, most of them are asleep ... the little villages are dark and quiet.

Machka 

@9606 ... what is your randonneuring experience so far? I can see you're enthusiastic about the PBP, and that's great, but have you done a SR series yet?

I don't know whether the PBP organisers are doing the pre-registration thing that they did in 2011 where the rides you did in 2010 (the year before) determined your chances of getting in, but nevertheless, it would not be a bad idea to do a SR series this year if you can.

Or maybe you've done a SR series already?

2d2f

Yes, they are.

unterhausen

I think they gave up on country quotas though. I am not quite as confident that people that only ride an SR in 2015 will get in as I was in 2011, but I'm sure some riders like that will get in. I would guess that an ACP 200k in 2014 will pretty much guarantee you a spot.

Machka 

The PBP website says this:
Paris-Brest-Paris 2015

"Preregistration is open to all riders who successfully completed a BRM (or a RM1200 and +) from November 2013 to October 2014. With your preregistration, you will reserve a place for the PBP 2015, as far as there are enough available places."

"If the number of preregistrations exceeds the global rider limit, we will establish a waiting list."

"We might be led to restrict the number of registrations in order to ensure the safety and quality of this event. There will be only a global quota and no more quotas per country."


And then this page provides more details about the preregistration:
Paris-Brest-Paris 2015

unterhausen

well Matchka, you blew up their website. The longest ACP brevet (or RM 1200k) you rode determines the date of preregistration. So people who ride an ACP 200k this year will get priority over those who did not ride anything this year. Note that not all brevets on the RUSA (or other national body) calendar are ACP brevets, so that's something to keep in mind. Also, "this year" ends in October(ok, I'm making this up, but it's not the end of December)

Machka 

Doesn't the site work for you?


And yes, in the Randonneuring world, year end is October 31.

Rowan

There is a certain romanticism about PBP, but it's like any other 1200 except for the much larger number of participants.

Sleeping on the front lawn or in any hay you might be able to find seems nice now, but it comes as a necessity and less "enjoyable" on the event itself. And those weather conditions can have a huge influence on all that.

Of the three 1200s I've finished (as opposed to the five I have started), the PBP was the least enjoyable sleep-wise. In both cases, I have slept outdoors, once in rain, once in quite cool conditions, and once in sunshine against a brick wall on the last day; the latter was nice, but interrupted by passing riders because it was literally two feet off the road.

The best sleep was in beds. And fortunately, those beds were part of the deal with the two other 1200s on my finish list -- the Great Southern, and the Last Chance. My worst bed experience was on BMB, when the bed stank to high heaven of cigarette smoke, but I regard that as an exception.

9606

Machka -
Multiple 300k well supported races; this season an ACP 400k and a 600k (under the time limit), and I hope to get in a 1000k still this summer.

Machka 

Well, tell us about them in the 2014 Randonnees thread. How did they go ... highlights ... lowlights ... ups and downs?
https://www.bikeforums.net/long-dista...andonnees.html



As for the PBP, don't worry too much about it yet and don't build up a whole lot of expectations. It's a whirlwind! Once you get there, you'll do whatever makes sense at the time ... and probably a few things that will never quite make sense.

A comment commonly made, regarding all 1200Ks, is this: Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Hope for good weather, light crowds, shops open when you need them, etc. etc. ... but prepare for rain and cold, long lineups, and what feels like extended periods where there is nothing and no one, and you're wondering if you're even on the route.

9606

...Hope for the best, prepare for the worst...
That seems like a good reason to not use a drop bag service.

The Octopus 

I've only done PBP twice, but fwiw, I think most randonneurs will be more efficient with a drop bag and using the controls for most things, rather than trying to ride like its a self-sufficient tour. Plenty of folks do that, but those who do aren't doing so, I think, because it saves time.

Sleeping in the rough also isn't something most randos would choose. It's borne of necessity. A bed inside, even with snoring companions, beats a roadside any day.... Roadside stops are rarely planned; more of a choice made in the face of having fallen asleep on the bike, or being afraid of doing so.

It's tough to describe the amount of time you'll spend at the controls at PBP. Even if you do nothing but get your card stamped, you're likely talking two or more hours over the duration of the ride. You're going to do a lot of walking on PBP....

thebulls

From my perspective, exactly the opposite is true. Having a drop bag is part of preparing for the worst. On BMB in 2006, what I had in my drop bag meant that I finished while what my friend was missing from his drop bag meant that he DNF'd. I had put extreme foul weather gear in my drop bag--full rainpants, heavy-duty gore-tex rain jacket, gore-tex rainshoes, supposedly waterproof/breathable gloves. And with pouring rain and overnight lows on the third night of high 30's or low 40's in the mountains, I needed everything I had. He went with the "wool is warm when wet" mantra, got hypothermia, and DNF'd.

Nick

thebulls

In 2011, I spent 11.3 hours awake in controls. There are 15 controls including the two secret controls, plus on the way out, Mortagne is not a control but practically everyone stops there anyway. I spent 10.2 hours asleep of which about seven hours was in controls (though five hours of that was on the floor and only two was in a cot) and the remaining three hours was by the roadside or in an ATM alcove. I spent a total of 5.5 hours stopped outside controls. And 60.7 hours riding my bike, for a 87.6 hour finish.

There's no free lunch on PBP. If you stop by the roadside to take something "free" from someone you are obligated to spend some time trying to communicate with them and be friendly and grateful. And ... you can't be sure about their standards of food handling or where they got their water. If you go to a cafe/bakery/whatever then it takes time to find it (sometimes a little off route), find what you want, figure out how to order it, pay for it, etc. In my experience, the amount of time spent doing all that was about equal to the amount of time standing in line in the control. Standards of hygiene in the cafes/bakeries sometimes left a little to be desired--I well remember buying a pain chocolad and having the lady just put it right on the counter where I could see drops of moisture, some of them from my own sweat, but most of it from other people's sweat. Lovely! And in the control, you're getting pretty bike-friendly food with a place to sit and eat it. As to finding someone who will let you sleep in their yard, barn, or whatever, that will likely take longer than standing in line. When I slept "next to the road," it was literally that, a safe spot far enough away from the road that I didn't have to worry about cars, but just a spot in the grass or gravel or pavement, not in someone's back yard. In 2007, my friend and I stopped to sleep on a lovely, soft berm with short and verdant grass. When we woke up, my friend's comment was "I wonder how many thousands of randonneurs have peed on this spot in the last three days."

To me, PBP is a fabulous experience. Things will not go as you expect them to, so you have to be prepared to figure out what will work, on the fly.

Nick

Machka 

On the 2003 PBP the person I was riding with at that particular moment on the ride, and I stopped for a little 10-min break because he needed a nap. I felt all right so I just stretched and watched the clock.

Turns out we picked a very popular little spot, out in the country, on the corner of someone's driveway. About half the people cycling past stopped for a nature break. Several times I had to shoo them away because they didn't see us sitting/lying there, and we were in danger of ...

unterhausen

thanks for chiming in, Nick, those are some good observations. My resolve is to sleep more at controls and not at all by the side of the road just like I do here in the states. For some reason, I wasn't really thinking about sleeping on the third night, which was a big mistake. I should have slept on a cot at Mortagne. My secret for ignoring snorers is to tell myself that just lying there resting is as good as sleep. Then I always go to sleep

A couple of people with food by the side of the road didn't seem to be too happy to help me get water. They were more than happy to give me soup and all sorts of other food. Apparently my French isn't adequate to the task of asking for water in a polite manner