Originally Posted by
kingston
I was talking to my wife about PBP yesterday, and she reminded me that I don't like crowds or standing in line which got me thinking. How bad is it really? I pre-registered for the 84-hour group which I understand is less crowded than the 90-hour group.
Not sure how accurate this is, but I was looking at their agenda:
https://www.paris-brest-paris.org/in...agenda_epreuve
From 16:00, you will start in waves of about 300 people from the Rambouillet National Sheepfold.
Several departures could be chosen during the registration:Sunday, August 18, from 16:00 to 17:30 : 7 starts for solo bikes (80 hours time limit)
Sunday, August 18, from 17:45 : start for special bikes (90 hours time limit)
Sunday, August 18, from 18:00 to 21:00 : 13 starts for solo bikes (90 hours time limit)
Monday, August 19, from 04:45 : start for special bikes (84 hours time limit)
Monday, August 19, from 05:00 to 05:30 : start for solo bikes (84 hours time limit)
80h: (1 special + 7 solo bikes) x 300 = up 2100 riders
90h: (1 special + 13 solo bikes) x 300 = up to 4200 riders
They didn't mention the number of slots for the 84h start times, but going by what it looks like 15mins interval between starts, we get
84h: (1 special + 3 solo bikes) x 300 = up to 1200 riders
Since PBP is practically overbooked this year, I think it is safe to assume that we'll be hitting very close to these maximum numbers for each slot. That's seems like quite a huge difference in numbers. Also, the 84h slot starts nearly 8h after the last 90h start, so hopefully they had a large enough head start that we won't be entangling with the majority of the 90h crowd during the ride.