Uncompatible Systems

Étape 4 - Tinténiac - 22 Août 00h20

The sun sets and I get tired but I’m still alert. It’s raining again and cold. This is the first descent into darkness. After a few hours we meet up with a nice Australian rider on a folding bike. Despite the size of his wheels, he’s fast and we’re happy to have a conversation with a new person to keep us awake in the cold rainy blackness of this first night in Bretagne. Grant and I catch up with Dave and the four of us arrive to the controle two hours before closing. Our friend leaves us to use those last two hours for sleep. There’s a large amount of people at the controle despite the late hour. We eat some snacks and continue into the darkest part of the evening, back into the cold rain.

Étape 5 - Loudéac - 22 Août 4h45
We’re now riding into the next morning. We’ve been awake for 24 hours in the middle of this stage. By the time we get to the controle it’ll be 29 hours of waking and 24 hours of riding. At around 3 AM the front peloton passes us on their way back from Brest. They began six hours prior but have already rode 400 miles. That means they have been riding for 28 hours already and are over half done. I see the aftermath of an accident where a rider crashed after falling asleep on his bike. I get a glimpse of a half conscious bloody face on a body being lifted by two EMTs. I’m slowing down and getting really drowsy. Eating helps. Coffee would help but it’s too late for anything in these almost vacant farm towns to be open. I hit a low point when the rain starts up again and the temperature drops to 12 degrees celsius. We near the controle and realize we can’t get more than 2 hours of sleep without having to make up time on the road by riding harder. I’m not ready to accept this so I find the last amount of strength and time trial it to the finish for some extra minutes at the controle. My legs are burning but I can’t slow down. We get to the controle 40 minutes ahead of the expected time.

Going back in time, I think of the day before the start when I meet a man on the train ride back from registration. He told me this is his third PBP. He’s in his 40s and is very mild mannered and polite. I ask him if he would advise I ride hard on the first day, trying to get as far as Loudéac before sleeping. He tells me I should spend as little time there as possible, referring to the controle as “night of the living dead”. He recommends I ride through dawn the next morning and make it to Carhaix, 525 km from the start. He then tells me he expects to arrive at Brest 22 hours after the start, finishing the whole thing in around 50 hours. He is referred to as 50 Cent by my group from here on out and his advice is taken with a grain of salt.

When the three of us roll into Loudéac, fity’s words ring true. It’s pitch black, cold, wet and there are thousands of bikes everywhere. The parking lot is lit by three dim street lamps. People who started in the 90 hour group underdressed for the rain find their support cars or drop bags and try and stop their hypothermia. The bathrooms are not enclosed and don’t even have toilet seats. My fingers are numb. I get my card stamped, down some recovery drink and sign up to spend three hours in a bed.

There are 300 WWII era mattresses in a large gym with a wool blanket at the foot of each. Most are occupied and there are disturbing noises coming from some. They are not snoring, but a cross between moans, growls and snores. I change into my dry clothes which fortunately stayed dry in my bag and go to sleep. I wake up one and a half hours later to Grant freaking out about leaving now or we’ll miss the next controle cut off. I hate life, I’m cursing this ride and I’m perfectly ready to pack it in and go back to Paris. Then I remember I have no way to get back to Paris other than by bike. The randonneuer challenge: intentionally maroon yourself hundreds of miles from your home and figure out how to make it back in one piece. Awesome! It takes all the courage I have to put the still damp arm and leg warmers back on and face the outside temperature, now 10 degrees celsius at 7:30AM on the official second day of the ride. Lucky for me after eating some food and getting back on the bike I feel better and ride on.

Prologue
Arriving in Paris with three days to spare. The whole city has a feeling of PBP. I see bike cases from other countries at the arrival gate, still expecting everyone to speak english, I speak to a Korean man and he looks at me confused and says something in French I don’t understand. A woman from England on the train from the airport to the flat is talking to an English man about “this bike thing” her husband is doing. It is his third and she says she’s getting sick of going to them.

Riding through Paris I run into another group of Americans, for some reason in full kit touring the city before PBP. They gawk at Grant’s fixed gear. They are nice enough.

Étape 1 - St Quentin en-Yvelines - 21 5h00

We wake up at 12:30 AM to ride 30 km from Paris to the start, which is in a collection of suburbs called St Quentin et Yvelines. Registration is in a subdivision named Guyancort. We joke about being one of the few who are actually doing Paris Brest Paris rather than Guyancort Brest Guyancort. I’m in the 84 hour group, which means I start 6 hours behind everyone else. It’s 5AM and we roll out to applause. Leaving the city takes about 30 minutes then it’s all farms and charming small towns through Normandy. There is a rainbow at sunrise. This is nice but it means rain. When the storm is fully in effect, we stop and put on rain gear. The temperature is about 15 degrees Celsius.

Étape 2 - Villaines la Juhle - 21 15h15
The first controle is 222 km from the start. Not even one controle in and the distance is longer than the first qualifying brevet of 200 km. We get there in the afternoon and the rain has stopped. This refreshing break was taken advantage of and we spend way too long eating and drinking wine. We get back on the road looking at a time deficit which we will battle until the finish.

Étape 3 - Fougères - 21 Août 20h19

Riding into this castle city at sunset, the rain has again subsided and we roll into the city. Though dry, there hasn’t been any sunlight since Villaines. We eat a big dinner of chicken and noodles. We’re still behind on time a little so we decide we’re going to ride through the nite and make it as far as we can. The goal is to get to Brest without sleep. Short of that we all agree to ride at least 300 miles. Our average speed is lower than normal but Grant and I are weary of pushing it any harder since we have no idea what lies ahead since this is our first time on the course. Dave has other plans and he speeds ahead.