The Start

As on the last three or four days I had dinner at Pizza Pino. I had a lovely serving of spaghetti followed by half a pizza. Then we headed around to the Gymnase to watch the start of the 80-hour group at 8pm. I didn't see Scott Dickson whom I had been hoping to see. Then we moved to get into line ourselves. This was one of the few (only?) badly organised things I encountered on the entire ride. I think pre-assigned start times would work much better than pushing and shoving just to get into the first group (assuming I get assigned to that group). Anyway Patrick van Dyk and I did manage to get in near the end of the first group, which is just where I wanted to be. While waiting to go I talked to several Americans, a couple with Titanium frames, and we also met one of the Belgians from the 300-Km ride we did there in May. The group left at 10pm on the dot (well at least the head of the group did). The starting pace was very fast, an average of 27.4 for the first hour. The group I was in, which only got lost once on the way out of Paris, was quite large and we were already through Nogent le Roi before I realised it. We were pushing way to hard so I felt I had better relax so I dropped out of the pack. My heart rate monitor, set to 170 max, had already gone of a number of times on some of the climbs, so I was glad I had had it on, it was a good reminder to pace myself properly. I remember following the lights of some riders when we came to an intersection. I was about to follow the lights when I saw a dim shape on a tree, yes an arrow telling us to go right. I yelled out to the other riders but they were to far away. Oh well. Met up with Phil Billette and Sue Taylor on the Tandem, apparently the entire tandem group had taken a wrong turn. Rode with them (drafted really) for a while but didn't stay with them when they stopped for a break. Later I jumped in behind a pack and talked for a while with the New Zealander, Les Vincent. Stayed with that pack until just before Mortagne au Perche where I decided to get out of the pack as I knew from having ridden through here that there were a lot of hills ahead. Rode gently through the hilly bits and finally arrived at Mortagne au Perche at about 5.30am.

Mortagne au Perche

Distance 140 km
Average 25.2 kph
Stopped 20 minutes


Just as I arrived I saw Patrick and had a chat for a minute or so. Then feeling quite hungry I went and had some soup, a lovely apple patisserie and got a few slices of bread. Just as I was leaving I saw Paul Ng come in, he was looking a bit dopey from tiredness already. Said a few words and then departed, Patrick was long gone. The next section was one of the few bits I didn't really enjoy. I wasn't having any real difficulty with the riding I was just so tired. I stopped for a snack a couple of times and finally near Mamers I decided to lie down and stare at the stars for about 10 minutes. Eventually I got back on my bike and it started to get brighter which made me feel better too. Stopped at a patisserie I remembered in Fresnay and had a lovely Flan with a coke, felt much better after that. Managed 200K s in about 9 hours, quite good for me. I'd bought new yellow Oakley lenses for this ride, which were great. I had been riding for a while thinking about taking off my rain coat because I thought it was bright and sunny, but it wasn't, it was actually quite cold and overcast.

Villaines la Juhel

Distance 220 km
Average 24+ kph
Stopped 50 minutes
Arrived 8:09 am

We received a free pocket light at the control here when we checked in. This was really the only place where I was unhappy with the food service. It took me 50 minutes to have a meal here, most disappointing. I had another bowl of soup, a large plate of spaghetti Bolognese, a dessert and another bottle of coke. After wasting so much time at the control I set off as quickly as I could from here, but quickly relaxed not wanting to tire myself. I felt quite good because I had done this and the next section only a couple of weeks before as part of my tour/training, and I remembered it as being pretty easy. Reached the 300Km mark after 14 hrs and 20 minutes, my second best ever. As with the last night there are still people all along the course clapping and cheering and offering water and coffee along the way. It's amazing how motivating this is just on its own.

Fougeres

Distance 304 km
Average 24.0 kph
Stopped 30 minutes
Arrived 12:34 pm

Had a very short stop here as I had eaten so much at Villaines la Juhel and it was not very far to Tinteniac. I saw another friend Richard leaving just as I arrived, this was a surprise and helped to motivate me for the next section. I bought six cereal bars to have on the way as the six I had had at the start and the six IsoStar sports bars were almost gone. The section turned out to be even more pleasant than the previous one. Patrick and I did a 300-Km training ride from Fougeres to Loudeac and back only a few weeks ago and I was doing as well now as I had during that ride. I rode for a while with two French riders, they were in the 80-Hr group (they had red numbers). They let me join them, then picked up another French rider, made the two of us take a turn out the front for a kilometer or so and then for the next hour or so led and wouldn't let either of us take the lead. (Very nice of them I thought.) Then they pulled over to have a drink at a bar. I wasn't going to stop but they insisted so I joined them and in ten minutes tried to explain that I had been in Europe for four months touring and what countries I had been to. I assume they understood me? They then went to look for someone more shapely to ride with so I rode on.

Tinteniac

Distance 361 km
Average 23.9 kph
Stopped 30 minutes
Arrived 3:06 pm

When I arrived here I was again pleasantly surprised this time to see Mathew a rider from South Australia that I had met during the lead up to PBP. He is very fast so I hadn't expected to see him at all. I had another large meal this time. I was a bit peckish since I didn't eat that much at Fougeres so I had 3 courses this time. Soup, omelette, some veggie's and a rice-cream with coke. Bought another rice-cream for the road. I felt that I had really gotten into PBP mode now. It was roughly 80 Km's between stops from now on and it always seemed to take just under or around four hours to do each leg, basically an average of 22kph. This seemed to be the case from now on until the end of the ride. There is a very tall telecommunications tower 12 or 15 km's outside of Tinteniac, I got to this and passed it in what seemed like no time at all. The only real problem I had now was that I was starting to get a saw backside, still it was only a minor irritant at this point in time. Managed to reach the 400-Km mark in 19 hours and 10 minutes, a new record. I was riding amongst a group of riders spread out along a kilometer or so, and as the road undulated we would keep passing each other. There was one girl who kept flying past me on the downhill who slowed to a crawl on the uphill. I thought I had dropped most of them when I decided to stop for the rice cream, and of course they all caught up and passed me. We were still doing this 60-Km's later when we got into Loudeac.

Loudeac

Distance 440 km
Average 23.8 kph
Stopped 80 minutes
Arrived 7:26 pm

I was feeling quite peckish again so I had another three-course meal, this time chicken. I bought a spare coke for the road as well as it would be getting dark again soon and I planned to have my last caffeine hit about two to three hours before I expected to arrive at Carhaix. After the meal and a chat with some other Ozzies I went over to the Australian support vehicle. Although I wasn't using it I thought I'd have a chat. Discovered to my consternation that Patrick had crashed at Fougeres and had had to pull out. He had fallen asleep while riding! This was quite depressing news as we had been planning this ride together for the last couple of years. Richard was also at the control, having a nap, so after much too long I set off for Carhaix. This was a very tough section of the ride. I was very glad that we hadn't done any of our training rides along here. It would have been quite demoralising. It was also the onset of darkness, and as almost everyone knows when it gets dark your speed goes down. The first section out of Loudeac was exceptionally hilly and I was feeling quite tired. It ended up taking me one and a half hours to do the first 20Km's. After stopping for a toilet break (glad I had that toilet paper with me) I fixed up the light I had rigged for my speedometer. I was then lucky enough to join a group of riders. Ah, this was so much better. We ended up going into a system where two guys who had handle bar bags with maps would take reduced turns at the front but do the navigating while another guy and I took longer turns at the front. I was worried at first that I might tire out from this but the pace was lower than during the day and ended up being quite pleasant. (All this was done without a word being spoken.) We picked up a few other riders along the way but they wouldn't take turns. As we were passing through some of the towns I saw what, for me, was probably one of the most memorable moments of the tour. The town was all decked out, there was what I could only call a big party going on in the town square which was all dressed up with music blaring and a group of people always seemed to be out ready to cheer the riders going by. This is something I could never imagine happening in Australia. We finally arrived in Carhaix. I tried in broken French to thank one of the riders who had been directing. After failing miserably I tried English, he was Belgian, "No problem."

Carhaix

Distance 520 km
Average 23.2 kph
Stopped 5 hours
Arrived 12:49 am

Finally, in Carhaix. It had long been an ambition of mine to get to Carhaix the first night but I'd always thought it would be too far, apparently not. I hobbled over to the dinner area and had a another meal, more of the same. I can't really remember what I had other than it was three courses and I drank water instead of coke. I had just sat down to eat when I looked up and who should be there, none other than Steve Vessel, a friend of mine from Sydney who had started in the 84-hr group. I was pleased with my 27 hours to Carhaix, he'd done it in 20, very impressive. We talked over a meal, I told him about Patrick's crash and he told me about another friend, Russell Moore, twice finisher of PBP, who had had to give up due to knee and stomach problems. (This was actually a bit annoying because I had memorised the entry numbers of only two people for use on the Minitel system, guess who!) Anyway, after the meal I bid Steve farewell and went and had a shower and got a bed for a sleep. Some bastard woke me up at 5:30 am. Damn I didn't want that. However a new day dawned (bloody cold too) so I forced myself up and got ready to go. Alas only three and a half hours sleep, I'd really wanted at least four. My knees where so stiff I could barely move them but my backside wasn't too bad at all (I discovered that a shower does wonders for it). I hobbled off and had breakfast, nothing like another meal to revive you. I tried to hurry but it was almost 6:20 when I finally managed to leave. A very disappointing get away time, still I had only 80 Km's to go and almost 8 hours to do it in. Just outside of Carhaix I met up with four other Australians, Lyndon (SA), Steven (SA), Christine (QLD) and Paul (NSW). I rode with them for some time but then a huge pack from Audax UK came by and I just couldn't resist joining them. They were making quite a good pace into what was getting to be a very strong wind. I managed to hang on with them until the Col de Tredudon. I somehow ended up at the end of the line here and by the time I'd gotten water the pack was gone. Still it didn't bother me too much. It had been a bit too fast before so I took the opportunity to relax. It was also very foggy just around here and cold to. It turned out to still be quite hilly from here to Brest and I ended up doing the rest of the ride on my own. For some reason the control was put right at the top of a bloody great hill and I was not all pleased about that. Especially since I had been racing to try and make 36.5 hours and missed by only one minute. Oh well, at least I made it and now I have a massive 53.5 hours to get back!

Brest

Distance 604 km
Average 22.8 kph
Stopped 1 hour 40 minutes
Arrived 10:31 am

Met several people here including the people I had left behind to join the Audax UK pack. Had a good chat and spent a bit too much time here. Finally left at 12.10, still almost 52 hours to get back. This was really good for my confidence. It rained for a few minutes but then cleared up a little bit. The return course turned out to be different to the original course and was easier. Also a light tail wind started up. With all these things going so well I was beginning to get into quite a cheery mode. The return was starting to feel like a matter of rote. Ride for 4 hours (80 km's), stop, eat and then ride again. I saw a number of red and green riders coming in as I was leaving. Some of them were a long way out so I suspect they could not possibly make the control in time. This made me glad that I had tried to be consistent earlier in the ride, as there would be nothing worse than having to give up simply because you missed a control.

Carhaix

Distance 684 km
Average 22.4 kph
Stopped 40 minutes
Arrived 3:30 pm

Time is only 3hr 20 from diary? I thought I'd made it back in the usual 4 hours? Anyway, I met up with Neil Irvine, editor of one of Australia's national cycling magazines, and his wife Alethea at Carhaix. Ate a meal with them. They were serving these really nice crepes, huge but thin, I ate four of them. (Well, they were only 2 francs each!) Managed to buy two power bars (all they had) at one of the little stalls set up here! This cheered me up since, even though the previous section had been easier than I had expected I did not think the following section would go that well. After all it was the bit were it took me one and a half hours to do only 20 km's. I set off at an easy pace and a short distance into the ride I was caught up be Neil and Alethea. They were going a lot faster than I was but I decided to see if I could hang on for a while. To my surprise I could and so I had a good chat with them and some of the other riders in the pack (Irish I think). After about an hour I decided that they were pushing a bit too hard and so dropped off from the group. I then took it easy for a while and to my surprise caught up with another Australian Peter Donnan. I rode with him for a short while until just before Loudeac. I got my top speed of the ride in this section, 65kph.

Loudeac

Distance 760 km
Average 22.3 kph
Stopped 50 minutes
Arrived 7:18 pm

Time is only 3hr 10 from numbers above? Met up with Neil and Alethea again and a couple on a Tandem from Scotland, John and Polly. Talked to both couples and also had another meal, chicken with veggie's and a rice cream, no soup this time. I also got a coke for the rode as it was getting late again. I stopped by the Australian support team and managed to steal a bit of Silcon for my backside, which was getting very tender now. Then after another stop that was far too long I headed off. This section seemed to be surprisingly difficult but in retrospect it was probably because it was getting late. The telecom tower that had taken no time to get to on the way out just seemed to take forever to reach today. I had hoped to ride on to Fougeres today but as it was obviously going to be around 1 am when I arrived at Tinteniac this would be out of the question. (I do not like to ride in the small hours of the morning, 1 am to 5 am, so I try to organise sleep periods at these times). Fortunately there was a short rest stop along the way, the second secret control. I had my spare bottle of coke here and finished off some bread that I was carrying. (I always carry plain bread as it doesn't upset my stomach). The last part of this ride is one of only two sections that come immediately to mind as having been unpleasant. This wasn't anything to do with my fitness, tiredness, or the conditions in general. It was all mental, I was just so sure, that once I passed the Telecom tower I would be almost there. So I was immensely disappointed when we came to a rode sign some distance after that and it said that there was still 12 km's to go.

Tinteniac

Distance 846 km
Average 22.3 kph
Stopped 5 hours 50 minutes
Arrived 12:29 am

Of course I made it in eventually. Once there I had a quick meal, no coke this time. I had some bottled water but forgot to ask for 'Sans Gaz', it was revolting. Then I headed down for a shower and a sleep. On the way I saw John and Polly from the tandem and Peter Donnan. Talked very briefly to both, I was so tired, I was just wanted to have a sleep. I got some truly bad service here. The people allocating the beds (which you had to pay for!) were deeply involved in some conversation, which I of course couldn't understand, and they went on and on. I was really pissed off by the time they finally decided to serve me. However I did get a bed and a shower so all was forgiven. (Not everyone did.) I had almost four and a half hours sleep here, I felt so much better. I didn't even have that much trouble getting up. At least not until I tried to bend my knees, stiff as planks and quite sore. Had breakfast here, omelette I think, with John and Polly. I was trying to rush here because I had been disappointed with my departure time yesterday, today's departure time was 6:19, just one minute earlier, oh well. Finally I set off, very slowly, my knees were just so stiff. However by starting slowly they eventually warmed up and then began to feel much better. Luckily the stage is a short one, only 53 Km's from here to Fougeres. As usual I averaged just over twenty and so arrived in less than three hours, which surprised me. I met the guy from the 80-hour group that I had ridden with two days before. He was going quite slowly and not feeling to good. As far as I could tell his friend had failed to make a control in time and had given up. He himself was also running out of time and was not feeling like it. (I memorised his number and checked at the end, he actually got in about an hour after me, just in time.)

Fougeres

Distance 900 km
Average 22.3 kph
Stopped 30 minutes
Arrived 8:55 am

Met up with Steven from S.A. again. He was a bit fidgety as he was short in sleep and was taking no-doz. He also lent me some more Silcon, which was a relief. Had breakfast here, omelette with cornflakes. The cornflakes were exceptionally nice here. I also some more muesli style bars here for the day ahead. This next section was the only place where I wish my training had been different. I had done the entire ride to and from Fougeres to Loudeac and back but I had only ridden from Mortagne au Perche out to Fougeres and not back. Nor had I done any of the course closer to Paris. Consequently I wasn't at all familiar with the course which was a bit uncomfortable after all the familiar sections I just had been through. It seemed to take forever to get out of Fougeres. After this things went fairly well but I was getting quite sore on the hands and the balls of my feet where getting exceptionally sore. I had another annoying section here as I expected the town of Javron to appear much sooner than it did. Time seemed to drag on but I made it in okay just as I expected.

Villaines la Juhel

Distance 985 km
Average 22.2 kph
Stopped ? minutes
Arrived 1:26 pm

I had another meal of spaghetti Bolognese here, I had actually been looking forward to this as pasta was a rarity at the controls. Talk to some more Ozzies here and had a look at the photos taken of riders on their way out. Couldn't be bothered to find mine, there were too many there. Set off again. My feet were getting really sore now, especially my right foot. I was starting to try different ways of curling my toes to take the pressure off the rest of my foot. My backside wasn't too bad now and I could relieve my hands by stretching and massaging them, but there wasn't anything I could do about the foot. In the end I stopped at a cafe, lousy service, so while I waited I massaged my feet. Oh what a relief, the recovery was amazing, ten minutes of massaging and the pain was greatly relieved and the riding, after another quick coke, was much easier. My pace picked up again as I had been losing time with my sore foot. The last bit into Mortagne was quite hilly so I took my time not wanting to get too tired.

Mortagne au Perche

Distance 1070 km
Average 22.2 kph
Stopped 20 minutes
Arrived 6:01 pm

I was feeling a bit tired and wasn't too hungry. I had another snack, this time just a bit of omelette, nothing else. Talked to John and Polly while I had my meal and then set off again. I managed to get away from here fairly quickly and all went quite well. I didn't have to many problems along here even though it was a bit hilly. Some guy started drafting of me and after a few kilometers and, for no real reason, it started to annoy me. So on the next hill I slowly increased my pace and dropped him. Later on I rode with an American for a while but his pace was a bit too high so I let him go. A few kilometers later I met him again, stopped by the side of the road, wondering where to go, lost. This was the only time I used my route guide on the entire trip. As it happened we weren't lost. We set off again and after a while split up again. After this I started to tire out. I had not eaten enough in Mortagne au Perche and I was getting very hungry. In the end just after dark I had to stop again for food and drink. So I went into a bar by the side of the road. They had no food so I just drank a bottle of coke and then headed off into the dark again. This time I continued on all the way without another stop. As I was approaching Nogent I realised I was letting myself get into a state again and tried to relax. I had been watching my average again and it looked as if I wouldn't make it in by my target time of 11pm. Of course I needn't have worried I made it with more than ten minutes to spare.

Nogent le Roi

Distance 1150 km
Average 22.1 kph
Stopped 10 minutes
Arrived 10:49 pm

I bought 2 cokes here, had one immediately, 4 ham sandwiches, ate 2. I hurried through the control as much as I could because John and Polly were here and I wanted to join them for the ride back to Paris. I saw them leaving just as I finished the second sandwich and so we were off. They started off at an enormous pace and staying with them was quite difficult, but eventually they slacked off. They asked me to take a turn, which I did but it didn't last very long, on the very first downhill they were off again. A few other riders joined us but within a few K's we had dropped them too. We were about half way to St. Quentin and who should I see but Richard. This was a great surprise, I hadn't seen him since Fourgeres and thought that he would be in by now. I didn't say anything, secretly hoping to beat him in, but he saw me. He claims that when he looked up I was changing gears up to the big chain ring, but I don't think so. Anyway he gave chase and caught up, damn. From there on it was a fairly hectic ride, we were going quite fast and more and more people were joining us as we approached the finish, probably a good dozen when we finally arrived. When we were only 3 or so Km's out I pointed out to John and Polly that they had 9 minutes left to finish within 76 hours (tandems start 15 minutes before other bikes), so this lifted the pace even more. What a thrilling way to finish.

The Finish

Distance 1202 km
Average 22.0 kph
Arrived 1:44 am

We screamed through the final roundabout, there were still a few people out clapping us in. There were a number of Australians in when we arrived and they clapped us in, including Steve whom I hadn't seen since Carhaix.

It was over.

It was quite anti-climatic standing around in the Gymnase. I was there for an hour or two chatting and watching a few other people come in before I went to sleep in the basketball courts. I also bought a photo of myself taken along the course. Now enlarged and hanging in the lounge at home.

Later

The final sprint in turned out to be well worth it. In the final results my time was 75h44, Richards was 75h45, just a couple of seconds behind. When the medallions came mine said 75h40, Richards said 75h45, so I beat him by 5 minutes! Or was it 2 seconds?

I came off fairly lightly as far as injuries go. Most of my toes were numb for a month with the two big toes being numb for three months. There appear to be no permanent injuries except I do tend to get a sore right knee now and then, I just need to be more careful in setting up the bike.

Will I do it again? YES!

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