Paris Brest Paris (PBP 2023)

While we had done 2019 edition of PBP, what made me think to ride again was the festive atmosphere France creates, chanting “Allez Allez”, “Bravo”, “Bon Voyage”, “Au Revoir” at every nook and corner along the entire 1200kms ride! Non-stop clapping, appreciating every cyclist they see and their hospitality!!! PBP rocks! If you are an endurance cyclist, you must ride PBP at least once to feel it! 6800 cyclists from ~80 countries participate in this once-in 4yrs event.

Preparations:

GOH, Coorg 1000, Bangalore Randonneur’s toughest SR series and then a few long rides of 300+kms for 8 consecutive weeks. The day we landed in Paris, while it was 12:00, everyone started fixing their bikes, that shows the seriousness of BR! Even after long and painful journey, most of us were awake next day ready for a practice ride. Prasad, Shettappa, Dhananjaya Sir, Gulzar, Suresh and me, 6 of us had a plan to take train to start point and then ride 50kms from start point and return making it a century ride. The idea was to get a feel of start point and also getting used to roads, weather, food, wind! First we went to Rambouillet and met a few volunteers who wished us Bonjour and that’s it, we could not talk anymore as they don’t understand English and we don’t speak French. We requested for “Eau chaude” hot water in french, so that we could eat breakfast with ready to eats. The 100kms ride from there on was an absolute lesson for all of us, appreciating the clean roads, less traffic, headwinds. We went in search of food into a town and found a supermarket to eat pizza.

Previous Day:

After the drop bags were handed over to JFT who has been helping us since 2019, Mohan sir called for a group meeting at 6:00pm. He shared his wisdom on big event and how everyone should approach the big day, what to expect and how to tackle CPs, food, weather. He stressed on saving time and sleep management, gave us all caffeine tablets to keep in case if we needed to stay awake during the ride. His strong words to push for BRs success was super important, he pushed everyone to give their best. Monish and me pitched in with a few thoughts from our previous experience.

Paris-Brest-Paris 2023 Event Day:

Paris to Mortagne (119kms)

After a few group pics, we all took train to Rambouillet, before that we all went to Indian restaurant ate Biriyani and packed for night as well. At Rambouillet, it was so well organized, each batch had ~200 to 300 riders and each batch would start with a 15-min gap. One volunteer would hold the group letter like “G” and everyone followed him into the bike check point, then got brevet card stamped and then the start point, loud music, people clapping created that much needed festive mood. I met a Malaysian rider by name Datiya, we introduced ourselves and exchanged best wishes. I started at 5:30pm batch. Plan was to ride non-stop till Montagne (120kms) and then wait for Prasad to join there. After initial careful maneuvering through the thick traffic of riders, I picked up pace after 2kms once we reached the main road. Here I went full speed, but quickly I realized there was a big peloton ahead of me which was led by a volunteer on motorcycle. This was a fast peloton riding around ~32-33kmph avg. Caught up with Rohit in the peloton. I went with the flow and rode for about 30kms, and then decided to slow down as it was getting hard to stay with the the peloton. By then, there was another peleton which was relatively better with about 28kmph. Caught up with Milan here. I stayed with the peloton till 100kms mark and then stayed away from peloton and thought of riding at ease for 20kms till Montagne which was only a food point. I reached by 10:15pm (4:45hrs), while I waited for Prasad, I saw Monish, Anand, Grinny, Dhananjaya sir, Gulzar pass through the food point. Prasad and me ate packed Biriyani, filled our bottles, took a few protein bars and then hurriedly started off towards Villaines.

Riding with the peleton:

Mortagne to Villaines (84kms):

Our plan was to reach by 3:30am, we started pedaling hard, Rohit and Akash also started at the same time. Rohit and me started chatting and then a peloton passed next to us sucking us into it. We were not sure if we wanted to be part of it, but we got surrounded by 20+ cyclists, so we had to pick up pace. We started pedaling hard and stayed with the peloton which was progressing fast around ~30kmph, we covered more than 40 kms with the peleton and suddenly heard a loud sound from Rohit’s bike. We both exited the peleton and it was Rohit’s chain which had snapped. We first went out of the road and then searched for the chain, found it about 100m behind. We first removed the broken link and attached master link, but in the hurry we had put the chain incorrectly in one of the jockey wheels, Rohit got an idea why not break another link, fix the chain properly and then add a second master link hoping I had one. Luckily I had 1 master link. It was good we both were together, it took us about 30 mins to fix, we ate baguette. Meanwhile, we lost track of Prasad, Akash. We called them up and said to wait at Villaines or even get going from there if they both were together. Rohit and me started riding hard and we still managed to reach at 2:57am. Villaines is one of special places on PBP, day and night people flock here welcoming every rider with loud applause and “Bravo”, it makes you feel like a hero! We caught up with Prasad, Akash, Suresh, Kirti, Grinny, Milan. We all thought, eat and start right away and not to waste time here.

Villaines to Fougres (89kms):

The crowd slowly started reducing from here, with cool breeze and the hope of getting Sunlight in 2hours, we rode fast. Found a good coffee shop to complete morning formalities and then had a strong coffee to reach Fougres by 7:57am.

Fougres to Tinteniac (61kms):

It was super hot during the day, we removed all the cold wear and pack it in the small bag given by PBP organizers.

 

Tinteniac to Loudeac (82 kms):

Plan was to reach Loudeac at least 4-hours ahead, but we were about 5 hours ahead. We spent an hour! Its due to the drop bag access, changing clothes, food, packing the bike, cleaning the chain does take a long time. We skipped the bath as we hardly were sweating. Loudeac is a crucial point and from here on, going gets tougher with cold weather and climbs. While we reached Loudeac, Nakul, Pritish were about to start. Ganesh and Naveen were resting here with us.

Loudeac to Carlaix (79kms):

It was evening around 5:45pm when we started off from Loudeac. We had packed baguette for the journey. I knew that it was a bit of climb to Carhaix. Plan was to sleep at Carhaix, so we sped off from Loudeac. We reached Carhaix at 10:30pm and were planning to sleep an hour, but the queue for beds was very long, we came back to restaurant and slept on the floor for 45 mins and started off by 12:00am.

Best part of PBP is the support we get from people, its just amazing!

Carlaix to Brest (90 kms):

We knew about the big hill our way, so the nap was much required. After initial criss cross through Carhaix, we were out on the road, surprisingly it was not as cold as we felt last edition. We were surprised, but it was foggy all along till Brest. The hill is not too steep, it’s much easier than Nandi Hills. And we ride for about 15 kms on the Foret d Huelgoat hill before we descend for about 20kms. We found a volunteer offering coffee in the middle of night, this gave us a good push. Again around 4:00am, we felt drowsy, we found a coffee shop and stayed there for 30 mins. And then final push to Brest, instead of circumventing Brest, the approach route was much better this time. With easy roads, we were cruising. Reached Brest at 5:40am, that’s ~36-hours with clear 4 hours buffer. We had our plan not to sleep, rather head out to Brest and sleep on the way when the Sun was out.

Unlike last edition, in 2023, we see the famous Brest bridge on the return. Its the usual photo point for all of us.

Brest to Carhaix (93kms):

Interestingly the route was changed, instead of going back to the Foret d Huelgoat hill and it was more rolling terrain passing through Playben which acted as a Secret control. This was super hard, as if we were jumping from one hill to another. Very much similar to what we see at Anchetty near Bangalore. We met Raghu Reddy on the way. But, the number of people supporting us here was way higher, food, coffee, beds, fruits we just loved the breaks. We took a 30-mins nap on the way and reached Carlhaix by 1:00pm.

Loved these 2 riders riding so strong on fixie:

Carhaix to Loudeac (85kms):

This was relatively easier route, we reached around 7:00pm. We took our drop bag, changed clothes, ate food, replenished food for rest of the journey and started by 7:30pm. I felt the rear gears were not shifting properly, specially the highest gear, but then I wasn’t sure if the mechanic would fix it. We saw Uday sir here asking them to reduce his saddle height. We dropped off the jacket, full gloves in drop bag as we thought its not cold enough. May be global warming?

Meanwhile, I saw this rider without saddle! And we were worried about which saddle will suit us!

Loudeac to Tinteniac (85kms):

We felt sleepy around 8pm, sun had set by then, we saw a church and slept close to the walls which were warm. I dosed off immediately, and in about 15-mins Prasad mentioned some people called up volunteers to check on us if we are doing alright, and then in 15 mins I woke up shivering. Prasad also mentioned in 30 mins weather had turned around and we were feeling the chill. We were missing our jacket which we dropped with bag at Loudeac assuming it won’t be cold anymore. We decided to pedal hard to shake away the cold. Shivering continued for another 15 mins. Ganesh/Naveen caught up with us and we met Mohan Sir on the way. We caught up a peleton and all 4 of us pedaled hard to stay up with the peleton. The rear gear cable started troubling and I could not engage top gear, which meant had to pedal harder in the lower gears. Around 15 kms we reached a food CP, all of us were hungry, Naveen was drowsy, he took a power nap. I saw a mechanic and showed my bike. He mentioned we should change the cable or else it could snap in 100kms. I gave the bike to repair and headed for dinner. We had pasta, Naveen woke up and then I got my bike, I thanked mechanic for quick help in changing the cable. Me and Prasad picked up pace and reached Tinteniac. We took a 30-mins power nap here. While its not a big control point, but we found a generator area which was bit warm. We saw Grinny, Ganesh, Naveen here.

Tinteniac to Fougres (61kms)

When we reached Fougres, we saw Galin reaching the control. We ate our ready to eats and started off from here. Our plan was to get out of Fougres and take a nap for about 30 mins on the shade. We saw 2 velo’s follow us in an alley which had good tree shade.

Fougres to Villaines (89 kms)

Lijo caught up with us here and rode with us for some distance, Lijo was leading the peleton and on seeing us, he came out and started chatting with us. He then rode with Galin, while me and Prasad headed off to Villaines. Sunil Kumar from Mysore was riding at a good pace, we were surprised at his endurance knowing that it was his first long ride beyond 600kms! He was riding fantastic!

Villaines to Mortagne (82kms):

2 ladies from Denmark were riding with us. They would us as “India” and we kept called them as Denmark every time we meet them. One of them was bit elderly in her 50’s and the other lady was riding her first long ride above 600kms. They were cruising along well but their rear derailleur was causing issues, while I wanted to help by moving the barrel to adjust the tension on derailleur but I suggested they ride till next control and get it checked there. It was a good conversation with both of them about rides in Denmark and what they do for living. While I invited them for rides in India, but one of them wanted PBP to be their last long ride, I did mention that once they complete, they will look forward for next long ride! We ate ready to eat at Villaines and started off in 20 mins, we remembered the places we had stopped during the last edition. We met Vipin here who was riding with a Frenchman.

Met this lively couple riding tandem with ease accompanied by a recumbent rider!

Mortagne to Dreux (77kms):

There are 2 big climbs after Montagne which we were bit worried about as it had caused us problems in the prev edition. Also, this is the place where I had hallucinated last edition, so was bit cautious this time. Prasad realised I was riding slow and probably drowsy, he made me to sleep on the grass for 5-mins before we headed into a coffee break. Coffee kept me awake till Dreux. With flat roads, we pushed hard to reach Dreux.

Dreux to Rambouillet - 43kms (finish push):

With about 5 hours of buffer, we were very well placed and had sufficient time to cover the last 42kms. We still wanted to push for sub-84hrs finish which meant we had to cover 42kms in 2hrs. At Dreux, we had light breakfast, while I was telling Prasad we will take a 30 mins power nap, but the finish line pushed me to go for it than the sleep. We started off with good pace, I saw a rider who was moving around like a snake, I decided to strike a conversation to keep him awake. Coincidentally it was Datiya, a friend from Malaysia whom I had met at the start line. He spoke about his Photography job back in his home town. I invited him to ride in Bangalore for GOH, he was curious about the ride. We reached Rambouillet final point at 5:30am, ~84hours since the start. Ride went very close to our plan for 84-hour finish. We were excited to hear Bangalore Randonneurs finish rate 38 out of 48 riders had completed within time, that’s about ~79% success rate. Surely a fantastic finish. ~127 out of 265 Indians completed the ride with ~48% finish rate, it’s definitely a fantastic show by India at PBP 2023.

Thanks

Thanks to Sushma for all the support while she was hurt in a practice ride and could not move her left hand properly. She encouraged me to ride strong. Ananya, my parents, in-laws, and my 3 sisters provided all the support. Prasad, you are an amazing partner, thanks for your patience and endurance. You are an incredible rider! Thanks to Biju (Cycling Boutique) for patiently taking good care of Cannondale Synapse and answering many queries and addressing every small/big issue!

Thanks to the amazing volunteers/organisers of PBP! You inspire! You have an unlimited energy!

Mohan sir and Bangalore Randonneurs inspire us at every moment. BR community is like a family helping each other, learning from each other and much needed support and motivation comes from BR. BR is an institution where learning never stops, we look ahead for next big challenge! BR rocks!