On the day following Paris-Brest-Paris , I literally hurt all over, neck muscles fatigued for sure, toes and hands have some numbness, eyes have bags weighted with sleep deprivation. I found it sometime in as I was scanning the Internet for epic rides. PBP is special. It is the oldest, organized bicycle ride in the world, through France, and now it comes only once every four years.
RAW was important to me as it put a team from Team PH back on the map, and it meant racing with my friends again. But my mom pointed out that the events were a couple months apart, and encouraged me to do them both. So it was decided. Live your dream. Make it happen. Another reason PBP is special is the prep work. You have to qualify to get into the event by completing km , km , km and km rides called brevets the same year as the event.
And to clinch a possibility of registering, ride a prequalifier of some distance the year prior for me a km in NC. These rides help assure the rider is able to go the distance over km , and conquer the elevation approximately 40, ft of climbing of PBP. I will admit that fitting in these rides was a challenge. Most of my events this year were done on sleep deprivation between traveling after work to get there in addition to the usual pre-race feeling of being amped up.
But to be honest, this probably prepared me as well for the event itself. In addition to training prep there was also the prep work of learning how to take apart and pack my bike thanks to Greg Flood as well as β and this is very important β putting it back together again. Plus there is the nutrition I had to bring to accommodate special diet needs gluten-free, plant-based from powdered food to dried fruits and nuts; I was stoked. Read more about the gear bike, bags, food, etc here.
Despite all the prep I managed to leave arm warmers and knee warmers and gloves at home. I had looked at the Paris weather, but heard after getting here that in Brittany it tends to be damp and cold at night, so the expo outside the velodrome was clutch for picking up new layers. Note: If you do PBP, there is a great shop in Versailles called Summum Bike , and fabulous shops at the velodrome that help get all riders ready with last minute needs.
