PBP 2023 After Action Report

[Philip Parker]

Well here it is ...  PBP 2023 lived up to billing and was all that it was supposed to be.  In reality I think I was shortchanged for the full experience as the weather was a close to perfect as you could want.  Sunny and warm mornings/evenings, hot but not scorching afternoons, manageable winds and no rain during my ride.

French country roads are brilliant and far more rideable than almost anything we have here in Alberta.  In the towns and villages they are more cut p and you have to be wary of raised manholes, roundabouts, traffic tables and other 'furniture' but if you have your wits about you this is all readily avoidable.  French drivers are SAINTS - with the patience of Mother Terresa and the reflexes of Max Verstappen!  Blobs of disrespectful,  tired and self absorbed riders would jam up the road and the drivers just wait patiently and then with a quick acceleration zip by safely.  In Alberta there would have been road rage, justifiable homicide, etc. etc. - you get the point..

The star of the show has to be the French countryside - beautiful, followed in close second by the French people - the small towns jammed with cheering supporters, bands, accordion players and the hosting of some comfort food and clean bathrooms (relative to 5000 bleary cyclists using them) to the individual French couples who park their car by the side of the road and dispense cold water and cookies.  This goes on pretty much day and night for the entire 1200kms - amazing.

Controls were chaotic (but not chaos) but not because of the volunteers - lots of antsy anxious riders.  The staff and volunteers were excellent and I never waited long for anything.  Based on the past reports I was expecting delays but overall every control was a smooth operation - brevet card stamped, fill water, get food, sunscreen (or turn on lights at night) and go...

I had a riding partner in Sarah Rice from Chicago and a plan with family support stationed in Loudeac.  Ride 440km to Loudeac on day 1, get assistance from the team, sleep in an Air B&B, food, shower fresh kit back at the control for 5 am.  Ride out to Brest and back to Loudeac on day 2 - rinse/repeat and then Loudeac to the finish in Ramboulliet on day 3.   Sarah wasn't up to the pace so the schedule slipped a little but overall I stuck to the plan.  Sarah did her own thing on day 3 (slipping into day 4 for her) but I finished on Thursday at 2am for an elapsed time just under 69 hrs.  Rode the last 440km effectively solo and I didn't find any solid wheels to team up with all day.

Facebook is plastered with romanticized retelling of the event in technicolor lies.  In reality each of the 5000+ entrants had a legitimate PBP dream and all of those dreams are equally valid but boy o boy there were a lot of riders out there who were clearly under-prepared.  So many had no experience or skills riding in a group that I was terrified for the first 3 hours after the start until the sun came out and the peloton stretched out.  Later in the event you would come upon riders who were either virtually asleep or so tired it didn't make a difference.  Head down weaving wildly back and forth across the road.  What side do I pass on??  They were a danger to themselves and to others.

Then there were the self important self absorbed 'blobs' who held up traffic and faster riders behind.  Of course there were also the riders who just did the 2/3/4/6 qualifying brevets and had little idea what they were getting into.  I also got the sense that many clubs/brevet administrators are setting up easy creampuff 400s and 600s to facilitate qualification but in the end it just puts too many under-prepared riders on the road.  I think this is also a disservice to the individual riders themselves as a little more prep would have made the event a little less of a sufferfest.  A LOT of riders were underprepared for the additional 2,000m of climbing in this year's route - taking the total to around 12,000m in total.

A few jerks stood out including the American yelling at the middle aged french woman volunteer in the food line at the First control .  He was pissed that his credit card was declined and took it out on the volunteer.  The scene he was causing was unseemly so I approached the volunteer and agreed to pay for his lunch in cash - she thanked me, he did not!  Given his antics at the first control (only 11 more to go) I suspect he didn't have a good experience.  Hopefully for the community let's hope he never comes back.

Another was the argy-bargy Brit who tried to pass a french driver several times in a small town- first on the left, then the right, then back to the left.  After narrowly avoiding being squeezed between the car the the inevitable French traffic furniture several times, this boer decided to start yelling at the driver.  I told him to calm down and remember we were guests in that country and the roads we enjoyed were paid for by French taxpayers.

Saw several accidents, narrowly avoided one of my own where a weaving '90 hr zombie' locked handlebars with me, and I saw one rally bad one - looked like a fatality.  Body lying in the road covered with a space blanket next to a stone wall at the exit of a sharp left turn at the bottom of a steep hill.  Happened just after dark and I assumed he over-cooked the corner and had been outriding his front light.  Police and fire had just arrived and they weren't trying to administer first aid ....  Stark reminder that PBP is an event, not a race and a few seconds/minutes here and there just aren't worth the risk.  Better to slow down and enjoy the atmosphere.

That is a wrap for me - One and Done!  My wife Tanya has been a spectacular directur sportif/soigneur for 30 years now but these big time international events have exacted a toll on her.  From now on I'm not ruining any more vacations with silly events.  Sure I'll still ride but no more PBP like events.

Looking forward to seeing you fellas on the roads of Alberta.

Cheers,

Phil

[Wim Kok]

Hi Phil

Thanks for your excellent PBP report.

Congrats on finishing  and thank you for being a gentleman (and a worthy ambassador for the sport) 

Volunteers are volunteers and when participants show and express gratitude toward them, they do appreciate that a lot. 

I liked your Mother Theresa and Max Terstappen analogy to describe the character of the French drivers. 

Your observations on riders being underprepared are right on. There are so many aspects to the preparation -  and the

execution under variable and ever changing conditions.  That is a separate story. 

It takes a lot of time to prepare and to pay a lot of attention to detail. After all, don't we all know about the devil and the details 

Thanks again for sharing your experience and observations.

Sincerely,

Wim

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[Jeff Shmoorkoff]

Thanks Phil,

It was great to see your progress on Strava! And even better to read your summary experience!

 After 5 times at PBP (not finishing in 2019 after reaching Brest, with my leg radiculopathy), I recall all of the same experiences that you did: once, a rider ? getting hit by a car on a descent in the dark; helping another rider out of the bush after he swerved off the road during a sleepy stupor; so many crashes and poor group riders and ill prepared participants; the cheering people in the towns; the cheering kids en route (who I stopped to see and get pics with and give Canadian souvenirs to; the road side shops that served the hot chocolate and coffees; the long waits in checkpoints; the loud snores in the army like barracks at checkpoints (I never got an Air BnB); the sore butt; the long hours riding solo; the cumulative climbing; the fatigue; the often questioning oneself ‘why’ … on and on. 

But mostly I recall the comradeship from fellow AB and Canadian riders. Also, so many other countries represented who soon became new comrades … together on the same mission: to complete and defeat the Bretagne countryside and not allow it to defeat us.

Still, it is an event and a challenging one at that for mind, body, spirit and equipment.

 So glad you had super weather. I recall 1991 with 500+ km of rain and headwind.  I don’t recall warm nights and mornings on any that I rode! 

Still, I found the AB events great prep for the big daddy event that PBP is! Sadly, I no longer enjoyed the long brevets, so getting the qualifiers done and getting to PBP ‘23 wasn’t going to happen. Still, I look forward to riding a 200+km brevet this Sat and hopefully riding with you soon!!

Jeff Shmoorkoff 

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 31, 2023, at 6:09 PM, Wim Kok <ewko...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[David Cambon]

Thank-you for the sobering, fresh, pre-randonesia report Philip.  According to a general reprimand issued by Francesc Porta following the 1991 PBP, the problem of unprepared randonneurs seems to have commenced at the 1987 PBP.  I suppose the recent proliferation of puff qualifying brevets has exacerbated the issue.  I posted the 1991 letter (2 pages) from Francesc Porta on my Flickr page (see link below).  It was translated by Gerry Pareja.  My favorite part of the letter is the President's objective to have PBP participants "...attain a basic level of mental preparation prior to the event", ha, ha!  No mincing of words:

https://flic.kr/p/2oZfPdE

I rode the two PBP's in the letter.  In ye olden days of 1987 everyone seemed to know how to ride in a paceline and conduct themselves in a civilized manner in France, even if they were overcome by the weather or geography.

[Erik Bakke]

Great writeup Phil.

I can scarcely imagine being in an event that big.

Couple neophyte questions - is there seeding or a draw for start positions?  Or just maximum numbers in waves?

Fortunately in life, my memories of French countryside riding have all been without boorish types, and I agree about the drivers!