Aug 10 - Paris => Brest => Paris

PBP. It's coming soon. It's the grand-daddy of these rides, a big event in France. At last count there were something like 5300 riders signed up, less than the 6000 max where countries would face limits. To put this into perspective, the Miglia last year had just under 300 riders. Entire towns bid to host Controls along the PBP route, because of the tourism income. It's like the Tour de France, only without the heavy TV coverage :).

Rider tracking is automated. We carry a chip that is read as we arrive at Controls. That chip holds our "frame number". My number is 7181. Unlike other rides where posting progress is entirely manual, this is supposed to be automated. The following link will allow people to track rider's progress:

http://www.paris-brest-paris.org/pbp2011/index2.php?lang=en&cat=randonnee&page=suivi_participants

There's a lot more information on the PBP website. Route info, web TV coverage, a variety of things.

People plan for years to do this ride. Held every four years, most Randonneurs will only attempt this 1200, none of the others. It's the "holy grail" as one fellow rider put it. There are other countries who have developed national rides -- London/Edinburgh/London, Perth/Albany/Perth, one in Bulgaria, the Miglia ... you get the idea. Canada, due to it's physical size, has a couple; the U.S. now has a bunch but until the last few years the only 1200 in the U.S. was Boston/Montreal/Boston.

Certainly the sheer number of rides now offered in the U.S. has cut the number of riders going to France. I know a number of people who have already done PBP and won't be going this year or who are relatively new at this (like me) and will be doing a different 1200, rather than going to France. Terry Shuya has done PBP a number of times but won't be going this year due to time/budget constraints -- the reasons are varied but the result is the same.

The number of 1200's available has certainly increased the interest in the sport. It's also changed the dynamics from being a once-every-four-years time-to-peak to ongoing. People can do more than one of these per year ... like me.

As a ride, it doesn't have as much climbing as the Shenandoah; it's not as long as the Miglia; I'm sure that it doesn't have the potential for messy weather that either the Rocky Mountain 1200 or the new Alaska ride have ... but ... but ... it is THE ride for many Randonneurs.

As with any of these rides, body or bike mechanical issues can be your undoing. I'm trying to find a creak in my bike right now and today I rebuilt my rear wheel. The creak could be something silly or it could be my frame coming apart at a weld - I don't think that it's the latter, because I've gone over things pretty carefully. Today I removed the cranks and changed out the bottom bracket; hopefully that will solve the problem although I certainly didn't see anything obvious that would be solved through that exercise. The BB has many, many miles on it. Once removed, I could feel the roughness in the bearings, but that doesn't make a creak. I hope that I find it ... I'm flying a long way to do this ride and I want it to go well.

Anyway ... the day wasn't wholly about the bike. I did not go for a bike ride but did spend time on maintenance. We also got some staining done, until the rain came. All the high work is done, but not all the ladder work. Sandy started on the lower reaches of the back bedrooms; I was working on the kitchen peak. Given how much paint we used to get this far, we're not going to touch the 4th gallon ... but that remains to be seen. We'll be back at it tomorrow and by mid-day I hope to be riding my bike.

It's almost time for supper. Veal sausages and ?.

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Veal sausages and garden green/yellow beans and rice. The sausages went well with dijon and peppadew and wasabi mustards. Even Sandy was into sampling mustards. The rice went well with Hot Mammas barbecue sauce :).

I got an email back from the lady at the Novotel in France this a.m. that they don't have a secure facility to store my bike box. I find it hard to believe that they don't have a luggage storage room. Perhaps the just don't want to open the floodgates or be responsible for an expensive toy. I don't know if it will fit in the car; depends on whether it has drop-down rear seats. This is going to be tricky.

Also on the email front I got an email this a.m. from my uncle Phil saying that my cousin Michael will be at their cottage for a few days beginning on Sunday, asking if we can come over ... but that Monday will be crazy as we prepare to leave ... I don't think that this will work.

Today ... hopefully some more staining and hopefully a bike ride. I hope that my creaking has been solved; I hope that the wheel remains true. My fallback plan would be to use the rear wheel on the yellow bike.

... and we should start organizing stuff to take to France. Before, during and after the ride piles would be best but probably during and otherwise. It's too bad that our roller bags are in Florida ... but perhaps they'd be too much trouble in and out of hotels for two weeks. Sandy wouldn't go for that. If we are going to be burdened with the bike box in the car the entire time, we'll need soft luggage or things won't fit. We'll have to have a "talk" but I already know one answer -- yes, she'll be carrying a pillow the entire time ... does that let me carry the bike box ?

Onward !