I got my mind blown by this article. 44 hour finish, from 1966, with Rene and Lyli Herse running support. Google translate did a good job on it for me.
Unlike most pbp accounts I’ve read he doesn’t spend a lot of time talking about being trashed because I guess he was just ultra fit and dgaf.
My good friend and Swedish Viking Hero™ had a humble sub60 if his body/mind felt good starting in the sub80 group. Rode mostly solo to a 59h21min hour finish, pretty rad.
“03:38 last morning I finished the 1200 km Paris—Brest—Paris in 59 hrs 21 min. Started in the sub 80 hr group w/ a humble ambition going sub 60 hrs. Slept 15 min. the first 800 km. Snapped a spoke and rode 90 km solo in the night with a wobbly front wheel, plus shitloads of other tech/equipment problems. Still had such a great time. Met tons of nice people. PBP is an adventure in its own category. Now — recovery.”
Your BQ fantasy bicycle is imperceptibly different from their indigenous equivalent of a yellow Schwinn Collegiate. There’s tens of thousands of old bikes with Mafac RAIDs and fenders locked up all over Paris and at the bottom of canals. I explained to a whole bunch of people from every possible demographic that “oh no every single part on that guy’s bike is newly manufactured and the frameset is bespoke”
In the most charitable light, all the europeans and most of the travelers will perceive you as someone riding an odd bike as a special challenge — like the british guy who’ll ride a bread delivery bike or whatever in period dress, the perennial singlespeeders, or the five fatbike failures this year
Less charitably you look like a historical reenactor tryhard who read old books about PBP instead of doing any actual randonneuring in a first-world country
Theo and James rode really strong in the B wave, but on their 650b constructeur machines with centerpulls/cranks/fenders and the whole high-polished deal. Despite their fully modern lycra clothing and ability to ride strong in a straight line, the other fast 80h riders wanted nothing to do with them — they appeared sketchy and untrustworthy, to be ostracized
Most of the pack riders would much rather deal with the literally 1,000 fat old italian guys wobbling around and avoiding pulls, because at least they fully understand their bullshit and social dynamics.
The optimum equipment for the parcours is a modern stage race road bicycle — with 28mm road tubeless tires, totally normal gearing, minor aero tuning, and a revelate tangle+feedbag for your shit. Dynamo lighting really sweetens the situation, but there’s also so many opportunities for drop bags at controls to get fresh batteries and clothing changes.
Jan Heine’s ideal 650b low trail integrated rando situation is PERFECT for freeform adventure bike camping in mixed terrain exploring backcountry with intermittent services and developing circumstances. PBP is the polar opposite of that. Jan is still a wonderful contrast to QBP’s bikes that are contradictory for anything anyone actually does outside of hyper-specific midwest dirt day ride events, or the bikepacking bikes that are tuned for GDR & Tour Aotearoa instead of real life.
Wait what’s the 80 hour group? Are these disdainful eurobros under charly miller time?
As a certified cascadian frontbagger I feel my own mellow slightly harshed by these dudes although I do believe you that a regular road bike with dinky areobars is the fastest thing at pbp. My own befrontbagged riding buddy Étienne finished in under 55 so i feel we’re still legit.
i’ve never felt like either of the two “randonneuring” bikes i’ve owned would be the bike i grabbed for an actual randonneuring ride. phenomenal all-arounders but not fast enough, jan be damned.
The handful of rando events I’ve done have always been on my yellow Trek 360 with 25mm tires. If I took my low trail bike, I would have been hours slower
right. like, my rando bike is probably the most fun bike i own over the widest set of conditions, but randonneuring doesn’t seem fun? type two fun, for sure, and i’m jealous of those who have the ability to do it. but if i’m gonna slow hammer that many hours of riding, i’m gonna take something that is slightly less comfy but slightly faster. pretty sure nothing’s gonna feel good by the end of a 300+
It’s really odd that the common definition of a rando bike has become some sort of bloated all-terrain cruiser which isn’t appropriate for actual randonerdery.
Randonneuring works out pretty great when you ride with other people on most of the course, working together and enjoying the company of your fellow eccentric characters. AFAICT this practice is rare in the western hemisphere outside of Seattle — most clubs have far fewer people going to all that trouble to ride alone inwardly on flatter headwindier highway courses.
I may be an asshole but I don’t experience “type two fun” at all, and find that typology to be self-destructive and regressive. I always have fun while I’m doing things, and any handwringing I do happens after the ride is over. I severely reinjured my ankle from stress twice at 600k and 900k into the ride, but that mindset still held true for me.
I did start crying while riding in the third consecutive dawn, I felt a chill descending into a misty riverbend and noticed that the terrain had changed. We’re not in Brittany anymore, I guess we’re in Normandy but why do I know that’s the next province? I started reasoning through the timeline of Summer 1944 and the waterworks began. Some hours later we pass through a tiny town and a large banner and flags were hung on the one public building, celebrating August 21st as the exact 75th Anniversary of their Liberation. I am a sentimental motherfucker and lost my shit all over again.
PBP is not ‘Glory Through Suffering™’ like Rapha’s original marketing
It’s more accurately a Passion, not just in the modern enthusiastic nerdy preparation sense but even moreso in the original religious definition — it’s literally a pilgrimage
I hear you. When I am doing stuff like this i am in my happy place. There is nowhere else I would rather be. Sometimes I wonder if there is something wrong with me. I am not going into some “dark place” that people go on about. I’ve not done PBP, but for me, bikes and good company are what it’s about.
PBP is just a really long ride through France with a bunch of other people who are either good at bikes or suck at bikes and get to do things that wouldn’t normally happen like sleep in a ditch or ride in a paceline from 3-5am
They do brakes/breaks a few paragraphs in. Entire article invalidated!
I liked the Paris mayor’s take on urban development. I’d be fine with a lot of buses, congestion charges, and mandatory pulls of driver cell phone usage records when they hit someone. The last of those might be hard to utilize in a criminal proceeding, but would probably be pretty great for the plaintiff in a civil case.
It’s also occurred to me more than once that every driver now uses gps to navigate, which means that there’s a record of every time they speed or run a stop sign or hook a turn without so much as slowing. Interesting. Innnnnnterrresssstinnnnngggg…
