Paris Brest Paris 2011 "Good luck lads and lassies"

Greenman

Just to say it starts this sunday and I'll be cheering on Paul O Donaghue from my armchair and tracking him here http://www.paris-brest-paris.org/pbp2011/index2.php?lang=en&cat=accueil&page=edito his number is 1443.

Did it in 1991, its a really great event.

So good luck to 14 riders from IRL plus the other riders.

Captain Havoc

We've one rider, Jim Fitzpatrick (1839) so we'll certainly be keeping an eye for him.

rottenhat

I have frame number 7119. Heading for Paris tomorrow morning. I think LastGasp is already in France, not sure about CramCycle.

emtroche

Also Patrick Leahy 4651. Registered as US but from Slane, Co. Meath.

Good luck to all!

Captain Havoc

I would like to say merde to everyone here taking part.

CramCycle

For anyone keeping an eye out at the Audax Ireland crowd, a few of us are heading out for a little jaunt across France next week. Catching the ferry myself in a few minutes but if anyone is looking out you can track us at :

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

My frame no. is 5527 starting Sunday at 6 or so, not sure of the frame number of the rest of the lads.

Later

Inquitus

Good luck to all and watch out for the "Mousse de vache"

Caroline_ie

lol Mousse?

Best of luck guys

Caroline_ie

Because we re talking about Audax and Paris brest Paris I though I would add a photo of a cake.

sy

Recipe here Caroline if you would like to make one and I'll be the guinea pig

Good luck to all

The tax man

Best of luck guys. I know the time, effort and sacrifice you've all put in to qualifying,so I hope everyone gets around safe and you enjoy every single kilometre...all 1200 of them.:)

hinault

Yep, best of luck to y'all. To qualify alone takes a lot of work and now ye have to ride the route!

Chapeau.

rughdh

Best of luck, guys!

Captain Havoc

Videos are up from the start, anyone who left a number seems to have started, except I can't find rottenhats. There was a bad thunder storm and heavy rain at the start last night but judging by the videos it seems nice at the départ. There's also a nice facebook page to keep track.

Ole Rodrigo

Best of luck chaps.

Greenman

Captain Havoc wrote: »

except I can't find rottenhats.

Looks like he's checked in since 21:27.


Good luck to him.:)

Sr. Assumpta

I know it's early days, but I see that rottenhat (7119), Cramcycle (5527), Jim from my club (1839), Dave from Orwell (1836), & Paul (1443) and Pat (4651) mentioned above, are all still on the move this morning & making the controls.... am tired just thinking about them......

Captain Havoc

Paul has reached half way and it's saying rottenhat went down to 6kmph to the last checkpoint.

Sr. Assumpta

Paul, Pat, Dave & rottenhat still going strong this morning, according to the website. Cramcycle and Jim haven't made it to their next control, within their forecast time, yet...... I guess they stopped for a little overnight rest.

Sr. Assumpta

Paul, Jim and Dave seem to be within 100km of Finish according to latest control times!!!! Respect.

The tax man

Captain Havoc wrote: »

Paul has reached half way and it's saying rottenhat went down to 6kmph to the last checkpoint.

That's the speed at which rottenhat sleeps.

The tax man

Looks like we've two finishers already, Dave McLoughlin and Paul O'Donoghue in a time of 56h11. Well done lads.
What I want to know is who won the sprint to the line?:D

Greenman

Well done the finishers. I followed Paul every few hours.

Lots of nice videos here http://www.youtube.com/user/ParisBrestParis2011 including the first man home.:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LV6l0WU5Mw

Sr. Assumpta

Congrats to Paul & Dave!
Jim Fitzpatrick (1839) finished in 56h48m at 03:13 local time. Well done Jim, & phew!!!!

Pat, rottenhat, and Cramcycle still moving.........

cnz8euq6x7syj2

Fair play to all the lads. That is some cycle to have under your belt. Not to mention the time they managed to do it in.

smacl

Looks like Rottenhat & Cramcycle are still going and very nearly there, quite possibly cycling together looking at the stats. Pat finished after 79hrs. Major respect to all the riders on this epic achievement. I can't even imagine of what 80 hours continuous cycling must be like.

cnz8euq6x7syj2

Anyone any ideas how Andy from Sorrento or Lasp Gasp got/are getting on?

rughdh

Jadiel Crashing Rectangle wrote: »

Anyone any ideas how Andy from Sorrento or Lasp Gasp got/are getting on?

Andy finished yesterday at 8:40am.
EDIT: Andy actually finished 12:36 today (25th) local time. I think the site was wrong initially.

These are the stats for the MORTAGNE-AU-PERCHE control (with 140km to go) for the boardsies I know of:

rottenhat 24-08 22:11
LastGasp 24-08 22:12
CramCycle 24-08 23:44

They should have finished by now. Let's hope it's just a glitch with the site.

EDIT: Yes, there's a problem with the site.

rughdh

Latest stats for CramCycle is that he was at DREUX at 7:03am with 65k to go. No update on the others yet.

rughdh

rottenhat, LastGasp and CramCycle have all just finished. Chapeau guys!!!

Greenman

So here are the latest stats of the finishers.

Paul O Donaghue 1443 56h 11mins

Jim Fitzpatrick 1839 56h 48mins

Rottenhat 7119 87h 09mins

Patrick Leahy 4651 79h 19mins

Cramcycle 5527 88h 59mins

Dave McLoughlin from Orwell 1836 56h 11mins

Feel free to add any other of the Irish riders.

Well done to all.:)

rughdh

19 of the 21 starters who declared for Ireland have finished within the time limits (according to the tracking site as of now).

Greenman

rughdh wrote: »

19 of the 21 starters who declared for Ireland have finished within the time limits (according to the tracking site as of now).

Can you be more specific.

The tax man

Congratulations to all that have finished.

rughdh

Greenman wrote: »

Can you be more specific.

7119 HAT, ROTTEN - AUDAX IRLANDE CC (87:09)
1837 BAYLEY, DAVID - AUDAX IRLANDE CC (74:22)
4685 BRUTON, JOSEPH - FREDRIKSHOFS I.F. (87:10)
8367 BURGESS, PHELIM - A.R.A.BRANDENBURG Berlin (82:38) (Abandon?)
1838 CASSIDY, MICHAEL - DROMARA CC (66:34)
5528 CAULFIELD, AIDAN - AUDAX IRLANDE CC (89:24)
5510 COPELAND, CHARLES - INDIVIDUEL LUXEMBOURG (84:23)
7118 GASP, LAST - AUDAX IRLANDE CC (87:10)
5527 CYCLE, CRAM - AUDAX IRLANDE CC (88:59)
1839 FITZPATRICK,JIM - MARBLE CITY CC (56:48)
7117 KAVANAGH, ANDREW - SORRENTO CC (87:09)
4651 LEAHY, PATRICK - SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL RANDONNEURS (79:19)
1836 MCLOUGHLIN, DAVID - ORWELL WLRS CC (56:11)
8488 MCNAMARA, NOEL - AUDAX IRLANDE CC (77:55)
5529 MOORE, RONALD - AUDAX IRLANDE CC (79:03)
1443 O'DONOGHUE, PAUL - AUDAX IRLANDE CC (56:11)
8489 CARRIG, DROM - AUDAX IRLANDE CC (79:00)
7115 O'SULLIVAN, JOHN - AUDAX IRLANDE CC (87:09)
5531 REDMOND, JIM - BARROW WHEELERS (No info after MORTAGNE-AU-PERCHE)
1851 ULTAN, COYLE - A.U.K. (54:05)
5680 WHEELER, PIPPA - EXETER WHLS CC (89:06)

Just remembered that dromcarrig is of this parish also.

penexpers

Fair play to all involved. Great effort all round.

rughdh

7116 MANN, KURBUNCLE* - AUDAX IRLANDE CC - (87:09)

*Also of this parish and formerly known as andreas.voigt

Captain Havoc

I'm delighted for Jim and the boardsies, I'm sure there's also a few very happy wives and girldfriends now.

chakattack

Kudos!

CramCycle

That was a bit of a laugh, great food, great drink and a great cycle.

I'll do a write up later in the week, have to say nothing like a Jambon Baguette and a Kronenbourg, (except of course they were pipped to the post by the pint of milk and bag of Tayto I had when I got back into Dublin).

Greenman

CramCycle wrote: »

That was a bit of a laugh, great food, great drink and a great cycle.

I'll do a write up later in the week, have to say nothing like a Jambon Baguette and a Kronenbourg, (except of course they were pipped to the post by the pint of milk and bag of Tayto I had when I got back into Dublin).

Well done Mr Cram,

Throw up a few pics with your write up.

Bikerbhoy

CramCycle wrote: »

That was a bit of a laugh, great food, great drink and a great cycle.

I'll do a write up later in the week, have to say nothing like a Jambon Baguette and a Kronenbourg, (except of course they were pipped to the post by the pint of milk and bag of Tayto I had when I got back into Dublin).

Well done Marc looking forward to your report an yes some pics if you have them would be great

Greenman

Hi folks just a follow up on the PBP I came across these stats http://pbpresults.bikeaholics.org/pbp2011/country interesting stats with percentages of DNF's, DNS's etc.:)

rottenhat

Well, I can see one error in the Irish results at least, so you'd wonder how accurate the rest of it is.

sy

Well done to all. Great achievement just to finish this regardless of time taken. Report here on the American ultra cyclist Chris Ragsdale who tried to win the event

LastGasp

I've been waiting for more loquacious Boardsies (i.e. Rottenhat and CramCycle) than me to post their tales of PBP, but as they're all keeping stumm here's

LastGasps first trip to Paris since a school exchange trip 25 years ago ......


About 20 years ago I was at a Sorrento Cycling Club Annual Awards night where the OH would've been collecting an assortment of prizes, and I have a vague memory of chatting to some nutcase called Paul O'Donoghue about some event called PBP. It stuck in my mind ever since for some reason...
Fast forward 18 years or so to 2009, and after doing a work Charity ride and a good few Sportives, friend and Boardsie "Skraps" asked me one day if I would be interested in Audax - "What's that ?", was the initial response, but it's been onwards and upwards ever since, with my first Super Randonneur (SR) Series in 2010 (200, 300, 400 and 600km events in one Audax year). 2011 was to be a PBP year, and in preperation I completed 5 x 200's, 3 x 300's, 3 x 400's and a 600 in the 5 months or so leading up to the event.

On 12th August we packed up the car and the family and headed off on the Rosslare-Cherbourg Ferry. We had a relaxing 6 days in a Gite in Normandy until Saturday 21st August, when we packed up again and drove down to Paris. Time was a bit tight so it was straight to the Start in St.Quentin en Yvelines for the pre-event registration and bike check which went fine. Then after hanging around soaking up the atmosphere for a while, it was off with the family to find the Huttopia Campsite/Chalet where they were staying for the week. When we got there the bikes were hanging off the rack, and my front wheel was buckled, and I realised I must have hopped it off a speed ramp we had crossed on the way. Luckily it wasn't too bad and I managed to get it true enough for the wheel to spin with the brakes closed, but I wasn't sure it would last. Thankfully it did ! The next afternoon it was all go as we headed back in to the Start for the big event.

I spent most of PBP with Rottenhat, Andreas.Voigt, Andy Kavanagh and John O'Sullivan. We had chosen the latest 90 hour start, which meant that we headed off at 9.25pm on Sunday 22nd after a short wait. This was a good choice, as many people who chose the earlier 6pm Start had to queue up in blazing sunshine for a few hours before they finally got going, as the main bunch was sent off in waves of 500 riders every 20 minutes. There were 14 official checkpoints on the route, three additional optional stops for food and rest, and 2 extra secret controls which no-one knew in advance where they would be. Each checkpoint had a Control desk where we had to get our Brevet cards stamped, and they also offered varying degrees of sleeping facilities, showers, toilets and food.
We rode through the first 4 official checks, stopping to get stamped, fill water bottles, and eat at each of them. After leaving Loudeac around 9pm on Monday night (approx 24 hours after starting), we rode through an almighty thunderstorm with constant sheet lightning for 2 hours before getting to the optional sleep stop at St. Nicholas du Pulem after about 450kms, where we decided to try and get some rest. We had some grub, took off most of the wet gear, and headed for the “army style” camp beds, packed several hundred in a large hall, and tried to get some sleep. Unfortunately the “accommodation” had a basic corrugated roof, and the continuing storm was hopping off the roof for several more hours, which together with the assorted snoring, and the fact that the bed was too short so my ankles were resting on the metal frame made it impossible to sleep. After about 3 hours of this we got up, put on some dry clothes, and headed for breakfast at 4am on Tuesday. Restored to life we headed off to the next checkpoint (Carhaix-Plouger) around 5am, and arrived at 7.30am. We checked in, had yet more food, and headed off on the last leg to Brest. Unfortunately 20kms later I realised that I had left my handlebar bag in the previous check, and my Brevet card was in it. The card is the official record of the event, and without it I could not continue, so I had no choice but to turn back, and “time-trial” the extra 40kms to the checkpoint and back again. Thankfully the bag was sitting by the cash register waiting for me. My brain was fairly addled by this time and I couldn’t quite work out if I was likely to be outside the time limit for arriving in Brest. I finally remembered that my normal cycling speed of around 22kph would be gaining me time as I went, against the “minimum” speed of 15kph, and that as the leg to Brest was quite long I would be OK for time as long as I didn’t hang around. This leg included the longest and highest climb on the event “Le Roc Trevezel” which went on for around 20km, but I finally reached the top and descended the last 30km or so to the big suspension bridge which marks the town of Brest. As I reached Brest I “bonked” quite badly with a dose of shivers and dizziness from pushing too hard, and not eating and drinking enough. I stopped and had a short rest by the side of the road and ate a couple of energy bars to give myself a boost. Then it was back on the bike, and onwards for the last 10kms through the city to the control, arriving with a couple of hours to spare in the end. I met Jim Redmond trying to catch a few winks in the Canteen and we had a quick chat. I didn’t hang around and after checking in to the control and some quick food I headed off again on the return leg.
We took a different route out of Brest and the climb of “Le Roc” wasn’t nearly so bad from this side. I got back as far as Loudeac just before midnight on Tuesday, where I met up again with the other Irish guys I had been with before I had to turn back. They had arrived an hour or two before me, and had already relaxed with a couple of beers ! After a quick “midnight feast” I headed off to try again for some sleep, but this time the hall was very noisy, the blankets were damp, and I probably slept for a couple of hours at most. We were up again at 4.30am to resume the journey and after breakfast we rode on through the next 2 checkpoints to Villaines la Juhel where the locals had made a really big thing of the whole event, closing off the main street, announcing each rider as they came into sight, and with a huge crowd of spectators all over the place to watch the action. After the usual water/check/food/toilet routines we headed on to Mortagne au Perche where we arrived on Wednesday at 10pm. More food followed as usual, and we finally got about 4 hours decent sleep in a lovely warm dry hall.
Our alarms went off (and our waker-uppers shook us from our slumbers) at 3.30am on Thursday for the last time, and we had our breakfast before heading off out the road again towards Dreux. It was quite cold at this stage, as the sun hadn’t risen and it was a clear morning. I was feeling chilly in shorts and jersey as my arm and leg warmers had got soaked the first day and I hadn’t been able to face putting them on since. The day started off with an unrelenting series of climbs for about 20kms and then it finally levelled off into a nice pleateau of open farmland. I was feeling pretty knackered at this stage, but around 7am we came across an open Patisserie and tucked into an assortment of Pain au Chocolat, Croissants etc which helped cheer us all up, and the weather warmed up nicely. We got into the penultimate control of Dreux with time in hand and bumped into assorted other Irish riders including Dromcarrig, CramCycle and Aidan. We took our time getting sorted there as we had a good bit of time to spare. Finally we headed out on the final 65km leg to the Start at St. Quentin en Yvelines, taking it fairly easy. We got back to the Start at 12.37pm on Thursday afternoon, 87 hours and 10 minutes after starting, and a comfortable 3 hours inside the overall 90 hour Time Limit, to be met by the family, the faster Irish riders who had finished before us, (a few of them in a fantastic time of 56 hours), and a large crowd of spectators, relations and friends.

PBP was a great experience, with 5200 other riders from all over the world taking part, and the 2 years of work that went into it was well worth the effort. 3980 riders managed to complete the event, with over 1000 pulling out for various reasons. The support from the locals at the roadside was fantastic and the constant encouragement and shouts of “bonne route” and “bon courage” kept us all going, even in the middle of the night. All along the route people had come out to their gates, or the local town centre and set up tables with free water, coffee, cake etc, and we must have “high fived” hundreds of kids along the route.
The body held up well despite a painful dose of saddle sores for the last couple of hundred kms, with no problems from the usual trouble spots of hands/wrists, feet, back or neck. I did suffer from acid reflux for a good while (which it turned out later many others had too), probably from the odd diet, but thankfully got some Maalox in a Chemist on day 2, which I munched for the rest of the trip and that did the trick.

Will I be going back for the next one in 2015 ? Probably ! (But there’s always London-Edinburgh-London in 2013 if I can’t wait that long !)

Chris Ragsdales account makes fascinating reading, and although he wasn't giving anything away I would say he sees this as unfinished business and is likely to be back next time. He's phenomonally strong (current 1000km World Record Holder on the road) and I suspect he would have been first back if he hadn't gone 40km off route.

My approach was just about the opposite to his, based on the fact that my neck, knees, feet, hands or legs could give up the ghost at any stage. Basically the aim was to finish inside the time-limit without putting the body under excessive pressure or breaking any bones, and to enjoy the event and the superb support from the French people all along the route.


Cheers, LG.