Paris - Monday 06-Aug-2007

As the sun comes up the pilot starts talking about the approach to France. We soon catch site of some small islands off England then we are over France and making our approach into Charles De Gaul airport. With all the time changes it is 7:45AM when we touch down. Let’s just say that being 6’1” spending 8 hours in economy class is not fun but finally arriving in France makes it all worthwhile. Once on the ground we gather our suitcases off the carousel but there is no sign of our bikes. After speaking with several people who spoke English only slightly better then we spoke French, we found our bikes safe and sound. Our biggest fear was to have the bikes lost or damaged but now we could relax and start enjoying ourselves.

We headed up to the lobby to find a taxi. We had landed at Charles De Gaul which is north of Paris and had to make our way to St. Quentin-enYvelines which is south and west of Paris. We found a hatchback taxi and managed to squeeze in the two bike boxes, two suitcases and two carry on bags and were off. It took about 50 minutes to make the drive through Paris rush hour traffic. St. Quentin-enYvelines is not a quaint French village but a small modern business center. A tourist would not normally choose to come here but it is the starting point of PBP and the hotel Campanille is one of the three hotels in town where most of the Americans stay for the event. We were booked for two days now and for the week of PBP. They were going to store all of the luggage we didn’t need while we bicycle toured through Normandy for 10 days. The cab let us off in front of the hotel and we got checked in an hit the sack for a couple hours. We woke up around noon and were hungry. We decided to do our first reconnaissance of town. Across the plaza was a large mall called Carafour. It contained everything we would need for the next couple of day. We managed to order lunch at a small take out and sat outside to take stock of what we needed to do next.

While we were eating we realized it was cool. The temperature was just over 70 degrees at noon in early August. We watched the flow of the local business people as we finished eating and then headed off to find the train station. We located it fairly quickly, got a schedule and took the long way back to the hotel. We note the location of the tourist office and get back to our hotel.

My wife headed back up to our room for another nap and pull the bikes out of their cases and start re-assembling them. After a couple of hours I have two working bicycles and my wife is still sleeping.

I head back to Carafour to forage for dinner. I fill my basket with wine, cheese, bread, fruit and pastry and head for the register. It must be quitting time because the lines are very long. I wait my turn and the cashier starts to ring me out. She picks up a bag of fruit says something I don't understand, shows me the fruit and says something else. She is very pleasant but I can tell she is thinking "Stupid American, can't even buy fruit". Obviously I have broken some protocol and using hand motions make it clear that I will pass on the fruit. When I get back to the room my wife looks at what I brought back and asks where the fruit is. I told her they wouldn't sell any to stupid Americans. We figured out later that in France you weigh and tag the fruit before you get to the register.

We eat, check emails, call home using skype on our Nokia internet device and turn in for the night

Paris - Sun 05-Aug-2007

It is 9:00AM EST and we were on our way to Bradley Airport to start our 3 week trip to France. The plan was hatched 3 year earlier. I had started riding bicycles again in my early 40’s after about a twenty year layoff. I had bought a Rivendell Rambouillet and while researching the bike on the internet I kept reading that it was a good bike for riding brevets. I had no idea what a brevet was but a little more research turned up the fact that a brevet was a timed ride over a specific distance and they were part of a sport called Randonneurring. If a rider completed a series of rides (200k, 300k, 400k and 600k) in a given year he qualified to ride in a grand randonnee of 1200K that had to be completed in 90 hours or less. The most prestigious of these rides was Paris Brest Paris which is held every 4 years. The next time it would be held was in 2007 the same year I would turn 50, what better way to celebrate turning 50 then riding across Brittany with 5,000 cyclists from all over the world. I started training and reading ride reports published by other Randonneurs. In 2005 I attempted to ride my first brevet series, I made it through the 200k and 300k and then blew out my knee with and overuse injury called ITB syndrome. I was down for the year but read up on the injury and how to train properly and was back at it in 2006. I completed a full series of rides and a very grueling 1200k ride called Boston Montreal Boston. This gave me a good feeling about qualifying for PBP. About this time my wife, Lorraine, realized I was serious about going and made it clear that I would not be going to France without her. She also pointed out that travel to France was not cheap so we might as well stay as long as possible. We started planning on a two week bicycle tour before PBP for a total of 3 weeks. Now all that remained was to qualify for PBP. I started training Thanks Giving weekend and completed two brevet series by the time qualifications closed, we were going to France.

After another two months of preparations we were sitting in the airport waiting for our first flight.

We left Bradley for a quick hop to Philadelphia, a long layover and then we were in the air bound for Paris. We left Phili at 6:10PM to start our 8 hour flight to Paris. The early part of the flight was fun, we made it over the East Coast while there was still day light. Many of the places we were familiar with from sailing were now visible from a different vantage point. The Connecticut River, the Thames river, shelter Island, Block Island, Naragansett Bay, Marthas Vineyard and Nantucket rushed by. Soon the sun was setting and for the next couple of hours we catch glimpses of light dotting the east coast and then finally darkness and fitful sleep for the next several hours.

NJ 600K 06/02-06/03

I rode the NJ 600k earlier this month which was my last qualifying ride for PBP. The ride started at 04:00 on Saturday and I finished around 14:30 on Sunday. It was a fun fast ride. The highlights for me were a fast first 75 miles where we rode a double pace line in dark at about 20 mph and as the Sun came out we increased the speed to nearly 22 mph and strung out into a long single line. I am not a fast rider and knew I was in over my head but it felt good and I even took three pulls at the front.

After the fast start I settled back into a more sustainable pace. The rest of the day was spent in the hot sun beating against a building headwind. This part of New Jersey is agricultural and there were large fields of potatoes and blueberries and very little shade. The area had a very different feel and look to it then New England and at first this was a nice change of pace but after about 10 hours of the same scenery and a head wind it was enough.

Around 7:00 I pulled into the control at the halfway point where I thought we would turn and pick up a tailwind. No luck, the volunteer manning the control said we had another 25 miles of headwind before we would turn and finally have a tail wind for the last 25 miles to our sleep stop. There were quite a few riders at the control when I got there and more continued to arrive while I rested and ate. Since it was late each group would don their reflective vests, ankle bands and helmet lights before heading out.

As we rode into the evening the scenery was changing, we were approaching the shore. You could smell the salt air and feel a difference in the wind. We would pass by marinas and catch glimpses of the water through trees. As it became dark we hit the biggest hills of the day, a series of bridges that were crossing various inlets. We finally started to swing back north, the wind worked it's way behind us and you could see a glow in the distance fromthe lights of Stone Harbor.

We were warned about the traffic in Stone Harbor which is a popular beach town. It was dark by the time we arrived but the sound of waves could be heard on the other side of the hotels and the wind was now giving us a nice push. We moved through a town that was full of people out for an evening on the town. Everyone seemed to be dressed up, singles, couples, families, young and old. People watching made for a nice distraction.

After coming through the center of town we could now count down the miles to the sleep stop in Somers Point. We rode close enough to the shore to hear the waves breaking. We climbed a few more narrow bridges in light traffic and were soon headed down the last one and into the rest stop just before midnight.

After a dinner, 2.5 hours of sleep and breakfast all in about 4 hours I was on the road again with one other rider. The temp was in the Mid 60's and it felt good to be out riding. About a mile from the hotel we got lost. We retraced our steps a few times and then stopped people delivering new papers or walking their dogs to ask directions. We finally figured out that the queue sheet had us going left when we should have said right. After about 20 minutes of riding in circles we were finally on our way.

Sunday’s ride had different scenery and some long grades but with the tail wind it was not too bad. We started riding through the Pine Barrens and slowly the scenery became more developed. I knew that I would finish and it was a matter of counting down the miles and slogging through to the end. I finished around 2:30 in the afternoon just as it started to rain. I took my time packing up, slept for an hour in the car and was then on my way home.

While flat this proved to be a physically tough ride because of the head wind the first day. Being from New England the scenery seems to always be changing . On this ride the scenery stayed the same for long periods which was mentally tiring. But I was done and had qualified for PBP.

Making The Best of What I Have

Fact: I am not a fast rider

I have been finishing my Brevets in the bottom 25% for the last year and a half. I know I will never be fast but I would really like to be average. Comparing may '07 200k to my '06, both run on the same course, I was about 45 minutes faster this year. And on my 300k I was about 1:15 faster. I have been training hard on 20 to 40 mile rides during the week, attacking the hills and keeping a high speed on the flats. Hopefully this will translate into slightly faster pace on my Brevets.

I am also down about 6lbs since I started really training in early March. Trimming down the gear I carry on a brevet has also helped to lighten the bike a bit.
I have been doing a lot of reading on how to be an efficient rider and how to set up an efficient bike. My major goal this year was to improve my time in and out of the controls. I have probably cut my time in half over last year saving 10 to 15 minutes a control.
Yesterday I received a package that contained 7 Bicycle Quarterly's and two Grand Bois tires. Jan Heine has concluded that these tires could save the average rider 2 to 3 hours on a PBP over the Ruffy Tuffy tires I have been riding. The Grand Bois are on the bike and ready for this weekends 400k.

Someday if I keep training, loose a little more weight and continue to refine my techniques, maybe I can be average.

Where Does All The Time Go?

I completed my 300k qualifier for PBP on 04/01 of this year and then the bad weather and my wife’s surgery took their toll. I probably don’t have 200 miles on the bike since the 300k. I was going to ride in the NJ 200k on 4/14 but this was just a few days after my wife’s operation and she still couldn’t drive or cook so I had to pass. Because of my limited time and the bad weather I was getting in some 20 to 25 mile rides and then augmented this with some Spinerval workouts.

This weekend the weather finally broke and life got out of my way so I was able to get in a 40 mile ride on Saturday. On Sunday house projects and injured relatives all took too much of my time and I never got out. Today it is actually suppose to hit 85 here in Connecticut and the first shop ride is tonight. I will put in 9 miles on my commute and hopefully 20 on the shop ride. With my wife back behind the wheel I should be able to start taking the long routes to and from work and pile up the miles.

I have a hilly 300k this weekend so I will see how the training goes and hope I am ready.

50 Miles For 50 Years

Yesterday was one of life's milestones, I turned 50. Originally I had hoped to put 70 to 80 miles in for the day but things happen. I overslept and then lost time taking care of this and that around the house. By the time I left I only had enough time to put in 17 miles. Still it was a good start to the morning as I did a quick loop through some rolling roads before climbing up to Trinity College and then descending into Hartford.

While at work it dawned on me that the 35 miles I planned to do after work would give me about 52 miles for the day. About 50 miles for 50 years.

I left work and had a brisk ride south along the Connecticut River with a spanking tail wind. While riding I had time to reflect back on all the rides and bikes I had known over the past 40 years . I know I am not as fast or lean as I was at 18 but when sitting on a bike spinning down the road it still feels the same. I can only hope to have another 20 years or more of riding to look forward to.

Eventually I hit the southern terminus of my ride, crossed the river and headed north up the west side of the river. This was tougher work plowing against the wind but when I got home
I knew I had been on a good ride and was very appreciative that I still loved doing this and was still able to do it.

Brevet Bike Finally Built

Saturday evening at 9:30 I finally got by brevet bike put back together. I can't call it a new bike, the frame is new, some of the parts are new and some are used. This was the last phase of the great bike transplant. Work, home improvements and ride time have made it tough to find time to do bike work. I must say I am quite pleased with the fit of the bike and the way it turned out. By the time I was done building it I only had enough time to pack and get to bed so I could get up at 5:00AM on Sunday to head off on the shake down ride. I will post photos of the bike and a ride report from the shake down ride when I get a chance.