Trip Report: Paris-Brest-Paris Centennial Bikeride Executive Summary: It was a great trip Prologue: (21-24 August) Flight was the bumpiest I have ever taken. Plane was put on hold landing at Kennedy for two hours and then the departing flight was delayed 3-4 more hours due to weather. Elaine left on a later flight through Chicago and beat me to Paris. But all's well that ends well, we got there OK. Spent the next couple days on a combination of touristy stuff in Paris and bike preparation. We were mostly preoccupied with getting ready for PBP. We were going to have to ride to the start, a distance of some 24km and the route was not obvious, so we practiced getting there essentially every day. Got to the top of the Arc de Triumph and Notre Dame. PBP was OK: (25-31 August) The distance is 1200km (750 miles). There were 3400 riders, including 400 USA, 200 women. One woman was doing her 8th PBP, one man was on his 9th. As it's only held every 4 years, that's an impressive stretch of time. There was a bike inspection Sunday the 25th and a ceremony with the Mayor of Paris on Monday, followed by a parade out of Paris. They started three groups at different times with different time limits: 80 hour group at 8PM Monday (700 riders) 90 hour group at 10PM Monday (2000 riders) 84 hour group at 5AM Tuesday (700 riders) Elaine was second-place woman, a complicated story: she started in the first, 80-hour group and was first woman to finish but a woman in a later group beat her time. She also had a traumatic last few miles as 15 minutes of sleep to cover Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights caught up with her and it took her 6 hours to complete the last 30 miles. Her time was about 62 hours, she had hoped to be close to 50. I think the winning woman's time was 59 or so. She is saying things like "I have unfinished business"... I finished with Michael and Carolyn, the two friends that I rode the qualifiers with. Our time was 82 hours, we rode in the 84-hour group. It was a hard ride, can't say it was pure fun, it had it's ups and downs. The weather was clear and hot, zero rain. The wind was against us from Brest back to Paris, sometimes very strong: I have never ridden for 350 miles into a headwind before... I slept 4 different times, ranging from 20 minutes to 3 hours. Met some very nice people, the comradry on the road was a big plus. I definitely intend to do it again: at the next centennial... Pete Penseyres and John Royer rode on a tandem with high expectations (like, winning), but Tuesday morning found Pete by the side of the road puking in the ditch. They turned it into a tour and finished in 70 hours, including 16 hours of sleep. Scott Dickson (USA) won again in a time of something over 43 hours. Dunno if he slept. Touring was a real win: (31 August - 9 Sept) I finished PBP Friday evening at 5. Slept a lot. Saturday, we put our bikes on a train and Sunday we took the train to Switzerland. Rode the TGV, the 150mph train. We joined Pete and Jo Ann Penseyres, John Royer, and Henry Kingman at the home of Peter and Susan, some Swiss friends of the Penseyres in Jegensdorf. EXCELLENT DINNER! Monday, us 6 Americans and Peter, Bernard, and Martin hit the roads on bikes laden with touring gear. Another excellent dinner with Marcus and Meredith in Kaiserstuhl. Marcus took us for a swim in the Rhine, light green water, pleasant temperature. Urs joined the cycling group. The intent was to ride along various rivers to Vienna and for two days we did that. Then we abandoned Vienna and turned south into the Alps, a very good move. Peter, Martin, and Bernard had to return home, which was too bad, we were sad to lose their company. But Urs stayed with us, which was lucky for us, he took good care of us. Incredibly beautiful mountains. Wound up riding about 1000km and climbing about 13,000 meters in 8 days, including the famous Stelvio. I believe it is the highest pass in Europe at 9,080 feet. It is occasionally included in the Giro (Tour of Italy bike race, like the Tour de France and probably the second most famous bike race). We rode in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and Italy, three of them in one day. Stayed in various hotels and Inns, each of which provided some sort of breakfast as part of the deal. Ate dinners in restaurants, usually picnicked on bread, cheese, meat, jam, etc for one or more lunches. Ate endless chocolate and more ice-cream than I normally eat in a year. Lots of radlers (aka shandy, aka panache: beer and lemonade. I know, it sounds awful, but it is great.). Ate constantly and copiously, good food, lost 8 pounds anyway. It's a great new diet idea... Epilogue: (9-10 Sept) Monday, we rode over our last 2400m pass to Landquart, caught a Swiss train to Basel. Tuesday, we got ourselves set on the French train and then did power sight-seeing for an hour in Basel, had my last beer with our faithful Swiss friend and tour-guide Urs. Afternoon train to Paris was hot and stuffy and I was starting to suffer from end-of-the-vacation, out-of-the-mountains blues. It was not helped when we got back on our bikes in Paris at 1800 in the midst of rush-hour traffic. We were all unhappy and snarling and it didn't help when I hit the cobbles and ran over my last pair of glasses as they sprang out of my pocket. Having trouble finding the RER station (local train) didn't help either and then being refused admittance with the bikes because it was too crowded seemed like the final blow. Back up in the traffic, riding towards our hotel, we were unexpectedly rescued by an angel. Three of us are cussing along amidst the cars and busses when a woman in a long, flowing blue dress appears on a three-speed, gliding through the traffic apparently without a care in the world. Probably on her way home from work. We traveled in her company to our next destination at the Arc de Triumph and it restored our spirits. Anti-climax: (10-11 Sept) A nice dinner followed by furious bike-packing, little sleep, and an improbable taxi ride to the airport with my bike for the day-long flight home Wednesday completes the story. Well, it was interesting spending 14 hours in planes and 4 hours in airports with only half of a pair of glasses to use for reading and writing. Elaine stayed behind in Paris and Grenoble for an extra week.