My PBP Story 2015.
Sometimes in life,we come across some crazy people and wonder what drives them to do so. Many times,we fail to understand the reason behind it,but at times even we unknowingly become a part of it.
Long distance endurance cycling in the form of brevet(self supported lonh distance rides) governed by the Audax Club Parisien), was one such craziness for me. Having heard and see people riding distances up to a 1000 km,drove me into riding BRM in the early month of November 2014. Within a span of 4-5 months I completed the Super Randonneur series (a series of 200 km,300 km,400 km and 600 km).
Riding Paris-Brest-Paris randonee wasn't on the cards until a friend of mine Durgaprasad Pawar (DP as he is known) of Pune Randonneurs put that thought into my mind. Reading more about PBP,reading the riders blogs, seeing the videos about it completely enthrilled me. The mind was now set on riding a course of 1200kms in 90hrs.
Then began the long way of convincing my parents, taking a leave from my college for 10 days, putting in extra efforts in studies, the end result of all this being things working out the way I had imagined.
The Training.
The training began in the month of April after having completed the SR series,under the guidance of Mr.Miten Thakkar of Mumbai. Initially it was more about assessing my fitness level, power,lactate threshold with more emphasis on the weak points that helped him to formulate a proper training plan.
Most of the training had to be done on an indoor trainer barring actual road training only on a Sunday and while doing BRM,which was a real challenge. ( The reason for this being, staying in a hostel, away from home,riding on roads wasn't and option thanks to the bad roads,highway just outside the college and the typical attitude of the village people).
Indoor trainer with my bike in one of the hostel room.
As the month of August approached, we focussed more on the diet, rest,lots of sleep( would be one of the best part of training for a sleep loving person like me!) and decreased the intensity of the training. The legs were now ready to take onto the longest spin!
The Journey.
This time 53 Indian SR(Super randonneurs), from various states,were a part of the Indian group at PBP under the guidance and leadership of Ms.Divya Tate, the head of Audax India Randonneurs. Hotel bookings,flight tickets were finalised first. Over the next months, we were briefed about the terrain, weather, arrangements at the control points including the food, by the riders who had attempted it previously. Most of the things were known theoritically but still there was a streak of uncertainty,that we were longing to face.
Riding a BRM never felt as a responsibility in India, until this time because we had the hopes of our families,friends and many Indian riders on us! We weren't going to ride for ourselves,rather we were riding for the people who had showed faith in us and supported us to fulfill this dream. Months passed by and the feeling of nervousness was replaced by a strong desire to give our best,come what may. Bags were packed, bike was set and the mind was prepared to fly to Paris!
The Pre-ride goosebumps.
I arrived in Paris on 12th august. Many riders had arrived well before and were exploring new riding routes,warming up, fixing some last minute bike issues and relaxing. We stayed in Hotel Balladins, near the start point which was at Saint-Quentin-En-Yvelins,along with some Pune riders and many other riders from Hong Kong,China,UK. Firstly we assembled my bike and checked for any damage because of the travel,luckily there wasn't any.
Other riders at our hotel.
Food, is a major issue for us Indians, while travelling to any foreign city and France wasn't any exception. But as always even this got sorted as we found a good Indian restaurant nearby. It became a common place for all the riders to dine and chat and discuss things all at this desi place! Our hotel had many riders from other countries. Many of them would sit for hours and hours out in the open assembling their bikes,while some had got their own caravans for staying. I happened to meet one elderly couple(elderly only by their age),staying in the same lobby. That gentlemen was riding his fourth PBP (along with riding LEL once and many 1200's and 1000's unheard of!) on his fixed gear cycle! Unlike everyone else, the only advice he had was, Go and just enjoy your ride out there!
15th august we had our bike inspection and collection of bib numbers and kit before starting the ride. Our excitement was at its peak, also beacause of the fact that it was our Independence day. All of us had different reporting times, due to which I couldn't meet many other riders. The venue, National Velodrome in Saint-Quentin-En-Yvelins was hustling with riders from about 100 countries. What a site it was! Most of the riders had put on their country's jersey with various designs and colors like blue,yellow and even pink while only a few preferred to keep it casual. Our jerseys seemed to be the point of attraction for everyone! And we had people recognizing us as Indians, including us in their photos and wishing us luck.
That night was silent. Silent as our mind and body were ready to face all the situations that were going to come our way. The next 4 nights were going to be the most testing yet memorable nights of our life.
The final countdown.
16th morning was just like every other morning. Riders were having a relaxed time, eating a nice heavy breakfast and trying to stay calmn. All the riders were going to the flagged off in batches of about 200-250, the first batch starting from 5:15 pm and the last one at 8 pm. So, accordingly even all the riders in our Indian group were supposed to leave at their respective times. I was allotted a start time of 7:45 pm along with 3 riders from Mumbai and 1 from Delhi. At about 5:45 pm I left from my hotel riding my bike. The first batch of riders just zoomed in front of me at a crossroad, it was exhilarating to see them!
The localities and the volunteers were cheering each rider as they arrived at the start point. We were made to wait in a waiting area,where riders were chatting, filling their water bottles,eating,stretching,some sleeping on the floor and some even meditating. The whole environment was like that of a festival,enthusiasm all around.
Finally we arrived to the start line. Minutes left before the start. A last minute self talk and a prayer. The countdown had begun. The host shouted, cinq..quatre..trois..deux..onze.. ALLER(GO)!
16th August.
Enthusiastic riders took over to the streets, speeding away happily. The spectators cheered us all throughout as we were escorted out through the city. Unlike India, it begins to get dark only between 8:45 pm to 9 pm, so I had about an hour of daylight. Night wasn't too cold, it was just tolerable. Met an Indian rider(couldn't recognize who it was exactly,due to darkness),both of us rode together maintaining steady pace till the first food control, MORTAGNE-AU-PERCHE at 140 kms,reaching at 12:30 am approx where I re-filled my water bottle. Hadn't planned to take rest her,so moved on.
Post mid night it got more cold. Random group of riders used to form,ride together for a while and then dissolve(I was a part of many such groups but never rode in a group). The route took us through 3 forests with steep slopes and many small hills. Riders were singing,some to avoid sleep and some just out of enthusiasm!
17th August.
Morning of 17th August, was unlike any other morning I had seen. Vast stretches of greenland as far as the eye could see, the fog and mist, the delicious smell of coffee and crepes from the bakeries in the villages and finally the sunrise!
VILLAINES-LA-JUHEL was the next control point at 220 kms. There were numerous bicycle parking stands outside the control point and it took substantial time to find a place to park and go inside to get the stamp. Even at 7:15 am in the morning,there were lot of people to see the riders coming in. The whole scenario was like a fun fair. Inside the control point, there was a seperate section for take away food which included cold drinks,beer,sandwich,crepes and a hot meal section which had everything from pasta,chicken,fish,rice,bread,fruits and hot beverages. I decided to replenish with some crepes, bread and coffee and move on. Leaving Villaines, I caught up with few Indian riders who had an early start. Everyone seemed to be in a good spirit. The route again took us into some stretches of thick forest cover, huge farms and rolling hills.
FOUGERES at 309km was the next control. Unlike the previous control this was pretty compact. On reaching there at 12:30pm, got my card stamped, had a hot lunch and a nap of about 10 mins. Legs were feeling good and I was doing well. Somehow the route wasn't turning out to be the way I thought it would be in terms of the climbs(probably I didn't interpret it well).Leaving the CP( Control point) ,after an hour or so I met a rider, a lean and strong male about 60 yrs old who was doing his 6th PBP after having done a 1200km BRM elsewhere just 2 weeks back! He was delighted to see so many Indians riding this time. Chatting with him, felt really good as he calmn me down and just told me to pedal and enjoy.
I reached the next control TINTENIAC 363 kms at 3:45 pm. Followed the same ritual at this control too. This town was really peaceful and beautifully decorated with miniature cycles and banners cheering the leaders. I don't remember much from riding to tinteniac to QUEDILLAC 389 kms,the next food control point(we didn't have to get our card stamped here),except that the route really got hilly in this section. As it wasn't mandatory to stop at this control, I choose to push off after re filling my water.
LOUDEAC the next control at 448kms was where curd rice was waiting for us, as Diya and her friend had got a vehichle and had cooked some delicious Indian food! At 8:50 pm I reached and was welcomed by Divya. Also here we could have access tour extra luggage, so I carried my extra battery for the front light and changed my cycling wear. Had a sumptuous meal of curd rice, banana, energy bar and coffee.
Into the second cold night, sleep hadn't taken over me as yet,but the cold definitely had did. It was a lonely night. After a few hours of leaving Loudeac, I found myself completely alone. I could see a few lights behind me at a distance but no one in the front. I decided to wait for a while for few riders to come so that I could join them,but most of them would be too fast for my speed. Eventually,choose to ride alone following the arrows( they were set up to show directions, everywhere at the important junctions and hence there wasn't a chance to miss the road unless you sleep off on the bike).
The next control SAINT-NICHOLAS-DU-PELEM was at 493kms and was just a food control. About 9-10 kms before this control, got the company of a German rider who was really sleepy and wanted to talk to avoid sleep,so we rode together till the CP(eventually he slept at the CP).The cold was such that, I felt like comforting myself inside the control, so I had a hot cup of coffee and hot chocolate with a sandwich. It didn't blew off the cold but definitely made me feel a lot better.
18th August.
CARHAIX, the next CP was at 526 kms. I continued to ride from the previous control of Saint Nicolas without sleeping as the sleep would had made me more hypothermic and I knew that I could push myself till Carhaix. Carhaix was the coldest CP and very foggy too. I had a nice hot breakfast here and a nap of about 15-20 mins. It was difficult to venture out again in the cold and fog. But Brest being the next CP and even the turn around point got me excited to continue without wasting any more time.
The route to Brest was scenic of all. It first went through a forest and a medival aged fort in a village,a climb called Roc Trevezel,the highest point of in the whole route. There is huge tower that marks this point, a sight that I was longing to see while ascending! It was then followed by a long descend where I could see many riders already pedaling their way out of Brest.
BREST is located on the north west coast of France in region called Brittany and it also marks the turnaround point at 614 kms. I reached as per my plan (within 40hrs) at 11:40am. A big drawbridge, Recouvrance, is a site that catches the sight of all the riders,and many stop there for a while to click pictures and soak in the beauty. The route hereafter traverses a lot through the city, up and down, amongst the traffic, due to which I had become all the more eager to just reach the CP! This CP had the biggest spread out. A seperate building for stamping your card, seperate building for food and restrooms at the under ground level made me walk a lot. The que for the hot meal was a long one(but totally woth it). Hungry,sleepy and tired riders all over but still charged enough to go back to Paris. After sleeping for an hour, I pushed towards Paris, the city calling me!
The many odd kms that we had descended now were a challenge to climb. I started easy and comfortable to avoid any burnout later. While on climb, seeing some riders in their 50's and 60's zooming past by me really left me amazed and short of words to describe the amount of mitochondria their muscles had! About halfway onto the climb, we entered a beautiful little village where most of the riders had stopped to take rest and eat. Bored of the usual meal and coffee I decided to have an ice cream, a yummy vanilla ice cream cone. Well, unknowingly, it did gave more power to my legs and a strong stimulation to my taste buds!
Climbing all the hills, I reached the next CP, CARHAIX 698 kms at 7:00 pm. This time it wasn't as cold as it was before going to Brest. Here, very paradoxically, I felt drained out, mentally, for the first time in the entire route( I guess I just needed to hear someone's motivating words!). But talking to my parents and listening their words of encouragement and praise I gathered my strength back and moved on. Only after 15 kms I stopped again, besides the road, let my bicycle down, turned my back towards the road, with tears rolling down my eyes. I let my fatigue, tiredness out, by crying it out. I still don't know how right it was, but yes, that let out all the negative energies that had build up. Hoped On the bike again, I rolled, with a sense of calmness.
SAINT-NICOLAS-DU-PELEM at 734 kms was a secret CP. It was actually a bit deserted. Some riders were sleeping on planks, desks while some were eating quietly. The quietness(which was at no other CP) felt really good. Again had hot coffee, hot chocolate and bread and pushed off.
Cold, sleepy night again. Fortunately it wasn't lonely as I met DP somewhere even before Saint Nicolas. Three nights of riding in the cold, this one seemed to be really challenging. Even the number of layers of clothing that we had worn felt insufficient (I guess we Indians,most of us, have a poor cold tolerance, unlike the Brits and French who rode in shorts all the night!). Reciting songs, Gayatri Mantra, remebering some old memories helped me to distract my mind from the cold.
Both of us reached LOUDEAC 780 kms at 3:50am. Here again, Divya was not only waiting but she was very delighted to see us. She made us comfortable, got us hot coffee and food. But sadly, we came to know about some of the Indian riders who had discontinued. We were now running quite close to the cut off time of the CP so without wasting any time further we started riding again.
19th August.
Somewhere between Carhaix and the next CP QUEDILLAC at 839kms I lost track of DP again, so started to ride alone. I was glad that another long night had finally come to an end. The morning felt so nice and soothing after riding for hours under the dark starry sky. I decided to sleep for about 1.30 hour at Quedillac. Here there were proper mattresses and quilts to sleep. Volunteers are assigned, so that they can wake you up at the time you want. The moment I lay down on bed, I went into a half state of coma, the sleep had took over me completely! A pretty lady woke me up gently, saying, Mam it's time to wake up, with a comforting smile on her face.
This short sleep,gave me an instant energy, I rode at a good speed to the next CP TINTENIAC at 865 kms and reached at 11:15 pm. The control was small and I could see all kinds of bikes here, tandems,fixies,MTB and even Elliptigo. While I was parking my bike, a lady walked up to me and started talking casually. She recognized me as an Indian( the jersey effect) and was amazed when I told her my age! She very well knew about Mumbai and had even visited Pune thrice. Even these random talks were making me feel so good. Stamping my card, I headed out to the eating area where I again caught up with DP. In the next 15 mins, we left the CP.
We tried to maintain a constant speed, as we now knew that if we do so we can easily reach Paris in time. On the way we met another rider, Varnam Yuva and the three of us rode together. Route to the next CP FOUGERES was an easy one and we reached at 2:35 pm. Here again, Divya and her friend were waiting for us. All throughout she was updating fellow Indians back home about our status. She really motivated us to complete the remaining leg of the ride. Also here we had a full meal of pasta,rice, pudding and fruits.
The three of us left Fougeres together but after riding some distance (Don't exactly remember how much it was) we again lost track of each other. Even though this time I was alone again, I was good on my energy level, the mind telling me that once I reach the next CP, I will be crossing the 1000k mark for the first time ever in life, which was a big deal for me!
Route once again got hilly, and it took me substantial time to reach VILLAINES-LA-JUHEL 1008 kms at 9:20pm. It was getting cold already. Stamping my card inside the CP, I called up my parents and told them that I'll be coming to Paris soon. Grabbed a plate of sandwich, apple and banana with coffee and sat down on a table full of elderly french people in the restaurant. This group was engaged in their own talks until I sat down at one corner of their table. One by one they started asking me questions in french to which I had no answer to! But we somehow communicated with whatever little english they knew. Even their incomprehensible words and their laughs,smiles and praises for me meant a lot to me that time. Finally all of them got up, clicked a few snaps with me and left. Leaving the eating area I geared up again to face the last cold night.
My body was extremely sleep deprived but the mind didn't want to accept this and started playing games on me. A downhill didn't feel like one. The mind started to believe that something is wrong with the rear wheel and hence it's not rolling on a downhill( later did I realize this was just an illusion due to sleep deprivation). This went on for a while and went on to such an extent that I even sought the help of a few riders and urged them to check if at all there was a problem in the rear wheel. So stubborn my mind had become that regardless of them assuring me I decided to go back to CP and see a bike mechanic (a gross mistake that I did as I ended up wasting a lot of time). The mechanic checked the bike thoroughly, rode it himself to verify and tried confronting me that everything was okay. hearing him saying this I was completely confused now. I didn't know whom to trust, my own self or the many people who found nothing wrong in the bike. I saw DP here, getting ready to ride again, so both of us started together and left the control point.
A few kms into the ride,we saw a family had set up a small table outside their house in their village besides the road. They were serving hot coffee, biscuits and cakes. Seeing us two struggling they made us stop, made us sit down and served us hot coffee and cake. Such was the dedication of these french people that I was really overwhelmed. Somewhere they knew that we needed this.
The fatigue, the lack of sleep had really slowed us down. We took a few naps of 5-10 mins to help ourselves but still it wasn't helping much. Physically we were two of us riding, DP in front and me behind him. But he didn't know of this third rider who was riding besides me. He was dressed in a dark green jersey and was wearing a red hat, looked liked a Santa Claus on the bike. But the weird thing I realized that time was,he was vanishing in the darkness in between(I was hallucinating).Was my condition really becoming that bad that I had no sense of reality left? Were the handlebars of my bike really twisting and turning? What the hell was going on? Even before I could find the answers to these questions, it started to rain.
Within minutes it was pouring heavily. There was no sight of any place where we could take shelter until we found a small bus stop, half covered,where we stopped. All the things that we sort of feared the cold,rain,lack of sleep,hallucinations,muscle stiffness had come together to haunt us. We had less time left to ride till the next CP . We had to make a decision.We either could ride somehow(which was dangerous) or rest for good number of hours and then ride again.
Without even deciding mutually we slept off at the bus stop. The steel plank was too cold to sleep on, so we slept on the floor and covered ourselves in spacer blankets. As I struggled to wrap myself completely in the blanket, it tore. I just lay down with whatever reaming bits of blanket I had and dozed off. After a few hours( don't even know how many), it was still raining and two volunteers who were patrolling the area woke us up.Body got up but the mind was lost,pathetically. It was at such a place, unaware even to me, that I didn't know how to get it back. The decision to not ride further was made. We gave away the sensors attached to our ankles to them and asked how to get back to Paris.
Contrary to what I had thought, I felt as if a huge load of weights had been put off my shoulders. It was a weird feeling. I had never actually felt this calmn after quitting any race(rather no one does). I guess it was probably because somewhere down the line I knew that I had to make this decision only after giving all my energy, putting all my efforts into this(crossing the 1000k mark was still a brownie point for me!). Sleep had vanished. Sitting on the plank, looking at the rains and the window light in the house in front of us we waited for the bus that was supposed to come at 5:30 am in the morning.
20th August.
A morning of extreme satisfaction and very less of disappointment. The rain stopped and the cold decreased. Having a last look at the place,we boarded with our bikes in the bus. It took us in some city and dropped us at the railway station( wasn't very aware to note down which city it was).For the last time we had a chocolate patissier with hot coffee here. The train journey was sleepy and nothing else for me. Getting down at Saint Quentin we rode till our hotel.
We were welcomed by Divya and some of the riders who had quit before us. All of them acknowledged our efforts. Our baggage had also arrived. Chatting for a while with them, I headed upstairs to my room. I was waiting to see my parent eagerly who were already on their way.
For the first time in the whole ride, all the favorable things came together at once that time those being, lots of sleep, a warm bed and no time restriction! The stiff body melted easily on the soft bed.
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| And finally, the Eiffel Tower! |
The Learning.
They say, experience is the biggest teacher and it has never been so true in my case before PBP.
Quitting was definitely not something that I wanted to do. But rather than looking at the 10%of the unfinished ride, I choose to feel good about the 90% of the ride, that brought out the best in me. I won't say that whole 90% went smoothly.I had moments when I had my favorite song playing in repeat mode in my mind, even thought about the after party that I would give to my friends and family to the moment where I cursed the route for being hilly( rolling as per many foreigners), crying my heart out, just wanting to reach to a control. One single experience showed me two phases of myself. Also got a reality check about where I can improve my riding skills.
But the one thing that didn't change at all, anytime in the whole route was the attitude of the french people. A healthy body( elderly gentlemen and ladies riding on a hill as we ride here normally!), extremely helpful nature and a heart of gold is I perceive them as. They go out of their way to help you, offering people their own beds to sleep, serving coffee late night, sitting in the cold all night long,helping with the directions, serving food at every control, they do this just because they want you to reach Paris and cross that finish line! This unique attitude made a lot of difference. Some even note down the rider's bib number,name and country so that it remains with them always.
I feel obliged that I got such an opportunity at young age and some really awesome people to support me in this venture. PBP has given me a lifetime experience and not finishing it,has giving me a even a bigger reason to come back in 2019 and fulfill this unfinished dream!
