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(Not sure I count as intelligentsia, but I will have a go).
This in relation to PBP?
No harm in multiple 600s. None at all. However, once the qualifying window is closed by mid-late June, you still have a couple of months before the French ride.
Plenty of old hands suggest this is the perfect time for really battering around 2-300km rides with minimal faffing and stopping.
PBP can be very fast compared to a typical UK audax - you can get well disciplined, very quick, groups that will let you join in and cut across the French countryside at Mach 3. (Equally you get very undisciplined rag bag groups who let you join in and risk your life for a couple of hours).
Typically, you are looking at 60-80km between controls - so, if you are comfy riding those sort of distances at evens sort of pace, then you are well equipped for making the most of the wheel sucking options that PBP presents.
So, yes, riding hard and fast through July and early August is traditionally seen as a good thing. There is less benefit in going to ride 600 or 1000km events in that period between qualification and the ride.
With my serious lack of miles this year, I am clinging onto the hope that after qualification, I can just batter myself for a couple of months and get the fitness needed for the ride!
I am planning it on fixed, so probably won't be able to make as much use of the wheels available as I can on gears. Going to be interesting!
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marcusjb
@Spares
Audax intelligentsia I need advice. Currently signed up to 2 x no 600s' a week apart and now considering a third a fortnight after. General consensus though appears to be to concentrate on doing as many 200s' as possible with a view to getting faster after a 600 is in the bag. Thoughts?