Paris Brest Paris (PBP) LFGSS 2011

LEL went like this for me:-

Reasonable sleep in the week leading up to LEL, to try and minimise sleep debt.

Saturday: Spent most of the day sorting out my geared Audax bike to lend it to someone doing LEL who'd found a crack in their frame the day before. Minor adjustments required, then we spotted the broken spoke, etc, etc. Also had to go and queue for registration for LEL which took 4 hours plus 2 hours getting to Cheshunt and back (from SW15).

Got everything else sorted and went to bed at around midnight.

Sunday: Up at 5am. Pick up car (Streetcar from end of our road), pack everything in. Drive to Cheshunt. Wave teary goodbye to Mrs G. Mill around ready for 8.15am start. Do 320km up to Thorne by 12.30am or so. Faff around for a few hours (not really ready for sleep) grabbing food. Also had a shower. Finally felt sleepy so had 3 hours sleep on an airbed that was in my drop-bag.

Monday: Up at about 6am, coffee and breakfast and out on the bike by 6.30am. Get to Eskdalemuir (630km) at about 2am. No showers available, found a space on the floor to get a couple of hours kip.

Tuesday: Up at 6am, left loads of stuff at the control and about 7.30am headed off up to Dalkeith and back. Got to Dalkeith Rugby Club at about midday. Had a shower, swapped stuff with stuff in drop bag (clothes, fitted new rear tyre) and headed off at 1.45pm. Got back to Eskdalemuir at 7.30pm in an absolute deluge. Sat around for hours chatting to people (should have had a sleep instead). Got bored of waiting at 10pm and headed out as it wasn't going to get any better for a while. Very heavy rain until Langholm, then it cleared up, more rain at Longtown but that stopped after an hour or so. Got the dozies cycling along the A7, the arrows telling you to merge lanes were turning into cats looking over their shoulders. Fell asleep a couple of times whilst on the bike. Pro-plus wasn't really helping (see bit about should have used the 3 hours at Eskdalemuir for sleep not chatting). Had an hour long kip in a porch at Brampton wrapped up in my space blanket. Felt better and made for the next control at Alston, half way up Yad Moss. Got there at about 6am. Had some food and grabbed a bunk for 3 hours sleep.

Wednesday: Up at 10am. Over Yad Moss, and onwards to Thorne. Got there at 2am or so. Had a shower and a couple more hours sleep on my airbed.

Thursday: Up at 6am, breakfast and out the door by 6.30am. Nice flat trundle home. 24 hours to do about 290km. Now in a group of 5 or so, stopped for lunch on a nice bit of grass in the sun near Wansford. Took our time getting to Gamlingay (10pm or so) and still with hours to spare the last section was slow. Stopped to buy some beers in St Neots (4 cans of 1664 in the rack pack were good training for the last 60km). Group swelled as we picked up a Belgian and a few others. Slow progress as someone needed to stop because of the dozies. Once they were ok someone else would get them. Then I got the dozies again with 15km or so to go. All rolled in to the finish at 3.30am.

Friday: Stayed awake chatting to people at the finish (with beers) until Mrs G arrived at 6am to pick me up. Stayed away for the rest of the day too, didn't feel that knackered at all (mentally or physically). Slept like a log that night though.

So, during the ride:

3+2+1+3+2 = 11 hours sleep during the ride.

I was riding for almost exactly 70 hours, so averaging near bang on 20kph moving average. That leaves 45 hours off the bike (or stopped at junctions or faffing). If 11 hours of that were sleeping I reckon a good 25 hours were spent eating.

I would have had more, and/or finished earlier if I'd used my time at Eskdalemuir better. I should have either gone straight back out and got to Alston for midnight-ish. Or slept for 2 hours rather than sat there talking. That would have saved me 2 hours at least on the section to Alston. I could then have started the next day at 6am and got to Washingborough on Wednesday night leaving just 180km to do on the final day and a daylight finish.

Either way, I wasn't a wreck at the finish, but then I deal with sleep dep quite well (especially as baby GB has cured me of my inability to wake up before 7am).

You'll be a lot better acquainted with yourself after you've done the 300, 400 and 600 qualifiers. I've seen many people able to do 200s and 300s much faster than me, but then fall apart on a 400 since they just can't cope with being awake that long.

As I said before, doing the Dun Run and back in one go will be great training for the first night of PBP. What you've got to remember is that you'll finish the Dun Run and back and have 3 or 4 hours sleep before needing to set off and do it twice more again with only a few hours kip along the way.

PBP is harder as the minimum average speed is higher. If it was the same distance as LEL you'd have 13 hours less to do the ride in, roughly the total time I managed to sleep on LEL, so either I've got to get faster or smarter. This is all part of my plan for PBP.