PBP 2015 / Paris - Brest - Paris Audax

correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldnt most people who regularly ride long (400s and 600s) audax under uk domestic regulations (15kph) be capable of an 80hr limit?

Is there something I'm missing, like the parcours or the crowds that make this sound harder than it is?

..... oh hang on.....50hrs.
yeah that's a bit different. That's nearly no stopping, no sleeping if it's unsupported.

Are there audax races? Like 5 or 6 day races? There must be. Not like RAAM where it's done alone, but done in a bunch.

all the long scando ones seem to be like that. Races, but in bunches. Theyre mad for it

not too many 5 or 6 day ones going around though. The logistics for even 4-5 day events like LEL or PBP are huge.

I met a great guy this year doing uk audaxes. He just finished this today. The site needs updating, but I think he's finished 6th:
http://www.transcontinentalrace.com/

Epic^

Are there audax races? Like 5 or 6 day races? There must be. Not like RAAM where it's done alone, but done in a bunch.

There are 'drafting' events in the Ultracycling calendar. Have a look at ultracycling.com. Lots of them are in USA and on the continent.

all the long scando ones seem to be like that. Races, but in bunches. Theyre mad for it

not too many 5 or 6 day ones going around though. The logistics for even 4-5 day events like LEL or PBP are huge.

I met a great guy this year doing uk audaxes. He just finished this today. The site needs updating, but I think he's finished 6th:
http://www.transcontinentalrace.com/

Rimas? He did LEL in 2009 as his first Audax. I last saw him at the start of the Ditchling Devil 200.

There are 'drafting' events in the Ultracycling calendar. Have a look at ultracycling.com. Lots of them are in USA and on the continent.

Good. Hope their still around when I'm older. Sounds like fun.

The idea of a really long races excite me. Like old road racing, or longer, a couple days. At least 9-10h+.

^^ yeah Rimas.

boast post: I saw Rimas at the end of the Ditchling Devil, but he rode solo and we chain ganged a good chunk of the way home.

^ Skinny if +9-10hrs excites, try and hang onto the fast guys in one of the bigger (attended) normal audaxes. BCM is a good one to try, because it attracts a fairly hungry-whippets field.

Forgo the sleep and find a group aiming for a sub 24 hr finish.

If I was going to do it I'd want to do it fast. Riding in a bunch would be less mental strain than the TT I reckon (until one of them falls asleep and you're required to do some high speed avoidence!) and you have the advantage of drafting, chit chat, maybe food sharing or whatever if you know people or are a group of friends.

Wait, what? No audax! Trickery!

Have a word with Ult Hippy, I'm not sure if he's planning to do it again in 2015 but he flew round in 2011...

I'd love to go back and get round under sixty hours but as I almost lost my mind last time I'm not sure that's too wise...

For those interested in PBP, this is a recent message from the head of ACP.

I would like to thank you one more time for another great BRM season. We
are not yet at the end but the results are already very good. It will be
the second or the third season for the number of homologations with more
than 36000 homologated brevets outside France.

Of course, 2013 will stay forever as a sad year with the passing of
Robert Lepertel, creator of the BRM outside France in 1976 and first
president of the Randonneurs Mondiaux in 1983, a towering figure in the
sport of randonneuring. For 2014, the Audax Club Parisien will create
brevet cards dedicated to Bob.

It was also a sad year for some of our BRM organizers. The Audax Club
Parisien thanks them all for all they have done to spread the
randonneuring ethos.

2013 was also a great year with several new ACP representatives
implementing BRM in their country. We were pleased to welcome in 2013
Belarus, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Colombia and some others are
closed to join us soon.

We have now to work on our calendar for 2014. You have to know that we
will use the BRM validated in 2014 for the preregistration for PBP 2015,
as we did in 2011 (the longest you rode in 2014, the soonest you can
preregister). However, there won’t be quotas per country, only a global
number of entries. In 2011, we had many available places. It should be
the same in 2015 but we have to prevent ourselves from a too large
demand. There is no maximum decided yet but it could be from 6000 to
6500 riders, roughly 1000 more than the numbers of riders in 2011. About
PBP, we are still uncertain for the date of the event in 2015. It will
be held on August 16th to 20th or 23th to 27th. A decision will be taken
in January 2014.

Best regards,

Jean-Gualbert FABUREL

Audax Club Parisien

Really good to find a thread on this, I have only been into cycling (or any training) for 10 or 11 months. I rode my first century at Easter - it was tough (Petersfield - Lewes - Petersfield) it even snowed for 20 minutes.

In June we rode unsupported from Santander to Roscoff with some detours to see sights and keep us over 100 miles a day - 10 days and over 1100 miles. I loved it. Now we have a plan for 2014 - West to East traverse of the Pyrenees and then up to Chamonix for the Mt Blanc run. While we were planning that we discovered the PBP and have made that our challenge for 2015. Would be great to meet up and have a beer with someone who has done it.

Would be great to meet up and have a beer ...

Sounds like you're going to take to audaxing very well.

I'm in.

I'm in ... plan is to do a SR series in 2014 then build up to the big one if I don't die/wimp out first.

Maybe try a couple of local-ish AUK events over the winter (Chalfont St Peter, Cholsey, Oxford) then first BRM will be Man of Kent 200 in March.

Do many LFGSS do these things?

Anthony - quite a few this year, what with it being an LEL year.

It's a nice way to spend a weekend.

If you're riding with the Vedettes (i.e. people aiming to do <50h) then you could probably survive without a Garmin. Just try and keep on the wheel of someone in the peloton and take your turn on the front on the really long straight bits.

Some fast friends of mine have done PBP in the past in 60hrs, and theyre a little faster than me, but I reckon I would have 80 covered. They entered as Vedettes.

has anyone got any links for the Vedette status and how it works?

All I can find is some vague forum inferences that Vedettes have an 80 hour cutoff imposed.

Just choose the sub-80 hr vedette time limit when you enter PBP, rather than the sub-84 hr randonneur or sub-90 hr touriste options.

As LWaB says - just tick the box when you do your entry.

If you enter as a Vedette, then yes, 80 hours is the limit. If you exceed that time, then you fail even if you get back in under the 90 hours.

You'd be fine as a Vedette. I rode it in 76 hours in 2011 (starting in the Touristes as it was my first one). I'd planned enter as a Vedette next time, but I hope to be on a special (needs) bike this time.

If the starting format is the same, I'm planning on entering in the 84 hour group. This'll mean a nice morning start and only three overnight sections rather than 4 (which you may still have to do on the 80 hour start). All this is, of course, subject to change close to entry time.

When is entrance for 2015 likely to open? Still trying to work out if I'm actually capable of doing this sort of distance, but I think I'm going to regret it if I don't try.

Entry for 2015 is likely to start from April 2015 - if it is done as per last time (which may or may not be the case).

They open it up for pre-registrations for those riders with long rides in the 2014 season - so those who have ridden a 1000km+ BRM can pre-register first, 600km next etc.

All the way to those who haven't ridden a long event in the previous season (I was in this situation in 2011 as I had only just started).

So you can't enter until early June if you don't do any rides this year - so motivation to get out there and ride some longer rides this year. It's all good preparation anyway.

As well as registering - you need to qualify. That is, you need to ride an SR series (200,300,400 and 600) in the 2015 season - so, starting in Jan/Feb, you need to ride a 200, March/April a 300, April/May a 400 and May/June a 600.

I've written a quick few thoughts on pre-registration, starting times etc. here

http://marcusjb.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/so-youre-thinking-about-paris-brest-paris-2015-then/

That's all pretty sound and reliable advice.

I'd add that a couple of 400's this year will likely be better for new audaxers than getting the 600 in. This particularly applies if you do some of the ones that start at 10am onwards as you're guaranteed to get the experience of overnight riding. 400k doesn't quite lend itself to having a proper sleep stop so you get the catnapping thing in as well.

Training wise I'd advise on making sure that from now on, the day after you do a 200k, you make sure you get up and ride again in the morning. Good experience for getting the legs going again after a sleep and the legs tightening up. Aiming for an RRtY into 2015 will also do wonders for keeping your fitness up and making the qualifying a less daunting experience.

I've written a quick few thoughts on pre-registration, starting times etc. here

http://marcusjb.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/so-youre-thinking-about-paris-brest-paris-2015-then/

Thank you - that's really helpful/inspiring. My worry at the moment is mainly finding the time to do the necessary rides.
That and my inability to think in KMs rather than miles.

If the starting format is the same, I'm planning on entering in the 84 hour group. This'll mean a nice morning start and only three overnight sections rather than 4 (which you may still have to do on the 80 hour start). All this is, of course, subject to change close to entry time.

If you like getting out of bed at 3am then the 84 hour is a nice morning start. It was too damn early for me. By the time we got to Loudeac (or might have been Tinteniac) at who knows what time the next morning it felt like I'd been awake for weeks anyway.

I've got permission from the missus to ride in 2015 - will probably do the 90 hour start this time and try to take more time and enjoy the ride.

@marcusjb - Hi Marcus, I just thought I'd chip in to say how much I enjoyed your article in Arivee last year.