Paris Brest Paris (PBP) LFGSS 2011

lots of fatties doing london to paris though.

waits for a ban...

You have to start PBP fat to survive. They all finish weighing 60kg ;)

are any of you long distance guys runners as well?

what kind of distance compares to a marathon?

This is a subject of much debate. Audax riding doesn't really compare to marathon running as you don't attempt that kind of output for the same amount of time. Audax riding is far more comparable to long distance walking, such as the Tour de Trigs and so on. It's also difficult to compare as the impacts on the body are quite different. If pushed for an answer I'd say somewhere between a 50m and a 100m TT is the closest you'll get to a marathon.

Matt_ha, the seldom killer, teddy and I are planning on doing paris brest paris.

We are hoping to meet up on 16/10/10 in Kew for a ride out to Henley, and a pub lunch to discuss training etc.

Is there anyone else with a keen interest in the event who would like to come along?

Given the time of year would suggest mudguards etc to help make it a little more social.

This clashes with my Joy of Essex ride. Otherwise I d pop over.

I ll see what interest there is on the Eastern side .

Definitely interested in the PBP...hope to make the meet up

^ The 1951 PBP was a race though (the last one I think) and not an audax. Is that year still the course record time?

http://www.paris-brest-paris.org/pbp2011/index2.php?lang=en&cat=presentation&page=competition_ou_rando

Every PBP has a bunch of vedettes that race to be first. There's no official 'winner' of the ride, but someone has to be first and they do give out trophies.

As for equivalent distance for runners? I'd agree that it's more akin to long distance walking. So id'd be roughly the same as doing long distance walking events where you are walking for up to 18 hours a day for 4 days.

Naughty boys ^. It's not really audax if you're using support cars and breaking the law to get to the finish first.

I bet they didn't even have beards.

I haven't even given any thought to my beard yet! I've been mulling over training and nutrition, never once thinking about the all important beard! I feel I may be horribly unprepared, I have almost no experience in beard growing :(

My advice. Bin your razors.. the temptation to maintain cleanshavenness in normal males these days is horribly high.

what?

some of us want to complete this with a sense of decorum and style - ok, silly moustaches and tweed

My advice. Bin your razors.. the temptation to maintain cleanshavenness in normal males these days is horribly high.

Exactly. The standard PBP method is to shave on Thursday morning, and then do a couple of 100km days, via the ferry, to pootle down to Paris staying Thursday night in any random town in Normandy. Saturday is registration and bike check. Sunday you're off. Thursday you're back. Friday and Saturday and the 100km days pootling back to Blighty via Normandy and a ferry. You then get to shave on Sunday before you're back on the bike commuting on the Monday.

Now I heard news that there was a barber of some sort offering service about 150k out from the finish for those riders wishing to look vaguely presentable at the end of the event.

I'd certainly go for that.

Brazillian?

^^Hall & Oates probably wouldn't.

Brazillian?

I won't hold it against him if he is.

My pencil tache disappears in 4 days worth of stubble

May have to bail before sartorial fail

After a 600, one of the things that I do is shave so that I feel clean enough to sleep properly, particularly if it's been warm. Whilst I appreciate the value of attention to tonsorial detail in tweedly culture, I suspect that I'll start clean shaven and try and fit in a quick scrape somewhere shortly after Brest.

I do have the advantage that I only shave with hot water and a disposable razor so don't need to pack a full brush and soap kit.

The brush and soap are the best bits about a shave! When I had a beard I used to soap it up, leave it then rinse in very hot water. Mmmm... lovely fluffy face fur...

I won't hold it against him if he is.

I don't think any barber would thank you if you held it against him.

It's unhygienic.

12 minutes - B-, could do better.

lol

WTF? People talking about beards ... with 1200km of riding to do. Is this called disassociative behaviour? Avoidance? Burying your head in the sand? Something like that.

Good luck to any of the nutters who would consent to ride 1200km of their own free will. What their face looks like* is pretty immaterial.

*or whether they are able to grow a beard... is Audax pretty much a Men's club (capital M)?

Not really, there are plenty of capital women who do audaxing.

If you think it's madness to consent to do a 1200k ride, remember that the first obstacle come in obtaining the following. *Riders must supply a medical certificate less than three months old , attesting that they are physically capable of covering 1200 km without any risk to their health.* I do worry about having to find a doctor willing to provide one of these.

Lots of this type of flier in the east end ^> I'm sure they'd sign off on you. :)