Tomorrow will be just three months away from the finish of Paris-Brest-Paris, and with many of us already or nearly qualified, it might just be time to start looking ahead to the summer preparations ahead.
MG and I are still sorting out our plans for the weeks after the D.C. Randonneurs 600k on June 4-5 from Middletown, Va. The club has returned this year to the classic loop course with an overnight stop at Raphine, Va. We last rode this course together in 2005, and it was MG’s first 600K. That year the weather was sweltering and we slowed to a crawl on the second day, but managed to finish in plenty of time with buddy Andrea M. Revisit MG’s story here.
Quick excerpt: “Andrea, Ed, and I were concerned about the heat since it had almost done me in yesterday so we took it easy, stopping several times under some excellent shade trees and enjoying the breeze. Ed said we were doing it like a Chuck and Crista ride. Ok, I can do that! Andrea talked a lot about the adventures of her cross-country tour, and we rode along, tired and happy.”
Getting back to PBP, I saw probably the best PBP primer linked on John Lee Ellis’ excellent Colorado Brevet Series blog. The 47-slide presentation by Tom Baker of Tempe, Ariz., titled “Paris Brest Paris _ Things to know before you go” offers a wealth of practical knowledge and photographs. If you wonder what some of the PBP controls look like, or how riders handle themselves in the first few miles during the event, Tom has you covered.
Tom’s report has been posted on the Arizona Brevet & Randonnee site, along with the report titled “How to Peak for Your Randonnee” by Jeb Stewart. Read it here. It matches up closely with our approach, which will be to peak at the 600K in June, peak again about a month before PNP, and then maintain fitness until we get to Paris.
Finally, see which American randonneurs have already pre-registered for PBP at the RUSA PBP Wiki page.
Happy PBP dreams, everybody!
The Daily Randonneur 