How to complete Paris Brest Paris – The end of my journey – My experience, tips and help

This series will chronicle the process it took for me to enter, qualify and ultimately complete Paris Brest Paris 2023. This is the first vlog I have created, so please be gentle. I wanted to show all aspects, ‘worts and all’. The highs, the lows, the struggles pre, during and post event. my footage was lost, so this was largely filed retrospectively. But it should help to understand these events and how to complete them. Paris Brest Paris and also London Edinburgh London.

Music by creator mix.com

[Music] hello and thanks for coming to watch the final part of the story of how I wrote PBP 2023 if you’ve stumbled across this video there are two parts before this uh so I’d suggest watching those if you can the first one riding from my home here in Portsmouth out to the start line uh covering my kit list and my bike strategy and then riding the first half of the event from just outside Paris out to breast but if you’re one of the people that watch the first two videos and came back to see the end thanks a lot I originally bought the action camera to record this to show friends and family how these events go uh and what happens when I disappear on a bike for several days at a time um but if it helped anybody else then great so hopefully someone got some use out of it so this video will be a little bit of a different feel to the previous two in that I’m recording this in my lounge uh in Portsmouth it’s cold November it’s Far Cry from the hot roasting hot fields of france um the reason for that is that a fair bit of the onike footage I recorded is gone sadly um it’s my stupid fault as well uh and I’ll get to exactly what happened as the story kind of unfolds but it’s not all bad it’s given me more time to process the event and to recover and I can give a much better long-term review this way in this video I’m going to cover off the route back from breast to Paris roughly what to expect challenges I had um how to deal with the aftermath of an event like this the recovery aspects hopefully some things that people will benefit from I’ll pick up where I left off in breasted arrived in breast at around about 10 or 11:00 p.m. and first things first got my stamp went to find some food um found somewhere to sleep I think there may have been beds but I didn’t find any so I found a spot to bivy outside of the lunch Hall set up my bivvy blew up my air bed have to have a little wash with some wet wipes get my clean shorts clean socks ready and then hun her down for some sleep and slept for about four or 5 hours something like that pretty good going then wake up it’s sort of forish roughly get dressed have another meal because about to get back on the bike for several hours had to eat again um so then before you get going it’s quite a long stop the more often you’re doing that the more time you’re going to add onto your finish time so it really makes a big difference all right it’s 20 6 in the morning uh just have quite a good sleep actually decided to sleep a little bit longer better ahead of schedule about five and a bit hours um breakfast another bagette uh but pretty good new shorts my teeth coffee feeling pretty good um took 28 hours to get it without the stops so that 5 hour sleep should see me through I’m going to try and do the same back and ride all the way back uh if I need to stop from sleep I will if not and then I should be back by about midday tomorrow roughly pretty good I was planning originally about 124 hours after that so see what happens if I need to sleep I sleep all right good morning so then getting back on the bike after a stopped that long can generally be quite sore um but I felt not too bad I think four or five hours sleep was what I needed made all the difference generally after stopping for several hours uh my legs are going to be pretty seized so my plan generally is to gently spin the pedals until they feel less painful and then I can start pushing again I found actually at this control that wasn’t really possible I imagine future events might be the same uh as soon as you leave the breast control you hit a pretty Savage climb uh from memory it was sort of between 10 and 15% went on for quite a long time so then you have no choice but to push pretty hard straight away actually riding through breast that time of the day just Before Sunrise was really nice actually quite a busy City uh but in the dark quite easy to get back out so as I’m leaving breast not too long after we hit probably the main route highlight which was a I don’t know the name but a huge suspension Bridge just outside of breast and pretty impressive I hit that just to Sunrise just as the sun was about to rise so off to my left it’s a really beautiful orange bright burning orange Sunrise reflecting off of the water um pretty pretty nice got a video of it it’s gone but yeah definite root highlight after that the sun was starting to rise more um realized from my garment that it has the number of climbs that are on the route it had one single route all the way back to Paris and it was about a third more in terms of numbers of number of climbs uh to get back to Paris so quite going to be quite quite quite hilly then started to notice T to France symbols painted on the roads so it seemed like the organizers had planned in for us to follow a Tor France stage for quite a few miles that was a really good touch so Tor France logos every every few hundred M um there a really nice route as well so once the sun started to really rise started to get my energy back started to feel really good on Long rid like this energy levels can be really up and down one minute you in a major major trough and low feeling terrible crying unable to turn the pedals feeling absolutely terrible but generally after a short amount of time or well a certain amount of time your energy levels will pick up and you’ll be flying again you just to trust that that’s going to come and it does that morning I was absolutely flying it felt like the fastest I’ve ever been uh probably wasn’t but I was overtaking everybody flying up the climbs feeling great pushing a bit too hard probably doing myself damage that I’m going to pay for later but it was a lot of fun [Music] d sh so the scenery in this part of Britany absolutely beautiful uh flying through Villages um very bit bit of climbing quite Misty in the morning but gorgeous wasn’t too long after the sun rose we had a really small control in a place called plin I believe it was called I don’t know if it was a control or even a a resupply it’s quite small but it had good coffee good pastries um some pastries that were specific to the region small kind of cornet shape with um cream inside really really good um but that came just at the right time so they managed to get on flying through this gorgeous Countryside at a really good pace for quite a while but this point I got a pretty good idea of what’s ahead of me to get back to Paris the route is pretty much an out and back there are a couple of points on the way back where the route diverts off a couple of times and I realized as I went through the actually those little diversions were coming away from some of the harder climbing the first day was the the first half was pretty bad thankfully we diting off a couple of times and then I knew that further down the line the roads will turn into nice flowy roads that actually move pretty quickly so by this point there was less to film quite often anyway the roads were quiet uh much quite similar to the the roads on on the way out uh less groups less Riders around I was making really good Pace I just knew I’d got to get on get through the climbing today um it’s going to be very hot in the afternoon again I can I can see that coming already um but just get through get through the CLS so one real benefit of a route like this and out and back is that you hit the same controls on the way back that you hit on the way up you know which ones have good for food um and which ones have pretty bad food I remember the ones that basically crippled me for sections of the ride so gave them a miss ateen the banery ate The Patisserie had some really good food so at least I can manage that much better than on the way out roasting blood roasting H again making pretty things PR just stop these guys free coffee free biscuits one of the guys from England uh got some coffee the food and crack on again I think at the moment my target was to get back early hours of Thursday 1 or 2:00 Thursday something like that but it’s looking like it might be lunchtime Wednesday but we’ll see who knows might be a good delay but the sun oh my God it’s so hot so for me once left a control I think called ludc was getting into the hottest part of the day still in the hiler end of the course um and things were starting to get pretty pretty Grim getting into a temperature that’s pretty horrible to be riding in um very exposed um got to the Early to Mida afternoon uh and had a real energy crash so after feeling fantastic hormon probably doing myself damage pushing harder than I should have done um couldn’t turn the pedals couldn’t turn the pedals couldn’t keep my eyes open again um just felt absolutely terrible so I came across a small um patch of cover some trees across the road and just decided to pull in set a timer on my phone for 20 minutes close my eyes if I get 10 minutes sleep that should do it but I couldn’t sleep so that didn’t really help I had no choice but to push on really what can you do you can’t just stop so carried on pushing on all I could think about was a cold drink ice cream something to quench my thirst had some water not very much and it was just the water was about 35° inside the bottle it just not hitting the spot the head wind was just baking me like a fan assisted oven again um but just have to keep pushing on in the hope that I come across a shop or a village or something thankfully eventually did a small shop quite a few bikes outside people hiding in the shade bought myself cold Red Bull ice cream cold Coke anything I get my hands on was cold sat there for sort of 10 15 minutes and ate everything and made all the difference just completely recovered still tired but I was able to get to the next control Once I arrived in TC was pretty frazzled by this point pretty burnt burnt nose burnt lips um tired overheating but um they had some really good sausage baps and coffee uh so managed to sit there for a while and recover a bit as the sun was starting to go down I met a rider called Kyle from Seattle um still in touch with Kyle now and had a bit of a chat with him he was going through some of the same stuff I was uh this was really helpful to chat actually put me in a better a much better frame of mind so thanks Kyle I find often on rid like this that I don’t really talk to other people that much I prefer to say in my own head and my own internal monologue tends to keep me on the straight and narrow if I talk to other people I I think I might be more tempted to scratch W roller coaster over there and started absolutely flying and loving my life and slowly but surely got my ass kicked by the sun it was brutal brutal but it’s about to piss off now so thank God for that about 350k to go a little bit more than 200 miles roads again from it’s all the same roads back to Paris to get here now so rolled really nicely I’m finally getting some power back out my legs so I’m not sure what time I’ll get back but probably about 5ish hours per 100K something like that uh all right let’s go ride through the night again so left and tenac feeling pretty all right to be honest um some was going down heading into the final overnighter of the event shortly after the control bummed into Kyle again and we St together for a while actually which was quite nice to chat um yeah ride with somebody for a change we had a few groups that night actually which was good some quite fast groups we were just getting onto the rolling RADS that flowing really really well um before we know it was sort of Rolling Along at 35 40K an hour again um going pretty well a little bit later in the evening we picked up onto the back of a group of Spanish guys maybe like four or five Spanish guys and they were strong so we were going pretty fast taking our turns I’d hit the front and push for a while they’ hit the front and push for a while Kyle would take his turns too but eventually I just blew up and had to fall off the back and I got dropped so that was not great but as I dropped off I realized Kyle was gone so he must have been dropped a short while before I saw Kyle in Paris after the event we met up for coffee and hung up for a while um and he was quite gutted that he got dropped actually but it was funny to talk about about the incident because he didn’t realize I got dropped shortly afterwards um not long after I got dropped I hit a small village obviously burnt all my matches had no energy left and in this Village I was sort of looking around thinking could I sleep somewhere here was 10 km away from the next control so realistically 15 20 minutes riding something like that but I just didn’t have it in me to keep going was getting to about 4:00 a.m. so quite Grim time of the night and I thought I’ll sleep under a bench around the corner if I get 10 minutes again I can probably make it to the next control and then get into the warm and recover a little while so I did and it was a terrible idea so I L on the hard concrete floor it’s freezing cold all of my pains got far worse all of the swelling got far worse I managed maybe 10 minutes laid there before I just had to keep going couldn’t stop there it was just enough for me to summon a little bit more energy to get get to the next control it turned out that Kyle was not far behind me when I was sleeping on the floor trying to sleep on the floor for 10 minutes he overtook me so he stopped to take a picture of some scarecrow type creepy scarecrow type things um past me I then got back on the bike and managed to get to the control U by the time I got it he’ gone and that’s just how things go sometimes and just quite funny timing so I spent about 10 or 15 minutes in that control um the L L jeel I believe it was called had some pastry coffee more baguette so much B um felt much better people falling asleep all around me the place was ay um and I think I maybe stayed there 10 15 minutes and then moved on but by then we went too far from the sunrise so I knew that was not too far off I can see a little bit of sun on the horizon so it won’t be much longer generally once I get to that point it’s just a case of pushing through until the sun rises because as soon as the sun comes above the Horizon the second the sunlight hits the back of your eye you wake up um and you’re ready to to to push on maybe not all day maybe you’ll crash at some point but if you get through to the sunrise you’ll probably be okay for a while that’s just how your circadian rhythm works that your body knows it’s time to get up and get to work and if you can push through push through now we’re into the final day of the event we know the road is going to be pretty good hopefully if we’re lucky won’t hit too much of the afternoon sun not long after Sunrise managed to pick up on probably the biggest group I’ve been in for the whole event except for the start of the event somehow picked up a group of around I would guess around a 100 Riders all in a long line strung out moving pretty fast everybody with green reflective jerseys quite a sight just flying through the countryside I realized after a while that we were being pulled Along by one guy for quite a long time just one guy everybody sat on his wheel and he was pulling 100 people along like a theme train uh very fast for quite a long time so I sat on not ashamed to say it all the way to the next control but when we arrived I made sure I went and found him and shook his hand um I find it very common in the ax world the sitting on a wheel and not taking turns necessarily um and not acknowledging the people that you you know sitting on um it’s quite common not everybody but it’s quite common so I wanted to go and shake his hand because he was Bloody strong you probably won’t watch this but Andrew in South Africa if you do happen to see this thanks so this took me into the second to last control of the whole event mid to late morning um the food was pretty good in this control I can’t remember the name of it but the second to last control really good buffet style lots of fruit pastries hot food really good selection so I spent a little bit of time here refueling but becoming pretty aware that I’m about to head into the heat again and it’s not avoidable that that’s happening one more push through the heat right almost there now been riding since about 5:30 yes yesterday morning something about 20 29 hours now uh game got 120k left so not far to push right through that I reckon the way it’s been probably over 6 7even hours something like that so yeah getting close good night last night good fast groups and uh no drumers but yeah feeling all right next up Paris a set off towards the final control temperature rising feeling pretty uncomfortable by this point started to notice that every village i r through had a small pharmacy Green NE sign but noticing that everyone had bike outside or more than one bike I think people getting their injuries seem to um Pro Plus Pain who knows but um pain starting to set in by this point I was getting pretty bad by this point everything hands feet backside my back my neck um pretty much every part of me was hurting um but pain is quite similar to energy on a ride like this in that it comes and goes your body eventually quits telling you that there’s pain because it realizes that whatever is causing the pain isn’t going to stop so after a while it will just drop off and the pains will subside and you can carry on relatively pain free pain free I would say a certain amount of pain is safe injuring yourself is not good but if you understand what it’s just discomfort from bruising and blisters and what you can push through you can withstand quite a lot of pain and that’s just endurance so say in terms of discomfort and pain um the last few hours was probably the worst of the entire event and it might be because I knew that the end was pretty close now but it’s getting pretty painful and also getting into the hottest part of the day once again so now the countryside is fairly flat the last the last couple 2 3 hours very flat but no cover so getting blasted by the sun constantly ly headwind still headwind all the way back um just had to push through and push through the heat was unbelievable just the some of the worst heat I’ve had to ride through ever I think it was absolutely crippling heat but you’ve got to keep pushing on so close to the end what can you do thankfully not long after I start seeing signs for the forest of Rambo which is the end and which covered lots of trees in the shade and it just makes huge difference suddenly there are spectators along the road again cheering passing water I didn’t want to stop I just want to finish so I carried on through the forest into the grounds of the chatau um and almost there so follow through the lanes around the chatau through the gate fly down the gravel pathway towards the finish line and made it once I hit the Finish Line I realized afterwards Pauline my host was right in front of me waving and cheering there weren’t very many people there really it was quite quiet I think fairly early the majority of the Riders hadn’t come through yet but I didn’t see Pauling at all all I could see was just to the right a patch of shade next to the tent and I just straighten around into the shade get out of the Sun and that was it finished so just the case of go and collect your medal get your time stamped on your bravit card get your voucher for you finish this meal and go and take care of that finishes meal was pretty good had a per breast Peery amazing but the first thing I did I saw in the distance douche block or shower block went straight there I didn’t take my shoes off I didn’t take my clothes off took my helmet off got straight in the shower cold water on me and it was one of the most painful experiences my skin was so hot that the cold water just hurt really really hurt but it wasn’t very long before it CAU me off I felt much much better and we have our medal pretty cool we made it absolutely broken so around 18 20 hours after I finished I went to the Finish Line to watch people come in and it was pretty busy really cool to see tons of people along the final gravel pathway people constantly flying down the gravel Pathway to the Finish um I’d be careful on the gravel as you come to the end I saw one crash every 5 minutes or so constantly people hitting the deck uh so be careful after that plan was going to Paris have a couple of days R&R have lots of food wine meet my partner chill out did that really enjoyed that um I rode from Portsmouth to the start of the event uh spent some time in Paris after the event and it just seemed right to ride home uh that wasn’t the plan originally but um that’s what I did so the result I couldn’t decide at the start of the event if I would ride this like a race and push really hard and get the best time possible or if I just did a pastry and enjoy it and deep down I knew that I’d be pushing and that’s what I did I ended up finishing the event in just over 68 hours the cut off for the event is 90 hours so it was 22 hours inside the cut off pretty happy with that I think coming out of the event if I did it again I probably would rely the controls a bit less than I did and try to go for a better time than that I think I enjoy trying to do it quickly I know people that did it faster than that as well it will just wipe you out when you do I found a website I tried to put a link somewhere so people can see that shows all of the results I’m not sure how they got it PBP is not a race so there are no results results somehow they have a feed of all of the finishes information so you know you’re placing you know you’re your age group in the wave that you left where you placed so I know that I finished in 721 place out of around well I don’t know how many people started but it was around 8,000 so inside the top 10% so in terms of a long-term review this is probably the fondest memory I have on a bike I’ve been quite lucky to do some really cool things go to cool places on bikes long distance trips bike packing some pretty good races this pretty much just about Pips everything um I’d see the the main reason is the people Remy Pauline Ella the hospitality that I had in Rambo um The Spectators along the Route every few hundred meters van fulls of food and water that they bought themselves to give people and support you and it makes such a big difference when you’re going through some pretty grim times just makes the whole event amazing from start to finish there are some events I’ve done where I think will I do it again maybe maybe I’ll do it again um PVP is probably the one that for sure I’ll do it every single time I have an opportunity to do it so then the aftermath of an event like this is pretty severe the fatigue is pretty bad um but it comes with the territory um felt quite tight when I got back had a lot to do anyway started a new job a few weeks before the event started a new industry all together so we’re already tired from learning that um learning to make these videos I’ve never done this before I really enjoyed it still enjoy it but learning to make these videos and actually produce them was actually really time consuming quite hard was about to go on holiday not long after we got back had a really good time but I found myself battling the fatigue and trying to recover and get some energy back or having to function with normal life go back to work at a job that I still was sort of learning um so ended up having quite a bit on my my plate so I’d say try to go into an event like this knowing that you’ve got a bit of a buffer afterwards to recover or just don’t ride to the start and ride back again that might help I felt I put a bit of pressure on myself to finish these videos before we went on holiday so I had about a week to do that learning how to process produce them finish them so then just about to go on holiday getting ready to go um formatted my camera to take that with us not realizing that the videos that I spent hours and hours filming and editing and putting together were on that card uh and the gone so here I am spent quite a lot of time trying to retrieve them not possible but I think it’s a lesson and I won’t be doing that again while we were in Paris at a restaurant really tired another sign of the fatigue I left my camera on the table while we were eating went to get the train got quite far from the restaurant and heard footsteps running behind me like tap tap tap tap tap tap and then hey and it was the waiter from the restaurant and he ran probably half a mile 3/4 of a mile to catch us to bring me my camera that’s the video at the end of the videos of the guy running what a legend but somehow for whatever reason he pushed the record button probably wondering what it was and filmed the whole run so that just about does it I think that that’s everything if you made it all the way through this I doubt that many people did um I think I’ve got one of those voices that probably sends people to sleep um but um but hopefully this shed some light on what happens when I disappear on a bike for several days at a time in future and I’ll do more of them I enjoy doing this but if you’re watching this you don’t know who I am you never met me before and it’s giving you an insight into pppp or endurance cycling and you get something out of it then I’m really pleased as for the future of this channel um I’m going to keep making these videos I really enjoyed it so when I do endurance Riz and training for my 2024 season I’ll make videos um so anything I pick up along the way other people might benefit from too it’s okay I’ll end this here thanks a lot for watching really appreciate it and to the people that do know me I will see you soon bye-bye [Music] bye-bye