To be supported or not at the Paris-Brest-Paris? What is your choice?

I describe my experience of being an individually supported rider at the 2023 Paris Brest Paris and my intention for individual support at the next edition in 2027.

Thank you to everyone that provided feedback on their PBP experience which helped to produce this video

If you would like to provide feedback on your 2023 PBP experience please send an email to pbp2023report@gmail.com or complete the questionnaire at the link below https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NVCYXHV

If you supported riders at the 2023 PBP and would like to share your experience please send me an email at pbp2023report@gmail.com or complete the questionnaire at the link below https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NVMZ2BL

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thank you [Applause] you gotta go up to there okay and then Park the bike and the checkpoints down there and then come back here to eat you up there okay but this video is the pass of two parts related to providing and receiving individual Rider support at the Paris space Paris in this first video I will describe my experience of receiving individual support that I received from my personal support team and my own experience at various checkpoints and then compare these with experiences of that of other writers who have given me feedback on their Paris please Paris Journeys at the end of the video I will discuss whether I will arrange individual support for myself in future Paris Place Paris events taking into consideration my current experience and the feedback I’ve had from other writers in the second video on this topic I will provide insightful and helpful feedback from the experience of actual supporters who provide United Support to individual Riders at the 2023 Paris space Paris that I had the opportunity to interview after the event yes all good thank you I hope that by the end of completing these two parts of this topic that you will be able to make an informed decision for yourself as to whether you will benefit from arranging individual support for yourself at the 2027 Paris press Paris thanks so much okay and let’s start off by defining exactly what individuals support at the Paris dress Paris is and look at the regulations relating to the provision of support for individual Riders at the event individual support is assistance offered exclusively to an individual or defined group of riders and is not available to the rest of the writers at the Paris Frisk Paris as per the current regulations this support is limited to checkpoints only and may not be offered on the routes between checkpoints the maximum distance that this support may be provided from the actual checkpoint is a radius of five kilometers the person’s providing this support must use a vehicle that is registered with a paddle space Paris organization at the time of Rider registration to travel between the checkpoints this vehicle must also be adorned with a numbered decal provided by the palace place palace organization at the front and rear of the vehicle to allow easy identification by the officials of the event so your numbers I thought you were eight two and I’m 92 Germany’s 82. the vehicle must also be driven along a designated route that is separate and distinct from the route that is followed by the Riders between checkpoints at the Paris Place Paris failure to follow these rules may result in a two hour time penalty to the Riders being supported and this may be multiplied in the event of multiple transgressions so organized and I think he’s getting he’s getting motivated for 2027. and then she rolls the eyes I chose to have individual support at the palace race Paris and these are my reasons for choosing to have support I plan for the worst case scenario based on learning about other writers experiences in previous Editions the worst case scenario that I imagined was Heavy Rain for the entire duration of the event as was reported in 2005. coupled with extreme cold as reported in 2019 and long waiting lines for food sleeping facilities and mechanical repairs at various other Editions I imagine that this was case scenario would significantly limit the places that I would be able to sleep or rest outside of the checkpoints and it would require that I would have to carry much more cold and rain weather gear than I was prepared to do and potentially extend the waiting time for support at checkpoints unnecessarily my answer to this worst case scenario was to be prepared for any situation that I could imagine at the Paris Frisk Paris so I chose my cycling friends Nancy and Robert house to be my personal support at the 2023 Paris West Paris based on their quiet efficiency extreme attention to detail the hyper Vigilant focus on the task at hand their professionalism and experience at long distance by touring and racing I wanted the opportunity to sleep when I felt tired and sleep in a warm comfortable and quiet space so I chose a large multi-seater vehicle that could provide the space and quiet environment that I was looking for I also had multiple changes of cycling clothes available in case I was drenched in heavy rain and warm clothing a warm sleeping bag and a sleeping mat to allow me the best possible sleeping experience to circumvent the potential long cues for food I also took a variety of hot and cold meals and drinks various electrolyte mixes energy gels and Wafers that my support team would prepare and package for me depending on my needs at the various checkpoints to avoid queuing at potentially unsavory ablution facilities I even took my own portable and personal toilet in preparation for mechanical problem I wanted an experienced and qualified bike mechanic to be part of my support team who had access to spare components of virtually any part of my bicycle Robert fulfilled his role perfectly as he had previously owned his own bicycle sail and repair shop and was comfortable with servicing even the latest bicycle technology I took every imaginable spare part for my bicycle apart from the frame a set of wheels and handlebars so essentially I had enough space to service a team a professional cyclists I estimate that I probably had at least 50 kilograms of support supplies for the Paris Bliss Paris way more than I could ever personally carry with me on the bicycle very much for deficient version than what I am so that is Jermaine’s mask yeah because she’s carrying most of her stuff right yeah okay if you could just bring me the entire bag under the tree I’m happy I’ll sort it out having individual support with a dedicated motor vehicle was the only way I’ll be able to access the individual support that I anticipated for my needs we first drove almost the entire support designated route in the days leading up to the event to ensure that the support team knew how to reach each checkpoint while in advance of my arrival this reconnaissance also helped to make sure that they were familiar with the route and could avoid accidentally blundering onto the rider’s route where they could be assigned a Time penalty we then selected checkpoints at which we would meet these being the lane ludiak and kohe you know we’re still coming up to the highway and at each of these checkpoints we identified landmarks that would help us to find each other we also had multiple systems of tracking so that the support team would know exactly when we arrived at the checkpoints we used a spot tracker GPS tracking system we use the tracking system that comes with the Wahoo GPS device as well as the individual Rider tracking that is available on the Paris Frisk Paris website we had bought e-sim cards with almost 30 gigabytes of data that would allow for adequate communication and tracking for the entire duration of the event we had also taken along a flashing light similar to that of emergency vehicles and a large Canadian flag to help identify the vehicle at the various checkpoints I had access to my support team for the first 800 kilometers of the Paris space Paris until I developed a problem that I had not anticipated and this problem put an end to my 2023 powder space Paris campaign it was about this time that Jermaine also started to experience some of her own difficulties and so I asked my support team to focus on helping her and to allow me to ride on my own so for the remaining 400 kilometers that is from about ludiac all the way to rambly I rode without any support but this allowed me to experience some of the unrestricted support provided to the rest of the Riders at the various checkpoints and so with this I have the unexpected opportunity to experience both being a supported Rider as well as being an unsupported Rider now before I relate my experience at the various checkpoints I just want to make one clarification when I chose to ride unsupported I was well ahead of the rider bulge and of course being ahead of the rioter Bulge would significantly influence my experience and perception of the support that was provided at the various checkpoints thank you I made use of the Sleep facilities in the lane and found the rooms to be quiet and warm I think they were probably only about five riders in the room and they were all deeply asleep and there was no snoring or any other body noises I bought food in tintaniac fujay Blaine Montana Andrew and I did not experience any long cues or unpleasant delays I visited the medical facilities at both breast and fujeret and was offered immediate assistance without any delays either I saw well-equipped Mechanical Services at almost all the major checkpoints by fortunately didn’t have to seek via services it appeared to me that you could purchase virtually anything from an entire bicycle to various types of wheels and all components including helmets and clothing at each of these mechanical stops [Music] I did use the sit down toilet facilities at both the lane and ludiak and the shower facilities at fujeret and found all of these extremely well maintained and operational this is however quite different from the feedback from some of the other Riders who were in the 90 hour group and who were probably caught in the rider bulge at this point I will relate some of the feedback that I received from three Riders who were in the 90 hour group and who were kind enough to participate in the 2023 pepper sprays Palace feedback survey that I conducted in my previous two videos now Terry is a 55 year old male from the United Kingdom and who was a novice at the 2023 Paris space Paris he compared the checkpoints at the palace space Paris to those of the London Edinburgh London event he was not at all impressed by the checkpoints at the Paris Police Paris especially by the long queues and the lack of flavor in the foods that he purchased [Applause] in contrast he really appreciated the support from the local community along the Route and would recommend others to participate in the Paris priest Paris he himself would consider returning to do the pepper space Paris in 2023 despite his rather less than ideal experience at the checkpoints at this year’s event Daniel a 53 year old cyclist from Switzerland who has successfully completed the Paris Bridge Paris now on three occasions also participated in the survey he had previously completed at least five other brand nearing events in the countries of Singapore France German Spain and in Switzerland he was in a good position to compare the support offered at these various events on different continents and across Europe he enjoyed the food at the checkpoints but described the sleeping facilities at Montana as being quite Spartan he particularly appreciated the friendly atmosphere of the people who offered support along the Route and at the check he expressed a motivation to return to Future Paris Police Paris events if it maintained its relaxed atmosphere and did not become too commercialized Christian a 57 year old cyclist from Switzerland and a Paris space Paris novice and who completed the Paris Police Palace as his first ever 1200 kilometer event was very impressed by the checkpoints and particularly by the patience and assistance of the volunteers he describes the sleeping facilities at Four Points along the Route has been quiet and appreciated the valuable wake-up service he reports that the food at kidiak was the best of the entire route he thinks that there’s a good probability that he will return for future editions of the Paris Frisk Paris yeah so two American Writers who started in the 80-hour group with the aim of achieving a Charlie Miller award which requires completing the whole Paris space Paris in less than 56 hours and 40 minutes also gave feedback on their experiences at the various checkpoints Jeff is a 56 year old cyclist who had not previously completed a 1200 kilometer and Kevin is a 40 year old cyclist who had completed at least two other 1200 kilometer events in the USA one of which was the Coulee challenge there were both very positive about the conditions at the controls and described eating frequently at almost all the controls both Kevin and Jeff expressed huge appreciation for the friendliness of the French people along the way and the backdrop provided by the random years USA they both expressed a strong intention to return to Future editions of the Paris priest Paris now I was particularly interested in how the riot is in the 84 hour group would find the conditions and the nature of support at the checkpoints and was grateful that Peter who was a 51 year old rider from Belgium has provided some feedback he had completed at least one other targeted Clemente event in Belgium before participating in the Paris Police Paris he was happy with his experience at all the checkpoints and described the conditions as being perfect he particularly liked the positive and encouraging atmosphere the checkpoints and the relaxed and friendly attitude presented by the volunteers he expressed a wish to see more toilets and shower facilities at the start and finish area in ramboli to accommodate the needs of the campus on the Royal grounds both before and after the event he also expressed a strong interest in participating in future editions of the Paris priest Paris so after reflecting on my own experience and the feedback from these six writers it is clear that the support provided by Nancy and Rob was excellent and absolutely crucial to my attempt for a sub-60 goal however once I lost that primary goal and accepted my fate of just writing to finish comfortably that high level of support became unnecessary this is because the support that I experienced at the checkpoints was sufficient for my secondary goal which was to finish within my allotted time When comparing my experience with that of the six respondents to my questionnaires there are some interesting findings although there was a trend that the writers in the 80 and 84 hour groups had a better perception of the checkpoints than those in the 90 hour group this may not necessarily be representative given the very small sample size it is possible that being caught in the Bulge of the 90 hour group may cause some challenges with regards accessing support at the various checkpoints and cause long queues and delays and perhaps even some decline in the quality of the services being provided I think the decision on whether you need individual support in future editions of the Paris phrase Paris rests entirely on your individual goals if you are aiming for a super fast completion time or perhaps even challenging the record then you will most likely have to arrange some form of individual support however if you intend to just finish comfortably and enjoy the full Paris press Paris experience including the amazing support from the French people along the way and at checkpoints then you probably won’t require individual support this is because in my opinion the support of the checkpoints is of such a good quality that you will not need to bring your own support this is especially true if you are at the fringes or ahead of the Bulge the new course design in my opinion also has been very effective at spreading out the field and preventing overlap of riders going in either direction along the course I suspect that the support of the checkpoints will probably be expanded to reduce coups and delays and improve the experience for all Riders irrespective of whether they are in the Bulge or not I suspect that by providing riders with a better experience in the Bulge there will be fewer Riders who would request individual support in future editions this of course is also dependent on whether the number of participants in future editions remains similar or of course may increase I would like to thank all writers who have completed my Palace Place Paris questionnaires as this has helped me to gain a broader appreciation for their experiences during the event and hopefully provide you with a more balanced description of both individual and group support at the Paris Breeze Paris I will of course share the other writer’s responses on other aspects of the Paris press Paris in future videos if you’ve not yet had the opportunity to complete the writer’s questionnaire please have a look at it in the video description below I also had the opportunity to interview two couples Nancy and Robert House of Saskatoon and Evelyn and Tom Gosnell of Tucson Arizona Who provided support to Riders at the Paris press Paris and they had some very informative and enlightening comments and advice I will document these in the next video if you have provided individual support at the 2023 Paris verse Paris to an individual Rider or group of riders I would sincerely like to hear about your experience please send me an email to the address provided in the video description detailing your experiences and advice and indicate if you are comfortable with me sharing this in the next video alternatively please complete the supporter questionnaire Linked In the video description if you prefer please remember to press like if you’ve enjoyed this video And subscribe if you would like to see similar content in future until the next time we meet please ride safely