It was in 2013 when I moved to Delhi with a Trek 4300D which was almost 2 years old and had hardly been on the road for 100 odd kms. It remained a show piece in the living room for quite a while. My not so pretty a belly and free time in Delhi motivated me to take up cycling a bit more seriously which for me meant about 20 odd kms. This bliss lasted for a month till I met a crazy set of folks who called themselves Spinlife. My first ride with them was a rollicking 70 kms. It took me 10 odd days to recover from the ride. After a few more rides they were able to motivate me for trying my maiden 100 km. Stupid me agreed and played along.
Mission - 100 km
New to cycling I did not even check air pressure in the mornings before leaving for a ride, nor did I eat a thing. It wasn't any different that day too. I was dressed to kill .. kill myself with those cycling unfriendly shorts and jacket. The ride began well as I pushed hard to keep up pace with the group. The first 75 odd km went well after which all my energy was drained and I actually thought that the cycle wasn't ok which obviously wasn't the case. Everyone slowed down with me but the sun had start to come out and I was under pressure to push harder so we can reach back home without getting too exposed to the heat. It wasn't to be, at 80 odd km I had a puncture thanks to low Tyre pressure. It was already late and on my insisting the group pushed ahead leaving me behind. I was relieved to have the demons off my back. I sat by the road side, devoured a sandwich and got the puncture mended with help of a local cycle shop. After almost 30 min break I trudged along to reach home covering total of 105 km in close to six hours with the resolution not to touch the cycle again, It wasn't meant for me, I was too weak.
Midway the 100 km
By the evening after having slept like a log for five odd hours I felt like reviewing my decision, I thought about all the things that my cycling buddies told me, all the things that went wrong. Quitting wasn't me, I would go down fighting, I re-resolved. It was then that I started to read through the cycling blogs, made some notes, started to prepare more for rides and finally took the big leap - The Roadie. The decision to upgrade to a roadie was the harbinger of a whole new chapter in my cycling career, so to say.
My Roadie - Trek 1.5
With roadie under the bum, I knew I had to no reason to not become fast enough for the group. I started to be more regular, read a lot, took more advice from the experienced co-riders and upgraded my accessory bank. Using the right cycling shorts and jersey coupled with a comfortable pair gloves and goggles makes for a much better riding experience. Slowly but surely I could begin to keep up. Came a time when I found myself advising the newbies who joined after me. By this time minor cycle repairs and mending punctures was well within the skill set.
Just as I started to get comfortable and I thought I had kind of arrived someone introduced this virus of Brevets or BRMs. One had on the menu a 200 km , a 300 km , 400 km and a 600 km timed events (called the Super Series when done within a cycling year from Oct to Nov). Crazy I thought and tried to hide away from the discussions on these distances, I had just got into a comfy zone with an odd 100 every fortnight or so. But then a virus is a virus and I succumbed. Started with a respectable 200 km that I completed in 9 hours riding with Bipin Kaul, what did we know, we were to ride many a miles together in the near future. Goals Shifted, we wanted to do them all - we wanted to be a Super Randonneurs or SRs. Madness went further and I did the super series twice that year (2013-14). Somewhere in the middle we also did a 1000 km from Delhi to Wagah Border and back within 70 hours. Once again I felt I had arrived.
The feeling could not last long as the next year was the PBP or Paris-Brest-Paris year. To qualify for the 1230 km ride from Paris to Brest and back we had to do another Super series in 2014-15. That got me my third SR title and a qualification to PBP. Even that wasn't enough, they said that to ensure a berth one needs to do a 1000 + Audax certified ride as well. Came along the mighty 1200 km from Delhi to Udaipur and back, by this time I was an addict, I was enjoying this madness. We could complete it in 84 hours thanks to my cycling guru Anil Puri, his planning and execution is invincible.
The first BRM - 200 km
One of the many BRMs with Anil Sir
Winters couldn't Scare our Wits
The SR Journeys
It was in June that I moved out of Delhi and went to the hills. A new assignment meant lesser time for cycling, no buddies to cycle with and hardly any road for my roadie. PBP was knocking on the door with less than 60 days to go. I could not practice much except for a few climbs on my MTB which wasn't enough. PBP seemed a dream.
Gratefully I was permitted by my boss to participate. I traveled with my cycle from Manali to Chandigarh, took a flight to Mumbai where my wife joined me and we stayed for a night. In mumbai I exchanged currency and loaded it onto a Travel card. Finally, we landed up in France on 8th of August at CDG airport, Paris.
Yes the cycle is inside!! Mumbai
Packed for Paris at Mumbai
We landed in Paris and headed by train to a cousins place at Le Mans. I had thought I would be able to slide in two or three 100 km rides on my roadie there before the PBP. Alas I had a bad throat infection and fever, so no practice except for a 50 odd km bike set ride. On the 13th of Aug we headed to Paris. Thanks to the lovely European trains I could travel with my cycle assembled.
The Bike Set Ride at Le Mans
At Le Mans - Paris Bound
Velo - No Problem!!
Before I knew it was 15 Aug and I found myself in a queue to get my bike checked at the national velodrome in Saint Quentin en Yvelines. So R036 (My frame number at PBP) was OK to go. There was a bit of queue to get your Brevet card (more like a diary), Rider number tags for the cycle, PBP Jersey and Reflector vests. They also gave us a GPS chip anklet which logged our time as we entered control points. I got my SR medal too. Excitement was high, it was so good to see so many cyclists from all over the world lined up for bike check and collecting their kits. It was festive.
Ready for Bike Check
Greats Frequent this Place, Met One
Inside the velodrome
There was a biggish Indian contingent of 50 odd riders and more importantly Bipin Kaul was there too. Gautam Verma , co founder of Spinlife, made it to PBP at the last minute as well. It was going to be a party.
The Popular Indian Contingent
Spinlifers - Gautam, me & Bipin
Bipin and myself were slotted to start at 1930 hours on 16 Aug. Gautam was to start 15 minutes later. After the bike check which took almost the whole day, Bipin and myself rode 10 odd kms to Versailles where he was put up in a hotel. I was living with friends in Laplace, Paris which was 2 trains and an hour away from the velodrome. I left the cycle with Bipin and headed back to Paris for a much required Pre-ride rest. thankfully close to Laplace was a Indian food Joint where I could eat some Paranthas. I slept the whole night, lounged through the morning and left for Versailles.
Bipin and myself did the last minute bike loading and preparation and took the train to the velodrome. We were there by 1500 hours with more than four hours to spare before start. We had a bite at McDonalds and headed to the velodrome to cheer the riders starting before us. Riders were being left in 15 minute batches. The slots were decided at the time of registration. My number was R 036 where R was the batch that was to leave at 1930 hrs. so when you saw a rider en-route one could judge which time the rider had left from his rider tag. Naturally when we saw a rider with alphabets before R we were happy to know we were doing better on time. Bipin was R too and Gautam S.
PBP - Start Day
Waiting for my Turn
The Three Spinlife Musketeers
We were finally at PBP !!
The PBP dream was soon to be realized as we waited for our turn to start with almost baited breaths.
Our plans were in place with a time plan to meet all check points and catch some sleep after every 400 kms. Rolling terrain wasn't as gentle as we thought it would be.
At the start Line
The stupendous organisation ensured we started bang on time. We were on, headed to conquer Brest and reach back victorious covering 1230 kms of rolling terrain in less than 90 hours.
The first point was Mortagne Au Perchi at 139 Kms. It came like dream as we almost drafted with the huge wave we started with. It was only a refreshment point, It was already dark and we were hungry. Though in hind sight stopping here was not a very good decision, It ate into our time. We would have taken a 30 minute halt for food and a change into something warmer. It was getting cold.
As we reached Villanes La Juhel, at 219 km, the first control we realized that the rolling was actually climbing, something we were not used to. If you are from India you are generally not used to so much gradient, we should have practiced more in the hills. However we reached with almost two hour plus to spare for closing of the time station.
We passed through fougers at 307 km and reached Tinteniac at 362 km. Our spare time had reduced to less than two hours and we were pretty much sleep deprived by now. The dawn had broken so we headed to Loudeac where we had planned to sleep. The climbs very only becoming steeper by now. They were gentle but long.
3-4 km ahead of Tinteniac I suffered a broken shifter cable. Thankfully we could fall back to the control and got it repaired. Cost us 45 minutes. We trudged to Loudeac only to realize that we couldn't actually afford to sleep much time wise. we had food , a warm water shower, changed and left for Brest without sleeping. We were at Loudeac for almost an hour. The two Euro hot shower was worth 200.
Before Carhaix we had a secret check point. We took a 15 minute road side nap in our emergency blankets before Carhaix. At Carhaix we slept for another 20 minutes. We finally reached Brest , 615 km in about 43 hours. It was here that we realized we were wasting too much time on food breaks at control points.
Quick Snooze by the Road
Carhaix to Brest had some significant climbs and descents. On our way back we thought we would have favorable rolling which wasn't to be. We still climbed a lot especially close to control points. We reached back Loudeac through Carhaix and slept for 30 mins after a hot water shower. We changed again for the last leg. Our support crew had set up a base here with our bags and some refreshments.
By now we were managing our breaks better. The stamping of the card never took much time as we had read in blogs for previous years , it was quick, queues were only for food which are avoidable.
We made our way back sleeping for strict breaks varying between 7 -15 minutes except for one where we slept for an hour before Tinteniac after which we rushed like nobody's business, but that nap was a quintessential. Bipin and myself kept within 500 m of each other talking, shouting and cheering to keep ourselves awake.
The enthusiastic french people had setup small stalls with hot chocolate, coffee and eats for riders throughout the route, riders could drink and eat here at no cost. They cheered those who didn't stop and fed those who did. Cheers to them. Vive la France!!!
Just before Villianes La Juhel around 950 kms into the ride I had developed severe neck pain maybe due to the fact that I kept looking for the direction arrows through the night. Though markings exist everywhere a GPS is a must. At Villianes control I went to the doctor who organised a massage and gave me prescription for a neck collar (Bipin's suggestion). The Next 250 odd km was painful with me having to support my neck with one hand to see the road ahead. Pain somehow makes me focus even better. I was sure that I will ride till the time I am conscious.
To add to the challenge we were hit by rains before Dreux with another 100 odd km to go. The PBP experience they say is never complete without rains. We had the complete experience, we were drenched. I tried to make a jacket of the emergency blanket and wear it, but it did not help. At Dreux I wore a rain cape but I realized it wasn't enough too. One needs to invest into a proper Gore-Tex overall which many riders had. So drenched and in pain I still had 80 odd Kms to cover in less than six hours which wasn't going to be easy with the severe pain and the fact that we were cold after being drenched. The clock was ticking fast.
Fortunately after Dreux we were in a wave again and it helped us develop some pace. The last josh (zest) helped us complete the ride with more than two hours to spare.
Those climbs and endless roads in the dark seemed worth as one crossed the finish line with crowds cheering at the velodrome. It was a special moment that, from not being able to do a 100 km in one go to have crossed that line in less than two years. The moment almost brought a tear to my eyes.
The pain seemed to have vanished. I was happy .. ecstatic and then saw my wife waving to me.. I felt so good, almost fresh again. She had brought us some tea which we had and headed inside to submit our cards. I almost snatched it back !! We held it like a baby for the complete 1230 km.
That was it .. climbs, dark nights, cold, rain, pain and then ecstasy. It is a whole circle of life within a life, is PBP. Its a memory for life, It is an insane story to tell. There is a reason why it is considered a zenith for solo cycling, One has to ride it to find it.
The finish !!!
The Emergency Blanket still Stuffed Inside
Smiles were back!!
A few other photographs.......
