To my fellow club-mates who are boarding aircraft today and tomorrow to go to France to ride Paris-Brest-Paris – you all have my heart-felt admiration. You have trained for the last year to get to this point. You have pushed yourselves to your limits and sometimes beyond, expanding those limits to encompass depths that you had not previously imagined possible. I wish all of you the best during Paris-Brest-Paris – travel safe and have fun.
To those who are remaining at home – we invite you to follow us vicariously, via the Paris-Brest-Paris web tracking app. Navigate to https://www.paris-brest-paris.org/index2.php?lang=en&cat=accueil&page=edito and click on “tracking” in the upper right corner. This will take you to a website – or you may download the app if you prefer – where you can follow the riders during their grand adventure. You can “Search for participants” by name and the site will remember your selections on your next visit. The app will track when each of us passes through the chip timing at each controle and will estimate, based on prior average speed, where he or she will be on the course at any given time – of course this doesn’t work at night-time when (some of us) will be sleeping, but it’s pretty cool. Click on “map” to see this.
I guess in this modern world there’s not much privacy – but we’re all riding in the same wind and weather, each to the best of our abilities and preferences. Paris-Brest-Paris is not a race – it is a historic event to be savoured, whether one intends to finish in 42 hours or 60 hours or 89 1/2 hours – the support of the local French populace is an amazing experience, each PBP rider is a rock-star for four days.
Every rider who completes Paris-Brest-Paris gets his or her name inscribed in the Great Book along with the names of all those who have completed the ride, back to its first incarnation in 1891. Those who have their names inscribed become “anciens” or “anciennes” for the fiercer sex, and join a very elite group indeed. When you finish, you will understand “ancien”. Believe me!
Best wishes to all 6,688 riders in the 2019 Paris-Brest-Paris. Follow our adventures on our facebook site!
