Brooks Paris Brest Paris video

Above is a screenshot of 0:38 second in on the video below. This was taken the day before the start of the ride. We casually rode to Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines from Montmartre section Paris, I usually don't ride 1200kms+ wearing Lacoste. Also pictured are my tandem buddies, Pat and Cecily, who were on their honeymoon.

2011 PBP Brevet card

So the way Paris Brest Paris works, it is similar to an alley cat race, where you check in at different checkpoints(controls) where your brevet card is stamped and the time is recorded. Along with the scheduled controls, there are secret ones as well. So 1200+km of that, in the French countryside. I like that it is only organized every 4 years, it makes it special.

PBP - tracking riders as they ride

Well, it is not the same as riding Paris-Brest-Paris, but the next best thing- following the progress of a rider, me. I am well determined to complete and every passing day, my goals get a little loftier. On the official PBP Website, you can follow me from checkpoint to checkpoint, wondering what I'm thinking about, guessing how many pan au chocolates I have eaten, and hoping I will update this blog in real time with amazing pictures of 6000 like minded cyclists.

So here is the LINK, and my rider number is 4428
my two friends I am riding with(Pat Gaffney and Cecile Adams)- 6386 & 6385

Chateau du Versailles

Nice bike ride to Versailles and the then to PBP bike inspection and official check-in.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Cycles Laurent bike shop in Paris

Paris is home to a lot of bicycle shops and Cycles Laurent has been owed by 3 generations of the same family.
they have a lot of cool memorabilia on the walls, but like almost all Parisian bike shops, they sell and service newer bikes.

Shaftdrive with wooden fenders, the handlebars are questionable?
I don't know if I have ever seen a shaftdrive originally set up that way

weird curved seattube frame on the wall almost hidden.

Bike ride from Paris to the start of PBP

So let's face the facts- Paris-Brest-Paris does not start or finish in Paris. It once did, but it would be a logistical nightmare to attempt to do now. So it starts in a suburb of Paris, Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines. I am staying in Paris, I have rented an apartment on Airbnb and really enjoy staying in Paris, who wouldn't? A lot of riders choose to stay close to the start, in Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines, engulfing in PBP culture and fellow riders.
So Jan Heine of Bicycle Quarterly recently blogged about riding from Paris to the start of the ride, and even has a cue sheet. I am hesitant to ride the route to start PBP, but I am thinking of riding it to the check-in and bicycle inspection the day before, Saturday. I think it will be a good to loosen up some jittery nerves and to give the bicycle a shake down, after being reassembled.

Best part of the route is riding past the Chateau of Versailles.

The route is blogged here, I highly recommend following his blog postings.

400km bike ride

On Saturday morning I awoke at 3:45am to take a shower and get prepared to begin a 400km bike ride that started at 5am. I should add that I was as prepared as I could be at that point, other than dressing myself, everything else that I needed for the ride as been taken into account days and weeks before. 400km is a bit hard to comprehend, even when I give it the American equivalent of 250 miles. I usually look at distance from point to point- so it would be the distance if I rode my bike from my home in Philadelphia to Richmond, Virginia, or from New York City to almost the border of Maine and New Hampshire.

As one can see from the ride profile, it was a varied course(almost 19,000 feet of climbing) which included a cross over the Appalachian Trail. It is rather difficult to gauge the severity of climbs by looking at these types of charts until you have done enough of them and it starts to make sense. Let's just say, it is tough.

The ride went seemless and smooth. No mechanicals, my body felt great other than a little saddle sore from lack of chamois cream, and I still felt fresh when I finished. My bike has performed very well, given it is was not originally intended for this type of bicycling. It is an early 1980s Eddy Merckx, that I installed 700 x 28c tires(the largest the frame would allow), Schmidt Dynohub with Edelux headlight affixed to the fork with a plastic clamp for a reflector and a Carradice handlebar bag. I also outfitted it with a TA Pro 5 Vis crankset with a 46/30 chainring combination. The bike is fast but lack of braze-ons for fenders, front bag support, and lights were definitely a big drawback. I have now ridden it in this current state for over 1250miles in less than 3 months, and have only had one punctured inner tube. That's pretty good.

All that said, I can't wait to ride my new bike(Hanford built by Simon Firth), currently at the painter(Peter Weigle), getting painted. One more ride until I am qualified to ride Paris Brest Paris.

"When is a race not a race"- when it is Paris Brest Paris

Recently I was rereading a testimonial about the 1999 Paris-Brest-Paris in an issue of On The Wheel written by Larry Strung and fantasizing about my ride this summer. It is vivid account, with many of the same worries and observations I had 4 years ago before trying to ride PBP. Will I ride too hard in the beginning, and fall apart on my way back from Brest? Who would I ride with? How long should I sleep? What bike to ride?

I quickly looked on the internet, and I was surprised that the article -"When is a race not a race? Paris-Brest-Paris 1999"- is not available online. If you are thinking about riding PBP, or just wonder what it is like, I recommend tracking it down. It is in issue #12 of One the Wheel(out of print).

Larry rode an older Peugeot, where as his friends rode fancy Litespeeds. Four years ago, I did all the brevetes in the series and took to France a 1968 Jack Taylor Super Tourist. I was shocked at the disproportionate amount of modern race bikes present in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, the start and finishing town of PBP. Along with Joel Metz, also on a Jack Taylor, it would be fair to say, we were in the minority riding old steel bikes, probably in the 1 percentile.

This year, I have been doing all of my riding on an early 1980s Eddy Merckx, not something I would have ever imagined doing more than 70-80 miles at a time, yet I have done two 200kms on it and plan to do a 300km in a week on it. I did install 700x28c tires on it, but it is far from ideal, as there is no provisions to install fenders or lights.

I put up with inconvenience because I am waiting for my custom frame to being built by Simon Firth, former head framebuilder at Bilenky Cycles, that has started to build his own bikes. I will own the first Hanford, named after the small town in the United Kingdom Simon is from. It will have a mix of modern and older parts, and will be the first new bike I have ever bought. Im excited.

Disco PBP on my mind

A fun, fast looking Paris-brest-Paris ride, from the 1980s.

A funny little news reel about 1948 Paris-Brest-Paris, back when it was still officially a race.

Simon filing my lugs into shape

Of course, my Paris-Brest-Paris bike would have Fleur de lis shaped lugs.

Local NAHBS winner- Bilenky Cycles

(photo from NAHBS website)

Bilenky Cycles won "Best Lugged Frame" at the North American Handbuilt Bicycle Show over the weekend. Sure that picture above does not show the lugs or anything, just a little group shot, but I am very happy that Simon is building my custom bicycle for Paris-Brest-Paris, with custom handcut polished stainless lugs.

300k in Virginia last Saturday

It was an ideal day for riding on the April 21st, and Virginia was beautiful. We started the ride with less than ideal conditions though, after taking the long way there, 5 hours of driving, rather than 3. I think I ate a Snickers candy bar for dinner. To top all that, we only slept about 3 hours.

With all of that working against us, the ride started well, at a brisk 5am. Our Schmidt lights and hubs were more than sufficient for the darker than night back roads. It was my first night ride with my current setup and I was really pleased.

As day broke, we could see the landscape and knew it was going to be a very enjoyable ride. Rolling countrysides and plenty of cows to moo at and horses to neigh with.

My riding buddies were fellow Philadelphians Pat and Cecile on a custom Bilenky tandem. They borrowed an ill-fitting tandem a few weeks before to ride the 200k in Eastern Pennsylvania and decided that a tandem was the best way to go to get to Paris. Their tandem for this ride was not even painted, just primered with Bilenky written on it with magic marker! No mechanical problems for either bikes, my Jack Taylor is excellent for longer distances. No pictures of my bike yet, or me, as I am the cameraman.

The route was all rolling hills, nothing compared to the climbs we encountered on the 200k. We finished a little before 10pm, getting another chance to try out our bomb-proof lighting setups and our navigational skills at night. I was left with a slightly sore knee and some irregular sunburn patches from the irregular applications of sunblock I used. Other than that, the ride was perfect, not one missed turn(a few slight overshoots, but we always caught them), no mechanicals, food was excellent, enough water and an abundance of waving Virginians, leaving my bell ringing thumb well exercised!

First post is mainly pictures

These are just a couple pictures on the computer of some things we have around the shop.

It is my first post and I hope to add valuable information up here in the future.

But for now, look at the pretty pictures and ask any questions you may have.

First photo is of a 1959 Ephgrave.

Second is a Schwinn Paramount display.

Third is an assortment of hubs, from Maxicar to Campagnolo to Zeus and others.

Final picture is of a pile of Campagnolo cranks.


My boss is away today at the Copake Swap meet and Auction, and tomorrow I take off work to do a 300k brevette, for the second, out of four, qualifying rides for Paris-Brest-Paris. It will be fun. I am riding a 1968 Jack Taylor that I received as a gift from my boss. I will photograph it soon, with a description.