PBP 2019 Pre-registration

Just got real.

PBP 2019 Update

In my last post I committed to keeping this blog more up to date. Yeah, that went about as well as I expected.

Here's a quick & dirty update on my PBP pre-registration status.

SIR Summer 600K

On September 1st and 2nd I completed the SIR Summer 600K. This was a grueling route with two mountain passes on day1 and Green Mountain (a.k.a. "The Crown Jewel of the Pacific Northwest Randonneuring Pain Cave™" on day 2. I will try to find more time to write a proper ride report.

Day 1: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/27380261
Day 2: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/27380321

Total Time:39:05

SIR Crater Lake 1000K

Less than two weeks later, on September 14th, 15th, and 16th I completed the SIR Crater Lake 1000K. This is another grueling ride with more than 10,000 feet of climbing every day. The final day starts with 100 miles of almost continuous climbing to the rim of Crater Lake followed by a bone chilling descent to Klamath Falls. Again, I will try to write a proper ride report Real Soon Now™.

Day 1: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/27912316
Day 2: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/27912325
Day 3: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/27912333

Total Time: 72:55

PBP 2019 Pre-Registration

Completing the Crater Lake 1000K puts me on the top rung of the PBP pre-registration ladder. I can start my pre-registration process on January 14, 2019. Woo-hoo!

T-365 Days to PBP 2019

All good stories start as bad ideas

It's time to resurrect this long-neglected blog.

The 20th Paris-Brest-Paris grande randonnée starts a year from tomorrow: Sunday 2019/08/18 through Thursday 2019/08/22. I plan to be there, again, and I plan to finish, again. Unlike my experience in 2015 I plan to have fun, get more sleep, and not require surgery afterwards.

For the next year or so this blog will chronicle my training, qualification, and preparation for this epic ride.

The Rando Fun Equation and The Best DNF Ever

Among the randonneuring crowd there is a recurring joke about the three types of fun:

• Type 1: You know it's fun while you're doing it.
• Type 2: Doesn't seem like fun at the time, but when you look back you realize it was indeed fun.
• Type 3: Not fun

Using the different types of fun, one can attempt to quantify the success of a given ride or other activity. For a successful ride, the following relation holds true:

(Type_1_Fun + Type_2_Fun) > Type_3_Fun

I recently completed The Big Guns 1016K permanent from Portland, OR to Whitefish, MT with two women (Asta and Susan) from Oregon Randonneurs and two guys (Doug and Paul) from Desert River Randonneurs. Doug had to bail out in Kellogg, ID due to excruciating IT band pain. The remaining four of us finished the ride "hors delai" (we exceeded the specified time limits). I can't speak for Doug, but for the rest of us the above relation definitely holds true.