Video: "PBP 2027 Prep Series #1: Mark Thomas discusses 2026" — Rob Hawks (host, SFR regional brevet administrator, 3x PBP finisher) interviews Mark Thomas (RUSA #64, past RUSA board president, 2009 American Randonneur of the Year, 7x PBP finisher, past LRM president) about why 2026 matters for riders planning Paris-Brest-Paris 2027.

Registration history

• Registration used to run through RUSA (indirect submission, even a doctor's note required); now riders register directly with the ACP — no RUSA intermediary, no doctor's note needed.
• PBP dates to the late 1800s (originally a race); Americans first rode it in 1975, predating RUSA.

Actual qualification requirements for PBP 2027

• Ride a 200K, 300K, 400K, and 600K brevet between Nov 1, 2026 and roughly end of June/early July 2027 (ACP's "year" spans into the prior Nov/Dec).
• Longer brevets can substitute for shorter ones; LRM 1200K+ events (La Ronda, Gold Rush Randonnée, Cooley Challenge, Cascade 1200) and ACP 1000K events also qualify.
• Strictly speaking, nothing is required in 2026 itself.

Why 2026 matters anyway: pre-registration

• ACP now runs a pre-registration phase (opening January 2027) that lets riders reserve a spot and pick a start wave before full registration/qualification is complete.
• Priority order is based on the longest brevet/LRM event completed between Nov 1, 2025 and Oct 31, 2026:
  • 1000K/1200K+ → first wave (mid-January)
  • 600K → late January
  • 400K → mid-February
  • 300K → late February
  • 200K → mid-March
  • Nothing done in 2026 → last group, after those
• With a field cap of ~8,000 riders for 2027 (higher than 2023's cap, which itself sold out during the 200K-tier phase), doing a longer brevet in 2026 meaningfully improves the odds of getting a spot and a preferred start wave.
• Start waves matter because in 2023 some late registrants who wanted a 90-hour limit were pushed into an 84-hour limit when waves filled.
• Riders who pre-register but don't complete actual qualification by ~June 2027 forfeit their spot, which can free up space for others waiting.

Personal preparation value of riding brevets in 2026

• Beyond registration priority, 2026 is the time to dial in equipment (bike fit, lighting, luggage), nutrition (long-ride needs differ from single-day rides), sleep strategy (critical for a multi-day 1200K, unlike shorter events), and stop efficiency (all elapsed time counts, on or off the bike).
• Riding with experienced randonneurs during 2026 events is a major learning opportunity.
• Worth reflecting on personal goals for PBP — cultural/historical experience, riding with friends, chasing a time goal (e.g., the "Charly Miller" society for fast finishers), or simply finishing — since that shapes how much preparation is warranted.
• Learning a little French is optional but adds to the experience (though not required — translators are available at every control).
• The two-year qualify/pre-qualify system has boosted overall participation and is seen as a net positive for both ACP and RUSA.

Rapid-fire closing questions

• Best PBP bike: whatever you're comfortable riding 1200 km on — he's seen nearly every bike type finish.
• Can't-do-without item: a good attitude.
• Best control: Loudéac, especially on the return leg (in 2027 it's only visited once, on the way back).
• Favorite control food: quick baguette sandwiches (ham/cheese/rillettes) to avoid lines; full cafeteria meals are also available at most controls, plus informal roadside food stands along the route.

Teaser for future episodes: upcoming installments will cover RBA perspectives on 2026 prep, a bag-drop service provider, and takeaways from someone who has interviewed dozens of PBP finishers.

Video: PBP 2027 Prep Series #2: "putting in the miles" — host Rob Hawks (PBP finisher/DNF veteran, rode 2007 DNF, 2011, 2015, 2019) interviews guest Lisa Charlebois, a randonneur with the San Francisco Randonneurs (Instagram: "Hustle and a Half"), on physical preparation for PBP through working with a cycling coach.

Guest Background

• Lisa Charlebois's first 1200K was PBP 2023; she came into it late, doing a 600K qualifier in 2022 rather than a full brevet series.
• Her very first brevet ever was a 300K mixed-terrain event — she described it as "insane," blew through a brake pad.
• Since PBP 2023 she has completed: the Midnight Sun Randonnée (Sweden/Norway, 1200K), the Gambler's 1000 (Reno to Vegas, ~1000K), and the Eugene-to-Santa Rosa 1200K with the Humboldt Randonneurs.
• Upcoming goal event: LEJOG (Land's End to John o' Groats), 1400K.
• Her coach, Allie, is with "Fast Cat" coaching — Lisa has worked with her consistently since mid-2022 and calls her a friend now (has known her through the births of Allie's two kids).

Why and How She Got a Coach

• Trigger for hiring a coach: total uncertainty about how to train ("I don't know what I'm doing") — not any single dramatic event.
• She hired Allie around June 2022, about 14 months before PBP 2023 (floated as an idea tied to her husband's 50th birthday, which fell right before the ride).
• Allie had never coached anyone for a 1200K brevet before either — they built the training approach together; Lisa and Rob agree coaches experienced specifically with multi-day 1200Ks are still rare/a "crapshoot."
• Coaching philosophy: stack back-to-back long rides most weekends, building volume in a "three steps forward, one step back" ladder pattern, starting low in January and ramping up as the event nears.
• The SFR (San Francisco Randonneurs) 600K brevet served as the key litmus test of whether she had enough fitness/time to be ready — she said it "hurt" but confirmed 14 months was enough time.
• Signature training tool: a "simulation weekend" — ride a century starting at night after work, finish around midnight/1am in Healdsburg, sleep only 4–5 hours, then ride another century, replicating exact clothing, nutrition, and gear to expose failure points in training rather than on the event itself. This exposed real problems: she forgot a Di2 (electronic shifting) cable and ran out of battery charge by the third day.
• Coach communication structure: workouts are loaded monthly into TrainingPeaks software; monthly phone calls to discuss schedule/travel conflicts; weekly execution with post-workout notes on perceived effort plus power-meter and heart-rate data, which roll up into an overall Training Stress Score/fatigue metric the coach uses to adjust the plan week to week.
• Stresses radical honesty with a coach as essential — cites refusing to repeat a set of steep hill repeats on a busy road with heavy car traffic, telling the coach "no" and having the plan adapted around it.

Rob's Contrasting Experience (host's own coaching history)

• Rob's PBP results: DNF in 2007; self-coached success in 2011 (his favorite PBP, first success); self-coached again in 2015 (his personal best performance, favorite for different reasons); did not hire a coach until 2019.
• Reason he got a coach in 2019: needed external accountability — worried he'd let himself off the hook without someone expecting him to follow a plan. He was in his early 60s at the time (will be older for PBP 2027).
• Explicitly states a coach is not required for success — plenty of equally or more successful randonneurs in their circles have never used one.
• Anecdote: during a 1000K pre-qualifier in 2010 (prepping for PBP 2011), he stayed behind after a crash to wait with an injured rider until medical help arrived, dropping off the back of his group — but his training let him know his sustainable pace, and he caught back up within a few miles without panicking. Credits training/coaching with removing event-day anxiety, freeing him to enjoy things like stopping for photos.

Goals: Finishing vs. Racing

• Both emphasize this conversation isn't about being fast — Rob's stated goals were simply: finish, finish happy, and do it without injury or pain.
• Lisa's actual PBP 2023 finish time was 78 hours 30 minutes, riding in the 84-hour starting group; in hindsight she regrets pushing that hard, driven by anxiety about time cutoffs (calls the third day a "26-hour day").
• For PBP 2027 she's considering riding in the 90-hour group instead, to relax and enjoy the experience more.
• She describes visualizing crossing the PBP finish line and bursting into tears throughout roughly two years of training — called it the longest she's ever worked toward an athletic goal.

Lightning Round (Rob's five rapid-fire closing questions)

• Going to PBP 2027? "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes."
• Best bike for PBP: her own — a steel frame bike with a dynamo hub (brand name unclear in audio, heard as "Periposa").
• One thing she can't do without: a nutrition/fuel product referred to as "hummingbird fuels" (exact brand name uncertain from audio).
• Best control: uncertain between Mortagne-au-Perche and Villaines-la-Juhel — an outbound control reached around 4am where she says she had "probably the best pasta dinner of my life."
• Favorite food at controls: pasta bolognese, though she says she mostly ate at McDonald's and Burger King instead; also recalls the worst coffee of her life at one control.

Video: PBP 2027 Prep Series #3: "A chorus of voices" — Rob Hawks interviews Peter Curley, a RUSA (Randonneurs USA) member since October 2013, organizer of the St. Patrick's Day Massacre local brevet, two-time PBP finisher (2019, 2023), and creator of the YouTube channel "PBP Stories and Tips," where he has interviewed 50+ PBP riders and compiled their advice. (The episode's "chorus of voices" refers to this compilation of many interviewees' quotes and tips that Peter synthesizes, not multiple live guests on the call.)

Peter Curley's Background and Channel

• Member of RUSA since October 2013; did his first PBP in 2019 with two friends, riding disorganized (no bike computer, insufficient clothing) but finished with dark moments.
• Returned solo in 2023, aiming to fix prior issues; still encountered new issues — plans to return in 2027.
• Runs "PBP Stories and Tips" YouTube channel: full-length interviews (50 minutes to an hour) with 50+ riders, each ending with the interviewee giving three tips that "guarantee a finish" at PBP; also runs a separate compilation "tips playlist" and a "what does PBP mean to you" video.
• Also runs a second, unrelated YouTube channel, "Bike Every Hood," touring neighborhoods around San Francisco.
• Notable interviewees mentioned: Deirdre Arscott (English, lives in Canada, has done 10 PBPs, one every four years since 1987); Jan Heine (Bicycle Quarterly), a fast rider with multiple Charlie Miller finishes across seven PBPs; Mark Thomas, who has ridden nearly 100,000 km of brevets worldwide, done seven PBPs, earned one Charlie Miller and one Ancien Randonneur award — Rob notes Mark may be missing an 84-hour-start PBP among his collection.

Six Universal Recommendations (from synthesizing 50+ interviews) 1. Understand your goals — decide first why you're riding (fast, slow, with friends, solo); what you put in determines what you get out. 2. Over-communicate with teammates if riding as a group — discuss control-stop plans 5 km out, and pre-agree on contingencies (e.g., what happens if someone can't continue). Peter's 2019 group wasted significant time at controls due to poor communication. 3. Every ride is a training ride — asks what you can learn from every ride (10 miles or 1,000 miles) between now and August 2027: sleep, nutrition, equipment. Cites "Lisa's" phrase: "train hard to ride easy." 4. Minimize time off the bike — described as the best bang-for-buck focus. Most "normal-ish" riders have a moving time of 50–60 hours; on a 90-hour start that leaves 30–40 hours off the bike. Track both total time and moving time on your bike computer, not just moving time. 5. Do not underestimate logistics stress — getting to the start line is often the hardest part. Anecdote: an Irish rider, highly organized with checklists, arrived at the start without his water bottles. Recommends: AirTag your luggage (Peter's saved him once when luggage was lost), arrive in France as early as possible, and do multiple shakeout rides pre-event to acclimate.

• Rob's own anecdote: arriving late gave him no buffer for problems; arriving with two extra days on a later PBP made a big difference in feeling relaxed.

• Peter's anecdote: in 2019 he locked himself out of his brother's apartment two days before the start with the only keyholder on vacation; had to fly his niece in from Ireland with a spare set of keys. 6. Expect things not to go according to plan — plan should have flexibility; pre-decide responses to likely failure scenarios since mid-ride decision-making degrades. Rule of thumb: if you want to quit, rest and eat first, then revisit the decision — never DNF on impulse. 7. Strive for "Type 1 fun" (added as a related/last point) — defined vs. Type 2 fun (miserable in the moment, great in retrospect) and Type 3 (regretted even afterward). Advice: stay in the moment, don't fixate on total distance remaining, focus instead on distance to the next control. Recommends interacting with locals/culture, and handing out pins to volunteers and kids at the roadside (Rob does this each cycle) as a way to create Type 1 fun and connect with locals despite language barriers.

• Anecdote: Peter recalls giving a small boy (~8 years old) a Golden Gate Bridge–themed pin; Rob relates a story of a roadside conversation in broken French with a local near a café, aided by Jack Holmgren.

Rider-Type-Specific Advice

• Fast / "Charlie Miller" types (those aiming for a sub-90-hour Charlie Miller award): apply the same six recommendations "but more so." Key focus: qualify for start waves A, B, or C by completing roughly 1,000 miles/1,000 km of brevets the year before.
  • Rob clarifies riders don't strictly "qualify" for a wave — pre-qualifiers let you pre-register and claim a wave, and A/B/C waves tend to fill fastest with speed-focused, pack-riding riders.
  • A Charlie Miller finish is achievable even from the 84-hour start — Rob knows someone who did it that way.
  • The "Charlie Miller Society" and "Ancien Randonneur" designations are described as largely American/RUSA-specific honors, though non-Americans are also inducted into the Ancien Randonneur ranks.
• Slower / full-value "Ancien Randonneur" types: focus on savoring the event, interacting with locals and culture rather than speed.

Start Wave Structure (2027)

• Three broad start-time groups: 80-hour, 90-hour, and 84-hour.
• 80-hour and 90-hour groups start Sunday afternoon/evening; 90-hour is the largest group, 80-hour roughly twice the size of the 84-hour group.
• 84-hour group starts before sunrise on Monday, in roughly 3–4 waves; it is the smallest group.
• New for 2027: reported plan for a start wave specifically for women (timing relative to 80/90-hour groups not yet confirmed).
• Rob's personal history: started 90-hour in 2007 (DNF'd, rained the entire time, only escaped rain briefly around Brest); switched to 84-hour in 2011, 2015, and 2019 (all finished under 80 hours actual time) and prefers it — attributes success to knowing he has a poor track record starting into the night, so an 84-hour morning start suits him better. Notes 84-hour starters gain roughly six more hours of sleep opportunity than a 90-hour starter.
• Peter did 90-hour both times (2019, 2023) without deliberating; frames the 84-vs-90 tradeoff as giving up six hours of course time for six hours of sleep.
• Sleep-strategy sub-discussion: no universal right answer.
  • Rob sleeps at Loudéac (same control each time — 2011, 2015, 2019) since it falls in the middle of the night phase; prefers not pushing further because of the stress of finding lodging.
  • Anecdote: Bruce Bird pushed past Loudéac outbound in 2007 rather than share a hotel room with Rob, rode further and slept elsewhere — worked for him but left Rob alone in a hotel room while DNFing.
  • Peter's first 600K: pre-booked hotels along the route didn't work out (nobody could sleep); his most enjoyable 600K happened when he convinced two riding companions to stop at a club's overnight control, though ironically he didn't end up sleeping there (stayed awake listening to them snore).
  • In 2023, Peter successfully took his first-ever "ditch nap," a breakthrough after previously being unable to sleep on the road at all.
  • Peter's 2023 start: left around 4 p.m., giving about five hours of daylight before riding through the night; started 90-hour again.

Closing Quotes Peter Shared

• Eric Nichols (three-time PBP finisher): "Now that I've done three PBPs, I've come to realize that PBP is so much more than an athletic challenge — it is a very special cultural event. The preparation, the qualifying, all the sacrifices are just the cost of entry into a unique cultural experience. The ride is the backdrop; the people and the places are the centerpiece."
• Greg (rode PBP 2023): "Every brevet is a lifetime compressed into a day" — meaning highs and lows constantly shift during the ride, but "dark times will pass, happy times will pass."
• Rob adds that even repeating a similar route (e.g., PBP's near-identical 2011 and 2015 courses) feels completely different each time because the rider themselves has changed and brings more self-knowledge to later iterations.

Lightning-Round Q&A (Rob's five rapid-fire questions to Peter) 1. Going to PBP 2027? Yes. 2. Best bike for PBP? Peter's history: first PBP (2019) on a 25-year-old Cannondale-type frame with 23mm tires — great bike, but caused numbness; second (2023) on a steel Land Shark, also 23mm tires, same numbness issue. Plans to switch to thicker tires next time, expecting it to be a game-changer for comfort. Rob frames the takeaway as: don't chase a specific make/model, put in the work to find what fits you. 3. One thing you can't do without on PBP? The cultural experience — without the people, it's "just a ride through a place in France." 4. Best control? Peter can't recall the name but describes it as feeling like a "rock concert" — crowds, names called out over microphones, energy lining both sides of the street. In the past riders passed through it both outbound and inbound; for 2027, the route will only pass through it once, on the return. 5. Favorite food at the controls? Peter (vegetarian) says he's never struggled — simple staples like bread, cheese, and potatoes; specifically mentions potage (a thick soup) and purée (mashed potatoes) as reliable, if bland, options.

Video: PBP 2027 Prep series #4: Prepping for PBP from the Regional Brevet Admins perspective — host Rob Hawks interviews two Regional Brevet Administrators (RBAs): Josh Haley (RUSA member since 2016; two-time PBP finisher, 2019 and 2023; finished three other 1200Ks and at least two other 1000Ks; sits on three RUSA committees; RBA for the Ohio/Columbus region since 2023) and Rose Cox (RUSA member since February 2015; PBP finisher in 2023; finished a 1000K in 2022; RBA for the Washington/Seattle region — host club Seattle International Randonneurs (SIR) — since July 2020; SIR is described as one of the largest RUSA host clubs, over 3x the membership of the next-largest club).

2026 Planning (Pre-Qualifying Year)

• Josh: Ohio/Columbus will add a 1000K in 2026, mainly because a 1000K gives the highest pre-registration priority for PBP 2027 start-time selection.
• Josh: Ohio has run a full ACP series every year since RUSA's founding, except during the COVID shutdown months.
• Josh's view: a 1000K isn't necessary for a good start time; for the 90-hour start (late afternoon/evening), the difference between a 5:30 start and an 8:00 start is "pretty negligible," especially once you factor in time-zone travel.
• Rose agrees you shouldn't fixate on a 1000K: her first PBP-qualifying year, her longest ride was a 600K and she had no trouble getting into PBP. She says a 400K or 600K is enough to secure a start time.
• Rose on the value of a 1000K (if time allows): it forces three days on the bike vs. two for a 600K, teaching riders the non-trivial skill of stopping, sleeping, and getting going again the next day — experience many riders skip by pushing through a 600K in one continuous effort.
• SIR is running a 1200K and a 1000K on the same weekend at the same location/hotel in 2026 — riders must choose one in advance. Route kept moderate on climbing intentionally, so first-timers can focus on learning to handle not sleeping and feeding themselves. A prior SIR 1000K had major issues due to nearby wildfires; this edition is scheduled in June partly to avoid that risk.
• SIR will run three full series in 2026: a full spring series; "Brevet Week" (start from the same location each day — described as "like doing a 1000K without doing a 1000K"); and a full summer series adding shorter distances up through a 600K.

2027 Qualifying Year — A Compressed Timeline

• Rob draws a key distinction: "pre-qualifying" = ACP brevets ridden in 2026; "qualifying" = the full series everyone must complete in 2027 (the PBP year) regardless of what they rode in 2026.
• In 2027, riders must complete their region's full series by the end of June — effectively half the calendar year most regions normally have to work with. June events become "panic events" — your last chance if a prior ride was missed (illness, unapproved vacation time, bike failure), forcing travel to find another opportunity.
• Josh (Ohio, more climate-constrained): season starts end of March, sometimes riding in 25°F weather with frozen water bottles. Typical progression: 200K in March, a longer ride in April, 400K in May, 600K in June. Ohio coordinates with neighboring regions to avoid overlapping 600K weekends, and schedules events toward the start of each month to leave room for reschedules.
• Ohio allows substituting a longer ride for a missed one (e.g., DNF a 300K but make it up with an extra 400K on the calendar).
• Josh's advice: if you can travel, ride qualifiers in Florida in January/February before Ohio's season even opens — more scheduling opportunities, and because Ohio's PBP-year series is deliberately harder (routed through Appalachia, with short, punchy 13–15% grades) so that PBP's climbing feels easy by comparison.
• Rose/SIR 2027 plan: start the season in March with a full series; March/April also add extra 200K/300K options and likely a pickup 600K in Olympia; SIR coordinates scheduling with Oregon's randonneuring club so riders can pick up 200/300/400/600K rides there if needed. After the first series: a Brevet Week offering another 200/300/400/600K chance. Then "last-chance rides" in late May and the first two weeks of June — run only if riders still need them, often from a specific hotel the club reuses year after year. SIR also runs populaire rides in January/February to help riders build back fitness before the season starts.

Avoiding the "Peaked Too Early" Problem

• Concern raised by survey respondents: if you finish your series very early (e.g., January), what do you do for the remaining ~7 months before PBP?
• Josh: qualified in Florida before Ohio's season even started, but stresses you must keep training volume up afterward rather than "putts around" — otherwise you show up to PBP undertrained. Cites a club member who rides back-to-back 200Ks every Saturday/Sunday just to build fatigue tolerance. Personally tapers down starting the first week of August so he's fresh by the time he's on the bike in France.
• Rose/SIR: offers rides in June/July for already-qualified riders to "spin your legs" — populaire-style distances (125s, 150s). Agrees 200Ks are enough to maintain fitness; doesn't think riders need to repeat an entire extra series once qualified. Prefers spacing qualifying rides out with time between them so riders can mentally process each ride and adjust their approach before the next. Notes that riding in varied weather (e.g., Florida's good conditions vs. likely worse weather at PBP) is valuable exposure.

Engaging the Broader (Non-PBP) Membership

• Most club members aren't going to PBP. One club pairs shorter rides with longer brevets on the same day/weekend to keep the wider membership engaged.
• Rose: Seattle/SIR has historically not paired shorter rides with longer ones, but she's forming a 2027 route committee and plans to add shorter options so non-PBP riders can join. Both agree that riding in larger, mixed-pace groups is good preparation, since PBP riders will start in a group, often leave controls in a group, and are rarely alone on the road.
• Post-PBP celebration: SIR holds a September anniversary ride where PBP finishers show off their jerseys. Ohio schedules a 600K the month after PBP on the logic that riders are still trained and recovered, making it easier to complete then than in an off year.
• In 2023 Ohio's prior RBA (Alex) paired two same-start-time ACP series rides — one hilly route through Appalachia ("type two fun") and one flat route through farmland — so PBP-focused riders and others each had a suitable option; Josh expects to repeat this format for the 2027 series.

How Many Brevets Should You Ride? (Rob's "5+" Framework)

• Rob's proposed guideline: not just the bare minimum of 4 brevets (200/300/400/600) required in the PBP year, but 5 or more — one ACP brevet in 2026 plus the required four in 2027.
• Josh agrees: knows PBP finishers whose only-ever brevets were their qualifiers, but says if you're someone who rides a century once or twice a year, you need more volume. Uses brevets himself as a "commitment device" to ensure adequate training volume.
• Rose: recommends riding a 600K in 2026 if you've never done one — makes the qualifying-year 600K/PBP experience less daunting. Believes it's "quality of miles, not quantity" — brevets specifically teach feeding yourself, handling controls, and overnight logistics, which solo century rides don't replicate.
• Josh: solo long rides also can't replicate riding among other cyclists, which is unavoidable at PBP — with up to roughly 8,000 riders on course, you're almost always within sight of another rider.

Night Riding

• Josh: an important skill, especially for 90-hour starters who begin in late afternoon/evening. You are always slower at night than during the day regardless of fitness — plan sleep and control timing accordingly. Suggests riding a permanent that starts around 5pm in 2026 specifically to get night-riding exposure.
• Ohio has previously hosted nighttime 200Ks — riders nap during the day, then start (and largely finish) in darkness, without the added fatigue of a multi-day event, learning to manage lighting while still short of true exhaustion.
• Rose: Seattle/SIR hasn't scheduled a nighttime 200K for 2026 but expects to add one for 2027; notes that Seattle's March-season brevets already involve substantial darkness given limited daylight hours.

The Experience of Riding PBP as a Woman (Rose)

• Restroom situation at controls: women's restrooms effectively become "free-for-all" (mixed-use) as the event wears on. Rose's approach: use another restroom option shortly before reaching a control rather than dealing with the control restroom itself.
• Her first PBP: riding slightly behind the main pack, restroom conditions were worse. In 2023, riding a tandem in the 90-hour start (departed ~5:15am) and riding somewhat ahead of the group, restrooms were "pristine and clean."
• Notes there are specific products/devices that help women manage using rough restrooms on the road; offered to share details with anyone who reaches out directly rather than covering them on camera.
• General advice for all riders regardless of gender: have a plan before entering every control — time spent unproductively in a control is time that compounds into exhaustion later in the ride.
• On the positive side: women are received extremely warmly by spectators in France — described as being treated "like a rock star," especially on a tandem; locals are eager to help with anything needed outside a control. Rose feels this far outweighs the restroom downsides.

Lightning Round (5 Rapid-Fire Questions)

• Going to PBP in 2027? Rose: yes. Josh: yes — time off is already on his work calendar.
• Describe the best bike for PBP: Both agree — "the bike you're most comfortable on," no specific make/model. Josh: he'd take a bike that's two mph slower if it's more comfortable to get off of.
• One thing you can't do without on PBP: Rose — boudin (pork sausage wrapped in a buckwheat crêpe with Dijon mustard). Josh — French food in general ("if you're not eating French food riding your bike across France, you're doing it wrong").
• Best control: Rose — Tinténiac, where she met a close friend in 2015 during a bad neck issue and they've stayed friends since; noted as possibly visited only once on the 2027 route. Rob adds his own Tinténiac story: after his first PBP (2011) he connected via Facebook with a local photographer who had photographed him passing through; in later PBPs that photographer met him at Tinténiac with a Coke and a ham (jambon) sandwich; the prior Seattle RBA (Mark) also shared a meal at a local's house in Tinténiac during PBP. Josh — Tinténiac is a strong contender since the hardest part of the route is behind you there, but his pick is Villaines-la-Juhel: "an absolute party," feels like "the lead breakaway of the Tour de France" riding through even at 7 mph; got a massage there at the 1000K mark on a past PBP.
• Favorite food at controls: Rose — potatoes (mashed/purée, "anything potato"). Josh — mashed potatoes ("great for the soul") and flan late in the ride, which he says soothes a sore throat from mouth-breathing with "a cool, flavorful burst of sugar."

Video: PBP 2027 Prep Series #5: Bag Drops and Paris-Brest-Paris — Rob Hawks interviews Deb Banks (RUSA member since April 2007; two-time PBP finisher, 2007 and 2011; RUSA board member 2016–2021, serving as VP for four of those years; chairs the RUSA gravel committee; RBA — Regional Brevet Administrator — of the California Davis region since September 2017; ran a bag-drop service at PBP 2023).

What Bag Drop Service Is, and Why Use It

• Not mandatory, but described as "a great insurance policy" for having gear available on course for unexpected needs — fresh clothes, spare batteries for lights, or a Di2 battery, etc.
• Lets riders run a lighter bike instead of self-supporting with panniers/luggage; trade-off is you don't get access to that gear until you reach the bag-drop location.
• Deb's 2023 bag-drop service handled over 300 American riders' bags and was, in her words, "wildly successful."

Deb's Own Bad Experiences as a Rider (PBP 2007 & 2011)

• 2007: her first bag drop; bags were dumped under an awning at the control (Loudéac) in the dark, during a year of severe, sideways rain — everything was soaked. A "sea of black bags and duffels" made bags nearly impossible to find, with nowhere dry to sit and sort through gear.
• 2011: not much improved, except that Dan Chidone (then RBA of Davis, whom Deb later succeeded as RBA) was on hand personally to help her locate her bag — in 2007 she'd had no such help and had to wade through the pile herself.

How Deb's 2023 Bag Drop Service Worked

• Riders purchased the service in advance and dropped bags off before the ride started, at Rambouillet.
• Each rider got two matching-numbered tags: one for their wrist, one for their bag; tags were color-coded by starting wave/hour (90, 84, 80, etc.).
• At Loudéac, bags were pre-sorted by color, then numerically, so staff could direct a rider straight to roughly the right section of bags — riders then picked their own bag out (like at an airport carousel).
• Riders checked their bag in and out at both ends; because the route only visited Loudéac once each way (out and back) under the old route, riders picked up/dropped off there both times, and the service then trucked all the bags back to Rambouillet at the end.
• Operation was indoors and lit (unlike 2007/2011, which were outdoors and dark), making bags much easier to access.
• Staff (Deb and her volunteer team) were all PBP finishers themselves, so they could relate to riders and often personally knew many of them; volunteers offered encouragement along with handing over bags.

Origin of the Service / Motivation

• Deb has a chronic injury that now prevents her from riding 1200K brevets, but wanted to stay connected to PBP.
• She runs a nonprofit bicycle organization that operates "bike valet" — trading a tag for a rider's bike and parking it during an event — and realized the same tag-exchange model could work for bag drop.
• She recruited friends and her partner Mark, worked with the Davis Bike Club (where she was RBA) to organize logistics/finances, built a website to collect signups and payment, and ran the service on-site in France in 2023.
• The story (with the Pokémon-backpack anecdote, tag system, etc.) was written up in American Randonneur Magazine about four years prior to the interview.

Packing Advice for Drop Bags

• Target bag size: roughly two cubic feet — about a small-to-medium duffel or a small day-hiking backpack (not a multi-day backpacking pack).
• Bag should be brightly colored or distinctively decorated so it stands out — Deb cites a plain-white RUSA-branded duffel bag year as a bad example (everyone's bag looked identical) versus the best example she saw: a glittery kid's Pokémon backpack, instantly recognizable.
• Bag must have secure zippers/buckles and be structurally sound — no flimsy shopping bags tied with string.
• Nothing should be strapped to the outside of the bag (no shoes, jacket, flag, spare tire) — everything must fit inside.
• Water resistance recommended; additionally pack contents inside Ziploc bags so items stay dry even if the outer bag gets wet, and to keep gear organized (e.g., a labeled Ziploc for "day two" items, another for batteries/lights).
• Recommends putting an AirTag or similar tile/tracker in the drop bag (and in your bike box during travel) to help locate it.
• Bag should be light enough to lift with one hand or sling over a shoulder — Deb recounts a rider whose oversized (larger-than-2-cubic-foot) duffel was so heavy even they couldn't lift it; it turned out to be packed with large quantities of specialty food due to dietary restrictions, and was still just as heavy at pickup (i.e., overpacked/unused).
• General overpacking advice: don't carry five lights (two or one is enough for redundancy); don't carry eight spare tubes (three is enough — tubes can be bought along the course in France).

Challenges of Bag Drop Under the New PBP 2027 Route

• Under the old route, Loudéac was 449 km from the start and was visited twice (out and back) with one intervening day of riding.
• The new route only visits Loudéac once, on the return leg.
• Deb sees two options for organizers: (1) a single bag-drop location at Tinténiac — simpler logistically, but Tinténiac is closer to Rambouillet than Loudéac was, meaning riders reach it sooner on the outbound leg and have a much longer stretch before returning to it, which riders need to factor into their planning; or (2) two separate bag-drop teams/locations — one near Tinténiac (or similar point) and another further along the return route — which requires two full teams and vehicles set up independently, since riders arrive across a wide range of times and one team can't simply relocate to the second site (a rider relying on the second location could be left without a bag if the team hasn't finished setting up).

Key Lesson/Anecdote: Keep Small Essentials With You

• When Deb's team left Loudéac to return bags to Rambouillet (after waiting four to five hours past the control's closing time), a rider still about 60K out from Loudéac called asking if the bag drop was still there — it wasn't, and the team could no longer help.
• That rider needed a small charging cable (for a Garmin or a light) that had been packed in the now-inaccessible drop bag; the team talked her through finding an electronics store to buy a replacement, but she was upset. She called Deb about a month later to say it had been a valuable lesson.
• Takeaway: keep small, critical items (charging cables, spare batteries — e.g., a second Di2 battery) on your person/bike rather than solely in the drop bag, since they're lightweight anyway and losing access to them can be a "showstopper."
• Related observation: riders were efficient and organized with their drop bags on the outbound leg, but much more fatigued, indecisive, and slower going through their bags on the return — Deb's team had to apply "a little tough love" to keep the line moving.

Will Deb Run Bag Drop Again for PBP 2027?

• "A big maybe" — she and her partner had been a hard no for the past two years but are open to reconsidering.
• She can no longer run it financially through the Davis Bike Club and would need a new organizational/fiscal sponsor; she has a possible lead but hasn't pursued it yet.
• Describes it as a major commitment: numerous last-minute logistical surprises even the first time (e.g., Mark stayed up late the night before the start finishing required paperwork, which they then had to rush to submit at PBP HQ in Rambouillet before noon).

Lightning Round (Five Questions)

• Going to PBP 2027? "Maybe."
• Best bike for PBP? "The bike that fits you the most and is the most comfortable" — deliberately not a make/model answer.
• One thing you couldn't do without on PBP? Chamois cream — and, added later, a very lightweight, quick-drying travel towel (bring your own; the paper towels at the showers stick to you — do not bring a full-size beach towel).
• Best control (from her two PBP rides)? Villaines-la-Juhel — noted for its cafeteria where local kids serve the food; on the PBP 2027 route it's visited once (she believes also on the return).
• Favorite food at the controls? Potage (potato soup) — "hands down," had it at every control.

Video: PBP 2027 Prep Series #6: Riding the 80 hour group and training without a coach — Rob Hawks interviews James Walsh, a RUSA (Randonneurs USA) member since Pi Day (March 14) 2013, who has completed one domestic 1200K (in 2016), several thousand-K brevets, and finished PBP twice (2019 and 2023), achieving Charlie Miller time (sub-56:40, unsupported) in 2023.

Charlie Miller Society Background

• Named for Charlie Miller, the first American to ride PBP, in 1901; he rode fully self-supported and finished in 56 hours 40 minutes despite era-appropriate equipment and adversity — that time is the qualifying cutoff for the Charlie Miller Society.
• James first heard of Charlie Miller around 2013 when he started riding brevets, partly through conversations with fellow rider Theo Roth about course records and history; he rode Cascade brevets with Theo and a rider named Han Rossman.
• Set Charlie Miller as a goal from his very first PBP attempt in 2019.

2019 PBP (First Attempt)

• Finished in about 67.5 hours — a big accomplishment, but missed the Charlie Miller goal.
• Realized around the halfway point (a bit past Brest) that the sub-56:40 goal wasn't achievable as fatigue set in; shifted his mindset from "chase Charlie Miller" to "finish within the time limit" and enjoy the experience with other US riders he knew.
• Identified that the second night was where "the wheels started to come off."
• Rode the traditional steel Rando bike setup with a handlebar bag in 2019.
• Found the mass-start chaos in the B wave (first several km through villages/roundabouts) genuinely "freaked him out" this first time.

2023 PBP (Charlie Miller Success)

• Used lessons from 2019 directly: knew the course better, planned around the fact that two nights without much sleep was his personal limit, and planned a sleep stop at Loudéac (which has dorms) for a couple of hours.
• Mentally divided the ride into thirds with rough time targets written on his brevet card, tied partly to reaching the 24-hour mark for the first 600K-equivalent portion (getting there = "huge mental achievement," leaves time in the bank for Charlie Miller on the return leg).
• Rode a modern road bike (bought new in 2023) instead of the steel Rando bike, stuffing nutrition in jersey pockets rather than using a handlebar bag — chose it based on comfort, speed, and familiarity from road racing.
• Used the RUSA-affiliated drop bag service at Loudéac organized by Deb Banks (a well-known RUSA HQ figure, though the service itself wasn't officially a RUSA program) — allowed re-supplying bars/nutrition and a clean pair of bike shorts; wrote himself checklist notes and put them in the drop bag to stay on track while sleep-deprived.
• Loudéac inbound was chaotic ("the bulge" — outbound riders from later start waves converging with inbound riders from his own wave at the same control simultaneously); found navigating dorms/bike parking while exhausted mentally taxing, so he pre-planned simple strategies (e.g., parking his bike at a specific end of the rack to relocate it easily).
• Toward the end of the ride, abandoned strict control efficiency and allowed himself to stop for sandwiches since he had banked time.
• Flirted briefly with the idea of pushing for a sub-50-hour finish but let the thought go; considers it a challenge others (or himself) could pursue in future.
• Felt a strong sense of accomplishment by the second day after finishing (physically wrecked, but happy/satisfied).

Training Approach (No Coach)

• Uses the TrainerRoad app to structure training — set target events, weekly hours, and TrainerRoad generates a calendar of interval sessions.
• Season structure: base phase (endurance pace, roughly 50-60% of threshold, longer duration — much of brevet riding falls here) starting after picking back up around late December, moving into a build phase (sweet-spot intervals, e.g., 20 minutes at ~80% of threshold) starting in January, then into specialty phase (shorter but higher-intensity/higher-power intervals) closer to the event.
• Rides indoors 3-4 days/week through winter (weather in Portland, OR is a factor), still rides outside ~2 days/week in winter, transitions to riding purely outdoors around May.
• Also supplements structured training with road racing (started in 2020) and mass-start events to build comfort with large-group riding chaos — cites this experience as directly helping him handle the 2023 PBP start wave better than in 2019.
• Recommends riders unfamiliar with large groups (100+ riders) seek out mass-start events beforehand; notes SFR (San Francisco Randonneurs) runs some brevets at that scale.
• Nutrition: figures out personal needs (carbs/hour, electrolyte needs — mentions he personally needs more electrolytes than most) through trial and error across his brevet series rather than via a coach; brings all his own nutrition to France before the event since he's unsure what will be available there.
• Values relaxing into his second PBP attempt with lower stress, partly by limiting how much online randonneuring community chatter/hype he consumes before the event.
• In 2022 (a PBP pre-qualifying year for 2023), achieved a sub-24-hour 600K at the Mendocino Coast Brevet — treats this as both a mental and physical benchmark: if you can do the first "600K-equivalent" of PBP in under 24 hours, you bank time toward Charlie Miller.

Advice for 2027 Prep / General PBP Prep

• Recommends riders aiming for a specific start wave (especially A wave) do at least one of the longer pre-qualifying brevets (1000K/1200K), not just up to 600K — in 2022 he only rode up to 600K and got the B wave instead of A.
• Sees the 600K as the "no less than" distance option for 2026 pre-qualifying.
• Suggests attempting a "speedy" 600K specifically for those with Charlie Miller aspirations, to calibrate pace and confidence — but says this is not generally useful advice for riders without that specific goal (better to just log more 600Ks for experience rather than chase speed).
• Has done roughly one 600K per year since 2013 (skipping a year or two).
• Notes 400K is personally his hardest distance — long enough that pure survival/pacing strategy matters, but without the natural "halfway reset" feeling he gets at the 300K mark of a 600K.
• Draws a parallel between compartmentalizing distance mentally on long rides (e.g., "I've ridden 100K a million times, just need to finish this last 100K") and compartmentalizing structured trainer intervals into smaller mental chunks.
• On the 2027 course changes: hasn't studied the new route in detail but discusses that the new route is a large western loop (rather than a strict out-and-back), converging/diverging near Tinténiac; expects this will add logistical complexity for drop bag planning, since a rider may need two separate drop bags (one per direction) rather than one shared stop like the old Loudéac out-and-back setup allowed.

Rapid-Fire Five Questions (Closing Segment)

• Going to PBP 2027? Yes, that is the plan.
• Best bike for PBP? A modern road bike — most comfortable, does most training on it, and feels fastest; used a traditional steel Rando bike w/ handlebar bag in 2019, switched to a new road bike (bought in 2023) with pocket-based nutrition storage for 2023. Comfort matters most for long events — agrees, but says comfort is more than saddle/fit: includes how "alive"/responsive the bike feels when tired or descending.
• One thing you can't do without on PBP? Food — calls PBP "an eating contest"; cites advice from Han Rossman before his first Super 600K ("don't forget to eat, you'll be climbing all day and won't feel like it") as advice he still uses; when something starts going wrong (mental or mechanical), his first troubleshooting step is to eat.
• Best control? Can't recall much detail about Loudéac itself (a blur) but flags it as the most reliable one to bank on for actual sleep, given the dorms.
• Favorite control food? Croissant and coffee; notes he's vegetarian so options are more limited, but pastries are quick, high-calorie, and coffee is a major boost, especially in cold conditions (experienced both years).
• Bonus question — recovery from "baguette injuries": a couple days of recovery generally; also flags lip damage from sun exposure without chapstick (learned this the hard way in 2019, fixed by 2023) and chamois cream as important post-ride recovery/prevention items.

Video: PBP 2027 Prep Series #7: John Ende and the Adrian Hands Society — host Rob Hawks interviews John Ende, RUSA member since 2002 and six-time PBP finisher, about the Adrian Hands Society (a randonneuring society honoring "full value" PBP finishers).

John Ende's Background

• Joined RUSA (Randonneurs USA) in 2002; ~24 years of membership.
• Did his PBP qualifying series in Spartanburg, South Carolina in 2003 (that series no longer exists).
• Has finished six PBPs: 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2023.
• His 2003 finish was an "outlier" — he came in around 80 hours, too fast to qualify for Adrian Hands time; all five subsequent finishes (2007 onward) were within Adrian Hands Society time.
• Also completed four domestic 1200Ks (including Cascade 1200 and Crater Lake) and a couple of 1000Ks in Nebraska.
• Plans to ride PBP 2027, which would be his 7th finish.

Adrian Hands — Who He Was

• Based near Raleigh, North Carolina; John met him after both wrote ride reports for RUSA's yearbook-style publication of PBP stories following the 2003 event.
• Known for riding fast then stopping abruptly, and for never carrying water bottles because "there's water on the course."
• His primary mode of transport was a bicycle (he'd gotten rid of his car/Suburban); friends including John and Mike Dayton often drove him to event starts.
• Between 2003 and 2007 he developed progressive muscle atrophy in one hand that impaired shifting and braking; switched to a recumbent to keep riding while pursuing diagnosis with doctors and neurologists.
• Qualified for and rode PBP 2007 on his recumbent; made it out to Brest but had to retire at Loudéac on the return leg (2007 was a notoriously tough, wet edition — Rob confirms he rode it too).
• After 2007 the atrophy worsened and spread up his arm; he was eventually diagnosed with ALS (terminal).
• Continued cycling and pursuing therapies as long as he could; by 2009 had largely stopped riding with the group.
• His successful, full-value 2003 PBP finish time was 88 hours 55 minutes (88:55) — this became the namesake qualifying time for the society.
• Died in February 2011, shortly after seeing the society launch, before the next PBP.

The Adrian Hands Society

• Founded by John Ende and Mike Dayton as a tribute to Adrian while he was still alive, envisioned as a counterbalance to the Charlie Miller Society (which honors the fastest finishers) — this one honors the "full value" rider who takes the whole allotted time.
• Qualifying criteria: officially finish PBP with a time of 88:55 or slower (up to the 90-hour cutoff); riders starting in the 80-hour or 84-hour groups are effectively excluded since they can't produce a finish time in that window. Must have officially finished PBP (a few exceptions handled case-by-case).
• International in scope, unlike Charlie Miller — no requirement to be American or RUSA-affiliated; open to anyone who meets the time.
• Started with roughly 20 members; has grown to about 287-288 members from around 30 countries. Membership numbers are assigned sequentially in order riders join/qualify.
• Ian Hands, Adrian's son, runs the society website. He got drawn into the sport after seeing how much the society's North Carolina year-end parties meant to his father; rode his first PBP in 88:55 (Adrian Hands qualifying time) despite being a very fast rider.
• Ian later attempted a Charlie Miller run (racing to Brest in under 24 hours) but had a change of heart, waited for friends, and took long breaks on the return, ultimately finishing within Adrian Hands time as well.
• Ian coined the term "Charlie Hans" for riders who race to Brest quickly then deliberately take a long break (e.g., an 8-hour sleep) before riding back at a leisurely pace, splitting the difference between the two societies' ethos.
• John estimates roughly 8-10 riders have achieved both Charlie Miller and Adrian Hands qualifying times (on different PBP editions); named examples include Mark Thomas and Ian Hands, plus international rider Steve Lungard, who has ridden a roughly 49-hour PBP as well as an 89-hour one.
• John's administrative workload is seasonal and modest: about 40% of his time goes to communicating with members (answering questions, handling merchandise/kit requests, dealing with international shipping issues — e.g., Voler won't ship to Australia, so John personally reships foreign orders); the rest is managing kit orders generally.
• Kit: tie-dye jerseys, chosen because Adrian liked wearing bright, unusual kits and enjoyed costumed cycling events. Cap design (created with member Jenny O, who also does cartoon-character artwork for the group) reads "Yo, Adrian" on one side of the brim — a Rocky movie reference, since Adrian is the name of Rocky's wife and the phrase was used to get Adrian's attention while riding — and his qualifying time "88:55" on the other side. Jersey/kit art includes a silhouette of Adrian riding at PBP, also used on the society's website landing page.
• The only regular in-person gathering is a group photo taken at PBP itself. In earlier years, when the group was smaller, John would read aloud sections of Adrian's ride report to send riders off at the start; he skipped it last time but is considering reviving the tradition for 2027.
• Adrian's original 2003 PBP ride report is being linked alongside this video for viewers.
• Anecdote: at Super Brevet Scandinavia (SBS) this past summer, John was picked up at the airport by a Danish Adrian Hands Society member wearing his society jersey — an example of the community's international reach.

Lightning Round (5 Questions)

• Riding PBP 2027? Yes — will be there, seeking his 7th finish.
• Best bike for PBP? "Anything that's comfortable" — deliberately avoided naming a make/model; emphasized the variety of bikes seen at PBP, noting you don't need a classic randonneuring bike with a front rack/bag and lugged steel frame.
• One thing you can't do without on PBP? Lantiseptic (anti-chafe skin protectant).
• Favorite control across his six PBPs? A control on the return leg known for its festive atmosphere — grills cooking boudin and sausages outside, and people dancing with fire; he typically arrives there in the middle of the night as part of the 90-hour start group, right around when fatigue starts to bite.
• Favorite food at the controls? The Fougères control specifically — he goes for what he calls "the yellow plate special," piling on all the yellow-colored foods (mashed potatoes, pasta, rice pudding), plus beer. He and Rob noted the Fougères control building is a fair walk from the food-service area; John's mood there shifted dramatically between a rough 2007 visit (rainy, overwhelmed by crowds) and a much better 2011 visit (positive mindset, ran into friends and sat down to eat with them).

Video: RUSA PBP Prep Interview Series #1 — Rob Hawks (host) interviews Cheryl Becker (RUSA member, San Francisco, rode PBP 2019 in the 84-hour group)

Series context (from intro)

• This is a relaunch of an interview series last done roughly a year prior.
• Upcoming: April 2 — a presentation on drop-bag/support services (presenter's name unclear in audio), plus Mark Thomas presenting on requirements/due dates for pre-registered PBP riders.
• Cheryl's RUSA number is 7647 (Rob initially misstated it as 7649).

Background and path into randonneuring

• Moved to San Francisco in 2007 and started cycling only after the move; not previously a cyclist.
• Progression: metric century, then a century, then a double century the following year — got drawn into the Northern California double-century circuit.
• Met people there (mentions Kenny Emerson and "Pudu") who introduced her to randonneuring; joined RUSA and rode her first brevet in 2012.
• What appealed to her: pushing herself over longer distances without a competitive/racing atmosphere; found the randonneuring community welcoming from her first rides.

Qualifying rides and building confidence

• 2014: rode the California Central Coast 1200 (CCC), a popular pre-PBP qualifier that year given the ACP pre-registration deadline pressure many riders were under.
• After the CCC she developed Achilles issues and didn't ride again for about six months — an issue she says never recurred.
• Years later rode the "Coulee Challenge" and had a strong, trouble-free experience — this ride convinced her the earlier Achilles problem had been a one-off (bike setup issue) rather than a sign she couldn't handle the distance.
• PBP came onto her radar gradually — aware of it by 2015 through other randonneurs but didn't seriously consider it until 2019.

Preparing for PBP 2019

• Describes herself as "not a planner" — training and preparation were minimal/informal, just continuing her normal riding.
• Rode a 1000K in April 2019 (referred to as the "Gambler") specifically to prepare for PBP.
• Completed the rest of her qualifying series (600K, 400K) later in the year, in the summer — after the 1000K, an unusual order that Rob notes reflects unusual confidence.
• Rode the 84-hour start group; chose it because it was suggested to her and because friends she rides well with were also riding that group.

The PBP experience itself

• Biggest surprise: the sheer scale of the event — hundreds of riders and volunteers at controls, well organized, compared to typical brevets where a control might have only ~20 riders.
• Shared a common rando experience: struggling to find her bike after coming out of the cafeteria at a control (specifically at Loudéac).
• Weather: rode into some rain the first night after Tinténiac heading toward Loudéac, but only got "a little bit damp" and wasn't badly affected — considers herself lucky compared to notoriously rainy PBP years.
• Favorite control: Villaines-la-Juhel — the first town reached, ridden in daylight both outbound and inbound with the 84-hour group; remembers bikes lined up along the street and a strong crowd atmosphere.
• Advice for first-timers: take time to actually enjoy the experience and soak in the atmosphere (crowds, cheering, ambiance) rather than just focusing on making time checkpoints.

Demographics and being cheered on as a woman

• Rob notes the "typical" PBP rider is often characterized as roughly 49 and a half years old, male, non-racer — a profile Cheryl doesn't fit.
• She says despite that stereotype, there was huge variety at PBP — many women, older and younger riders, and participants from all over the world — so she never felt out of place or underrepresented.
• She agrees with Rob's observation that groups containing women get a noticeably bigger crowd reaction (more applause, more animated spectators, especially from women watching) in the small villages along the route.
• No negative treatment or impediments at controls or from officials as a woman rider — reception was uniformly supportive and enthusiastic.

Quick-fire closing questions

• Favorite control? Couldn't distinguish most controls by name ("they all sounded French") except Villaines-la-Juhel, which stood out.
• Was the 84-hour group the right choice? Yes in retrospect — she has nothing to compare it to directly, but it worked and she finished.
• Will she do PBP again? Uncertain — considered it this year but hasn't been riding enough to requalify; says "maybe next time." Notes that right after finishing in 2019 she initially thought "never again," but that feeling flipped to "I'll definitely do that again" not long after (an example of the randonneuring phenomenon "randonesia").
• Closing message to prospective first-timers: it's an experience she's glad she had and one of the coolest things she's ever done — encourages others to go experience it themselves.

Source video: "Randonneurs USA PBP Prep Interview Series, #1: Cheryl Becker" — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX4biv0e6Rg

Video: Randonneurs USA PBP Prep Interview Series #2 (2023) — Rob Hawks interviews Roger Hillas, a five-time PBP finisher (2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019) and former president (four-year term) of the Washington, DC-area Randonneurs club (successor: Ed Felker; current RBA: Emily Ranson).

Background & How He Got Into Randonneuring

• Rode his first brevet in fall 2001, before joining RUSA; at the time was a member of the local club, Potomac Pedalers.
• In 2002 did an SR series and rode Boston-Montreal-Boston.
• Rode his first PBP in 2003 at age 50, finishing in 77 hours 25 minutes (84-hour start group). Training base was a daily 28-mile round-trip bike commute — no structured randonneuring base beforehand.
• Found PBP first via an article on the web, then worked backwards to figure out qualification — didn't realize a local DC randonneuring community already existed.
• Early club mentors: Dave Burning and Ken Zabalski, both of whom rode PBP in 1987; Dave still has Super-8 handlebar-mounted film from that ride. Ken did three more PBPs and mentored Hillas for his first.
• Prior cycling background: started riding bikes in the mid-1970s to get in shape for skiing; toured Nova Scotia in the 1980s, rode Central England to northern Scotland, and Southern England to Ivrea, Italy (crashed into a broken-down car there — broken nose and concussion, hospitalized).
• Started his career as a medievalist — cites his love of history and France as part of PBP's appeal.
• Has done all five of his PBPs from the first wave of the 84-hour group — values knowing where he needs to be at a given time as he's aged/slowed.

PBP History and Weather by Year

• 2003: Historic heat wave (100+ degrees in Paris) broke in a massive thunderstorm the night before the 90-hour start; the ride itself had glorious, sunny, not-too-hot weather throughout — describes it as one giant street festival with unusually large, cheerful crowds.
• 2007: Notoriously rainy year for the 80/90-hour starters; the 84-hour group rode on wet roads with only light rain — dampened spirits but not catastrophic.
• 2011: The 84-hour group got hit hard by violent afternoon thunderstorms near Villaines-la-Juhel on day one (four waves of storms, lots of lightning); fog the morning of day two leaving Loudéac, clearing on the return from Brest; sunny day three with a strong tailwind. Entered this PBP recovering from a fractured femoral neck (hit by another cyclist on his commute in November 2010) — hip surgery, 5.5 months off the bike, minimal training miles.
• 2019: Back pain set in badly on the final day — took the fun out of the ride's end, though he was close enough to the finish for it not to be a real problem.
• General: only one flat tire in five PBPs (2011). One notable mechanical failure in 2007 (below). Never had Shermer's neck or lasting injuries; occasional very sore saddle discomfort.

Advice for First-Timers

• Physical prep: nights in northwestern France can drop to the high 30s/low 40s°F even in August — pack more clothing than you think you need; it takes up space but doesn't add much weight.
• Mental/pacing: don't be rigidly wedded to a fixed plan — be flexible with weather. Push harder and bank time in good conditions/tailwinds; in headwinds, slow down rather than burn energy for little gain, since favorable conditions will return.
• Recommends practicing sleeping during a 600K brevet (rather than just riding through the night) to learn how to actually fall asleep while exhausted and wound up — sleep quality later helps a lot. Considers a night-start 400K useful for this too.
• Mechanical self-sufficiency matters: recounts fixing a kinked (not broken) 10-speed chain by headlamp between Carhaix and St-Méen-le-Grand in 2007 using a small chain tool, after his front derailleur geometry kept throwing the chain onto the big ring. No one stopped to help.
• Core mantra: "Stay calm — things are going to go bad, relax, getting excited doesn't help." Cites calming down a fellow rider melting down in a Loudéac food line in 2003 — "French lines don't move like American lines... it's part of the experience."
• Take time to stop and enjoy iconic spots rather than rushing: Paul Rocher's garage/crêpe stand after Fougères, the guy grilling galette-saucisse at the Loudéac control, fresh pâté at Tinténiac, the party atmosphere at Villaines-la-Juhel. Calls these "PBP moments" — always a few every ride.
• Recommends reading Graham Robb's "The Discovery of France" and Barry Cunliffe's "Bretons and Britons" (2001) to understand Brittany/Normandy's distinct regional identity — locals often identify as Norman or Breton rather than French. Anecdote: in 2003 asked a fellow rider "Vous êtes Français?" and got the calm reply "Je suis Breton."
• Route/regional trivia: castles between Villaines and Fougères; the France-Brittany border (a separate duchy until 1528) lies just east of Fougères; Fougères was a major 19th-century shoe-manufacturing center; Huelgoat (near Roc Trévezel, after Carhaix, through the national forest) was a silver-mining site 6,000 years ago and has old prehistoric fort remains, plus a small lake where Hillas has napped. Breton-language town names start appearing on signs alongside French ones. Key Breton vocabulary tip: "kouign-amann," the very caloric pastry, "perfect for randonneuring."

Memorable Anecdotes

• 2011, Châteauneuf-du-Faou (roughly halfway to Brest): declined a stranger's offer of coffee from a thermos to get food first at a patisserie; his friend John Gardner later got that same coffee from the same man, who had originally intended it for a friend he never found, then followed John along the course and picked him out of the crowd at the finish in Paris.
• 2011, third morning in Loudéac: friend Chip Adams' frame cracked; local bike shop mechanics couldn't fix it but lent him a bike to ride to the finish, arranging (via phone, with Klaus Klassen translating) to meet Chip in Paris and retrieve it; shop owners "Clarice and Pascal" met Chip at the finish, and Chip's photo reportedly still hangs on their wall.
• Made lasting friendships via randonneuring more broadly than specifically through PBP: David Leonard (Davis Bike Club, met 2002; their wives are close friends) and Mike Krast (met doing the Gold Rush Randonnée in 2017).
• Notes the 84-hour group begins overtaking 90-hour riders as early as Fougères (roughly 300K in) and increasingly throughout the rest of the route; by the time 84-hour riders reach Villaines-la-Juhel on the return, all the 90-hour riders seem to be there simultaneously.

2023 Plans

• Riding PBP 2023 in August — his sixth and, by his own statement, definitely his last, being four months short of his 70th birthday.
• Breaking from tradition: switching from the 84-hour start (which "gets down to business" fast, riding hard from the gun) to the 90-hour group, to experience that start style, acknowledging he'll lose time-banking advantages but wants the extra time cushion.
• Staying at the Mercure hotel right by the start line in Rambouillet, having booked via a reservation tip shared by Stacy Klein.
• Expects this PBP to be "a tour down memory lane," treasuring it especially given how good the weather was on his first, 2003.

Closing Notes

• Interview closes with Hillas and host Rob Hawks (himself a four-time PBP finisher: 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019) agreeing to look out for each other on course in 2023, given both are riding start groups that will cross paths (84-hour catching 90-hour riders en route).

Video: Randonneurs USA PBP Prep Interview Series #3 — Karen Nutter, interviewed by Rob Hawks (Karen has completed PBP twice, 2015 and 2019; rides with the Berkshire brevet series and New England Randonneurs).

Background & Getting Into Randonneuring

• Bought a bike in 2012 after giving up running; did charity rides (three-day, 100 miles/day) before wanting a bigger personal challenge.
• First randonneuring ride was a 300K in August, the year before PBP 2015.
• Discovered the Berkshire brevet series first, which led her to New England Randonneurs; learned about PBP only after starting the series and realizing a full brevet series (200/300/400/600K) qualifies a rider for PBP.
• Initially thought PBP sounded "crazy" but was drawn to it as a challenge after reading blogs and accounts.

First 600K / Early Randonneuring Lessons

• Rode her qualifying 600K in Virginia/DC/Carolina area after knee meniscus surgery over the winter, so avoided hilly terrain near home.
• Rode much of it solo but found riding partners at night to stay motivated; endured a severe thunderstorm (group sheltered under a church roof) and long stretches between controls with no stores (had to knock on a stranger's door for water/ice).
• Take-away: randonneuring means "you get by however you can and rely on other randonneurs."

Training Approach: 2015 vs. 2019

• Hired a trainer for both 2015 and 2019 — called it "an extraordinary help" and "the best choice" both times, since it removed the burden of planning ride volume/type.
• 2015: brevet series was a steep learning curve, building from 200K to 300K to 400K to 600K.
• 2019: rode a lot of brevets in the year before (2018) and again in 2019 leading up to PBP, and "felt so ready" by the time she arrived — a completely different mental state than 2015's nervous/anxious "give it a shot" mindset.
• Kept detailed, evolving packing lists starting from her first 200K, refined through each successive distance; grew to two pages, organized by what goes in front bag, handlebar bag, and rear bag — by PBP she didn't have to think about gear, and could just follow her trainer's daily workout instructions.
• 2015 gear mishap: a rear bag secured with a bungee cord at the last minute came loose about a mile down the road; she had to walk her bike back a mile to get help from mechanical/technical support.

Start Group Choice: 90-Hour vs. 84-Hour

• 2015: started in the 90-hour group, finished in 88 hours.
• 2019: switched to the 84-hour (daytime) start, finished in 80 hours.
• Found the night start (90-hour group) much harder — pre-ride nerves/anxiety made pre-start napping impossible, and exhaustion hit earlier than expected.
• 2019's morning start let her sleep at night instead of riding through it (roughly midnight–4/5am), which she believes also helped her avoid the notorious overnight cold/chill.
• Says she felt stronger the whole ride in 2019 and would pick the 84-hour start again "absolutely" if she rode PBP a third time; doesn't think she could have replicated her 80-hour finish starting with the 90-hour group.

Sleep Strategy

• 2015: minimal sleep, a couple hours at a time; slept twice on the roadside (once in drizzle), sometimes joining other sleeping randonneurs under a shared blanket.
• 2019: much more organized — stopped roughly three times outside her main sleep breaks (once warming up with a blanket and hot coffee at a rest stop, twice napping roadside on cobblestones for about 30 minutes when needed).
• Estimates 2015 sleep total was low (roughly 2 hours x 3 times); 2019 she got at least 4–5 hours of sleep across three sleep stops — "made all the difference."
• Learned from 2015: if you start wobbling or drifting from fatigue, get off the bike and nap rather than pushing through — she witnessed people wobbling and a couple of serious crashes from falling asleep on the bike.
• Her husband followed by car both years, meeting her at rest stops (not required to be at overnight sleep stops) with food from grocery stores when French control food didn't sit well; she recommends bringing Pepto-Bismol and Imodium. She slept in the back seat of the car during planned sleep breaks, setting an alarm to get back on the road.

Confidence, Gear & Other Reflections

• Describes herself as a stronger, more confident rider in 2019 versus 2015, attributing it to experience gained riding brevets and learning to problem-solve (e.g., she attempted (but did not finish) a 1000K in Nova Scotia due to extremely strong winds and made the call to stop at night alone — called it a learning experience, not a failure).
• On advice: heard many, sometimes contradictory, PBP stories from fellow brevet riders beforehand; learned "you can't listen to everything... that might not be the right advice for you."
• Biggest vital advice for first-timers: time management — accounting for long control lines (bathroom, food, and sign-in sometimes in different locations) and packing clothing properly for weather (hit rain on the last day in 2015).
• On being a woman on PBP: didn't feel treated differently from men; near the finish in 2019 two Swedish riders and a growing group (eventually ~10 riders) pulled her along to the finish line — attributes this to camaraderie, not gender.
• 2019 Achilles tendon issue: had to stop at the control in Villaines (return leg), got medical help from a nurse who taped her up (had to send out for tape since none was on hand) and gave her a leg massage; cost about an hour but she had enough time banked and it turned her ride around. Praised the PBP volunteer medical staff and village/town support along the route (village residents cheering riders on even overnight, small impromptu open coffee stops in the middle of the night).
• 2019 upgraded to a generator hub (vs. relying on batteries/chargers in 2015), which she said removed significant anxiety about light failure and was a major stress-reliever with no perceived speed cost.
• Rode significant portions of the 2019 course with fellow randonneurs Ed and Mary (from DC), picking up their wheel around Villaines and riding together to Tinténiac and Loudéac and much of days two and three.

Rapid-Fire / Closing Questions

• Would you pick the 84-hour start again? "84, absolutely."
• Could you have done an 80-hour finish from the 90-hour group? Not confident she could have, starting at night.
• Anything not asked? Highlighted the generator hub upgrade as the standout 2019 change (see above).
• Another PBP in her future? Uncertain — "maybe in four years... we'll see," possibly a US event instead.

Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42Ov73MeeHw Title: Randonneurs USA PBP Prep Interview Series, #3: Karen Nutter

Video: Randonneurs USA PBP Prep Interview Series #4, "Boyz On The Hoods" — host Rob Hawks interviews four Bay Area randonneurs who rode Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) 2019 together as a group: Ian (PBP veteran, rode 2015 and 2019), Ben Goldenberg, Carlin, and Irving — collectively their fleche/brevet team name is "Boys on the Hoods." All four finished PBP 2019 together.

How Each Got Into Randonneuring

• Ian: Father was into Rivendell bikes and Bicycle Quarterly (predecessor to the current one); at Christmas 2009 read an article about PBP, looked up that 1200 km ≈ 750 miles and thought "that's ridiculous." Had only done one century (the Tucson Century) at that point. Attracted by vintage French-style bikes (self-described Francophile). Signed up for the Lighthouse 200K in 2010 as his first brevet — rode it solo with friend Milo, later rode 200Ks with his dad (Santa Rosa, Napa) and a tandem ride together.
• Ian's brevet progression: 2010 — 200/300/400K (suffered on the 400K, decided a 600K was "too hard"); 2011 — came back with improved lights/bike (his 2010 lights were so weak/narrow-beam he couldn't see around turns) and completed his first 600K, riding with John Potus(?), Alex, Brian Clarkson, and a rider named Ricardo. Didn't feel ready for PBP in 2011; spent 2011–2015 with what he called a "burning passion/obsession" to do PBP, finally going in 2015.
• Irving: Met Ian around 2011–2012 at Bridge Plaza/Crissy Field (recognized him as "another youthful guy in jorts on a cool bike"). Didn't actually become friends until they were all "zonked" at a Pacifica 7-Eleven at 3am after a fleche, around age 20–22, sleep-deprived and talking; started riding fleches together after that.
• "Boys on the Hoods" origin: Irving got into randonneuring via Brian Wei, who'd moved to the Bay Area and convinced him to join; their first ride together was a Davis night 200K ("absolutely bonkers" but they survived). The team name was coined while climbing Mount Diablo on a hot training ride, brainstorming fleche team names — a play on the film title "Boyz n the Hood," reflecting that they weren't racing or riding hard ("not in the drops"), just riding long and having fun.
• Carlin: Road cycling background, riding with coworkers doing "fast roadie rides." Met Brian Wei and Irving through mutual friends; Brian was enthusiastic about randonneuring as a way to see the Bay Area outside a car. First met Ian on a "Mission Cycling Club" fast Tuesday-morning ride up Hawk Hill — Ian stood out riding a steel bike with a box bag among the Lycra crowd, which started their friendship.
• Ben Goldenberg: Came to randonneuring later than the others. First populaire ridden Summer 2013 (organized by Francisco Grajales); before that his longest ride was a "Paradise Loop." First 200K brevet fall 2014. Decided he needed a steel randonneuring bike. Got hooked as a structured way to push himself athletically and explore the Bay Area without it feeling intimidating; started riding fleches the following year or two.

Deciding to Ride PBP 2019 as a Group

• Carlin credits Ian's 2015 PBP experience/planning as the foundation the group leaned on.
• Group philosophy: accepted that at any given time some riders would feel great and others terrible, so no rigid pact to stay together — instead, overnight controls were the designated "anchor points" to regroup, reassess, and try to leave together.
• Ian had tried to ride PBP together with a rider named Gabe in 2015 and found it hard to stay together the whole way (they split for stretches). That taught the group of four for 2019: know you can separate on the road but plan to regroup at controls; lodging arranged in advance — two nights in Loudéac and a third night in an Airbnb — since being at fixed points made it possible to catch up with each other.
• Reasons the group actually split on the road: not usually climbing pace, but mental/physical state. Carlin developed knee pain trying to hold group pace and found pedaling harder with less spinning caused less pain, so he pulled ahead and let the others catch up at controls. Irving got sleepy and wanted to "ditch nap" at a random spot; Ian talked him into riding further to find a safer napping spot.

Training and Preparation

• The four did many long training rides together beforehand, especially fleches (24-hour team events) and 600Ks, which built social familiarity — knowing "how does Ian behave when things get tough," recognizing Irving's or Ben's moods, who likes playing music on Bluetooth speakers, etc.
• Carlin dealt with recurring knee pain after 600Ks in the years leading up to PBP; in the year before PBP he cut back on riding volume and focused on strength conditioning and physical therapy instead. Ironically, his 600K in 2019 was pain-free — the knee pain returned as a surprise during PBP itself.
• Carlin's PBP start was complicated: knee issues limited him to only a 200K in 2018, so he wasn't seeded in the same start wave as the others and began roughly three hours after them, riding solo pace for the first 200–300K before meeting up with the group. Knee pain became bad in the middle section; out of frustration he chased down a fast group of 80-hour starters passing by, stood on the pedals, and found it actually relieved the pain.
• Irving/Carlin: watching Ian's excitement after his 2015 PBP (including seeing him off/greeting him at the airport) created some FOMO and motivation, plus a strong desire that pursuing PBP together wouldn't fracture their friendships. Self-doubt centered on whether they could handle a 600K and function on minimal sleep; working through that fear built PBP readiness.
• Scheduling as key prep: Ian described doing a "workers ride" for a 400K with Kevin Fitzpatrick after his 2015 PBP (where he'd had no schedule and no idea how long he could stop/sleep). Fitzpatrick rode a deliberately slow but tightly scheduled pace, arriving at controls within five minutes of his planned times. This inspired Ian to build a detailed schedule for PBP 2019, letting the group know exactly what pace/stops were needed to finish and adjust dynamically if something went wrong, while still meeting at controls together. The group had practiced this schedule discipline on fleches beforehand.
• A shared Excel spreadsheet schedule tool (mentioned by host Rob) was used by many riders that year to plan PBP pacing.

Schedule Discipline and Falling Behind

• Irving lost time on the 600K due to a saddle issue, arriving roughly two hours after the others at the Indian Creek campground — framed as good practice for accepting less rest before facing real PBP sleep deprivation.
• Consensus: the critical rule of thumb is knowing when you must leave a control — losing time (even from going off-course) is tolerable as long as you know your control-departure deadlines and can still finish on schedule.
• Ian: in 2015 he had no schedule and felt "on the edge," emotionally intense and serious about whether he'd finish. In 2019, having a schedule and hitting his control marks let him relax more and actually enjoy watching the spectacle of PBP — people from all over the world in various states of distress, speaking different languages, which he found genuinely funny.
• All four chose the 90-hour start (none did 84-hour). One rider (wanting "the full spectacle") was encouraged by a teammate to consider the 84-hour start but stuck with 90 hours, and was glad — night riding turned out to be a personal highlight, especially the first night rolling out at dusk into pace lines, riding through towns with big cheering crowds at sunset.

Ben's Ongoing Randonneuring

• Ben now lives in Sacramento; has ridden a gravel populaire a couple months prior to the interview and one or two 200Ks in the past year — describing brevets as a good way to explore local areas with the right amount of pre-set structure.

Memorable Moments at PBP 2019

• Irving: Rolling in together to the finish; seeing host Rob Hawks at the Dreux control (likening it to "the Super Bowl of randonneuring") and appreciating the volunteer effort; riding into the finish together as a group despite Carlin's knee pain and his own hand/feet pain and self-doubt along the way.
• Ian: Staying in an Airbnb in Mortagne (Mortagne-au-Perche) — an old French house with an antique key he and Carlin couldn't work; around midnight/1am, drunk French teenagers passed by and used broken French communication to help fiddle the door open. No sheets or towels in the rental (guests were supposed to bring their own), but it was indoors.
• Ben: The first night riding into the sunset; also napping at a control — sleeping on cardboard under a stairwell, and separately sleeping bolt upright on a bench alongside eight other sleep-deprived riders.
• Carlin: Food from unofficial roadside spectators/tents (official control food was underwhelming) — a standout memory of eating delicious watermelon on a hillside overlooking a sunflower field at sunset, calling it "the best watermelon I've ever eaten." Broader takeaway: easy to get lost in logistics/fitness anxiety and forget PBP is fundamentally a multi-day bike ride through beautiful scenery with friends — even riders who DNF (e.g., after 900K) still have an amazing experience.
• Rob shared a photo of Brian Kilgore (a friend, referenced as "RIP lucky dog") roughly two days into the ride at that point in the photo.

Parting Comments

• Irving: Loved simply being on a bike in the French countryside in summer, and was struck by the people met along the way — bonding instantly with other English-speaking riders/clubs, including meeting the "Asheville crew" and other people previously known only online.
• One rider (self-doubt/anxiety theme, likely Carlin): Dealt with significant self-doubt and anxiety leading into the ride, got caught up in logistics-driven anxiety, but found that pushing through the ups and downs of PBP was itself the confidence-building experience — surprising yourself with what you can do after already doing a brevet or populaire.
• On randonneuring broadly: it offers unusual amounts of time with people, deepening friendships; conversation while pedaling is a great social outlet, and training for PBP together became a bonding mechanism for the group of four beyond just the riding itself (also hanging out, talking logistics, grabbing drinks).
• Also noted: fun hanging out with the SFR (San Francisco Randonneurs) crew and feeling their collective nervous energy before the start; emphasized there are many valid ways to train for PBP — from riding constantly beforehand to structured plans to (for e.g. Minnesota riders) not getting into long rides until snow thaws, and it can all still work out.

Rapid-Fire / Closing Q&A

• Baguette-mouth injuries (prompted by Rob's story of a post-PBP-2007 conversation about underreported PBP injuries like hand numbness/neuropathy and Shermer's neck): one rider said the roof of his mouth was torn up for weeks from eating so many baguettes.
• Anecdote: at the finish, this rider's girlfriend (now wife), Sarah, brought him a grocery bag of food including pineapple — his favorite fruit — but biting into it caused his raw baguette-mouth to "explode in pain."
• Group noted some randonneurs cope by dipping their baguette in Coca-Cola to soften it.
• After PBP, Irving, Ben, and a third rider stayed in France, traveling to the Pyrenees (Luchon area) to ride the Tourmalet climb — food there was "not amazing," mostly pizza and baguettes.
• Future PBP plans: Ian said yes immediately — his stated life goal is to finish PBP five times, though he's more accepting of a potential DNF than he used to be (referencing a past ride, possibly near Boonville, where he had to DNF but still had a fun, shorter-than-expected ride). Another rider said yes to riding PBP again, though not in 2023 and possibly not even 2027.
• Rob closed by noting the guests are roughly half his age (he didn't start randonneuring until age 50), thanking them for their time away from family/evening schedules.

Video: Randonneurs USA Paris-Brest-Paris Prep Seminar #1 — hosted/moderated by Rob Hawks (RUSA board member, RBA liaison, San Francisco region RBA since 2008, randonneur since 2004, 4-time PBP rider/3-time finisher), with eight presenters: Mark Thomas (past RUSA and Seattle International Randonneurs president, current Randonneurs Mundiaux president, 6-time PBP finisher), Deb Banks (RUSA VP, California Davis RBA, 2-time PBP finisher, Mondiale/Ultra Randonneur Award holder), Dawn (RUSA board member, 2015 PBP finisher), Greg (San Francisco Randonneurs, French speaker), Brian Kilgore (SFR Adventure Series coordinator, 2-time Charlie Miller Society member), Eric Norris (3-time PBP finisher, creator of the "PBP Tips" YouTube series), and Rose Cox (Seattle region RBA, 2-time PBP attendee). Recorded as a webinar in preparation for PBP 2023, aimed roughly 65% at PBP first-timers.

Qualification, Registration, and Capacity (Mark Thomas)

• Qualifying rides (200K/300K/400K/600K brevets, permanents don't count, must be on the ACP calendar) are a 2023 problem, not 2022 — nothing is technically required to be ridden in 2022 to qualify.
• PBP capacity may have been raised from 7,000 to 8,000 places for 2023, but demand could still exceed supply.
• In 2019, ACP used a pre-registration system based on longest brevet completed in 2018: riders with a 1000K/1200K got first wave, then 600K, then 400K, 300K, 200K in turn; slots appeared to run out after the 200K wave, though some non-qualified riders were later let in when others didn't convert pre-registration to registration.
• Recommendation: ride the longest brevet possible in 2022 (ideally a 1200K) to maximize pre-registration priority for 2023; November/December rides count toward the following year's cycle due to a quirk in the RUSA calendar.

Using 2022 to Prepare (Mark Thomas)

• Focus on endurance over speed in 2022; save speed work for 2023.
• Build mental toughness — quoted a young Belgian randonneur/racer: up to 200K "it's all about your legs," beyond that "it's all about your head."
• Expect highs and lows on long rides; both are usually temporary.
• Build saddle/contact-point tolerance through miles; separately address hand/foot numbness.
• Get multi-day riding experience (a long brevet, or back-to-back tours).
• Dial in bike fit — there's no single "randonneur bike," people finish PBP on all kinds of bikes.
• Figure out what gear/food/clothing to carry and how (bags vs. jersey pockets vs. backpack); practice carrying full loads on shorter rides. Anecdote: a rider's overloaded tail bag dragged on the rear wheel and caused a cascading mechanical failure.
• Dial in lighting (most PBP riders don't use dynamo lighting) — test battery life under real conditions; outlets can be scarce in France, and blinking tail lights are frowned upon.
• Navigation is rarely a big issue at PBP (course is well-signed) but still worth practicing.
• Clothing: riders are often surprised by predawn cold around day 3, even though PBP is in August.
• Practice efficient control stops — time off the bike, not speed on the bike, is often the biggest determinant of finishing time.
• Sleep is, in Mark's view, the single biggest PBP/1200K problem — figure out personal sleep needs and deprivation tolerance in 2022.
• Do a full brevet series in 2022, and if possible a 1000K or 1200K — Mark did a 1000K before his first PBP (1999) and found it very useful for learning about sleep/food/confidence.
• Start thinking now about personal goals for PBP (finish vs. cultural experience vs. fast time).

First PBP War Story (Deb Banks, 2007)

• Minimal preparation: qualified with a 300K/400K/600K in one week at a Wisconsin brevet week (having already done a 200K in Colorado), plus one more 300K and an early-morning practice ride.
• A hairline fracture was found in her bike frame five days before leaving for France; a Colorado bike shop (via distributor contact "Doris") got her an upgraded Look 585 frame, rebuilt the night before departure, ridden around the block once before flying to France.
• 2007 PBP was one of the worst editions on record — pouring rain the whole ride, cold temperatures, significant side winds; over 30% of the field DNF'd on day one.
• Wasted significant time on a coffee stop early in the ride and searching for drop bags at Loudéac due to bags looking alike.
• Overslept significantly at the Loudéac sleep stop with riding partner Sandra, waking to an empty gym and daylight, well off the back of the field.
• Anecdote: passed an elderly (mid-to-late 70s) French father-and-son pair, one arm in a sling, who told them they (Deb/Sandra) were now the lanterne rouge.
• A Norwegian rider helped them get back by setting a timer to force stop-and-rest breaks every hour on the return.
• Finished the 90-hour event with about 50 minutes to spare and only 2.5 hours of total sleep.
• Lessons: start your PBP campaign well before 3 months out; dial in bike fit early; sleep is your best friend (recommended researching "endurance cycling sleep" online); use bright, distinctive drop bags (she used pink Hello Kitty backpacks from Target).

First-Year Randonneur Lessons (Dawn, 2015 PBP)

• Came from a basketball background, started cycling 2010, transitioned into ultra-distance after the Dairylandaire (Wisconsin Triple Crown) and a 3-day, 375-mile circumnavigation of Puerto Rico (La Vuelta Puerto Rico) in 2014.
• Introduced to randonneuring in fall 2014 by RUSA member Eric Peterson; completed a full qualifying series plus an extra 400K and qualified for PBP within about 8 weeks in 2015.
• Rode a Rivendell Rambouillet, started in the 90-hour group; noted only ~300 women out of ~6,000 riders in 2015.
• Route/climbing stats cited: Paris–Loudéac ~278 miles / ~13,000 ft climbing; Loudéac–Brest–back ~207 miles / ~11,000+ ft; final leg back to Paris ~280 miles / ~13,400 ft.
• Only got 3 hours of sleep outbound at Loudéac and 1 hour on the return (4 hours total, no naps) — was afraid that napping would mean falling asleep and not finishing.
• Developed Shermer's neck (deep suboccipital neck muscle failure from fatigue) starting around the halfway point at Brest; risk factors cited: prior neck injury, muscle imbalance (cyclists overuse flexors, underuse extensor muscles), lack of sleep, poor bike fit. Rode the final 40 miles from Dreux by looking down at her computer, physically holding her head up, then steering.
• Experienced hallucinations (seeing bats, skyscrapers rising from the road) in the countryside — advises not to be scared by them but to develop a sleep strategy instead.
• Recommends: don't jump straight from a 600K to PBP — do a 1000K/1200K the prior year at ~75% of PBP's distance with matched climbing; don't skip naps; develop cross-training/core/Pilates programs; wear 20–30 mmHg compression stockings (knee-high, closed-toe) before/during/after; embrace the journey and small moments (e.g., stopping to meet local kids).
• Finished in 88 hours, 46 minutes, 36 seconds, earning Ancien status.
• Runs a blog with detailed entries: inspiredcyclists.wordpress.com (archives Dec 2015–Feb 2016, 11 entries).

French Language Preparation (Greg)

• Learned French as an adult starting ~15 years before the talk, after an initial 4 years of high-school French followed by years of disuse.
• About a third of PBP riders are French, and the vast majority of the many volunteers/locals along the course speak French — some French is useful for communication and problem-solving during the ride (e.g., an anecdote about French-only help with a foot/sock issue during his 2015 PBP).
• Rode part of his first PBP (2015) with Daniel Metzger, then completing his 11th PBP, entirely in French — cited as one of his most cherished cycling memories.
• French is not required — a little "bonjour"/"bonjour madame" and "merci" is enough for basic politeness if that's all riders want to do.
• Advises starting language prep as early as possible rather than cramming; use a variety of resources; prioritize real spoken/heard French ("hearing" passively, e.g., French radio in the background during chores) over purely academic material (vocab lists, grammar drills) — likens this to learning on a balance bike vs. training wheels.
• Recommends practicing speaking even alone (narrating actions), being comfortable making mistakes, and being kind to yourself as a learner.
• Notes "Franglais" (English loanwords/words spoken with French accent) can trip up listeners.
• Demonstrated PBP control-town name pronunciations with fellow presenter Brian reading anglicized phonetic spellings aloud for contrast.

Riding PBP Fast — Charlie Miller Time (Brian Kilgore)

• Charlie Miller Society membership requires finishing PBP in 56 hours 40 minutes or less — named for Charlie Miller, the first American to ride PBP in 1901 (then a professional race), who finished 5th despite multiple flats and a broken bicycle.
• Since 1979, 86 Charlie Miller rides completed by 59 different riders; Scott Dixon has done it 6 times; John Hein and Brad Tanner 4 times each; Dennis Hearst, John Dresinski, and Melinda Lyon 3 times each; 10 riders twice; 43 riders once.
• Brian achieved Charlie Miller twice: starting in the B wave in 2015 (large, fast group, easy to draft) vs. the E wave in 2019 (smaller, slower group of ~7 riders forced to rotate/pull more).
• Recommends the A or B start group for a Charlie Miller attempt, and riding a long brevet (1000K) in 2022 to secure priority for a good start time (he only rode a 600K in 2018, landing him in the slower E group in 2019).
• Needed to average 13.6 mph / 21.9 km/h including stops to finish in 56 hours (a 40-minute buffer under the cutoff); referenced Jan Heine's Bicycle Quarterly pacing schedule as a base, though found it too conservative early and too aggressive late relative to actual peloton pace.
• Avoid sit-down meals early; eat on the bike; manage control time tightly since PBP's controls are spread out.
• Suggested late June/early July as a peak high-volume, high-intensity training window, with a 1–2 week taper before PBP; aim for an R60 pace (60% of allotted brevet time) on 2023 qualifiers.
• Nutrition: used Hammer Perpetuem and Hammer Gel plus electrolytes, with some pasta/sandwiches at controls; found maltodextrin-based products easiest on the stomach at high effort; stressed nutrition is highly individual (like saddle choice) — dial it in on qualifiers.
• Equipment: rode a steel randonneur bike; used a drop bag in 2015 but rode fully self-supported (no drop bag) in 2019, wearing the same kit the entire ride; deliberately did not optimize for aerodynamics or minimize weight — comfort matters more; a support crew meeting at controls (as Mark Thomas used in 2015) can save significant time.
• Slept only the second night, using caffeine pills for the 2–4 a.m. slump on night one; found sleeping at Tinteniac better than Loudéac on the return leg (Loudéac was bottlenecked with outbound riders going the other direction).
• Undecided at the time about attempting a third Charlie Miller in 2023 vs. riding PBP more relaxed, but planned to ride PBP 2023 regardless.

Lodging and Trip Logistics (Eric Norris)

• Likened PBP prep/logistics to climbing Mount Everest — the "climb" (ride) is only part of it.
• Rambouillet (start/finish town) is about 60 km / ~1.5 hr drive from Paris; trains run but compete with regular French commuter traffic — expect some inconvenienced locals sharing the train with bike-laden randonneurs.
• Recommends staying in Paris for at least a few days if it's a rider's first visit to France, and arriving early to deal with jet lag; don't just fly in, ride, and fly home.
• If staying in Rambouillet, book up to a year ahead — very limited hotel inventory; he used Airbnb (booked 8–10 months ahead in 2019, ~$80/night; other listings as low as ~$34/night). In 2015, he rented an inexpensive "Formula 1" micro-hotel for the entire PBP duration to have a fixed base.
• 84-hour starters face the biggest lodging/transport challenge since early-morning trains to Rambouillet may not run — options include "hot-sheeting" a friend's room, getting a ride from a non-riding companion, or riding to the start.
• Storage of luggage/bike boxes during the ride: ask hosts/hotels about storage rooms, or use a bag-storage service like Nannybag.com (also mentioned by another attendee: Eelway.com).
• Paris hotel rooms tend to be small, often walk-up (no elevators) in older buildings; some hotels hold your room key at the front desk rather than issuing one to guests; check ahead whether a bike is allowed in the room (in past years RUSA-affiliated groups stayed at a Campanile hotel with a dedicated bike storage/conference room holding hundreds of bikes).
• Wi-Fi ("wefy" as pronounced locally) is now widely available; bring a European plug adapter, ideally with USB ports built in.
• A commercial travel-logistics company supported RUSA riders in 2007/2011 and again in some form in 2019; unclear whether one will operate for 2023.
• Recommended resource: a book on Alex Singer, the historic Paris frame-builder shop (same location since 1949, considered one of the best bike shops in the world) — worth a visit if time allows.
• Runs the "PBP Tips" YouTube series (up to 49 videos at time of talk) covering many PBP topics in more depth.

Club Jerseys and Trinkets (Rose Cox)

• Seattle International Randonneurs has produced PBP jerseys since 1995, evolving through several designs: 1995 (first year), 1999 "Chinook Oodle" (Pacific Northwest/Native American theme), 2003 Orca design, 2007/2011 "Seattle Blue," 2015 "Coffee Bean" (poorly received), and 2019 variations on Seattle Blue.
• Current jersey supplier is Voler (California-based, made in USA); other manufacturers mentioned by attendees include Jakroo and Wallistic.
• RUSA also offers a generic RUSA jersey for riders whose home club doesn't produce one.
• Trinkets (neck gaiters — popular in 2021 due to COVID, cycling caps, trading pins, stickers) are a common icebreaker and memento; Seattle made a PBP trading pin in 2019 given to riders, volunteers, and local kids.
• Predicted 2023 club color trend: hi-vis (yellow, pink, orange, possibly green).
• Jersey-trading with other riders (including, per Rob Hawks, sometimes "the jersey off your back") is a long-standing PBP tradition.

Rapid-Fire Q&A / Closing Answers

• Bag drops: ACP organizers provide none officially; commercial bag-drop services have existed in some past editions (uncertain for 2023); many riders rely on friends/family.
• Sleeping outdoors: generally tolerated ("qualified yes") — Mark was once chased off someone's lawn in 1999 — avoid roads, footpaths, cow pastures, and rose bushes.
• Recommended resources: ridefar.info (search "riders / safety / sleep deprivation") and Apidura.com (bike-bag maker, content on managing on/off-bike time).
• Women's bathrooms at PBP are in short supply relative to the overwhelmingly male rider field and get heavily used/abused — bring your own supplies.
• Women in randonneuring: notable RUSA women cited — Harriet Fell (first female PBP finisher, 1975), Lois Springsteen (7-time PBP finisher), Deb Banks (2-time finisher), Pamela Wright; recommended book: "Roar" by Stacy Sims ("Women Are Not Small Men... Stop Eating and Training Like Them"); a private Facebook group "Women in Audax, Randonneuring, and Ultracycling" was mentioned as a resource.
• Aero bars: permitted at PBP as long as they don't extend past the front of the shifters; some riders use them for an extra hand position and to manage numbness, though handlebar-bag placement can conflict with them.
• Target 600K pace for a Charlie Miller attempt: roughly 24 hours (Brian took 25+ hours in 2015 before dialing in nutrition); the SFR 600K is hillier than some others (e.g., Davis's 600K).
• Radio/media resources for French immersion: Radio France app, and commercial stations RTL and RMC (also useful for listening to Tour de France broadcasts live).
• Other language backgrounds (Spanish, Italian, German, Mandarin, etc.) are equally useful if a rider already has some fluency — no need to start from scratch with French.
• Carrying spare pedals (in addition to seat/seatpost) in luggage was suggested as insurance in case checked bike gear goes missing, since pedals also mate with a rider's own shoes.
• French hotel etiquette: air conditioning is not guaranteed even in August; keys are often held by the front desk rather than given to guests.

Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mOpy6A215A Title: Randonneurs USA Paris-Brest-Paris Prep Seminar: #1

PBP Prep Seminar #1.1 — Summary

Video: Randonneurs USA Paris-Brest-Paris Prep Seminar #1.1 — host Rob (moderator) interviews guest Bill Bryant, a longtime randonneur, bike mechanic, RUSA co-founder (RUSA member #7), current RBA (with his wife Louise) for the Santa Cruz region, past RUSA board member/past president, and frame builder. Topic: bicycles and equipment for PBP, historically and today.

Guest Background

• Bill worked as a bike mechanic in Davis, California shops in the 1970s; through that work he connected with some of the first Americans to ride PBP (America's first PBP contingent went in 1975).
• Bill helped organize a group from the Davis area to attend PBP in 1979 (the second sizable American showing).
• Bill's own PBP rides: first finish in 1983; returned in 1999 on a tandem and finished. Attended other PBP editions purely as an observer in between.
• Volunteered at PBP as a control volunteer and bike-check inspector in 2007, 2015, and 2019 (in 2019 did both bike check at the start and control duty, watching riders both outbound and inbound).
• Is one of the founders of RUSA and holds RUSA membership number 7 (gave himself 7, gave his wife Louise number 8, citing a preference for odd numbers).

Bikes and Gear: Then (1979/83) vs. Now

• 1979/83 era: mostly road steel racing frames or "sportive" versions with fenders/lights; tubular tires common early on, clinchers starting to appear by 1983.
• Continental riders often used large front handlebar bags; English/US riders favored saddlebags (e.g., Carradice-style canvas bags), much as today.
• Lighting: generator (dynamo) lights were weak and unreliable, especially in rain; riders carried backup battery lights and would bunch together at night to pool headlight output — the biggest equipment improvement since then, in Bill's view.
• Brooks/similar leather saddles were common then, as now. Frame-mounted shift levers were standard then; today riders more often use brake-lever (brifter) shifting or electronic shifting.
• Fenders were mandatory at PBP in that era — PBP was explicitly a touring event, not a race, and full fenders reinforced that identity.
• No clothing advertising was allowed — only small club-name markings or national jerseys (pre-Lycra era); today's jerseys carry event logos and sponsor branding.
• Fender brand: SKS ("Esge" became SKS), still essentially the same product Bill uses today; blue "Mule" fenders were also popular. French aluminum fenders existed but were rare even in the 1980s.
• Cycling was more of a "blue collar" sport on the European continent versus American riders (who needed the means to travel to France).
• Wool clothing was standard before Lycra; wool stays warm even soaked — relevant since Brest is described as France's rainiest city (2007 PBP had four days of rain, cold, and fog). Modern technical rain gear/helmet covers are much better than the old cheap jackets, per Bill.
• Helmets weren't required in the old days (still aren't required at PBP) — Bill estimates 90–95% of current participants choose to wear one anyway.

Carrying Capacity / Bags

• Common historical setup: large handlebar bag plus a small rear rack carrying a rolled-up raincoat/jacket.
• Carradice-style ("carities") canvas British saddlebags still work well and remain in use.
• Bill weighed his own setup: a saddlebag + "bag man" support frame comes to just under 3 lbs; fenders alone are about 1 lb.
• Newer "bike-packing" style saddlebags (nylon, sit under the saddle, run fore-aft rather than transverse) eliminate the need for a rack and are more aerodynamic.
• Aerodynamics came up as a real factor after the 2019 PBP headwind on the outbound leg to Brest, which some riders felt cost them 1–2 extra hours versus normal conditions.

Observations From Bike Check / Volunteering (2007, 2015, 2019)

• No need for top-end components (Dura-Ace, etc.) — mid-range Shimano 105, SRAM, or Campagnolo on a regular road/century/gran fondo bike is plenty.
• Riders adapt ordinary road bikes with bags and lights; handlebar space is often the limiting factor.
• Wide variety of human-powered vehicles allowed: recumbents, tandems, fixed-gear bikes, mountain bikes with road tires, velomobiles — the only rule is the vehicle must be solely human-powered.
• Fat bikes: In 2019, Bill (stationed with his wife Louise at Fougères, the 300 km control) counted about six riders on fat/wide-tire "snow bike"-style bikes outbound, but saw none returning — he suspects fat bikes may not be a great equipment choice for PBP given the heavy rolling resistance and PBP's inefficiency (long control lines mean no time savings from support-car strategies).
• Anecdote: a rider who DNF'd PBP three times due to gut/digestive issues eventually finished by switching his 600K nutrition strategy to all sports gels (carrying ~1,200 km worth of gels, ~300 calories/hour over ~60 hours) — but his bike was "stupendously heavy" from carrying all that food, and he still finished exhausted; he eventually succeeded after refining the approach.
• Unusual bike anecdotes: a woman rider ("Sophie") once rode a women's three-speed commuter bike; British rider Drew Buck rode a historical "Johnny Onion" costume/bike (referencing the Breton onion sellers who ferried to England to sell onions) — Drew had already finished PBP on a conventional bike in prior years before doing these novelty rides, so Bill/Rob stress first-timers should ride a conventional bike and earn their medal first before trying anything unconventional.

Road Conditions

• Roads at PBP are generally very clean (little glass/debris) compared to American roads; punctures are much rarer than on a comparable US 750-mile ride.
• Road quality has declined somewhat since the 1980s/90s (French road maintenance budgets have shrunk) — more minor potholes/cracks now, but still far better than typical California roads.
• Rob's own experience: first PBP in 2007 (saw 1/3 of course), then 2011, 2015, 2019 (saw whole course) — road quality subjectively declined each time but remained superior to home roads.
• A 1995 PBP had a brief (2–3 km) dirt-road detour at night due to construction — rideable but notable exception.

Tires and Puncture Repair

• Most common mechanical issue: flat tires, often caused by riders installing tires poorly, pinching tubes, or starting the event on worn-out tires ("that makes me nuts" — Bill).
• Recommended tire prep: mount brand-new, unpatched tubes and new tires, ride at least 100 miles domestically to confirm proper installation, then keep them fully inflated (on spare wheels) for about three weeks before the event so the tire stretches slightly on the rim — this makes roadside puncture repair much easier when hands are fatigued.
• Ride training wheels for final tune-up rides, then swap to the "good," pre-stretched tires just before departing for France.
• Target repair time: should be able to change a tubular or clincher tire in 5 minutes or less; Bill (an experienced shop mechanic) can do it in 2 minutes, now using a CO2 inflator due to weaker hands with age.
• If a repair takes 20+ minutes, other riders in a paceline will likely move on without you — costing drafting partners on the road, which matters as much on regular brevets as at PBP.
• Practice tip attributed to Pamela Blalock: practice tire changes at home in good light (e.g., in front of the TV), then progressively in worse conditions — outside near a porch light, then farther from light, to simulate night/rain conditions on the event.
• Anecdote: a 1979 rider practiced tire changes at 3 a.m. on his lawn with sprinklers running, to simulate rain.
• Tip: color-code your repair bags (e.g., blue bag = first puncture kit with CO2 + tube, red bag = second puncture kit) so fatigued riders can find supplies by feel/color at night.
• 2007 PBP (four days of rain) is cited as a legendarily hard edition — finishers earned special respect; DNFs that year were often from riders getting frustrated after repeated punctures from debris washed onto the roads.

Other Mechanical Skills

• After tires/tubes, the next most common issues are broken spokes and broken shift cables — learn basic roadside repairs for these (a shop mechanic can teach you).
• Truing a wheel is a learnable skill; volunteering at a bike co-op/charity is a good way to practice on cheap bikes.
• Carry a spare spoke or a Fiber Fix Kevlar emergency spoke replacement — read the instructions in advance since it's not intuitive (Bill: "I've built over 8,000 hand-built wheels and still have to read the instructions every time").
• Keep equipment from being too worn by event time — don't grind down your "event" wheels/tires during 18 months of training; keep dedicated training wheels vs. event wheels.
• Electronic shifting: Bill likes it (easier on hands, which fatigue heavily over a 1200K), but flags real-world risks specific to PBP — bikes get stacked closely at crowded overnight controls, and another rider's bike leaning against pedals can drain the battery. Recommends carrying charging cables and knowing basic troubleshooting (e.g., recognizing a "crash mode" state), rather than relying entirely on a bike shop.
• Disc brakes also flagged as requiring some extra owner familiarity/fine-tuning knowledge before a long trip.

Bike Fit and Timing of Equipment Changes

• If getting a new bike, make sure a competent fitter can replicate your exact current fit; even so, aim to have the PBP bike fully dialed in by around January of the event year, ridden through all qualifying brevets that year.
• The ACP (event organizers) are described as accommodating and enthusiastic about randonneurs attending, but will not make special allowances if you DNF a qualifier due to fit problems — "tough luck, come back in four years."
• Historical example: in the early-mid 1990s, riders switching from downtube ("frame") shifters to brake-lever shifters (brifters) saw a wave of tendonitis/hand and neck problems because brake levers sit ~1–2 cm farther from the saddle, requiring stem/reach adjustments.
• General fit guidance: randonneurs, unlike racers, typically need relatively higher handlebars (less bent-over position) given the huge hours in the saddle; riders new to the sport with racing-style low bars relative to saddle height should consider raising them.
• There's no substitute for time in the saddle to discover fit problems — bike shop fitters are usually more experienced fitting racers/triathletes than long-distance randonneurs, so seek out a fit specialist experienced with multi-day endurance riding.
• Fit problems tend to worsen, not resolve, with repetition — address them rather than hoping they'll go away.

Qualifying History and Its Link to Equipment/Fit

• 1979 and 1983: American DNF rate was somewhat above average (roughly a third of Americans DNF'd, versus 12–15/20% for most countries).
• 1987 PBP: American DNF rate was "shockingly bad" — Bill recalls roughly 47%, despite individual Americans setting records (fastest male, fastest female, fastest tandem) that year.
• As a result, starting with the 1991 PBP, ACP required two consecutive years of qualifying brevets for any rider without a prior PBP finish (previous finishers, like Bill, only needed one year).
• Participation in the US dropped under the two-year qualifying burden; once RUSA was founded, one-year qualifying returned, and American success rates improved (steady around 15–18% DNF versus PBP's typical range, ~20% in recent years).
• Current qualifying structure (requiring events in the year before PBP to earn an earlier registration wave, on top of qualifying in the PBP year itself) is viewed positively by both Bill and Rob — not as a burden but as extra seat time that improves fit knowledge, fitness, and confidence.
• Example: a local woman rider who'd done PBP several times skipped a full qualifying series one year, substituting double centuries plus one 600K, and still finished PBP successfully — full two-year series isn't strictly mandatory, but building up long-brevet experience (400/600K) is valuable.
• Supported ultra-endurance racing experience (with a follow car, lights, food, massage support) does not translate directly to randonneuring — unsupported 600Ks teach different, necessary self-reliance skills.
• At the Fougères control (300 km / and ~900 km on return), Bill and Louise observed people DNFing at just 300 km — too early; PBP controls are not designed to help you get back to the start if you drop out, so DNFing has real logistical consequences.

Three Keys for a PBP-Ready Bike (Bill's summary framework)

1. Fit — frame size, top tube length, seat tube angle, hip/pedal relationship, femur length, shoe size, reach to handlebars; usually achievable with an existing bike via a good shop (seat post, stem changes).
2. 100% reliability — beyond simple punctures, eliminate broken spokes/cables and other mechanical risk before the event; inspect for cracks around spoke nipples and worn rim sidewalls (especially with rim brakes).
3. Reasonably lightweight — doesn't need to be "stupid light," but avoid unnecessary weight (e.g., knobby mountain-bike tires on pavement, or the gel-carrying rider's ~35 lb panniers versus a more typical ~8 lb single pannier).

• Anecdote: in 1995, Bill saw a French rider whose old cheap Peugeot frame broke at a control; the rider stripped off the valuable parts (saddle, handlebar bag, lights) and threw the frame in a dumpster, saying he'd be back in four years — illustrating that for French riders PBP isn't necessarily "once in a lifetime," unlike for most Americans/Australians/Canadians who invest heavily to attend.
• Bottom line: you don't need an expensive bike (Bill notes riders from around the world use very modest equipment), but don't start on a genuinely worn-out "beater" either — balance is key.

Closing Advice (Rapid Recap)

• Contact your regional RBA — they have experience with successful and unsuccessful riders and can answer equipment questions.
• Talk to club members who've done PBP before about their equipment experiences.
• RUSA is described as a great organization that helps new riders, but new riders have to proactively ask questions rather than waiting to be told.
• PBP is called a "life-changing event," and the hosts push back on the idea that DNFing your first PBP is "normal" — most first-timers do finish successfully.

Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drg1zDi28JE Title: Randonneurs USA Paris-Brest-Paris Prep seminar #1.1

Video: Randonneurs USA Paris-Brest-Paris Prep Seminar #2 — hosted by Rob Hawks (RUSA), with presenters Max Paletta (80-hour start), Deb Banks (90-hour start), Mary Gersma (84-hour start), Mark Thomas (climbing/course profile), and a Q&A-style interview segment with Narayan Krishnamurthy (three-time PBP finisher).

Host / Format

• Rob Hawks has been a RUSA member since 2004, finished his first SR series in 2005, and rode PBP in 2007 (DNF), 2011, 2015, and 2019.
• Structure: each presenter covers a start-wave topic in PBP's actual starting order (80hr, then 90hr, then 84hr), audience submits questions via Q&A tagged with the presenter's name, and each presenter answers their top question at the end.
• Recording to be posted on YouTube; this is the second of the RUSA PBP prep seminar series.

Max Paletta — 80-Hour Start

• Randonneur since 2003 (New England Randonneurs), later ~10 years with San Francisco Randonneurs, created SFR's Adventure Series (200/300/400/600K mixed-terrain SR series); now rides brevets in Switzerland.
• PBP history: DNF in 2007 80hr group (lost bike in transit, emergency-bought an ill-fitting bike, cold weather, numb hands); finished 2015 and 2019, both in the 80hr group, times 53–55 hours.
• Fast 80hr plan: start ~4–5pm day one; reach Villaines-la-Juhel control (220K) by 10-11pm; first sunrise (day two) somewhere between Tinténiac and Loudéac (~350-400K covered); arrive Brest mid-afternoon day two; back through Loudéac shortly after dark for a nap; second sunrise near Tinténiac (~350K to finish); arrive Paris as night falls on day three.
• Start-wave dynamics: 2015 "A wave" (first starters) — mostly race bikes, riders with personal support crews, minimal gear, frequent littering, fast/dangerous start (several crashes in first km), reached Fougères (~307K) in under 10 hours.
• 2019 "E wave" (with friend Brian) — still fast but less so than A, more variable skill/motivation, oddly competitive pacelines, had to ride at the front to hold pace.
• Wave gamesmanship: some riders wait for friends to register so they start in a later wave (psychological advantage of chasing rather than being chased) — can backfire if it costs too much energy.
• Rule of thumb: return leg is roughly 6 hours slower than the outbound leg (e.g., 22hr out → ~28hr back = 50hr total; 24hr out → ~54hr total), assuming no major mechanicals.
• Pros of 80hr: covers 180-200K in daylight on day one; strong pace-line effect (first 300K in ~10hrs in the right group); less crowded controls outbound and from Tinténiac/Fougères back to Paris if maintaining pace.
• Cons: very fast/scary start (2015 A-wave called one of the highest-adrenaline cycling experiences of his life; that year started at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines with road furniture/lane dividers causing severe crashes, including broken forks); return leg meets the huge bulge of outbound riders around Carhaix/Loudéac plus oncoming headlight glare.
• Recommendation: pick 80hr if targeting a specific time goal (e.g., "Charlie Miller" sub-something) or confident in one fast 600K; otherwise other start times may be safer.
• Q&A: on whether all 80hr waves are frenetic — every wave has some racing-minded riders; A wave uniformly hard-charging/borderline dangerous, E wave much more varied. On Charlie Miller attempts specifically, Max would avoid the later waves (D, E) and pick A or B — the first 20-30K are the riskiest part of the decision.
• Personal note: badly broke his leg in a collision with a badger during a 400K in fall 2020, still recovering mentally; hopeful for PBP 2023.

Deb Banks — 90-Hour Start

• Second-time presenter; RUSA board member for six years (just completed sixth year), current chair of RUSA's gravel committee (gravel program news coming later in the year).
• Riding brevets since 2007; holds the Mondial Award and R-60 status, completed a Super Series (600K+), earned the Ultra Randonneur Award; two-time PBP finisher (2007 finished 89:50, ~10 min to spare; 2011 finished 89:45).
• Rode the same 2007 PBP as Max and finished despite the bad weather that caused his DNF — cites the 90hr window as "the best insurance policy" against mechanicals, digestive issues, or weather.
• 90hr benefits: full night's sleep before start, afternoon nap, a proper meal, time to see friends off in earlier waves, and to watch the 80hr wave depart (did this in 2011).
• Wave starts now depart roughly every 15 minutes, spreading the field faster than the old "stadium bulge" system (pre-wave era) where riders queued for hours to get chip/card signed.
• 2019 "J wave" — spread out within about 1.5 hours of the start.
• Controls more crowded than smaller starts, but organizers have improved food/line management, especially outbound; on return, riders of different start times converge at the same controls simultaneously.
• With ~7,500 total riders, PBP means riding alongside Danish, Taiwanese, Japanese, Spanish, and French randonneurs in the same event — a unique international mix.
• Bathrooms described as consistently messy regardless of start time — bring your own toilet paper/wipes.
• Anecdote: in 2011, a young French man rode alongside her group, and it turned out his grandfather (who'd ridden PBP in the 1970s) joined briefly on the roadside to cheer him on — she called it an incredible, memorable moment.
• The Society of Ancien Hands (honor for slow/full-value finishers): named for Alan Hands ("NCN"), rode PBP 2003, believed every ride should be an adventure enjoyed to the fullest — full value finishing near the 90-hour cutoff qualifies. Deb is a two-time "Ancien Hands" style finisher — 2007 at 89:50, 2011 at 89:45.
• Q&A: only got a question about a rear rack pictured in her slides (a Jandd Bean rack) — noted it was actually her partner's setup, not hers; advises everyone to find gear/setup they're comfortable with well before France.

Mary Gersma — 84-Hour Start

• Rides with DC Randonneurs, usually tandem with husband Ed Falker; rode PBP 2011 and 2019 together on tandem, both times via the 84hr start, finishing both times within about 20 minutes of each other (2011 was ~20 min faster than 2019); finish time was 81.5 hours.
• Randonneuring since 2005; describes transportation cycling as her "first love."
• Field-size context (last PBP cited): 917 riders in the 84hr group (smallest), 4,500+ in the 90hr group, ~1,200 in the 80hr — and DNF rate appeared to increase with each shorter/later start group, though she wasn't sure of the cause.
• 84hr mechanics: Sunday bike inspection (vs. Saturday for others); starts at 5am the next morning after the 80s/90s have gone; 39 hours allotted to reach Brest, with expanding control windows on the return leg to Rambouillet.
• Rode much of 2019 with Rob Hawks, Anson, Brian, and Roy — called it a great experience.
• Start atmosphere: much smaller/lower-key than 80/90hr fanfare — described as feeling "like a DC Randonneurs brevet" at first, though 2019 had a more festive start banner than 2011's low-key "just go, don't hit anything" send-off.
• Rode early miles with Doug McLaren (Chicago). Loved passing through Loudéac both ways — big crowds cheering, kids helping carry food trays at the control.
• Advantages: maximizes daylight riding; quieter controls, though controls can start shutting down even with time still on the clock, particularly in Brest; can watch both the 80hr and 90hr waves depart if staying near the start.
• Registration note: 84hr group was easier to get into late in registration last time — some riders ended up there because it was the only slot left, not by first choice.
• Because 84hr riders start a day behind, they spend the first ~2 days of riding catching up to and passing through the tail end of the 90hr field — a "surreal" feeling requiring extra care at night around very fatigued riders who've been on the road much longer.
• Highlight: reaching the summit of Roc Trévezel and seeing the 90hr riders coming back through at the same time — called one of the best moments of the ride.
• Time budget: 39 hours to Brest, then 45 hours back to Rambouillet.
• Runs a blog called "Chasing Mailboxes" with rider PBP trip reports sorted by start wave, welcomes submissions.
• Q&A: someone asked about time splits — her tandem averaged 15 mph over the first day, 13.5 mph for the rest; targeted 3-4 hours of sleep per night. Also noted 2019 nights were colder than expected — her husband Ed left a jacket behind and regretted it (jacket turned out to be safe at home in a closet the whole time).

Mark Thomas — Course Profile / Climbing ("Ups and Downs of PBP")

• Riding PBP since 1999, finished every edition since, typically in the 85-90 hour range, with one outlier in 2015 at 55 hours.
• Rob noted Mark may be the only person to hold both the Ancien Hands and Charlie Miller Society awards (a very small ~4-person club) — the most notable other member being Alan Hands's son, Ian, himself.
• PBP has no major climbs but is emphatically not flat — deep into day two or three it "starts to feel like a hill fest."
• Total elevation gain roughly 11,000-13,000 meters depending on measurement method; his own GPS-recorded 2019 ride logged 11,850 meters. Pre-GPS era he estimated 10,000m, but no GPS-recorded ride has come in that low.
• Comparative climbing rate: ~10 meters/km (about 50 ft/mile) on PBP, versus ~17 m/km or more on a Super Randonneur 600K, and under 5 m/km on the Florida Cracker Swamp 1200K. Comparable to (slightly more climbing than) the Colorado High Country 1200.
• Elevation range is narrow: lowest point is sea level in Brest (just after crossing the bridge along the river) — but the actual Brest control itself sits atop roughly a 100-meter climb from there, which he called painful after 600K. Highest point is Roc Trévezel at ~330 meters (1,100 ft) — steeper from the west but even that side is only about 11km at ~2% grade; described as a fun spot with campers, tables, and people cheering riders at the summit.
• Steepest climbs are around 10%, and none are very long — the real challenge is the relentlessness/frequency of climbs rather than steepness; almost no flat stretches anywhere on the course.
• Breaks the route into three segments: Start→Loudéac (440km, ~9 m/km climbing, below average), Loudéac→Brest→Loudéac (340km "out and back" through Brest, ~11 m/km, the hilliest section — Brest to Carhaix segment closer to 12 m/km), and Loudéac→Finish.
• On his fast (55-hour) PBP, his Start→Loudéac pace was nearly 29 km/h, dropping substantially afterward due to terrain/fatigue.
• Training advice: don't avoid hills in training; consider riding a 300K or 400K brevet with roughly 3,300m (11,000 ft) of climbing — comparable to a "hilly double century" — ideally one with many short punchy climbs (PBP-style) rather than a few long mountain passes, since the terrain "feels different" and better prepares you mentally; riders from flat regions have still finished PBP successfully.
• Emotional ups and downs: lows are often just fatigue/hunger in disguise — quotes a mentor's rule "never quit till you've had an apple turnover" (a pastry). Remedies: eat, nap (a nap may pay for itself in speed), find a friend to ride with, focus on the next control/town/hill instead of the whole remaining distance, let go of unrealistic pacing expectations or of a faster group.
• Highs: riding bikes in France with friends, meeting international randonneurs, enjoying the hospitality of French villagers who cheer riders day and night, and simply reveling in "that big randonneur party."

Narayan Krishnamurthy — Interview Segment (three-time PBP finisher, 2011/2015/2019)

• Started randonneuring in 2004 with BC Randonneurs, now rides with Seattle International Randonneurs; self-described "card-carrying member of the Cyclo Escargot" (slow riders' club), values camaraderie, convenience-store food, and event trinkets.
• First learned about PBP from Ken Peterson on a touring mailing list discussing brevets vs. permanents/audax rides, around 2003; did his first 200K in 2004 and noticed people still talking about PBP 2003 a year later — that intrigued him.
• Drawn to PBP specifically because, unlike normal road riding where cyclists get harassed, PBP is an event where the public celebrates cyclists.
• Favorite/funny memory: near a small town beyond Villaines-la-Juhel, stopped at a roadside stand about an hour ahead of cutoff, out of water; a crowd of ~10 locals gathered to ask questions (translated by a fellow French recumbent rider); after severe sleep deprivation, misspoke in French claiming his "husband is in London" instead of "wife," to the crowd's amused reaction — corrected himself to laughter.
• Rob shared a similar embarrassing-French anecdote from 2015 near Villaines-la-Juhel involving a public toilet setup and being recognized on a return pass through town.
• Reason for returning in 2015 (after 2011): first goal in 2011 was just to finish; he was too slow to savor towns/stops. Returned to ride smarter — better bike/equipment, and an explicit plan for which towns/experiences to prioritize (wanted more time in Villaines-la-Juhel, the Mortagne-au-Perche area, and Sizun).
• Villaines-la-Juhel described as an emotional highlight both ways — riders moved to tears by the crowd's applause on both outbound and return passes.
• Lesson learned the hard way: advice from a mentor was "don't mess around between Villaines-la-Juhel and Mortagne" — he did anyway on his first PBP and made the Mortagne control with only about three minutes to spare.
• Noted his longest ride ever before PBP 2011 was under 1,000km, so the final ~200km back was "truly uncharted territory."
• Each of his three PBPs felt completely distinct, not repetitive — cites varying weather each time: nasty rain part of 2011 that later cleared; gorgeous weather for most of 2015 with a brutal 8-hour bad stretch; unusually cold overnight lows in 2019.
• Biggest change in preparation between 2011 and 2015: realized off-the-bike conditioning (not just distance/saddle time) made the biggest difference for a slow rider — recommends core work (front and side planks, just a couple minutes a day) to reduce neck/back issues and finish in better shape.
• Confirmed he plans to return for PBP 2023 "even if I have to pedal one leg."

Closing Rapid-Fire Q&A / Best-Question Round

• Max: Best question was about wave choice for a Charlie Miller attempt — recommends A or B wave, avoid D/E; first 20-30km are the key risk factor.
• Deb: Only got one question, about a rear rack shown in her slides (a Jandd Bean rack) — clarified it was her partner's setup, not her own; stresses everyone should find and get comfortable with their own gear setup well before France.
• Mary: Fielded a question on time splits — 15 mph average day one, 13.5 mph average remaining days (tandem); slept 3-4 hours/night; biggest surprise was how cold 2019 nights were (led to the "Ed's jacket" story — left behind but ultimately never needed since it stayed safely in a closet at home).
• Mark: No direct terrain questions beyond his talk. Confirmed the 80hr/84hr start times are hard cutoffs, not soft goals — finishing at 81 hours on an 80hr start = DNF. On the 2023 start location: as of the seminar, the start had not yet been officially confirmed as Rambouillet, though it was expected/rumored, with an announcement forthcoming.
• Narayan: Fielded a general question to all panelists on fenders — recommends not mounting fenders unless rain is forecast (but bringing them to France just in case), given the amount of manure on French roads that combines badly with rain.
• Rob (closing note): Has personally experienced rain at every PBP he's attended (2007, 2011, 2015, 2019). Noted rain effects varied by start wave — in 2011 the 84hr group got notably more rain than the 80hr/90hr groups who'd started the day before.
• Max, on being asked if PBP is a "race": says it's not a race in the sense of everyone competing, but can be approached as an individual time-trial-style athletic challenge, or as a food/culture/social experience — and can be multiple things to the same person simultaneously. Charlie Miller attempts limit village interaction but still lead to lasting international friendships on the road.

Video: Randonneurs USA (RUSA) Paris-Brest-Paris Prep Seminar #3 — hosted by Rob Hawks (RUSA Brevet Coordinator); drop bag service presentation by Deb Banks, Eric Norris, and Bill Green (a fourth partner, Mark Baining, was absent, "off riding his bike somewhere in Texas"); pre-registration/registration briefing by Mark Thomas.

Drop Bag Service (Deb Banks, Eric Norris, Bill Green)

• Origin/team: Four organizers (Deb Banks, Eric Norris, Bill Green, Mark Baining) decided not to ride PBP this year but wanted to be involved, inspired by how Lois and Bill Bryant/Springsteen previously supported riders. Between the four of them they estimate at least 14 combined PBPs and many other 1200Ks.
• What a drop bag is: A small duffel/gym bag, roughly two cubic feet, brought out to the Loudéac control for riders. Recommend brightly colored, waterproof/water-resistant bags (2007 photo showed bags getting soaked in rain), distinguishable in a large pile of bags. Deb prefers a backpack style so it can be carried on the back and easily transported to/from a hotel.
• What to pack: Two changes of clothes; spare batteries/tail light batteries; a power bank (Eric carries ~10,000 mAh) to charge phone/computer (do not count on finding power outlets at the control); toiletries or body wipes (showers available at Loudéac for about one euro, with a disposable towel); spare tubes/tire/chain; limited food/drink (e.g., an Ensure-type drink) since Loudéac control has a cafeteria; pack everything in Ziploc bags in case of rain, with each bag numbered.
• Rejected example: Eric admitted he once used a Care Bear–style tote bag as a drop bag on a domestic 1200K and called it a disaster; organizers will not accept simple shopping-style bags for this PBP service.
• Service logistics: Registration will be electronic, opening in June (after riders have a clearer sense of qualification/health status); price is $75 per bag, one bag per person (tandem riders get two bags, one per rider). No day-of registration will be accepted except if space remains. Two vans will be rented, carrying an estimated combined 300–350 bags total.
• Process: Bag drop-off happens on the grounds in Rambouillet (no specific bike-check station confirmed this year — may happen out on the course instead); riders tag their bag and get a wristband to match to their number. Bags accessible twice: outbound and inbound at Loudéac. Riders may take their bag to a hotel in/near Loudéac and return it before the Loudéac control closes (team leaves when Loudéac control closes). At least one of the four organizers will always be with the bags. After Loudéac closes, organizers drive back to Rambouillet with all bags and set up under a large RUSA banner for retrieval.
• Q&A / policy answers (rapid-fire from chat):
  • No refunds if you don't qualify — hence registration opens in June.
  • No expedited bag return if you DNF — bags return only when the team leaves Loudéac.
  • Unclaimed bags after PBP closes (event closes Saturday) are not mailed back — best plan is not to leave the bag.
  • Cannot purchase service for two bags per person — one medium bag only.
  • No hard weight limit, but be conscientious — must be liftable by the volunteers (mentioned carrying ~350 bags total among the team).
  • No hotel delivery service outside Rambouillet; riders should search for other third-party drop-bag vendors for that.
  • No retrieval service if you leave your bag at a hotel in/near Loudéac — you must bring it back yourself.
  • If riders reach Loudéac/Rambouillet before the team, they should wait — team won't hold anyone up but can't guarantee exact timing due to variables like road closures or flooding.
  • Suggestion (from chat): pack a towel; large paper towels tend to fall apart, so bring a cloth towel (in a Ziploc).
  • Recommendation to place an Apple AirTag in the bag — lets riders track their bag's location across France (e.g., watch it "drive across France") and locate it in the pile at Loudéac.
  • New contact email created for the service: pbp23bagdrop@gmail.com.
  • This is the team's first year offering the service; they emphasize it's a volunteer/cost-covering effort, not for profit, and that supporting a rider through PBP is nearly as exhausting as riding it — the volunteers will be very tired by the time they return to Rambouillet too.

Pre-Registration and Registration (Mark Thomas)

• Pre-registration status (as of the day before the seminar): Open to all riders regardless of prior brevet history. Only 19 spaces left for 80-hour starts; 90-hour starts essentially full except in the F group (special bikes/tandems/recumbents); 84-hour starts (both special and regular bikes) still had quite a few spaces in the last two starts.
• 113 riders (stated once as "about 115") had chosen 90 hours but not picked a start group — they'll be assigned a start group later.
• PBP has an announced cap of 8,000 participants; pre-registrations were already around 8,025, with a working cap estimated around 8,300 due to expected drop-off. Historically about 20% of pre-registrants don't end up registering, so slots should open up. Mark's personal guess: qualified riders who want to go will very likely get a slot.
• Pre-registration fee: 50 euros, non-refundable, but credited against the final registration fee.
• Qualification requirement: Complete a "super randonneur" series — 200K, 300K, 400K, and 600K — all ACP-sanctioned brevets completed between November 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023 (the "2023" qualifying period). Longer events can substitute for shorter ones (e.g., two 300s for a 400, or a 600 for one of the shorter distances); ACP-sanctioned 1000K brevets can substitute too (up to four of them).
• What does NOT count: RUSA "populaire" brevets, UAF (audax-style) brevets, and 1200K events (including the one Mark is riding in Texas) — 1200Ks are sanctioned by a different governing body and don't qualify. Use the ride search on the RUSA/ACP website and confirm event type says "ACP Brevet."
• Registration process: Opens May 27, same website/login as pre-registration. Requires "homologation numbers" (certificate/registration numbers) for at least three of the four qualifying brevets to start registration; the fourth can be added later or all four entered at once. Full registration fee is 190 euros, with the 50-euro pre-registration fee credited against it.
• Key dates:
  • May 27: Registration opens.
  • June 10: If pre-registered but registration not started with 3 of 4 qualifiers, rider loses their chosen start wave (released to the general pool); event entry itself is not lost, but start wave choice is.
  • June 20: Per original pre-registration emails, unregistered riders' registrations would be canceled (Mark notes this may have been superseded by the June 10 rule change, not 100% confirmed).
  • June 25: Last day to cancel registration with ACP and get a refund of the registration fee, minus the 50 euros (non-refundable pre-registration fee).
  • July 2: Final deadline to register; if registration was started with 3 of 4 qualifiers, the 4th must be submitted by this date or the rider is not registered.
  • Practically, riders needing their 3rd/4th qualifying brevet results processed in time should complete those brevets no later than the weekend of June 3 (for the June 10 deadline) or June 24–25 (for the July 2 deadline), since RBA result processing and RUSA/ACP certificate submission takes additional time.
• Start wave changes: Riders can change their chosen start wave at registration, subject to availability. ACP confirmed (per an email Mark quoted) that between May 27 and June 10 they won't validate registrations for riders wanting to change their start wave — validation/finalization of new start wave choices should become possible after June 10 once released slots are available.
• Mark stresses no need to rush the website exactly at noon Paris time on May 27 — nothing meaningful happens that day versus May 28/29; the real target window is registering (with at least 3 qualifiers) sometime between May 27 and June 10.
• Disclaimer: Mark states everything he said is unofficial — the ACP website and official ACP communications are the authoritative source, not RUSA or the PBP prep group. He notes a rider once conflated RUSA with an unrelated event (LEL) and threatened to "quit RUSA" over it, despite RUSA having no connection to that event or to PBP itself.
• Rob Hawks' context (RUSA Brevet Coordinator): His role is collecting RBA-submitted results, sending them to the ACP database, and returning certification numbers to the RUSA database. This pipeline depends on RBAs upstream, so results from late-June brevets (e.g., a 600K starting June 24) won't be processed instantly — it takes time for both the ride itself and RBA/RUSA/ACP processing afterward.

Closing Q&A (Sleeping Accommodations at Controls)

• Loudéac: Confirmed to have sleeping accommodations.
• Tinténiac: Believed to have sleeping space; one panelist recalled sleeping on the floor there.
• Carhaix: Also has sleeping accommodations; this year's route passes through each control only once (St. Nicolas outbound only, Carhaix inbound only relevant for sleeping since it's on the return).
• St. Nicolas-du-Pélem: Has (or has had) sleeping accommodations — located between Carhaix outbound and Carhaix inbound; more useful/relevant for the return leg. One panelist recalled being given a thin (about half-inch) yoga-mat-style pad to sleep on there.
• Mortagne: One panelist recalled a dorm-style sleeping area there, used in 2015.
• General sentiment: plenty of informal sleeping opportunities exist beyond official controls — anecdote of sleeping on the floor of a bar that had put out a sign inviting riders in out of the rain, or "sleeping in a hay bale in a ditch" as a classic randonneuring experience.

Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2Uo67iouaQ Title: Randonneurs USA Paris, Brest, Paris Prep Seminar: #3