Full transcript
So, welcome everybody to another interview in the series for the pbp prep seminars.
If you've seen the other videos we've interviewed people that have gone to pbp in the past and have brought back some expertise to share with other people and today I wanted to bring in a slightly different group than the others that I had interviewed so far.
The difference here is that while those first three Cheryl Roger and Karen all approached pbp from a individual perspective.
The group I'm bringing to you today, all plan to do this as a as a group, and in fact, did finish pbp as a group rode the whole thing together. And I wanted to delve into that aspect as well so quickly here.
So we've got Marlon and we've got Ben Goldenberg.
We have Ian keys of Blair, and we have Irving found.
Welcome guys.
Thanks for having us here.
So, so just to kick things off, I want to ask you questions about the sorts of, pardon me, things that brought you to random oring.
And then later, once they're brought you to even considering pbp and then doing pbp.
So among you for, if I, if I remember correctly, Ian is the only one that had gone to pbp before the rest of you, Carl and Ben and Irving were all first timers in 2019 is that right.
So, let's start with, with Ian. How did you get.
How did you become aware of random oring what brought you to that and, you know, what made you think it was something that you'd like to do.
My dad was always really into bikes so he was into Rivendell, and he got a vintage bicycle quarterly.
He was a predecessor to the current bicycle quarterly. So we always had them lying around the house and Christmas 2009.
I was sitting around the house reading by quarterly, and I had an article about pbp. And I was like, I wonder how far 1200 kilometers is so I looked it up on the ice, I did the conversion as like 750 miles that's ridiculous.
And I was already, you know, I had done one century up to that point I done the Tucson century.
So, but yeah I was I got interested in rendering after after reading that and I was attracted by the bikes and the kind of the style the vintage French stuff because I'm kind of like a Francophile so I signed up for the lighthouse 200 K in 2010.
That's my intro to rendering. Yeah, if I remember correctly, you and your dad would ride these pervays right.
Yeah, yeah my dad I at first I did the first one on my own with my I did the first one with my friend Milo, the 2010 lighthouse and then I ripped my dad into some of them so we did a Santa Rosa, the napple, the fast one in Napa, and we did some other 200 case together we did a
ride in a tandem. He's a little out of the age range now for rendering with me but yeah we did a lot of long rides together and that was something that we've always done for my whole life as a kid we would go and ride on the Maraga, the Maraga trail when I was, you know, seven or eight years old
So, so you started writing pervays with your dad, and then continue to write pervays but at what point did you become aware of PVP being something that you thought you could do.
Probably after my sec. So in 2011, I did in 2010 I did 200 300 400k and the 400k I really suffered on it so I thought okay I can't do a 600k that's too hard.
So next year I came back with improved lighting improved bike. My lights are really bad like worse than you can imagine in the first year. I don't have a flashlight just from lows clamped on the racks of the like beam pattern was extremely kind of narrow tunnel vision.
I didn't see anything if you're turning so it's kind of scary right in the 400k. But I was with john POTUS gave alert Brian Clarkson some other and this guy Ricardo so I wasn't as bad with my lights but it was a little scary so 2011 I came back and I did my first 600k
I'm not crushing me to go to PVP in 2011 but I didn't feel like I was ready. So I decided not to go then, but then from 2011 to 2015 it was really like a burning passion obsession to to go to PVP.
So, I invested kind of a lot of yeah.
Am I guessing correctly that you caught that passion and you wrote these other three guys into doing it in 2019.
When did you first meet the rest of the crew here.
And, and.
Yeah, when did we meet a flash and.
Can I like step in here I guess.
Yeah.
I think around 2011 2012.
I believe I saw Ian at the bridge Plaza, or somewhere in Chrissy Field, and I saw like, Oh, here's another like youthful looking guy wearing jorts and on a cool bike like it was me and Brian we and we were like, we should be friends with him.
It wasn't until like a Pacifica 711 at like 3am where we were all just zonked out of our minds on the flesh, must have been like our 20 or 22 or something and we're all just sitting there in a 711 and yeah, we were all very sleep deprived at that point but started talking
to each other. Yeah, just, I feel like we made plans to like ride at some point and like started hanging out and we eventually started writing braves together started doing the flush together, and yeah, that's kind of how we got to know each other.
So I didn't, I forgot to add this to the intro here.
I'm trying to bring this back back was this the genesis of boys on the hoods.
Explain what boys on the hoods is. And then, then, let's see if you can answer that question. Yeah, yeah, no I've. Yeah, our other other boy on the hood or our main boy on the hood Brian we is not here, but it.
Let's go see your other question like what got me started into rando, and it was Brian we and he moved to the Bay Area a little bit before me and was always interested in populars in starting to do rando, and he convinced me to join him.
Our first ride was a Davis night 200k and it was absolutely bonkers but we both survived, had a great time.
Yeah, and I think we were scheming up flesh names one year, and we were writing up to Mount Diablo on a training ride and it was really hot. It was a long climb as you all know, and we were just spitballing ideas for names and we just thought boys on the hoods would be kind of a fun play on the
movie title right movie title but also, you know, we're not in the drops we're not trying to crush it we're not trying to race for anything we're trying to ride for a really long time and have a good time so we thought it was a little funny play on the play on
the film title but we thought it was also a great flesh team name.
Carl and give us a little bit of background as to how you got into this diamond did you know Irving at that time.
Yeah, so I have a similar story Irving where. So I come mostly from a road cycling background. So I was, you know riding road bikes with coworkers and good doing like quote like fast roady rides.
But came to know Brian through a mutual friend Brian and Irving through mutual friends. Brian was super excited about rendering and, you know, would talk about it all the time it seemed like a really cool way to just experience the day area and see things that I would never
experience in a car or things that I would never experience kind of as a quote normal person. So, yeah I got really into it.
I remember actually, funnily enough meeting Ian, the first time on a roady ride with a group called the Mission Cycling Club, and they used to do a ride in San Francisco every morning or every Tuesday morning up Hawke Hill so it was just like, you know,
fast guys in Lycra, and Ian is the guy wearing like a Fours Pass jacket and he's got a steel bike and a box bag. So I struck up a conversation with him and that was kind of the start of our friendship.
So Ben, maybe you can dispel this false image that I have in my head that you were slightly reluctant to join in on all of this nonsense at the start, is it, did I have that right or do I have that wrong?
I don't know if I would put it that way. I definitely started I think a couple years later than these guys looked it up. The first popular I rode was Summer of 2013.
And Ben, I'd always commuted by bike and I got into riding some recreationally, but kind of up till then a long ride for me was Paradise Loop or something like that. And someone organized someone I knew, Francisco Grajales, someone you might know.
Oh yeah, I remember that name.
I was super passionate about it. I quite understand was it a race, was it an event, was it just people riding bikes, but heard about the popular, showed up for that, had a great time, met some really good friends there, not actually these guys.
And then I think rode my first 200K, the fall of 2014, the White House.
So I decided I needed a steel random bike that I could ride stuff like this on the road bike I had.
And I got hooked from there, it became a way for me to push myself, athletically in a way that I never really had before, to explore the Bay Area in a sort of structured way but one that didn't feel intimidating.
I started riding flush, flush the next year or two was probably the first overnight ride I did and that's one of these guys at multiple rides.
Yeah. So, somewhere along the way, leading up to 2019, you guys all decided that you wanted to do PVP together.
So talk about that. I think that there are some challenges to trying to successfully complete PVP with a larger group. You know, if you go into this with a attitude that you're not necessarily tethered to a larger group.
You can roll with the things that come up a little bit more easily but trying to organize for people to get ready to leave a control might be a bit more challenging than on your own.
So, somebody talk about that part of deciding to do it as a group and you know, perhaps how it even worked out for you like thumbs up thumbs down.
Yeah.
Now, Carolyn, you want to start.
Yeah, I guess, I'm trying to remember I think my memory might be a little bit faulty here but I feel like a lot of the credit here goes to Ian as somebody who had done it in 2015.
And, you know, speaking for myself, you know, I felt like I relied a lot on his experience and his planning of that whole process.
I did decide to do the ride together I think we all had the understanding that like, there were always going to be times where like, some of us were feeling great while others were feeling terrible and we'd always kind of have to, you know, we're not always going to be on the same wavelength.
So, I think we were all willing to say like there are times where we're going to write on our own, or I just need to be by myself, or, you know, I'm feeling really good and I need to push on ahead.
So, we decided, if I remember correctly that like the control like the overnight controls would be the anchor point so we would say like I'm going to get to the control where we get to.
And then you know when Ben or Irving arrives, you know, we'll get we'll have a chance to regroup, assess the situation and then try to leave at the same time.
So, you know, overall I thought it was a great experience I definitely was really happy with the way that went.
And I'm very curious to hear other folks.
Yeah, I think that sounds right. I think we had also written together a lot before then we've done multiple flashes together. I think we wrote most of the long rides that we remember writing the 600 together.
So I think we kind of had some had seen each other said, I was in love, knew what people need and didn't need, including by themselves sometimes.
If I remember correctly, when I was coming down from La Rock, I saw you guys in maybe three different groups like two of you were together and the other two were separate.
Yeah. Yeah, so based on my experience in 2015 because Gabe and I had planned to ride together in 2015.
And I found it, you know, both of us I think found it quite challenging to like stay together the whole time because it's such a long ride.
And there's so many like you said things that could happen.
So we ended up writing together for a lot of it but also writing separately for parts of it.
But kind of haven't really like established that beforehand.
You know what was the plan so in 2019, because we had four of us, we knew that we could separate if we needed to, but kind of regroup like Carl and said that the controls and
we could pull out together but then if we needed to separate on the road, you know, we would know that we could kind of split up, but and support each other, and then ultimately that we would hopefully finish together so that was kind of like the plan.
So it wasn't really like an ODAC style thing or like a flesh thing where we were together the entire entire time.
We made plans for overnight lodging to nights in Lodiak and the third night in Airbnb but the fact that we were on the move points that we all knew we were going to the same place, the same course.
Right, you become stationary targets at that point.
You just could catch up and find you.
Yeah, and as I recall like some people had to leave the controls a little earlier, some people got to the controls at different times but we're always like there together to talk and like look at the schedule and say hey, you know, we'll roll out and we can meet up on the road
or things like that. So, so you said, writing with Gabe presented challenges for sticking together and then in your group in 2019 that there were things that would come up what sorts of things would.
You would split the group up.
The climbing pace.
I think it was, I don't think it was climbing pace. I think it was just where you were mentally or physically.
I know Karlin was trying to stay with us and kind of ride with us for probably the first third of it. And I remember he was having a lot of knee pain.
At a certain point he realized when he rode harder and wasn't spinning as much there was less knee pain.
Interesting.
And we met and I were like, okay, you know, like that's if there's less pain like that means you got to drop us and wait for us at a control that's totally fine.
So yeah, Karlin kind of zipped off at that point.
I know for me, I got sleepy at a certain point and just started drifting back. And I just needed to take a ditch nap.
And Ian was with me and I was literally going to like ditch nap at this weird corner and Ian was like, no, like, don't, don't ditch nap here like let's go ride a little bit further and let's find you like a safer place to ditch nap.
But I was like, I can't, I can't keep going like I was really dragging at that point.
So it was just like different ebbs and flows and yeah different physical and mental like ups and downs.
Yeah. So, I'm interested to know about your individual approaches to preparing for pvp. Did you guys do the same things or did you all go off on your own, and then come back prepared separately.
I think, like, like Ian and Ben mentioned, we had done a lot of the long rides together so we would do the flash pretty frequently so having just that experience of riding together for 24 hour structures I think was really good.
And that's mostly just from a like social dynamics perspective, just like you're spending a lot of time with these people so it's really important to know like, how does, you know, how does Ian behave when things get really tough.
Like, how do you know what Irving's in a bad mood. Like, when Ben gets, when they're going if Ruffle Ben had a Syria thing for me so I think all of this is, you know, who likes playing music on Bluetooth speakers who doesn't like playing these two speakers.
From a training perspective, I think, you know, definitely doing things like the 600k.
Also doing those together was pretty big as well.
But yeah, from my perspective I actually, like Irving mentioned that I had been dealing with some knee pain issues during PVP and that had been kind of a theme in the years leading up to PVP where every year I would kind of do the 600k and for weeks after that I would be dealing with knee issues.
So I spent a lot of my time during the year leading up to PVP not actually doing that much writing but focusing a lot more on just like for anything conditioning and like physical therapy type stuff to make sure my knee would be in good shape for the ride.
Did you have doubts about it when you started PVP or was the knee pain a surprise.
Yeah, I think it was what so when I did the 600k in 2019 I actually didn't have any issues. So I was actually, it was, it definitely was a bit of a surprise during PVP and didn't really quite know what to do about it.
You weren't definitely struggled with it in the middle.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, it was a really interesting story so part of the complicating factor is actually because in 2018 I had been dealing with knee issues I had only ridden at 200k.
So my sign up start wave I didn't get to sign up in the right spot as the rest of the guys. So I ended up starting I think maybe like three hours later than they did I think.
So I kind of wrote my own pace for the first two to 300k and I met up with them like 200k in I think.
And then that middle section is when I think road mostly with with with the crew. And I think that's kind of leading into that I think that's when I started having really bad knee pain.
And then as Irving mentioned, just like, I think I just got like really frustrated at some point. And then this big group of, I think they must have been 80 hour starters came screaming by really fast, and just in like a fit of frustration, just like stomped on the pedals and started chasing them.
And lo and behold, I was like, actually feels pretty good.
Yeah.
So, was it Ian's stories about having gone to PVP in 2015 that put set the hook and you the rest of you guys.
I mean, I think I dropped off in and gave out the airport actually, and just seeing how excited they were and, you know, getting a little bit of FOMO and just being like, Oh, maybe if I had gotten my like crap together.
In the year prior, like maybe I could have joined them in 2015.
But yeah, just seeing them to that was already just like, Oh, it was like nice to see two friends doing it together.
And then, yeah, when they got back, like, it was rough, but they were still friends. And I think that was the main goal for me, you know, when we were talking about this and being excited about it, it was like there was this collective energy about it.
And it was also like, No, I still want to be friends with you all after this and I don't want any fractured relationships or things like that.
But I think seeing Ian do it in 2015 and talk about it just started getting the ball rolling. And it was always just more like self doubt about like, can I do a 600 and how am I going to function between six and, you know, 12.
And I think slowly working up to that and like kind of addressing any self doubt and any fears about that kind of got me ready for PVP.
So general question, anybody can raise their hand and answer here so a lot of times I've asked people, you know, like what are the things that the bits of advice that you got that really helped.
And then I turned it around and said to them, you know, what did you find was a complete surprise when you got to PVP and when you were doing that and I want to throw that one out to you guys.
So what, what weren't you prepared for either happily or unhappily. So, what did you find that kind of woke you up there.
I just stumped you guys. No, I can start with kind of a positive thing, but I think you hear all these stories about how many people there are and how many volunteers and no matter how many stories I heard about that.
It doesn't, it doesn't register until you're actually there.
Even when you're there, it's just like your, your jaw just keeps dropping and you're still just in amazement of just what a big event it is and how special it really is so that just really resonated with me like even through all the sleep deprivation, even on the final day and
like all of that it just felt like kind of a, you know, kind of a weird daydream but it felt really special and it just continued to do so. Just seeing, you know, random parts of the night, random parts of the courses like.
So many different writers rolling by and it's just like cool, another recumbent like how like how many recumbents could there be how many funny bikes are there they just keep seeming to stream by and there keeps being like lemonade stands or people giving you coffee or cheering you on and I think.
Yeah, no matter how many times you hear that it's just still really amazing to experience.
Did you guys hand out any of the pins.
I should have fun story with that where we were writing with Ryan Thompson.
And he was like marshalling our group where he would be on the front, and we're drafting behind him, and he would spot kids, and then he would yell out instructions to us and we would throw the pins to the kids.
And yeah, I think we brought patches and buttons and maybe stickers as well. And I was definitely passing those out which is like our silly boys on the hoods logo and it was just fun to pass out and and and also trade with other random doors.
What kinds of things did you get in return.
I got, I got a few stickers from different clubs I got one from Brazil. And then, yeah, some other domestic clubs and I think maybe one or two from Europe.
I traded jerseys with a British rider in 2015 and I traded jerseys with a Japanese rider in 2019.
So that was a fun thing to do. One piece of advice that I got or like a thing that really helped me was, I did a workers ride for the 400k with Kevin Fitzpatrick one year.
This is after 2015 so 2015. I had no schedule, no idea what, how long I could stop anywhere how long I could sleep or anything. Kevin Fitzpatrick in 2015 I did a workers ride or after 2015 I did a workers ride with him.
And saw how like his pace, like his riding pace was very slow. But he was completely like in control at all times of like his progress and his ride because of like his scheduling.
And so he would like we would be coming to a control, and we would be within five minutes of like the time he had put on his schedule for arriving at the control.
And seeing that kind of like sparked something for me of being like, I could make a schedule and really like know how this ride is going to unfold.
And then if something happens that's unexpected. I can just like adjust the stopping time or the riding speed like in the schedule to meet that but still get to the controls at the same time.
And that sort of like, I think, allowed us to make a schedule for 2019.
That was really like made it so that we could all kind of ride together more and just know, like what we needed to do to finish, which made it a lot more approachable I think then just kind of.
Obviously it's fun and crazy to just like jump into it with no schedule and you have no idea what you're doing and you're just going to sleep at the controls and whatever but like on the flip side if you're kind of don't know what you're doing or riding with a group it
really helps to have like a schedule I think.
So we got good at doing that as a group on the flashes. I think we would have a pretty tight schedule of the flash and invariably we would end up adjusting it usually to account for going slower than expected but we would know what would need to happen and talk through it as a group and
So, so Ian. Aside from riding with Carl and Ben and Irving in 2019 was the scheduling aspect, a distinguishing feature between 2015 and 2019 for you.
For sure. Yeah, I think it.
Well, 2015 was very like.
I didn't know if I was going to be able to finish.
I felt very, you know, on the edge.
So it made it very like powerful like emotionally, but at the same time like it was, it felt very serious.
Then in 2019 I kind of, well I'd already done it once but I had a schedule, as long as I was kind of hitting the marks on hitting the controls on the schedule. I knew like alright I'm on track to finish so it made it a little bit more relaxed I guess in the sense that like I could see more of the
people that were in it because like I find PPP very funny just like seeing people and all sorts of distress and different weird situations and everyone from around the world speaking different languages and all of that so it made it a little bit more lighthearted I guess.
Okay.
So, and for folks, trying to work out a schedule. Last time around, there was an excellent Excel spreadsheet that somebody made that made it very easy to plug and play the schedule.
So I want to ask if you got behind schedule. How did that affect you guys having the schedule did that, even if you were behind at any given point did it help allay any of the anxiety or did the anxiety build when you would get behind on the schedule.
I think for me, I think our overnight ended up shorter than we had hoped. Okay, you just kind of had to accept that.
This is definitely a me and Ben problem and I feel like we had already addressed it a little bit because Ian was a good schedule, like master.
Even on the flashes and the 600 K. I had an issue with my saddle and then I ended up being probably like two hours later than my normal then than everyone here got to the campground the Indian Creek campground.
Okay, cool. That just means two hours less of rest for me, and that's just something you got to accept and it was nice that Ian had had the schedule, and then now I knew like, Okay, let's see how my body's going to function with like two hours less sleep and I had planned and, you know, it was
fine it was rough but dealing with that on a 600 K, and then going into a flesh or a, or pbp knowing that you could deal with sleep deprivation.
It's nice to, you know, go through the schedule and deal with it beforehand.
So, yeah, I think the main thing with a schedule that's helpful is if you know when you have to leave the control.
It's kind of like if you lose time on the schedule yeah it sucks. You can't like sleep as long as you want it or you can't, you know, do other things you're going to do but as long as you know when you need to leave a control then it's kind of.
That kind of keeps you on, you know you're on track to still finish right, or even when we went off course and lost a bunch of time.
It's like as long as we get to the next control, and we can leave it at the right time we know we're still going to be on track to finish.
So, did you guys ever consider anything other than the 90 hours start. No. Okay, figure is not shaking.
Who was it.
I wanted the full spectacle. Yeah, so this is something that actually I remember thinking about maybe doing the 84 hour start but really wanting to just like experience the full craziness.
And maybe in subsequent times I would do the 84 hours start but I remember.
But I told my team back before, you know he was trying to convince me to do the 84 hour. Well you know I want the full spectacles like you do the 84 hours start you get 84 hours of spectacle.
But I didn't listen to him I ended up doing the 90 hour. Honestly, I'm glad I did because the night riding portion. I would that was actually something that surprised me is how much I enjoyed the night writing.
I always like my writing in the flash and 600k and overnight for days but just pvp just purely the number of people that are out at night and you're riding with is just so different from anything else.
So the first night is particularly special rolling out at dusk and these, what felt like my along pace lines rolling into the sunset, ripping through any towns with huge crowds.
I'll always remember. Yeah. So, Ben, I think the irony of you having come to random oring behind all of these guys is that this year, you're the most active still doing random oring.
Wow way to be caught up with the official record say.
No, that's what that's my sense of things. You're still right you're writing bravets up with Davis now right.
Yes, I live in Sacramento these days.
I've written a popular gravel popular a couple months ago.
I wrote one or two 200 case last year. That's about it.
Similar to when I got into it in the Bay Area it's been kind of a way to explore local areas with just the right amount of structure for me of a route somebody else has figured out and to be a good experience.
And there's a good group here as well.
Definitely.
And I think longer than 200 on PVP. Can you think of like what is the point during which you were the most happy or like what might have caused that or what is the single most memorable thing that happened for you guys.
Let's start with Irving.
The happiest moment during PVP. Well just the most significant thing that you can remember.
I mean I think, rolling in together, like to the finish.
And if I recall we saw you at the final major control Rob.
I forget the town name.
We saw each other at Drew.
I also add that like seeing you at Drew in says that, you know, it was like, I think it's like the Super Bowl of, you know, of rendering and finals whatever, but just seeing all the work that you do, just for the community and everything.
And then just seeing you at Drew just sitting down and kind of like basking in the entire thing and being there to experience that with you.
And just being able to ride into the finish like all as a group.
It was just really special and you know there were ups and downs and Carl and dealt with pain like I dealt with a lot of like hand and feet pain and just like a lot of self doubt during the ride and I know Ian and Ben were just everyone was going through things at different
times but the fact that we got to rolling together. I thought that was really special.
So, Ian.
Well, I really memorable part for me was.
We had an Airbnb in more time. And it had an ancient. It was an ancient old French home from like turn of the century or something. And I had this ancient key that looked like a, you know, something from a cartoon, something from a cartoon.
And Carl and I were frantically trying to get into the Airbnb with the key, and we couldn't figure out how to turn it in the lock because it was some kind of old school Euro thing.
And so it was, I don't know, maybe midnight or 1am, and a bunch of drunk teenagers passed by us in the street and I used my broken French to ask them to open the door for us with the key so they're drunkenly fiddling with it.
And they finally like, Oh, they opened the door and that was a memorable moment because we really wanted to get into that Airbnb.
Yeah, of course, since it was in France it had no sheets, no towels.
It's supposed to bring your own but it was still pretty sweet.
Okay, it was indoors it was warm right.
Yes, it wasn't warm but it was indoors.
Okay, so then same question to you what's the first thing that pops into your mind as a memory from PDP. Yeah I mentioned that first night earlier right into the sunset.
That was really neat.
And I also this blanking on which control it was way back by the time to the act.
And it's kind of the absurdity of it we were all sleep deprived. I remember kind of wandering around for a place to take a nap, lying down on these cardboard under a stairwell, fumbling with everything.
I was sleeping, sitting totally upright on a bench with eight other people on it.
But definitely sticks in my mind as well.
So carlin you're next.
Yeah.
Lots of memories of the food.
So the food of the controls like the official controls tended to be somewhat underwhelming, but then there were all these tents on the side of the road or like spectators out handing out food that just always like still sticks in my mind so I have a very distinct memory of just like
having delicious sweet watermelon on a hillside somewhere and like looking out over the sun setting over the big field of sunflowers and thinking like this is the best watermelon I've ever eaten.
And yeah, stuff like that just like nothing to do with the official organizers just French people out in the countryside, cutting up watermelons.
Nice.
And the other thing is not just that I think it's very easy to get tank caught up in the logistics and preparing and worried about your fitness and various dynamics and easy to lose sight of the fact that it's also just like three or four days of riding your bike across gorgeous scenery with
people you already know people you meet. And then it's fun in the moment to like yes you'll be sleep deprived guess things will hurt. But like, I was one surprise like, it was just fun to ride my bike.
Yeah, it's like, it's more than an achievement. It's just like an amazing experience to be part of.
And if you DNF like even if you ride 900 K and you DNF you still like will have an amazing experience. Yeah, be excited for the part that's just out there riding your bike.
So I'm going to share my screen real quick here.
And can you guys see the photo I have here.
Yep.
Thank you all are.
RIP lucky dog.
So, Brian Kilgore has been done for about two days in this photo.
Yeah, as I remember that's about correct isn't it.
Yeah.
So, any parting comments from any of you about pvp and, you know, anything that you think that somebody should know, going in.
Um, I have two things that I feel like I maybe I didn't really elaborate on but yeah to Ben's effect about it's just fun to be on a bike French countryside during the summer.
You know, the friends that you know people in clubs that you know people that you may not have met yet. It's just, I was kind of blown away by the people that I met during the ride.
Yeah, I mean I don't feel like I'm a very like USA nationalistic person but yeah you see different clubs and you're just like oh my god like other English speakers and you just like latch on to them like, I was so happy to
meet the Asheville crew and just like other people that you may know from the internet or from other rides and other rendering clubs but it was just really nice to experience that and have that camaraderie.
And then likewise.
Yeah, I don't know I dealt with like a lot of self doubt and anxiety like leading up to the ride and you get caught up in all these logistics and just like oh can I do this like
you get caught up in your head, but I don't know just in the timeframe of the ride I kind of like went through ups and downs and then kind of realize like you know what like it's fun.
You've done all the work you've done everything you can and you know you kind of surprise yourself and I think anyone who's done a Brevet a popular even 200k whatever you kind of keep pushing yourself and you're kind of surprised by what you can actually do.
I felt that was the my entire experience with PDP, you know there were times where I was like, I don't think I can finish like I need to sleep. Everything hurts.
And then you just keep going, just a little bit further to the next control, and you just kind of surprise yourself with what you can do. So I was just really surprised by that.
Yeah.
Anyone else have some parting comments.
I think that one great thing about rendering is you have the opportunity to spend so much time with people and kind of like deepen your friendships so I really appreciated just all the chances we had to spend time together.
Rendering. And I think that whether you're doing it with friends, or like meeting people in the club. I think that just striking up a conversation with the people you're riding with and kind of using that opportunity of spinning the pedals to talk to and get to know different
people is, it's a great social outlet and a way to meet people and that's one of the most fun parts of PDP. I think anyone who's gone will say that you just meet these amazing people from around the world there.
Even within our own club like I appreciated that this kind of goal of doing PPP together became a way for the four of us to bond and spend more time together. You know, and not always writing but maybe just meeting up to have a drink and like talk about the logistics or just hang out
and talk about the flash or anything like that. It's a fun way to deepen your friendships.
So, before I ask my final question, did anyone else have some part in comments.
I guess one thing I'll point out as well as, you know, I'll agree with everything that both are being said, one part that I found really fun was hanging out with the SFR crew, and then lead up to the event.
You know, being in the hotel and being just being around all the other SFR members and seeing all the nervous energy and all like that. I thought that was really fun and just getting to know everyone else.
So, again, also I have that there's just, there's so many ways to do this event, and during to train for it, be people from across the world do it in very different ways by strategy for training and so on was just to write a ton leading up other
people to watch more structured meetings, other people, people coming from Minnesota are not getting earnestly into long rides until the snow thaws and they get it show up prepared as well.
There's so many different ways.
Right.
Yeah, it all works.
So here's the context for the last question that I want to ask. I remember coming back after PVP in 2007 and running into somebody that was tangentially related to SFR.
And he was bending my ear about the fact that he didn't think that enough information about the potential injuries that one could happen happen to fall upon them.
He wasn't in such long distances and he thought, you know, we should make a bigger effort to tell people about the, the hand numbness for example or Shermer's neck or whatever.
I kind of think that that message has gotten out a lot. You hear a lot of people talking and we probably saw some of our comrades, dealing with cases of Shermer's neck for example and I think we all knew about the neuropathy.
We were not being able to feel things for several months afterward. But what the one thing that I don't think it's enough coverage is.
So I'm going to ask you guys here how long was it until you recovered from all of your baguette injuries.
The roof of my mouth was so torn up for weeks afterward. By the time I got home.
So funny story about this is, so my girlfriend at the time now my wife Sarah had visited France, and she she was waiting for us at the finish.
And I'm like laying in the hotel the next day my mouth is just totally raw from baguette mouth.
I'm going to go to the car for I'm going to get you some food like just let me know what you want and like God I don't care just get me whatever. And she comes back, and she has this big grocery bag she's like I got you all delicious food and the first thing she pulls out of bag is pineapple.
And any other time I'd be like pineapple is my favorite fruit, but it was not ready for it. Just I just took one bite in my mouth just exploded in pain.
It's definitely a real concern, but we see somebody dipping their baguette and Coca Cola to soften it up.
Yikes.
I'm not sure I want that mental image.
We stayed in France afterwards, Irving Ben and I and went to the Pyrenees to lose sense of air to ride the tour Malay and stuff so we are, you know, still stuck with plenty of baguettes.
And the food is not amazing and lose sense of air so it's mostly pizza and baguettes.
You should have come to the places I went to after pvp in 2019 more the food was fabulous there.
Well, guys, thank you for making time to have a chat about this.
Just a real quick show of hands here is pvp in your future. Still, will there be another one for you guys yes no. Ian says yes.
My life, my life goal is to do five. Oh yeah.
Well, I will be, you know, we'll see if life intervenes. Yeah.
So by doing, does that mean starting, or does that mean finishing five.
Well, I'd like to finish, but if I DNF then I'm more, I'm more accepting of DNF than I used to be back in the day was like, oh, I'm never going to DNF and then I think or springs was the ride where I was like, all right,
I'm not going to make it I have to DNF so that after that it was kind of like, well, you know, I still had a fun experience riding whatever. I can't remember how far Booneville is but I saw the fun experience I'm like, you know, maybe DNF isn't the end of the
world it's just like I had a fun ride that was shorter than expected.
So, yeah, I would like to do another one. I can't say it's going to be, it's definitely not going to be 2023, maybe not even 27 but at some point.
I think it's in the future.
Well, you guys have lots of time left your, I think the oldest of you is maybe half of my age at this point. So there's plenty of time I didn't start until I was 50.
So guys, thanks again for spending the time here, take tearing yourself away from your evening schedules with all your families and whatnot. I appreciate that and thanks everybody for watching, and we'll catch you on the next time.
Thanks a lot for having us Rob.
I thank you Rob.