Paris Day 7 Monday: The Paris-Brest-Paris Begins
Although I haven’t had a chance to upload any entries that I've written (due to spotty internet access) I decided to write about today so that I don’t lose the feel of the experience we’ve just gone through. The hotel as been positively humming all day with the excited, and possibly nervous, energy coursing through the air. There was a huge presence at breakfast around 8:30 to 9am. Usually there is a boisterous gathering around 6am of riders in all their gear building up their reserves for whatever ride they had planned that morning (yes, even with the upcoming 1200k ride people were riding around sightseeing!). Today few people seemed to be heading anywhere as the last minute preparations were being made for the start of the Paris-Brest-Paris tonight.
James, the girls and I also hung around. James added the last touches to his bike and handed off his drop bag which will wait with fresh gear for him at Loudeac, which is the main control point at both the 400k mark heading to Brest and then as the 800k mark on the return to Paris. The girls engaged themselves for the morning with Dora and then the usual threesome of Kapla blocks, outside play structure and Spiderman 3 on the Playstation. After lunch at the hotel café we all spent a few hours napping, both as a remedy to ongoing jetlag and last period of easy rest for James before he starts the long period of sleep deprivation ahead.
Celebrations started at 7pm and the first riders who plan on completing the ride left at 8:30pm. They were followed at 9pm by the “funny bikes” as Caitlin dubbed them: the various odd shapes of individual bikes, the regular tandems, the opposite facing tandems and triples. After that the regular cyclists, planning on completing in 90 hours, were released to the roads in waves of 500 to 600 riders every 15 to 20minutes starting at 9:30pm.
The girls and I moved along the path beside James on the road as he lined up to enter the Gymnase des Droites de l’Homme by the underground entrance. We watched with him as the first group of riders left at 8:30 amongst a huge roar of the start gun and thunderous cheering from the thousands of people present, both riders and spectators. When we lost sight of James heading underground towards the start point I made my way with the girls in the buggy along the route, stopping a couple of times as the next wave of riders passed by. A couple of French ladies along the barrier very generously made room for us to watch. We chatted a little and they were delighted to discover that we had James in the ride. They didn’t know anyone personally and were there for the pure thrill of encouraging the riders. Our second stop further along had fewer people and another French family was eager to chat with us and share the excitement of us having James in the ride.
James and I had agreed that I wouldn’t stay on the route to see him pass. He was close to the back of the entire group and we figured that he may be waiting until around 11pm for his start. As I planned to walk the almost 3 miles back to the hotel again tonight we thought it best that I didn’t wait until that late with the girls and darkness to start the trek.
It was with very mixed feelings that we departed the scene before waiting to cheer on every group of riders but in the end it was for the best. We walked back to the hotel listening out for the roar of the start gun, which we could hear every 20 minutes or so. The girls were amazing yet again, cheery souls though also tinged with sadness to leave James. We talked about how it was normal to feed both sad that we wouldn’t see Daddy for a few days and happy for him that the ride he had worked so hard for had finally started. They seemed to feel more content after our conversation.
We snacked on the baguette, roast chicken portions, ham slices and crêpes that we had bought at the supermarket in the center of St-Quentin before walking with James to the start. The girls had also excitedly eaten their Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs, which we had agreed we would buy tonight having seen them on sale last night in the petrol station. They loved playing with the little toys that come inside the eggs as the surprise. Ashley talked about how their cousin Maggie in Dublin had given her and Caitlin a Kinder egg at Christmas time. That had been the start of the love for Kinder. We spent the rest of the walk back to the hotel snuggled in our raincoats under the intermittent light rain watching out for the snails and slugs that lined the path all the way. We were being very careful not to squish them with the buggy or my feet and sharing a little nature lesson about their camouflaging color, why the come out at night, what they eat and what eats them and why snails have shells and slugs don’t. Given the sheer numbers of these slow moving creatures on the path, Caitlin was relieved to discover that they wouldn’t try to eat her.
We returned to the hotel shortly after 11pm and as we lay in their bed reading their bedtime story we heard the fireworks signaling the last riders had left. We jumped out of bed and watched the amazing spectacle from our bedroom window. Caitlin thought they were so beautiful and announced that “I wish I could catch them and hold them in my hand.” We again felt the mixed emotions of sadness of leaving James and happiness that he is on his bike and on his way. The three of us also agreed that we were glad our walk was over and we were ready for bed watching the fireworks instead of still being at the start line watching the fireworks and then having to begin our long walk.
So as I write this James is hopefully happy on his bike despite the rain I can hear falling outside. The first control point at Montagne au Perche closes at 6:45am on Tuesday morning. I can check his bike number on-line to see if he has checked in okayand will plan to do that for each control point over the next four days (internet access permitting). His frame number is 4688 and you can check his progress at the following link: