You Could Do Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP)... Cycle 1200km in 90 Hours!

John talks about Paris-Brest-Paris, giving some ideas of how to approach it, including qualifying events.
Websites he mentions are:
audax.uk/about...
www.apidura.co...
www.paris-bres...
There is a lot more information on our website: endurancebikeandrun.com
Here is our PBP Training Plan: endurancebikea...
Our Group Plans are here: endurancebikea...
Coaching package details are here: endurancebikea...
You can find our training plans here: endurancebikea...
Social media @bikeandruncoach

[@leehargreaves7473]

I did PBP 2011 & 2015 (although I quit on the way back in 2015. I did ride to, and from, Paris from the UK though, so I did the distance ... sort of ). Almost nobody quits on PBP because they can't pedal such a long distance, pedalling is the easy bit. The qualifiers filter out those people. It almost always comes down to discomfort/pain/sleep deprivation. Long-distance cycling effort/discomfort isn't linear. 1200km feels worse than 2x a 600km ride. Your comfy saddle stops being comfy. Handlebars and other contact areas become uncomfortable. Tiredness leads to poor decision making. It can be tough. Your neck muscles, that were fine on a 400km ride, can totally give up on you during a 4 day 1200km ride. You can get through a 600km ride without any sleep, or maybe a quick hour doze. That can all go pear-shaped on a 4 day ride (I suffered serious hallucinations during the last day of PBP2011). You really need to have almost zero comfort issues during your 600km qualifier because, if you have any niggles, they could end your PBP after, say, 1000km. With my, in 2015, it was my neck muscles/back cramp that forced me to quit. In 2011 I had identical problems, but I was so desperate to complete it that I just stuck it out. Remember .... it's all about comfort.

[@EnduranceBikeandRun]

Hi Lee, Thank you for your comments, you are right, long distance cycling is very much a mental game in dealing with discomfort and fatigue.

[@drouleau]

it seems polarized training could be an ideal approach to doing ultra-distance events. I'm training for the brevet series that starts the first week of January here in Arizona and ends the last week of March (looking to do PBP in 2023), and while I've racked up a bunch of miles since 2016 (45,000+), the past year I've really slacked off (only 3,200 miles so far this year) and recently got back to it. In the 6 years, I've done a lot of Zone 2 riding, but would often do Zone 3 through 6 efforts several times a week.....I was relatively fit, but often fatigued. With the polarized approach I seem to carry a lot less overall fatigue, and my interval days (on the indoor trainer) are 30/30's at VO2 max. Still in the base phase, so only doing intervals once a week. But so far, so good and my fitness is coming back up.

[@EnduranceBikeandRun]

Hi Dana, I agree, I usually use a polarised approach with my coached athletes and at this time of year, just one structured session a week is the norm. However, sometimes I use tempo sessions but I count these as hard sessions. Tempo is a bit more specific to ultra-events, so I like to include some rides with that intensity. Good luck with your brevet series.

[@sahasrangshuutube]

When you mentioned 3x 15 tempo what is the exact excercise you mean

[@EnduranceBikeandRun]

With Tempo it is a case of building up the amount of time you can spend in the zone. Recoveries are more for a mental break - typically I would start with 3 x 15 minutes in the tempo zone with 5 minutes between the efforts and build from there - up to maybe 3 x 30 or even 3 x 40 over time.