PBP Recap #4

I awoke hungry from 5 1/2 hours of good sleep.  Throat was still scratchy, but I felt rested and ready to go.  Ate breakfast gingerly, just to be safe, and Fred drove me back to Tinteniac, where I resumed the ride by first going through the control.  I started slowly to be sure I was fully warmed up, and suddenly I was really enjoying being on the bike again!  It was the first sunny day, puffy clouds in the sky, and lots of people were in a good mood with sights set on Paris.  Started off with an Englishman, and we hooked up with an Aussie, and then gathered in 3 Seattle randonneurs.  The 6 of us Anglais formed a nice steady rotating pace line, and before long we had a throng of cyclists sitting on our wake - it was kind of fun leading all the Euros through the French countryside.

Arrived back at the hotel in Fougeres and scarfed down more food.  I was able to take food and water on the bike again, but made sure I stocked up at the van.  Colin had not slept too much, but was well enough to press on to Paris unsupported, leaving Julie and Fred to support me.  He was clearly stronger than me at this point, and waiting for me would not have done him any good.  And I was fine with it as I could go at a slower pace without feelilng guilty!  Turns out for most of the day I was matching Colin's pace anyway, as I was feeling so much better - the endurance training and also living at altitude were paying dividends today.  My average speed increased, and  though sub-60 was out of the question, it looked like sub-70 was still in the cards.

However, between Villaines-La-Juhel and Mortagne-au-Perche, the nausea started to creep back, and I couldn't eat much on the bike.  I took advantage of the food and drink in the villages along the way, but it was soon clear that I was not over my cold.  After Mortagne, I started to crash pretty hard, feeling sleepy and nauseous.  About 11pm I was climbing through a dark forest with no moonlight, and it seemed like I was the only person on earth.  At the top of the hill, there was a crossroads with a war monument, and a handful of cheery villagers were offering coffee, tea and biscuits - "Gratuit!  Free!"  I stopped for a cup of tea, and decided I really needed to be horizontal for a few minutes, so I took off my helmet and curled up in the shadow of the monument for 20 minutes of sleep.  I had left my rear lights blinking, and someone kindly came over and turned them off.  I imagine I looked like so many other riders that I had passed, lying comatose by the side of the road like so much PBP flotsam and jetsam.

I got up feeling better, but it was clear I wasn't going past Dreux tonight, despite wanting to finish sub-70.  I reminded myself that Goal #2 was to have fun and get the most out of the PBP experience - and those last 40 miles in the middle of the night, feeling sick, were going to be miserable and not accomplish anything, certainly not Goal #2.  And right after I had made up my mind to sleep in Dreux, I got out of the saddle to strech my back, and the extra effort put the nausea over the edge - I quickly had to skid over to the side of the road, dismount, prop my self over the bike, and wretch for 10 minutes.  Definitely sleeping in Dreux.

Made my way as best I could to the control where Fred and Julie were waiting.  After all my good time earlier in the day, this last leg was desperately slow.  Got a change of clothes, and told Fred and Julie to go to the hotel at the finish to sleep (Colin had arrived just a couple of hours earlier, finishing in 66 hours or so) and meet me there tomorrow morning.  And literally seconds after they left, as I was walking into the gym/dormitory, I had to wretch again.  The attendant was very nice and sent one of the staff EMTs to look after me.  They had a full infirmary set up to deal with all kinds of physical problems, mostly saddle sores, and they had a few cots set aside there, so I got a 'private ward' instead of the huge dormitory, which looked like a scene from Alien, with cocoons of snoring cyclists stretching away into the gloom.