Podcast appearances and mentions of paris brest paris

 Dans cet épisode, partez à la rencontre de Jean-Pierre, médecin passionné et cyclotouriste dans l'âme. Depuis son premier brevet de 1000 km à seulement 21 ans, sa première Diagonale à 24 ans et son cycle complet des 9 Diagonales de France, il partage avec nous sa philosophie du vélo longue distance. Jean-Pierre revient sur son initiation au cyclotourisme, ses aventures marquantes comme le Paris-Brest-Paris en Audax, et livre des conseils précieux sur la gestion de l'effort, du sommeil et du plaisir en ultra-endurance. Avec son regard éclairé de médecin et d'organisateur d'événements, il démystifie les défis physiques et mentaux des épreuves de longue distance. Un témoignage inspirant et authentique à ne pas manquer, que vous soyez novice ou expérimenté !   Entretien organisé de main de maître par https://www.gegediagonaliste.fr/  

Join us for an exhilarating conversation with Grinshina Kartik (known to the world as Grinny), a trailblazing ultra-cyclist who has conquered some of the toughest endurance rides across the globe—from the scorching heat of Spain and the suffocating humidity of Thailand to the freezing nights of France and the wild, winding ghat roads of India. As the first Indian woman (and often the first Indian ever) to complete grueling 2000km+ races, she's shattered records, including a world record in tandem cycling. But beyond the accolades, Grinny's journey is packed with unforgettable stories—like dodging wild elephants, outrunning packs of stray dogs, dancing on her bike to stay motivated, and pushing through brutal sunburns, crashes, and sleepless nights.In this episode, she opens up about the mental and physicalgrit it takes to thrive in ultra-cycling, the kindness of strangers in remote villages, and how she turns pain into power. Whether you're a cyclist, an adventurer, or just someone who loves underdog triumphs, Grinny's infectiousenergy and raw honesty will leave you inspired to chase your own limits. Strap in—this one's a wild ride! ---------------------------------------------Follow Grinny on Instagram ---------------------------------------------To support our team and donate generously, please click ⁠⁠⁠⁠SUPPORT ⁠⁠⁠⁠.Like our work? Follow, Like & Subscribe to our podcast from wherever you are listening in. We would also love to hear from you, so do write to us at:Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠misadventuresofasneaker@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@misadventuresofasneaker⁠⁠⁠⁠Blog: misadventuresofasneaker.substack.com---------------------------------------00:00:00 Trailer00:01:27 Episode intro00:03:54 Question from listener00:09:28 Our guest         00:10:49 Early Sports life00:19:43 Yoga-Dancing-Cycling days00:23:41 1st 100 km – exhausting 00:25:23 First Solo00:26:36 Randonneuring & Audax world Clubs00:32:59 1st 200-300-400-600 km00:43:34 Paris Brest Paris event 201900:50:02 Thailand 2000 Km LRM01:00:11 Cycle riding style01:03:34 1st cycling race01:05:16 Covid events & Everesting01:09:12 Break01:10:06 2023 Paris Brest Paris event01:12:08 Prepping & Packing for event01:20:08 Cycle, parts & repairs01:24:43 Spend time solo-cycling01:27:08 Tandem cycling – world record01:32:46 Unsupported event – Spain to Italy01:47:48 Supported event – racing in Sri Lanka01:48:54 India events01:53:22 Animal encounters02:00:03 Personal victories02:02:13 Plan ahead 02:04:08: Thanks & Toodles

Herzlich Willkommen zur 128. Ausgabe des BiketourGlobal Podcast Season 2!Carlotta ist mit ihren 19 Jahren bereits eine "alte Häsin" bei Ultra-Events: so ist sie bereits Paris-Brest-Paris gefahren und hat das TCR im letzten Jahr gefinished. Und in diesem Jahr sollte es etwas mehr Off-Road sein, weshalb sie am Atlas Mountain Race teilgenommen hat. Dafür ist sie aus Deutschland nach Marokko geradelt und hat das Rennen nach 6 Tagen erfolgreich gefinished. Ein ganz besonderer Talk über Motivation, Tupperware, sehr viele Omelette und wie man aus jedem Kilometer ein Fest machen kann. Viel Spaß!Shownotes Carlotta auf Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lottipower/ Quelle Musik Sahara Rains - Hanu Dixit aus dem YT Creator StudioQuelle Bilder Carlotta Schumacher

This episode is brought to you by www.thebikeaffair.comIf you are in search of a one-stop destination that caters to all your cycling needs, our today's sponsor, The Bike Affair, is the perfect place to check out! With over 14 years of experience, The Bike Affair has established itself as a trusted source offering honest advice and exceptional service. They are offering a special treat for the listeners of this podcast. You can enjoy a 10% discount on your first order by using the code 'BIKEYVENKY' on their website.  Visit their bike store in Hyderabad or shop online by using the link www.thebikeaffair.com   In this episode I talk to Abhishek Kumar Singh. Abhishek is an ultra cyclist from Bangalore who has recently completed circumnavigating Karnataka. In the process, he rode self supported and completed 2300km in 137 hours. He is one of the fastest ultra riders in the country who wants to show that Indian ultra riders can be talked about in the same lines as the world's best. He has completed Paris Brest Paris, London Edinburgh London and many other ultra cycling events around the world as well as the most challenging rides in the country like Gates of Heaven. In this episode, he shares not only his experience from his epic rides but also his intense training and recovery routines in great detail. He also shares in detail how he manages to train for 25-30 hours per week while tending to a young family and managing work. It was amazing to listen to his experiences and daily routines. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.          0:00:00  Intro0:06:30  Early years of body building and running in Chennai0:13:30  Moving to Bangalore and starting cycling on a old beater bike 0:20:00  Gates of Heaven (GOH) experience0:25:30  London Edinburg London LEL experience0:30:20  Hydration and nutrition during LEL, support  0:32:25  Bangalore Goa Bangalore 1000k, 0:36:30  Paris Brest Paris PBP, trying to be fastest Indian finisher0:42:30  His insane training routine, all indoor training0:47:20  How he manages work and training, his typical day0:49:30  His recovery and nutrition protocols0:56:30  His future plans, target events for next 4 years0:59:00  Ultra races in India, why he prefers self supported formats  1:04:30  Western Endurance Race WER DNF experience before Race Across Karnataka1:10:50  Race Across Karnataka, fast start and bad roads1:17:30  Generosity of strangers along the way1:22:30  Managing sleep and covering distance1:38:50  Looking ahead and tips to working athletes1:44:10  Closing      About the PodcastThe working athlete podcast is a podcast with and for working athletes from all walks of life and various sports. The goal is to provide inspiration, training tips, mental hacks, time management and life-style advice through conversations with some of the best in sport, from athletes to coaches. If you think you can benefit from this, please consider subscribing so that you don't miss the weekly episodes in future. Who is a working athlete? Someone working fulltime/part-time, entrepreneur or anyone who has to work to make ends meet and doesn't let being busy to stop him/her from pursuing an active lifestyle is a working athlete. I consider stay at home moms/dads who pursue a sport, as working athletes because homemaking is a full-time job.If you like this, share with friends who could be interested.For the visually inclined, a video version of the podcast can be found here: YouTubeOther Places you'll find the podcast on:Anchor | RSS | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google podcasts | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | Breaker 

This episode is brought to you by www.thebikeaffair.comIf you are in search of a one-stop destination that caters to all your cycling needs, our today's sponsor, The Bike Affair, is the perfect place to check out! With over 14 years of experience, The Bike Affair has established itself as a trusted source offering honest advice and exceptional service. They are offering a special treat for the listeners of this podcast. You can enjoy a 10% discount on your first order by using the code 'BIKEYVENKY' on their website.  Visit their bike store in Hyderabad or shop online by using the link www.thebikeaffair.com   In this episode I talk to Renu Singhi. Renu Singhi is an amazing woman who accomplished some crazy feats of endurance in Ultra cycling. A housewife, a mother and a grandmother who started cycling very late has completed 1200km Paris Brest Paris, 1600km London Edenborough London and recently completed the 4200km North Cape challenge. We met during the Tour of Nilgiris and recorded this during the rest day. In this episode she shares her inspiring journey in cycling and her experience of PBP, LEL and North Cape. She was only comfortable talking in Hindi. So, we did the interview in Hindi and I tried to speak whatever broken Hindi I could but asked most of the questions in English. If you are not a Hindi speaker but watching this on Youtube, the subtitles should help. I hope her story inspires you as much as it inspired me. If it does, please share it with your friends to show that nothing is impossible and age is just a number.         0:00:00  Intro0:05:30  How she bought her first cycle0:09:45  First ride and first race where she came second0:11:00  First BRM 200km after 2 months and progression  0:17:30  PBP/ Paris Brest Paris Experience0:22:00  Delhi to Bombay and 5 days Super Randonneur experience 0:25:35  Experience at LEL ( London Edinburgh London)0:29:50  Unstoppable despite multiple crashes0:37:05  North Cape 4000 experience0:44:00  The troubles after completing North Cape0:53:00  Importance of strong mind for Ultra riding0:55:30  Tour of Nilgiris0:57:50  Tips for working athletes0:58:45  Closing      About the PodcastThe working athlete podcast is a podcast with and for working athletes from all walks of life and various sports. The goal is to provide inspiration, training tips, mental hacks, time management and life-style advice through conversations with some of the best in sport, from athletes to coaches. If you think you can benefit from this, please consider subscribing so that you don't miss the weekly episodes in future.Who is a working athlete? Someone working fulltime/part-time, entrepreneur or anyone who has to work to make ends meet and doesn't let being busy to stop him/her from pursuing an active lifestyle is a working athlete. I consider stay at home moms/dads who pursue a sport, as working athletes because homemaking is a full-time job.If you like this, share with friends who could be interested.For the visually inclined, a video version of the podcast can be found here:YouTubeOther Places you'll find the podcast on:Anchor |RSS |Apple Podcasts |Spotify |Google podcasts |Pocket Casts |Radio Public |Breaker

Dans cet épisode, partagez l'expérience d'Alain, un cycliste passionné au parcours impressionnant.

Dans cet épisode captivant de Diagonalistes, Jean-Claude, un passionné de cyclisme longue distance

Pour ce Blabla #133 je vous invite à prendre la direction du Val de Loire pour rencontrer Brivaël Laurendeau, qui a créé les Cycles Quokka. Ce jeune cadreur de 24 ans est un passionné et depuis 10 ans il vit vélo, il pense vélo, il dort vélo et maintenant dans son atelier il fabrique et invente des vélos pour des clients tout aussi passionnés que lui. Brivaël a installé son atelier à La Possonnière, dans un petit village situé sur les bords de la Loire, entre Ancenis et Angers. Le lieu où il s'est installé n'est pas le choix du hasard, mais plutôt celui du retour au source, car après avoir fait son compagnonnage, il est revenu se poser dans le berceau familial.  Après son bac scientifique Brivaël, qui bricolait des vélos depuis l'âge de 14 ans, a choisi la voie de sa passion, qui le poussait a devenir cadreur. Lorsque il a repeint et construit à l'époque son premier pignon fixe, il a su que ces objets à deux roues et ce sport allaient faire partie de son identité pour le reste de sa vie.Comme il n'existe pas de formation à ce métier, il est passé par la filière apprentissage via les compagnons du devoir. Il alternait la fabrication  de vélos chez Cyfac et celle de toutes sortes de ferronneries dans les ateliers des compagnons. Après ces 2 ans d'apprentissage il passe en CDI chez Cyfac, se consacrant alors totalement à la fabrication de cadres pour la marque tourangelle. En 2023 il décide de créer son propre atelier pour fabriquer des vélos qui lui ressemble. À 24 ans, Brivaël est un des plus jeune, sinon le plus jeune des artisans cadreurs indépendants. Lors du concours de machines 2023, il a été obtenu le prix du jeune talent, avec une superbe randonneuse conçue pour le Paris-Brest-Paris. Il adore le pignon fixe et propose quelques superbes modèles minimalistes, mais son talent s'exprime également sur la fabrication de gravel ou de randonneuses en acier. Je vous laisse écouter Brivaël dans ce Blabla, où son enthousiasme et sa passion ressortent dans chacune de ses phrases.       Hébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Dans cet épisode de Diagonalistes, Christophe, un passionné de vélo longue distance

This episode is brought to you by www.thebikeaffair.com If you are in search of a one-stop destination that caters to all your cycling needs, our today's sponsor, The Bike Affair, is the perfect place to check out! With over 14 years of experience, The Bike Affair has established itself as a trusted source offering honest advice and exceptional service. They are offering a special treat for the listeners of this podcast. You can enjoy a 10% discount on your first order by using the code 'BIKEYVENKY' on their website.  Visit their bike store in Hyderabad or shop online by using the link www.thebikeaffair.com       In this episode I talk to John Lal Gwite who is one of the strongest ultra distance riders in the country at the moment. John got into cycling during the pandemic in 2020 and has already completed quite a few prestigious ultra cycling events within the country like the 1200km Gates of Heaven, 1000km Jogfalls 1000 etc along with prestigious events outside India like 1200km Paris Brest Paris and 1600km London Edinburgh London. Completing these super challenging rides might be becoming more common in the Indian ultra endurance community these days but what sets John apart is the pace at which he completes them. In most of the ultra distance brevets he takes part, he is usually the first finisher by far. It was interesting to talk to this humble and shy rider and learn how simple he keeps most things despite his many riding accolades. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.         0:00:00  Intro 0:04:20  Growing up with sports 0:06:45  His workout routine, start of cycling 0:09:45  His first brevet ride 0:12:00  What he loves about cycling 0:13:40  His work and work hours 0:14:45  Completing Super Randonnéur in the same month, learnings from the experience 0:17:20  How he manages sleep and nutrition for long rides   0:21:50  Longest and most challenging ride so far for him, LEL(London Edinburgh London)  experience 0:26:40  Leh 400km brevet 0:28:50  Kodagu 650, Gates of Heaven, Jogfalls 1000km 0:33:20  What keeps him going, how he balances between gym and cycling 0:36:20  Future events he's looking forward to 0:37:15  Tips for working athletes 0:38:00  Closing             About the Podcast The working athlete podcast is a podcast with and for working athletes from all walks of life and various sports. The goal is to provide inspiration, training tips, mental hacks, time management and life-style advice through conversations with some of the best in sport, from athletes to coaches. If you think you can benefit from this, please consider subscribing so that you don't miss the weekly episodes in future. Who is a working athlete? Someone working fulltime/part-time, entrepreneur or anyone who has to work to make ends meet and doesn't let being busy to stop him/her from pursuing an active lifestyle is a working athlete. I consider stay at home moms/dads who pursue a sport, as working athletes because homemaking is a full-time job. If you like this, share with friends who could be interested. For the visually inclined, a video version of the podcast can be found here: YouTube Other Places you'll find the podcast on: Anchor | RSS | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google podcasts | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | Breaker 

Thierry Saint-Léger est un personnage à part dans ce monde marginal du fixe longue distance. Il est l'auteur de véritables exploits, qu'il réalise en toute discrétion, loin des réseaux sociaux et des mises en scènes médiatiques. Il roule pour lui, des aventures incroyables, dans la solitude élégante de ce qu'il appelle son histoire. Dans cet échange il me raconte son dernier vagabondage, que j'ai suivi ainsi que d'autres de ses amis, sur un fil Whatsapp inspirant. En peu de mots et en beaucoup de photos, ce pédaleur, plutôt taiseux, nous en dit beaucoup. Dans ce blabla 127 il ous dévoile quelques anecdotes de son “vagabondage” sur un parcours inspiré par l'histoire de Charles Terront, premier vainqueur du Paris-Brest-Paris en 1891. Thierry a lu les récits des exploits de ce précurseur du cyclisme moderne. C'est son admiration pour "Charley" qui a conduit Thierry à refaire, à notre époque, les parcours incroyables de cet illustre prédécesseur, en roulant comme lui en pignon fixe avec le même braquet  : 42 x 17.Hébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Jean-Michel, est un véritable vétéran du cyclotourisme

Bernard est président de l'Amicale des Diagonalistes depuis 2018. Sa première diagonale, inspirée par Francis du Véloce Club Montalbanais, remonte à 1997 avec la diagonale Hendaye-Dunkerque, marquée par des conditions météo difficiles. Malgré une interruption avant la deuxième diagonale consécutive, cette expérience reste un souvenir heureux. Au fil des années, Bernard a réalisé 18 diagonales, avec 1 à 4 partenaires, et a parrainé de nombreux nouveaux diagonalistes. Il insiste sur le plaisir de rouler ensemble et l'importance d'adapter le rythme au membre le plus faible, une stratégie clé pour éviter l'épuisement et garantir la réussite. L'esprit des Diagonalistes repose sur la solidarité et le soutien mutuel. Il est crucial de veiller sur les plus faibles et de ne jamais laisser un coéquipier en difficulté, sauf en cas d'abandon volontaire. Bernard veille à ce que cet état d'esprit perdure en tant que président de l'Amicale, tout en promouvant les diagonales via des moyens modernes comme les réseaux sociaux. Il souligne aussi l'importance des récits de diagonales, qui permettent de partager des expériences uniques avec la communauté. Bernard a également participé à sept Paris-Brest-Paris, affirmant que réaliser une diagonale est une excellente préparation pour cette épreuve mythique . Il croit fermement qu'une diagonale réussie en amont garantit presque le succès pour le Paris-Brest-Paris. Rejoignez notre podcast pour découvrir des histoires inspirantes et des conseils précieux pour réussir vos diagonales et autres grandes pédalées !

Send us a Text Message.Ingrid Hillhouse is a farmer, a coach, and an addiction expert due to her life experiences.  She is a six time 515 distance racer who turned to ultra cycling and randonneuring.  We discuss races such as Ultraman, San Diego 300, and Paris-Brest-Paris.  She is very open about her life experiences and how they have all brought her to where she is today – In Kona!Soon she will be releasing her book, Cycling through Life, which accounts her cycling experiences wrapped in her repeated cycles of addiction.  As a Holistic Health Coach and certified Sugar Addiction Recovery Coach she works with others to achieve their goals and overcome obstacles.  You can reach out to Ingrid at her website : https://ingridhillhouse.com/And on Instagram @ingridhillhousehealthWatch for her book release through Hasmark publishing and Hay House publishing.Resources mentioned in this episode:Ultra TriFest CanadaUltra 515 World Wide ChampionshipsUM World ChampionshipsIronman World Championships Honu 70.3 HawaiiRAW (Race Across the West)RAAMNo Country for Old MenParis Brest ParisSan Diego 300 MS 150Escape from AlcatrazRocky Racoon 100UM CanadaUltra 520K CanadaSugarDetox.comShout outs and mentions in this episode:Lucy Ryan (S2E5)Sheryl Cobb (S2E6)Steffi SteinbergMelanie BaumannGerry Steinberg  Joachim Graf Janusz Piatkowski de GrzymalaJoan Deitchman Mike Diechman Ginger Howell Carolyn CraigAchim BennemannFranz SchlegelManmadh Rebba (S4E3)Heather HerrickDeb BanksSteve Brown (S2E13)Michael CollinsShow Contributors:Host : Larry Ryan Contributing Raconteur : Steve KingAnnouncer : Mary Jo DionneProduction : 5Five EnterprisesMusic  :  Run by 331For show notes and past guests, please visit the Podcast Website: https://515theultrapodcast.buzzsprout.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/515TheUltraPodcastInsta : 515theultrapodcastEmail : 515Ultraman@gmail.comBUY ME A COFFEE LINK BELOWSupport the Show.

Une balade pour Benoit « el tractor » et un exploit pour Jonathan : notre longue sortie montérégienne avec le Club Vélo Randonneurs du Québec. Nous parlons du concept de brevets, du Paris-Brest-Paris, de nutrition dans de longues distances et de notre désir (ou pas) de recommencer cette longue distance ou plus. Merci au CVRQ pour l'invitation. On trouve plus d'informations sur ces crinqués ici : https://randonneursquebec.ca/ Envoyez-nous vos questions ou vos idées d'invités → @jonathanbroy et @espressosports. Pour plus d'informations sur les conférences de Jonathan : https://www.jonathanbroy.com/conferences

This episode is brought to you by www.thebikeaffair.com If you are in search of a one-stop destination that caters to all your cycling needs, our today's sponsor, The Bike Affair, is the perfect place to check out! With over 14 years of experience, The Bike Affair has established itself as a trusted source offering honest advice and exceptional service. They are offering a special treat for the listeners of this podcast. You can enjoy a 10% discount on your first order by using the code 'BIKEYVENKY' on their website.  Visit their bike store in Hyderabad or shop online by using the link www.thebikeaffair.com       In this episode, I talk to Kishan. Kishan is an ultra cyclist from Gujarat who has completed 4000km Transcontinental race and 1200km Paris Brest Paris in the same month in 2023. He has done many challenging ultra rides over the years but had to DNF at the Via_Race in spain last month due to ill health. In this episode he shares his journey in ultra cycling and the lessons he learnt along the way. It was fascinating hearing his stories from events like Transcontinental race and PBP and many of them just show how resilient one has to be to complete such challenges. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.         0:00:00  Intro 0:06:30  Getting interested in mountaineering 0:12:00  Drawn into brevets 0:17:40  His first 1000km ride 0:21:20  Training towards 2019 PBP   0:24:00  Struggling but finishing Paris Brest Paris 0:29:40  A bit of break, indoor Everesting etc 0:38:30  Transcontinental Race 2023 experience 1:06:30  Paris Brest Paris right after TCR 1:13:45  Via Race, Spain - a DNF 1:25:50  Indian Brevet and Ultra cycling community 1:31:30  Closing             About the Podcast The working athlete podcast is a podcast with and for working athletes from all walks of life and various sports. The goal is to provide inspiration, training tips, mental hacks, time management and life-style advice through conversations with some of the best in sport, from athletes to coaches. If you think you can benefit from this, please consider subscribing so that you don't miss the weekly episodes in future. Who is a working athlete? Someone working fulltime/part-time, entrepreneur or anyone who has to work to make ends meet and doesn't let being busy to stop him/her from pursuing an active lifestyle is a working athlete. I consider stay at home moms/dads who pursue a sport, as working athletes because homemaking is a full-time job. If you like this, share with friends who could be interested. For the visually inclined, a video version of the podcast can be found here: YouTube Other Places you'll find the podcast on: Anchor | RSS | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google podcasts | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | Breaker 

“Le soleil n'est jamais aussi beau qu'un jour où l'on se met en route.” - Jean Giono Pascal, délégué fédéral des Diagonales de France, a débuté la longue distance très jeune, notamment par le célèbre Paris-Brest-Paris.

Thibault n'avait que 24 ans lorsqu'il a accompli ses deux Diagonales.

Karine habite à Paris et est une passionnée de cyclisme. Elle fait partie de l'Audax Club Parisien (ACP), le mythique organisateur de Paris-Brest-Paris. Ce club engage à la longue distance et compte près de 30% de femmes

Ever wondered what it takes to be able to ride audax events like London Edinburgh London and Paris Brest Paris?  Well Izabela Murtagh will tell you it's commuting 50+km every day in all the Scottish Weather, 5 days a week, year round. She has done this now for over 8 years and little did she know at the time, that a way of saving money to get to work, would lead her to the world of long distance Audax rides. For those of you who have often wondered what Audax events are like, or who have thought of riding the big events like PBP or LEL, then this episode is a must listen.Izabela's first big ride was Ride to the Sun, from Carlisle to Crammond Beach. But she ended up having to do the event a day early due to work. Alone, and never having ridden more than 100kms before, she was unperturbed and managed to ride the full distance - over 320kms! From there she hasn't looked back and has completed an array of Audax events, as well as well as the TransAlba - a 1600km Ultra race around Scotland - where she came third place overall and first woman! Izabela is now also the host of TowPath Talks  hosted at the Towpath Cafe at  BikeTrax Edinburgh. These are the earplugs we spoke about during the interview. Support the Show.Enjoying Seek Travel Ride? Then you can help this Independent Podcaster out by clicking this link to Buy me a coffee and help support the show!Seek Travel Ride NewsletterHave you signed up to the Seek Travel Ride Newsletter yet? If not click here to sign up and receive news direct to your inbox each month. Join the Seek Travel Ride Facebook group - a place where you can discuss episodes in more detail, learn more about our guests and also where you can share more about your own adventures on a bike! Seek Travel Ride Music Playlist - an eclectic mix with each song selected by a guest of the show. The playlist is available now on both Spotify or Apple Music Enjoying listening to Seek Travel Ride? Then please give the show some love and leave a rating and review on your podcast player.Also be sure to follow us on your favourite Podcast Player so you get notified when new episodes a...

Kostüme makes the best cycling apparel money can buy, developed and tested on some of the most challenging cycling events in the world. The brand makes technically innovative cycling apparel focused on all-day performance, comfort and utility. Developed in the UK for the unique demands of Audax and multi-day long distance cycling, Kostüme products are equally at home riding events like GBDURO or Paris Brest Paris as your local café loop, where the exclusive artist designs will stand out from the crowd. Every Kostüme product is crafted from premium recycled materials and released in limited editions of 350, with each batch known as an Edit. Combined with a pre-order model, this innovative approach to cycling apparel production drastically cuts waste, and is just one example of their commitment to put environmental impact at the heart of every decision.Kostüme was founded to challenge the status quo, developing stylish, durable and highly functional products to help you express yourself both on and off the bike, however you choose to ride. Every piece of Kostüme cycling apparel is manufactured in partnership with two of the leading independent European family-run factories, who combine decades of bleeding edge experience with a fastidious approach to sustainability and obsessive attention to detail. It's the brand's aim to be as rigorous and transparent as possible about the impact of their actions, and they're working hard to close the loop on truly circular production. 

This week Clint and Dawson sit down with Meaghan Hackinen. Meaghan is a Kelowna-based writer and ultra-cyclist whose two-wheeled adventures have taken her from Haida Gwaii to Mexico's high plateaus, across Canada and the United States, and from North Cape to Tarifa along some of Europe's highest paved roads. Meaghan loves to compete and doesn't shy away from pushing her limits. She is a Trans Am Bike Race, Transcontinental Race, NorthCape4000, and Paris-Brest-Paris brevet finisher. In 2023, Meaghan placed first overall in the Silver State 508, the Buckshot and Lost Elephant bikepacking races, established an overall course record on the Log Driver's Waltz as an Individual Time Trial, and set a women's FKT with her second-place finish at the Dark Divide. Meaghan has an MFA in Writing and is the author of two books: South Away: The Pacific Coast on Two Wheels and Shifting Gears: Coast to Coast on the Trans Am Bike Race. We focus our podcast on her Book Shifting Gears, a Coast to Coast race across the United States. Meaghan is an amazing woman who is pushing her boundaries on a bicycle. Join us as she shares her journey and her insights from her coast to coast race. I have read the book, "Shifting Gears", and it is a book that everyone will enjoy reading. Purchase links available in ebook and print USA: NeWest Press (publisher): https://bookshop.newestpress.com/products/shifting-gears-coast-to-coast-on-the-trans-am-bike-race Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shifting-gears-meaghan-hackinen/1143174637 Amazon.com: https://a.co/d/6IF9xLI Thanks for listening! Find all our episodes at dayfirepodcast.com Powered by: Rock Creek Outfitters - www.rockcreekoutfitters.com Sponsored by: Mountain View Auto Dealers Chattanooga Concrete: https://chattanoogaconcreteco.com/ RoofingCo.com: www.roofingco.com This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Das Sitzfleisch Studio baut heute eine Leitung nach Bayern auf, wo Sara Hallbauer schon darauf wartet, Flo und Straps ihre Geschichten und Erfahrungen aus dem Ultracycling zu erzählen.Je nach Lust, Laune und Untergrund ist Sara auf dem Rennrad, Gravel- oder Bikepacking Bike mit dickem Reifenprofil unterwegs. Nichts begeistert sie mehr als die einfache Aufgabe von A nach B zu kommen - mit dem Rad versteht sich. Ursprünglich war Sara im Reitsport aktiv, doch nach einer Verletzung wurde ihr das Rad – vorerst zur Therapie – verordnet. So richtig mit dem „Ultraradsport Virus“ wurde sie 2020 infiziert, als durch die Anwesenheit eines anderen Virus so einiges auf den Kopf gestellt wurde. Mittlerweile hat Sara schon vieles erlebt und kann herrlich authentische Anekdoten erzählen: Germany Divide, Northcape 4000, Tuscany Trail, Veneto Gravel, Race Across France, Transcontinental Race und vieles mehr.Eigentlich haben sich Christoph und Sara im Ziel des Transcontinental kennengelernt, doch zum ausführlichen Plaudern kommen sie erst heute. Leider war Sara damals in der unglücklichen Lage, dass genau bei ihr das Bier aus war, und sie am Trockenen sitzen blieb.Die Werdenfelser Frauen Rundfahrt über 200km„Tja, da müssen wir wohl was für die Frauen-Quote tun“ meinte der Brevet-Organisator lakonisch bei der Begrüßung der deutschen Teilnehmer:innen bei Paris-Brest-Paris 2023. Denn die Zahlen sind ernüchternd: Gerade einmal 6% aller deutschen Teilnehmer sind Frauen.Und weil Sara diese Situation nicht seufzend zur Kenntnis nahm, sondern gleich eine Idee hatte, gibt es 2024 erstmals das deutsche Brevet für Frauen. Warum diese Veranstaltung eine geniale Sache ist, Frauen Brevets für sich entdecken sollten, dass es zur Vorbereitung am 8. Februar auch einen Workshop in München gibt, und wie ihr euch für all das anmelden könnt, erfahrt ihr in der heutigen Episode und auf Saras Blog!Auf ihrem Blog Bikepackers.de schreibt Sara über ihre Touren mit dem Rad, getreu ihrem Motto "Raus aus dem Windschatten, rein ins Abenteuer". Dazu gibt es spannende Berichte über ihre Rennen, Tipps zum Bikepacken, zur Ausrüstung und zur Routenplanung.Links:Saras Blog: www.bikepackers.deSara auf Instagram: www.instagram.com/sara_hallpowerInfo und Anmeldung zum Frauen Brevet: www.bikepackers.de/das-erste-frauen-brevet-deutschlands-jetzt-anmelden/Anmeldung zum Workshop "Sattelfest für die Langstrecke" am 8.2. im 3 Mills in München über info@3mills.cc+++++Es gibt keinen besseren Weg, deinen Alltag zu verbessern, als besseren Schlaf, und der einfachste Weg, dies zu erreichen, ist der Pod 3 von Eight Sleep. Beginne das neue Jahr richtig und investiere in die Erholung im Schlaf, die du verdienst - mit dem Eight Sleep Pod.Gehe dazu auf eightsleep.com/sitzfleisch und erhalten 200 € Rabatt und kostenlosen Versand auf das Pod Cover von Eight Sleep. 

We interview one of Instagram's most dynamic endurance cyclists about how she completed Paris-Brest-Paris and get tips on how we should do our own bike packing sufferfest, the PineBurden320. Lisa Charlebois (@hustleandahalf) is a phenomenon on Insta, with great information and motivation. She tells us how she qualified for and completed the oldest, 745 mi. original uber-bike event in France. She then gives us tips and support for when we try our first - 3 days of 320 miles around the pine forests of East Texas in the December cold. I follow up with a review of how we executed our latest Marathon Mountain Bike race, the 42 mile Hugelland Holiday Marathon in Fredericksburg, Tx. It's a great show, so listen in and enjoy!

Meaghan Hackinen is a Kelowna-based bikepacker and writer whose two-wheeled adventures have taken her from Haida Gwaii to Mexico's high plateaus, across Canada and the United States, and from North Cape to Tarifa along some of Europe's highest paved roads.  She is a 4X Everester as well as a Transcontinental Race, Trans Am Bike Race, and Paris-Brest-Paris brevet finisher. Meaghan holds the women's course record for the World 24-Hour Time Trial Championships, among others.  In 2023, Meaghan took the overall solo win in all but one of the endurance races she competed in, including the Buckshot and Lost Elephant in British Columbia, Silver State 508 in Nevada, and an Individual Time Trial of the Log Driver's Waltz in Canada's Capitol region.  Her debut travel memoir, "South Away: The Pacific Coast on Two Wheels" (NeWest Press, 2019) was shortlisted for two Canadian book awards and her follow up, "Shifting Gears: Coast to Coast on the Trans Am Bike Race" was just released to critical acclaim. *** The Tough Girl Podcast is being sponsored throughout January by ZOLEO. #ChallengeWithZOLEO ZOLEO connects with your phone to provide seamless global messaging that follows you in and out of mobile network coverage — plus added safety features you can count on worldwide including industry-leading SOS alerting features. 24/7 monitoring and 24/7 access to non-emergency medical advice, check-in and weather forecasts. ZOLEO offers unmatched peace of mind for you and for everyone waiting at home.  Stay connected and safe while doing what you love.  Hit the subscribe button to stay updated on the incredible journeys and stories of tough women. New episodes LIVE every Tuesday and Thursday at 7am UK time.   Show notes Who is Meaghan Her 2023 cycling plans and how she structures her training in the winter Letting things fall into place and being opportunistic Having a dislocated finger and getting COVID Working with a coach in the past Using TrainerRoad as her cycle training platform Using the Dynamic Cyclist app for strength, stretching and mobility work Writing the races down on her calendar Preparing herself and her bikes Choosing races with the goal of competing at her best level Setting a new women's FKT the importance of nutrition and recovery Prioritising route prep using a combination of Strava, ride with GPS, and Google  Creating a cue sheet with resupply points, elevation high points, and challenging features Having a to-do list and a checklist Journaling and giving yourself space Meditating and feeling much better afterwards Practicing visualization Transitioning from road cycling to off-road gravel adventures Enjoying the challenge and discovering unexpected places Carrying a bike through obstacles like water crossings and steep hills Not training very much on the TT bike this year Having a friendly and supportive cycling community Finding rivalries motivating Finishing the Dark Divide race alongside her partner Describing the Dark Divide and what it's like Writing and releasing her new book, Shifting Gears: Coast to Coast on the Trans Am Bike Race Having a transformative experience in 2017 that made her write a book Lessons and realizations that made her grow Reflecting on solo mountain biking experience Her plans for 2024 Quick-fire questions Final words of advice   Social Media Website: meaghanhackinen.com Instagram @meaghanhackinen Facebook @meaghanhackinen Book: Shifting Gears: Coast to Coast on the Trans Am Bike Race  

In this episode we speak with Laura Massey-Pugh, one half of the team that recently set a Guinness World Record by cycling 18,000 miles on a tandem bicycle in 179 days and 12 hours.  Stevie (Steven Massey) is a very experienced ultra-distance cyclist, completing his first 100+ mile ride at the ripe age of 11. In his racing days, he achieved 4th in the National 24 hour time trial championships (725km in 24 hours) and has finished London-Edinburgh-London, and Paris-Brest-Paris in the top 5%.  He has and unofficial record of riding the length of the UK and back again (~2000 miles) unsupported in 9.5 days and has cycled over 250,000 miles in his lifetime, over half the distance to the moon. He was an accomplished tandem rider when he met Laura and encouraged her to take the stoker seat on his tandem.Laura (Laura Massey-Pugh) has ridden bicycles since a young age, commuting to school and work. Before she met Stevie, she had completed a 100 mile ride but it was he that introduced her to the world of ultra-distance cycling. She has completed Super Randonneur series (a 200km, 300km, 400km and 600km events) both on solo bicycle and tandem.  She rides “stoker” on the tandem and despite popular opinion does not “have her feet up on the back” but is able to assist with navigation and nutrition as well as providing a rear-wheel drive function.  She likes to mix her challenges up and prior to the record had trial run "coast to coast" of the UK and after completed an "Iron-distance" triathalon.Together as SteLa Tandem some of their achievements include completing the 1000km Mille Pennines Audax, Land's End to John O'Groats self supported on the tandem in 10 days and an epic 850 miles ride around the country of Wales in 8 days. They are the only tandem to finish  All Points North, an ultra-cycling event.This all lead to their record breaking tandem ride around the world, covering over 18,000 miles in 180 days, self-supported on their tandem bicycle.Their book "Backseat Rider" is available on their website here:  http://www.stelatandem.com You can find their YouTube channel (including podcasts) here:https://www.youtube.com/@stelatandem2702You can follow them on social media here:Twitter @SteLaTandemInstagram @SteLa_TandemFacebook @SteLa Tandem Round the World RecordEnjoy the conversation. Be bold. Be intrepid.To support the podcast please leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.To find out more about host George Balarezo's adventures, you can find the book Unhinged in Ethiopia: Two Thousand Kilometers of Hell and Heaven on a Bicycle at the following link- https://intrepidglobalcitizen.com/Contact me at george@intrepidglobalcitizen.com and let me know your thoughts and feelings about the podcast or if you have a story you'd like to share. 

1,200 kilometers, or 745 miles. That's a long distance for an unsupported event! But that's exactly what Lisa Charlesbois did this year at Paris-Brest-Paris, arguably the oldest bicycle race in the world. She finished in 78 hours and 27 minutes, sleeping 9 hours in total during that time. On this podcast, Lisa chats with her coach Allie Legg and host Ben Delaney about training and preparing for such a monster event — and the excitement and nervousness and motivation for completing such a daunting task in another country.  --- FasCat has a new Zwift racing training plan, centered around racing on Tuesday for all you WTRL and ZRL racers out there. The plan includes the all-important race warm-up protocol on Tuesday. SBT GRVL is one of our favorite gravel events on the calendar, but getting in is tough as spots sell out via lottery in a flash. This year, we have a limited number of guaranteed entries that you can purchase with a one-on-one coaching package. Already a coached athlete? Then you can purchase a guaranteed entry here. Come train with us in April in Santa Ynez! Join the FasCat Coaches for a 5 night, 4 day training camp! Includes lodging, chef-prepared meals, Coach-led rides, airport pickup, sag support and more. --- Have you been enjoying the FasCat Podcast? Please leave us a review on the App Store or Google Play. Thanks! You can save 25% off your subscription to Optimize — your year-round training solution with unlimited training plans, meal plans and strength and conditioning videos — with the code 25podcast.

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Heute wird es wissenschaftlich, und zwar geht es um die Psyche beim Sport!Unser heutiger Gast, Dr. Rainer Oberguggenberger, ursprünglich aus Tirol und mittlerweile seit 15 Jahren in Spanien, ist nicht nur Leiter der Klinik „Psychiatria Palma de Mallorca“ sondern auch selbst begeisterter Langstrecken- und Brevet-Fahrer, nachdem er vor einigen Jahren ins Radfahren gekippt ist. "Da sind vor meiner Haustüre ständig Leute auf Rennrädern vorbeigefahren, und ich wollte wissen, was da los ist. Es war der Radmarathon Mallorca M312. Ich war begeistert und habe das dann einmal probiert." Ein paar Jahre später darf sich Rainer sogar als Finisher von Paris-Brest-Paris bezeichnen.Rainer kann herrlich unterhaltsam über die psychologischen Seiten des Radfahrens sprechen und dabei auch schöne Parallelen zum "echten Leben" ziehen. Ein typischer Wettkämpfer ist Rainer nicht, für ihn bedeutet der Sport vielmehr Erholung und Ausgleich zum Berufsleben.Wir erfahren heute viel über die Psychologie des Radelns, den oft diskutierten Suchtfaktor im Ausdauersport und warum Sport Stress reduziert und Menschen glücklich macht – Zitat: „Menschen sollten mehr Sport machen!“ Außerdem erzählt uns Rainer von seiner ganz persönlichen Erfahrung mit spanischen Brevets und bei Paris-Brest-Paris.Unser Lieblingszitat aus der heutigen Sitzfleisch Episode: Gäbe es die positiven Nebenwirkungen von Sport als Pille, würde das jeder Arzt verschreiben! Link zum Paper „excessive exercise” auf PubMed: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7714788/+++++Werbung⏐Informiere dich jetzt auf drinkag1.com/sitzfleisch zu gesundheitsbezogenen Angaben und hole dir AG1 im Abo nach Hause, ganz ohne Vertragslaufzeit. Sichere dir bei deiner AG1 Erstbestellung einen gratis Jahresvorrat an Vitamin D3+K2 & 5 Travel Packs!

Minha convidada de hoje foi criada na aprazível Araraquara, interior de São Paulo. O esporte, embora muito presente em sua adolescência, para ela se resumia a andar de bicicleta por toda a cidade e a patinar. Era daquelas crianças e adolescentes que fazia de um tudo para não participar das aulas de educação física. Sempre esteve acima do peso e era desajeitada nos esportes. Contudo, brincava e competia de patins na rua, subia em árvores, pedalava em trilhas e nadava na Lagoa Azul e nas águas do Clube Náutico. Já morando e trabalhando em São Paulo, a paixão pelos esportes apareceu após o nascimento da sua filha, Helena, em 2005, quando passou a frequentar aulas de pilates, academia e zumba. Alguns anos depois, se apaixonou pela corrida. Sem a pretensão de performar, participou de várias provas de 5 e 10km, e se aventurou em três meias maratonas. Em alguns dias da semana, pedalava até o trabalho e em 2018, através da assessoria esportiva parceria da empresa na qual trabalhava, conheceu alguns triatletas e decidiu experimentar a modalidade. Apesar da boa intenção, um trauma vivenciado no mar anos antes a impediu de sentir-se à vontade na natação. Eventualmente ela deixaria o triathlon de lado para dedicar-se com bastante vontade ao ciclismo. Em 2019 fez sua primeira viagem de bicicleta na Itália e achou a experiência incrível. Em 2021 resolveu que queria ser competitiva e passou a treinar com o grupo do professor Igor Laguens, aonde já tinha muitas amizades. No início de 2022 conquistou seu primeiro pódio em uma prova de ciclismo de estrada e apesar de ainda ter muito a melhorar, aquela conquista foi motivadora para querer ir além. Dedicando-se cada vez mais, ela conheceu as provas de randonneurs. No final de 2021 estreou nos 200km do Randonneur Mogi das Cruzes. Apesar da dificuldade, logo ela e outras mulheres se juntaram para outro brevet de 200km. Desta vez ela concluiu o desafio já pensando o próximo, que viria a ser o dobro da distância. Quando se deu conta, percebeu que realmente gostava de longas distâncias e a situação de autossuficiência exigida pelos brevets. Os perrengues vividos durante horas a fio sobre a bicicleta a desafiam física e mentalmente, e isso é a força motriz por trás da sua vontade de ir cada vez mais longe. Ela acredita que podemos mudar o mundo através das nossas ações, começando pela nossa comunidade local, a partir da sustentabilidade efetiva por meio da espiritualidade, cultura, educação, saúde, comunicação, economia, ecologia e política. Conosco aqui hoje a advogada de formação e vocação, ciclista de ultra distâncias que acaba de concluir os 1200km da Paris-Brest-Paris, considerada a Copa do Mundo dos randoneiros. Ela é mãe de algumas gatas, de carne e osso, duas rodas e felinas, e filha de Santo, a chata da lixo e a tia das plantas, a paulistana Gesibel dos Santos Rodrigues. Inspire-se! SIGA e COMPARTILHE o Endörfina através do seu app preferido de podcasts. Contribua também com este projeto através do Apoia.se. Um oferecimento da @pinkcheeksbrasil O verão está chegando e com ele, devemos redobrar nossa atenção com a proteção solar. Nesse sentido, a Pink Cheeks tem grande expertise, com produtos cosméticos com altos fatores de proteção. Seu principal produto, o Pink Stick, possui o maior FPUVA do mercado! A marca foi idealizada e desenvolvida por mulheres apaixonadas por esportes e é pioneira no segmento de dermocosméticos de alta performance, inovando com o conceito do sportcare. Descubra a linha completa da Pink Cheeks para proteção facial, corporal e até capilar, com produtos de alta qualidade e alta resistência à água e ao suor. A linha também possui produtos que minimizam os atritos causados durante a prática de algumas modalidades, como a corrida e o ciclismo, que foram desenvolvidos especialmente de atletas para atletas, e produtos focados para a melhor performance de esportistas. Além da inovação com o conceito de sportcare, o diferencial da Pink está na união da proteção de alta performance, beleza, multifuncionalidade e ainda conta com uma linha completa de maquiagem com proteção solar e resistência à água e ao suor. Os produtos são altamente indicados para qualquer tipo de movimento, possuem fórmulas veganas, sem parabenos, são fáceis de utilizar, tem uma sensação muito agradável na pele e podem ser utilizados a partir dos dois anos de idade. Compre no site www.pinkcheeks.com.br/endorfina e aproveite para utilizar o cupom ENDORFINAPINK para ganhar 10% de desconto. Desafios e conquistas fazem parte de uma jornada de quem ousa se superar a cada dia! A JORNADA PRO continua e nossa próxima largada será no Havaí, daqui à pouquinho, no IRONMAN no dia 14 de outubro. Continuamos trazendo com toda energia e de forma inédita, os bastidores da minha preparação até a linha de chegada do Campeonato Mundial de Ironman. Além do incentivo ao protagonismo feminino, 10% de todas as compras realizadas no site da Probiótica utilizando o cupom ALMATRI serão revertidos para o Projeto Pro Cicles. Foram desenvolvidos kits personalizados, inspirados na linha de produtos utilizados pela Pâmella em sua jornada de preparação. Além do desconto de 20% nos produtos Probiótica, o cupom ALMATRI te dará, também, direito a participação em experiências exclusivas como treinos com a participação da Pâmella, transmissão ao vivo da prova, com degustação de produtos e entrega de kits. Demos o start em agosto e essa temporada segue até o final do mundial de Kona, em 14/10. E você acompanha todos os movimentos dessa Jornada Pro através dos perfis da Probiótica, da ALMATRI, do TRI SPORT Magazine e daqui do Endörfina podcast. Fiquem ligados e vamos todos torcer juntos pela Pâmella!      

Wer hat noch nichts vom 1200 Kilometer langen Klassiker Paris-Brest-Paris gehört? Unsere heutigen Gäste erzählen in allen Details, wie es ihnen dabei ergangen ist. Severin „Sevi“ Zotter hat nach seinem größten Erfolg – dem Sieg beim RAAM 2015 – das Radfahren eher hintenangestellt, widmete sich seiner Familie und beruflicher Weiterentwicklung. Doch er hielt sich über die Jahre immer fit, und hat nun wieder mehr Zeit ins Training investieren können und sich für PBP qualifiziert, das er schon viele Jahre auf seinem heimlichen Wunschzettel hatte. Thomas „Turbotom“ Stindl hingegen ist schon ein wahrer Fuchs und seit Jahrzehnten bei so gut wie allen Langstrecken Events und Brevets Stammgast. Zudem gesteht Straps, dass Tom früher eines seiner Vorbilder war und Flo kann sich noch erinnern, als er mit Tom bei dessen feierlicher Ausfahrt dabei war, wo Toms 500.000ster Kilometer gefeiert wurde.  So kam es auch, dass Tom nach bereits 5 erfolgreichen PBP Teilnahmen einige gute Tipps für Sevi parat hatte und dieser dann tatsächlich bei den allerschnellsten dabei war. Selber schuld, denn wer zu schnell fährt, hat weniger Zeit, um die unglaubliche Stimmung entlang der Strecke zu genießen: Fans und Einheimische feiern und versorgen die Radlfahrer, die insgesamt circa 8000 gemeldeten TeilnehmerInnen unterstützen sich gegenseitig, bilden Gruppen, oder warten auf andere. Es geht hier mehr um das gemeinschaftliche sportliche Erlebnis, als um die Leistung!Da der Klassiker unter den Brevets ausdrücklich kein Rennen ist, verzichten wir heute auch auf die Nennung der Finisher Zeiten. Man darf nicht schneller als 43 und nicht langsamer als 90 Stunden sein.  Die Mutter aller Langstrecken Events wird nur alle vier Jahre ausgetragen, und ist nicht nur deshalb etwas Besonderes: Zwischen 1891 und 1951 war Paris-Brest-Paris noch ein Radrennen für Profis und Amateure, seit 1931 wird PBP auch als Brevet durchgeführt und ist heute das älteste Langstrecken Radrennen der Welt.Sevi und Tom nehmen uns mit auf ihre Reise, erzählen über die Qualifikation, die Stimmung unterwegs und haben natürlich einige lustige Anekdoten auf Lager. Link zu den Brevets in Österreich: https://randonneurs-austria.at/+++++Sitzfleisch wird präsentiert von Ultracyclingshop:-> Hier geht es zu den neuen #IschiabdiHittnbisinsZü T-Shirts, die mit dem Code aus der Episode um 10% günstiger erhältlich sind: https://www.ultracyclingshop.com/bekleidung/t-shirts-hoodies/-> Hier geht es zu den nachhaltigen keego-Trinkflaschen im Sitzfleisch Design, sowie zu den Pullis, die dich im kühlen Herbst warm halten: https://www.ultracyclingshop.com/bekleidung/radbekleidung-sitzfleisch-limited-edition+++++Informiere dich jetzt auf drinkag1.com/sitzfleisch zu gesundheitsbezogenen Angaben und hole dir AG1 im Abo nach Hause, ganz ohne Vertragslaufzeit. Sichere dir bei deiner AG1 Erstbestellung einen gratis Jahresvorrat an Vitamin D3+K2 & 5 Travel Packs!

Welcome to part 2 of Paris Brest Paris with James Gracey. This episode concludes James's intense 1,200-kilometer ride filled with unexpected obstacles and unexpected friendships. Faced with numerous challenges, from illness to malfunctioning electronics, James's determination powers him through, making his journey a testament to sheer grit. Halfway through, with 600-kilometers still to go, he contemplates quitting but finds encouragement in the unity of fellow riders. Each twist and turn loaded with his physical and mental endurance eventually leads to the finish line. As he crosses it with newfound friends by his side, James's story evolves into not just an adventure, but a celebration of camaraderie and the human spirit. Don't miss out on this extraordinary account of grit and determination that will surely inspire. Support the Podcast Join The Ridership  Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: [00:00:00]Craig Dalton (host): Hello, and welcome to the gravel ride podcast, where we go deep on the sport of gravel cycling through in-depth interviews with product designers, event organizers and athletes. Who are pioneering the sport I'm your host, Craig Dalton, a lifelong cyclist who discovered gravel cycling back in 2016 and made all the mistakes you don't need to make. I approach each episode as a beginner down, unlock all the knowledge you need to become a great gravel cyclist. This week on the podcast, we've got part two of my discussion with James Gracey. And his Perry Brest Paris ride in 2023. If you haven't listened to the episode last week. Press stop or pause. Go back and listen to that episode because we're going to catch up with it halfway through. James is about 600 kilometers into Perry, breast Paris. Uh, 1200 kilometer ride from Paris to the town of Brest in France, back to Paris. Let's jump right in midstream to my conversation with James Gracey. [00:01:02]James Gracey: So the way out [00:01:03]Craig Dalton: to breast is your first 600 kilometers. And this is a distance that you've now done pre once previously before. Yeah, I'm a, this is all you're [00:01:12]James Gracey: ready to go. So [00:01:14]Craig Dalton: did you, did you sleep at all on the first six? I [00:01:16]James Gracey: slept, uh, Lodiak is the, is the 400 K point. It's also where the bag drop point was and so unfortunately one of the gentlemen that is Responsible for san francisco randonneurs. He's he runs the organization Uh, and I think he's affiliated also with rusa He got sick and so he's coming over to do the ride He has gone way out of his way to make sure everybody has what they we took 106 people from san francisco Which is a huge contingent bigger than most And he, his name is Rob Hawks, and he got sick, uh, like to the hospital in the emergency room, sick when he landed. And so he had, uh, he had some hotel rooms in Lodiak that he was, when he realized he's not going to be able to, to utilize them, it was two days before, and I was sick. And so I was up at two in the morning being sick. And I got. noticed that these hotel rooms were available. So, because I was sick, I was like, done. I'll take, I'll take them both. They were both in Lodiak the first night and then the second night coming back. And so I did grab all my gear, my drop bag, go to the hotel, took a shower. And uh, lay down for like two hours. [00:02:39]Craig Dalton: And we, so were you, was it going to work? The math going to work out that you were going to be in the same hotel the next night? [00:02:45]James Gracey: Yeah. I just left my gear. Oh, that's amazing. Yeah. So it saved me a little bit of time. So I didn't have to go check in to get gear. Yeah. It, it didn't work out quite that way because I was so far behind when I returned to Lodiak. I had to go to the hotel, get my gear packet, no shower. I changed kits. And went, uh, and had to go back and drop the bag because they're leaving. The bag drop people are leaving. That's how close we are. And that's one of the bigger problems with starting at the end. That when it's at the end, if you start at the beginning and you fall six hours behind, no big deal. There are people that are, you know, twelve or thirteen hours behind you still. But when you start at the end and you get hours behind, you're at the end. And they are closing down the control station. Um, what was your, [00:03:34]Craig Dalton: what was your kit set up? Like, it sounds like you brought two, [00:03:37]James Gracey: two sets of. I had three, I had one for one for each day. And I planned on, I planned on changing them. And, uh, they were just my regular road. Yeah. But just for [00:03:46]Craig Dalton: like general cleanliness [00:03:48]James Gracey: and yeah. You want to get out, you want to get out of that. And, um, like I was in my, my second kit for 40 hours or something like that. Um, coming, coming back. And. Yeah feels pretty gross. So if you're [00:04:04]Craig Dalton: back in what was the town called? Lodiak you're now i've done 800 800k, so you got 400k to go. Yeah somewhere along the way. I got a message from you That made it sound like you're done Yeah, [00:04:19]James Gracey: uh after after uh breast It was kind of evening beautiful sunset and we're leaving breast and i'd been sick. I got sick the friday before the ride Probably because we were just out I just came back from the event and I was not having oysters and lots of seafood and lots of pate and lots of stuff that I just didn't agree with. Um, or didn't agree with me. And so I was sick Friday, Saturday and Sunday, uh, before the event. And I just can't keep anything. Anything that comes in, that I put in, comes right back out. And, uh, then that continued for the first day. Anybody I'd ride with, I would get in a groove riding with them on the first day, like with two or three people. And I might ride with him for 45 minutes or an hour, and then I would say, I have to go. Like, I gotta go be sick. I have to go be sick, and I would let him go, which stunk. And it kind of kept getting worse and worse. And I'm trying to eat and drink as much as I can, especially fluids. And, uh, after breast, there's this, there are two secret controls. You don't know where the control is. And it's to keep people from cheating. My thought was probably like yours is now. Why would you do that? Why would you sign up for this self inflicted thing and cheat? Apparently it happens. I don't know why you would do that. Just do the ride. So in the second control, the secret control, I had a fever and I can't keep anything in me and I'm super dehydrated. And I even took pictures of like this dehydration that you can see in my face along the way. And I'd probably lost 10 or 12 pounds by that point, is my guess, from the Friday before I went to the Secret Control. I got to that point where I'd tried to think about, you know, a month ago and two months ago, of what are you going to do when you have all the reasons in the world to quit? Like, are you going to push through and what are you willing to trade off for that, for that, at that time? And I, I knew the answer. But I capitulate. And I, uh, and I, I went to the secret control. Um, when I had a fever, I was like, my wife had just texted me that the kids had COVID. And I was like, no, you're COVID. That's where the fever is coming from. And, uh, cause we had just seen each other two days before. And I was like, this is, you know, I have children. I have to get back. I do not need to be in a French hospital for a month because I've, you know, Tried to tough it out. And so I went to the control, uh, uh, officials, and I said, I need to withdraw. And, uh, I was really concerned about the fever. And, and he said, he said, Okay, what's your number? And I gave him my number, and he said, All right, we're going to withdraw you. And I said, what do I do? And he said, you ride to the next control. You ride to the next control. And I was like, can I sleep? I was really tired, can I sleep here? And he said, no, we're closing. The other problem with being at the very back. He said, we're closing in an hour. You cannot sleep here. And you cannot stay here. Because when we lock the doors, you cannot be here. I was like, well, the next control is Carhay. It's 50 or 60 miles away. I was like, so, if I quit, I still have to ride? This is at 10 or 11 at night. And he said, yes. , that's what you do. And I said, well, take my name off the , take my name off the list, I rescinded [00:07:40]Craig Dalton: by [00:07:40]James Gracey: quit. And I'll decide. I'll decide when I get there. If, uh, if there were, that's still the case. 'cause I am close. And I just couldn't, I couldn't overcome thinking like what I'm risking. And I just drank and drank and drank. And I think I, I think I didn't have a fever. I think I had, I was hot. Because I didn't have anything to cool me off. Yeah. 'cause I was just super dehydrated and so I kept drinking and drinking and drinking. And then by the time I got there, uh, to Khe, I laid down and I, I think I sent you the video of like all the people laid out all over the place. [00:08:13]Craig Dalton: Yeah. It's pretty amazing. Just like people just, it's unbelievable falling asleep with their head next to their food on the table, anywhere laying on the ground. [00:08:23]James Gracey: They had, there were, I didn't see, I saw one person with their feet in the street, like on a highway, like their feet are over the line. And you're like, wow. As you go and you move your feet. Somebody told me they saw a head over the, head with helmet over the line. Like they just got over as far as they could go and they kind of fell over and went to bed. And so I got to Carhay and I laid down in the cafeteria on the ground with flies everywhere. And for two hours and I woke up and I felt a lot better. I'd had, I'd had a meal. I'd had a lot of fluid. And I was like, at that point, you know, my plan was I don't have to, don't think about what, how far you have to go. Don't think I've got another 400 miles or whatever it was you think. I just got to get to the next control. And then from that point forward, it's, I just have to get to the next control, whether it's 70 miles or 100 miles. Right. I just have to, if I can just get there, then I'll make a decision. Yeah. So [00:09:20]Craig Dalton: you're, as you said before, you started in the tail end group, presumably everybody around you, you're starting to see like the really back of the bus. [00:09:31]James Gracey: We're seeing in the back of, of even the people that left 12 hours before me are now back with us. And they're in a terrible, they're in a bad way. Yeah. [00:09:41]Craig Dalton: So are you, are you riding with some of these guys and girls? I'm riding [00:09:44]James Gracey: with, I'm riding with some of them. And we had, uh, I mean, it's pretty interesting, ride baits for a while. Uh, that I'll, I'll, I've, I've, I wish them all, I wish them all well. I did get told at one point I had been riding with this one, uh, uh, randoneur that I was, kept riding in front of him. And he won't get on my wheel. I'm like 40 feet in front of him. 30, 40 feet. I mean, he's getting zero benefit, but he's matching my pace. Like, if you want to get the benefit out of this, you have to ride right behind me. I don't know how it is where you ride, but that's what you have to do, or you may as well just ride by yourself. Because I'm also having to talk loudly so you can hear it way back there. And so this went on for... 7 or 8 hours. I mean, long time. A long ride. And at one point, I got, and this, we went back and forth and back and forth. We'd kind of split up and then come back together somehow, or I'd see him somewhere else. And at one point, we're about to drop down into a, into a, um, control. And I see, I see on my Garmin that we're about to descend for a bit. Even if it's 200 or 300 feet, I don't want to come back up it. If there's no food there, because it's closed. Then I got to come back up because there's a [00:11:01]Craig Dalton: McDonald's right because you're already feeling like you're on the bubble of maybe [00:11:04]James Gracey: I'm on every control. I'm like, I don't know how this is going to work out, but it was getting better and better. And I was like, I told the group, I said, I'm going to that McDonald's and haven't had McDonald's in a dozen years. Easy. Because I quit and they realized fast food is bad for you. [00:11:21]Craig Dalton: They were probably all like Americans. They all eat McDonald's. McDonald's draw of the Golden arches was [00:11:26]James Gracey: too much. It was too much. I saw people in there and it's just across the highway. So I went over there and I got a big Mac and fries. Okay. That was amazing. And I sat down and then a Japanese man came in next. I said, you guys go ahead. I'm going to eat. I need to eat. And I don't want to have to come back up this Hill. To a closed McDonald's. Maybe like I would be devastated. It would be the end. And, uh, then a Japanese man came in and sat, uh, he couldn't figure out the self kiosk. So I walked him through it. And then while he was waiting on his order, I said, Come down and sit next to me. He didn't speak any English. He spoke a little bit. And, uh, he took his helmet off. And as soon as he sat down, he burst into tears. And I said, I said, It's alright, man. I'm in the same place. I'm just not crying. I don't know if he understood, and he just, the only thing he muttered was, this is so hard. This is so hard. And I said, I know, but you're going to eat your meal. I just had mine. I'm going to sit here with you, and we're going to start together, and you're going to be fine. And, and that's, and that's what we did. Right? And he was like, I mean he wasn't, he hadn't lost his mind, but he was hurting, and we still have a long way to go. Uh, and uh, so we, then we left and when I got down to the lane was the next control, the person that I had been riding with, that's behind me said the control is closed and you're screwed. Do you die? He said the control is closed. I said, well, that's, I mean, it's fine. I'm going to finish. My goal was not necessarily to, you know, I would love to make 84 hours, but I'm just going to, I'm going to finish it and I'm not going to finish it if there's no food and I got to come back up this hill. So I know where I need to be. He said the control's closed and I said, Alright, well I'm gonna go and, and lay down and get some, get, and sleep. I'm gonna sleep for, you know, 30, 40 minutes. And he said, well the control is closed. Why don't you come with me? And I said, No. You're not helping me anyway. And so I, I, uh, he went on and then I went into the control and the control was not closed. The control was open. And I think he just wanted me to sleep. Drag him around. I don't know. It was the only, it was the only not super awesome experience that I had. Yeah. And so I got my, got my thing stamped and I was like, there were some other people there. I was like, I know I'm tired, but you just heard what I just heard. There were some San Francisco guys there. And he goes, yeah, he said it was close. It was not close. All right. Maybe he was dreaming. Somebody else later at another, I think even our last control or control before last. was devastated, sitting there, losing his mind because the control is closed. And we're like, it's not closed. It's right there. It's open. He goes, no, it's not. We're like, it is right there. It's open. He goes, he goes, no, I DNF'd. I'm not finishing because it's closed. And we're like, it's not closed. It's right, it's right where the lights are. He goes, what? And it's, and then he started muttering a bunch of stuff that made zero sense. Uh, and so I got some sleep. And I woke up, and one thing somebody had told me before you, before we even started any of this was your body, as I don't know if I can sleep in the grass or sleep in the day, and they said your body will put you to sleep, you will go to bed, and your body will put you there, and they were right, like you can go to sleep anywhere, in the grass and rocks, I have a picture of one guy literally sleeping down the stairs, his feet are on, three stairs away from his head, And it cannot, it can't be comfortable. But he's sleeping. He's just asleep. And so I slept, I woke up, and there were, uh, four, uh, SFR guys that were about to take off. Uh, it was, uh, Ed, Misha, um, Matt, and then one, and then one other San Francisco, Randall Nair guy. And I was like, you want to ride together? And we still had maybe 200 miles to go. to maybe, maybe even a little more than 200. It's so [00:15:36]Craig Dalton: crazy. Like I can't even get my head around, like being that it, you know, in the pain locker. And then And then [00:15:43]James Gracey: like, you know, you have 200 miles to go. We don't think, we don't ever talk about like, Oh, we only have 600 more miles to go. We have more miles to go. Yeah, we just have to get, we have to get to the next control. We just got to get to the next control. And we rode together through the night. Uh, and it was awesome. It was one of my best night rides ever. That, uh, uh, emotionally that I've ever had. It was awesome. We were making good time. It was a beautiful night. We're all laughing. Having a, um, a good time. We're all, uh, fed. And we all have fluids. And making stops where we need to stop. And get a sausage or a coffee or whatever. And it was awesome. Um, and then we got to two controls to go. And there was a storm coming in behind us and I'm showing them on the radar like this is coming It's really thin. It's gonna like it's gonna blanket us with water and lightning for like 15 minutes So let's get under that tent and go to sleep For 15 minutes and they said no, I was like well, I Think we should stay dry. I think it's important because if you get wet after you know, you're gonna get blisters It's gonna be very uncomfortable Things are going to start rubbing you in the wrong places. Like you could have a whole host of new problems because you're wet and it hasn't rained yet. Yeah. And so then they, we traded like we compromised. Uh, Ed was the, was, um, uh, did the most compromise. He said, all right, I'm going to go get a sandwich and a Coke. You sleep. I'll wake up in 15 minutes. And if it's not raining, we're leaving. And I was like, done. So he did that. Uh, and Matt and Misha, we're all, we were still all there together. And, uh, they were stronger riders than me, so I need them. So he kicked me to wake me up, and I was like, let's go. And, uh, it kept getting, then it got light, maybe two or three, two hours later. So the [00:17:35]Craig Dalton: rainstorm, did it materialize? [00:17:37]James Gracey: No, it didn't rain. I told him it was going to rain and showed them the radar. they're stronger than me, so they finished before me. I was like, I was on the ridge by myself. The rainstorm was right behind us. Like I'm watching the lightning storm roll in. And the lightning storm went around just like that. Sounds like you [00:17:58]Craig Dalton: just convinced these guys you needed a 15 minute nap. [00:18:01]James Gracey: I need 15 minutes, yeah. But they were, they were cool with it and we all left together. Uh, and we met up with another SFR guy named Noah, who's a really strong rider. And, We were rocking through the middle of morning having a great time. Was [00:18:17]Craig Dalton: this the most simpatico group you ever found? Yeah, throughout the time. For sure. [00:18:20]James Gracey: Yeah, without them I wouldn't have finished. Like if it hadn't been, if it hadn't been for them and their enthusiasm to finish um Like Ed had done it 12 years ago and didn't finish Uh, it was Misha's first time. It may have been, I don't remember about Matt Um, but they had a lot of energy and enthusiasm and like hey, let's all We're better off together than we are separately, so let's figure out a way to do this together. Even though Misha was so fast, and he was in like Teva clip ins, he was so fast. We would all start together, and he would take off, and we just wouldn't see him again until the next control. We'd catch up at the control, or at stop, and then we would all leave together. He would, he would take, he's like, I'm just riding my pace. But he was, uh, had a great attitude. Uh, and then, maybe, maybe four, four or five hours before the finish start raining. And then the rain, if it had rained two days earlier, it would have been a different ballgame. But because you know, you can kind of see the light at the end of the tunnel. You, uh, you're motivated and they, they had stopped for coffee. So I went on and they're faster so I figured they would, uh, catch up with me at some point. And then I rode with, uh, I rode with One gentleman from, um, Thailand and one from Indonesia for a while that I think they'd kind of lost hope a little bit. They were, uh, they'd missed their cutoffs by a ways. We saw people and were talking to people that had, their deadline, their, like, time to finish is literally within an hour. And we're a hundred miles away. And they, all they could talk about is, I have to get there, I have to get there. I'm like, slow down. You're not making any sense. You're all over the road. People were, in the last 12 hours before the finish, people are not making any sense. People are not speaking in complete sentences. People that clearly speak English are not speaking, are not speaking English. They're making up things in their head and telling you about them like they're real. And all they said, the only, the only cohesive, Sentiment with all of those people is I'm gonna finish. I'm going to, like, even no matter what they're talking about, rainbows and unicorns or shiny pennies or whatever they got going on in their brain that's not working out because they need some rhodiola, probably, they consistently say, this is, one guy said, this is the, this is the time. This is the year. He said it in like kind of French English. This is the year I'll finish. Yeah. This is the year. Like, yeah. Like he had done this several other times. I had not finished and he was probably 15 years older than me. I'm 51. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, [00:21:11]Craig Dalton: it's so interesting I mean you and I talked about this a little bit on a bike ride one day just Even with Ironman's and different things that we've done. I've always known the finish line was there and within my capabilities, but 1, 200 kilometers In that timeframe, so much can go wrong. Whether it's physically, mentally, mechanically. So [00:21:33]James Gracey: much can go wrong. Yeah. Like some things just are beyond your control and it's unfortunate. Uh, and it's, it's, there are so many opportunities for something to go catastrophically wrong or just to eat up so much time. You're like, I've spent six hours on the side of the road trying to fix this problem and it's not fixed. Yeah. And now I'm exhausted from trying to fix the problem. Yeah. And I haven't made it a single additional mile. Yeah. None of that ever happened to me. It does happen. Like I did see people that happen. We had the event, um, in the end had about a 40 percent DNF rate, which is, they have 4, 800 finishers out of 8, 000. Okay. And was that [00:22:13]Craig Dalton: because it was hot this year or is that pretty average? [00:22:16]James Gracey: I think that's even higher than average. I think the average is like 33 or 35. It depends on where you're from. Some people dropped out because it was hot. It was like maybe 90 the first day, maybe, maybe a little more than that, 90 Fahrenheit. And one guy talked to after the race was over. He said, I dropped out. I said, it was too cold. He was 81 and from Thailand. And so he's, you know, it needs to be 90 for him to ride comfortably. Right. Not, not 80. And he said it was too cold. It was way too cold. And then he just dropped out. So you didn't have any mechanical [00:22:49]Craig Dalton: mishaps. You largely, you know, you, you. You found yourself in the hurt locker physically at certain points, but you kind of just did what you need to do, right? You don't know exactly what the answer is. You just know don't go fast [00:23:02]James Gracey: and hydrate There's no reason to go fast and that you can't ride if you don't drink. Yeah So you didn't [00:23:08]Craig Dalton: you're you're sort of now within 50 miles of the finish line Yeah, you did mention to me you had some some issues. [00:23:14]James Gracey: We had some yeah So I sent you a text at one point said I think I just sent it to you I was like, and my wife, I'm like, I'm pulling out. Like, back, right after breast. And then, we rocked through the night. I mean, we, we slept for the last 37 hours. I slept maybe an hour. And moved a lot. Like, there was not a lot of sit down. And we were working together well, and doing it the way you're supposed to be doing it. And having, like, these really great feelings of camaraderie. And, and, even though it's self reliance, like, you're doing it. With the friendship and camaraderie of others that are like minded and close to the same, uh, physical capability. And it was awesome. And so I got to the last control in Drew. And I was like, I have three hours left. And now it's only 30K. It's like we're maybe a little more, maybe like 24 miles. I have three hours. I'm gonna, I'm like, I was elated. We had worked really hard to get there. and have been raining for a couple of hours, but it's only 24 miles. And, so I texted everybody I knew basically. I was like, I'm going to make it. I can't believe it. Like, my brain is coming back together. It's not in the middle of the night. You're thinking all this weird stuff. And, um, I know what's going on. I'm, uh, I'm helping out with these, these two guys that I've been riding with and have been raining for a couple of hours, but it's only 24 miles. So I sat down, had a meal, which was awesome, and, uh, the two guys I was riding with, only one of them wanted to continue. They'd both missed their time cuts already, and so one of them was going to sleep. Uh, and I'd had a flat repaired. They had a mechanic station there, and I'd been riding a probably 10 pound flat for 10 miles. Because I didn't want to stop and do it in the rain. You've got to get it all out, and it's like it would have taken forever. And I was hoping that there would be a, um, And so we left, and when I got my bike from the, from the shop, my Garmin's not, not working. It just wants me to delete everything. And I turn it on, turn it off, turn it on, turn it off. It's like, I don't know, it's, I've been following signs. There are signs that say either Brest or Paris the whole way. There's probably 20, 000 signs on the route. Were you trying, [00:25:35]Craig Dalton: were you, I'm just curious about this little detail. It may seem super minute, but how were you trying to keep your electronics powered along the way? I had batteries. [00:25:44]James Gracey: I had a battery, I had two solar chargers that were battery packed just in case. Like, I kind of did it the wrong way. I had three lights of just the little trail, I forgot the name of the brand, but it's a mountain bike light that lasts about four hours on low. So I had three of those just in case, because if you don't have, if one of your lights goes out and you get stopped by control, you have to... Joe Davis, Speaking: Wait for it to charge before you can, Craig Perkinsland, [00:26:09]Craig Dalton: Speaking: Because, it's illegal to ride [00:26:10]James Gracey: in that area. Joe Davis, Speaking: That's right. Craig Perkinsland, Speaking: Right, And on the, on this ride without, without a tail light, a headlight and um, reflective gear. And so I had three taillights, three headlights, two big battery packs, and my bike probably weighed 15 pounds too much. And, uh, so everything, you know, was staying charged, I've got the Garmin charge, I've watched charge most of it kind of messed up one day. And So we leave and it's not working and I said, all right, well, it's not, I can't get this right. And so you just follow the signs. I've been following signs. Literally, I could have done it without a Garmin, without directions at all until that point. Yeah. And, uh, we had been warned that people will steal the signs. Okay. That as a souvenir. So you get a sign, they give you one of the signs when you, when you pick up your, when [00:27:00]Craig Dalton: you pick up your bag, [00:27:03]James Gracey: because then they will steal them all in the same place, right next to the end. Right. Right. Because that's where they all are. They're done. They go back on the course and they grab one. And so I'm riding with a, uh, a gentleman from Thailand and we're following, uh, a man from France. I don't know where he was from in France, but he didn't speak any English. And so we're following signs, following signs, and all of a sudden there's no more signs. So it's me, the guy from Thailand, the guy from France, and two people from Germany, a husband and wife team. Um, we realized. Nobody knows where they're going. Nobody's electronics are working. There's no, I see zero signs. And you're just in farmland. And, we're like, alright, well, how do we get back to there? So we started, all of us started going to a, in a direction of a, that we thought, and we got up there, and it's not, it's not the right way. There's no sign. So we realize we're lost. And the gentleman that we were following, because I'm just following, and so you've been doing it for, I'm following the guy in front of me and then the people he's following because he doesn't have electronics. The woman, uh, it was a husband and wife team. The woman has Shermer's neck, which I'd never heard of until two months ago or three months ago. What the heck is that? And I've never seen it. So at the very end, I saw maybe a dozen people with it and it's where it's a condition that you can't hold your head up anymore. So your neck muscles are shot and they're not firing and all you look at if you're on the bike All you're looking at is your pedals. You can't even pick your head up to look past the handlebars You can see you can see your pedals your handlebar and your wheel, but you don't know where you're going If you have to take a right turn, you can't do it She is holding your head up with her fist under her chin. That's incredible And her husband is giving her directions from behind her a little to the right A little, a little, uh, because you can't really, I mean, she's been awake for, you know, three and a half days. And so, we're like, we're following the people with Shermer's neck, and nobody has electronics, and there's no signs. We don't know where we are. We don't know [00:29:14]Craig Dalton: where we are. I can't even imagine how demoralizing that would be. It [00:29:17]James Gracey: was pretty bad. Yeah. Uh, I don't have any, I go, uh, I cannot get anything on my Garmin to work at all. And it probably, it's from, Like, right now, if I were in the same condition, I would say, Oh, you do this and this and this. And, like, logic's kind of going out the window. I think we're going to miss the, we're going to miss the cutoff. I look to see how far, the start and finish town is Rambouillet. And I look to see how far Rambouillet is. And it's, I only had 24 miles from Drew to Rambouillet. Well, now it's like 27 miles. And I'm like, Oh. By, by, like, Apple Maps. And I said, I'm just gonna ride back. I don't know what you guys are doing. The charmer's neck and husband, they left, going in one direction. And we're not going that way. Because it's not the direction of the finish town. I don't know where they're going. So we rode back to where we think we got lost. And we're riding around. The guy that only speaks French is trying to get his garment to work. We're all worried because he and I are in the same group. We're both about to miss cutoff. The other guy... Uh, from Thailand had already missed it. And, I got on my, on my phone, just directions back to, back to the start finish line. I was like, I'm just gonna follow this. I said, this is what, I point to the guy from France, I said, this is what I'm gonna do. You can come with me if you want. And he said, no. He said, come with me. Come with me. I said, but this gets me there, and this has me getting there 15 minutes late. But I know, you know, it's, it's doing it from a, from a bicyclist perspective and I can probably go faster than that. Has me there 15 minutes late, but also it has like seven, you know, construction zone things going on. I'm like, this is, I can't believe I've worked all this all for the last three days and qualification and giving up time with my family. It was kind enough to let me do all this and I screwed it up in the last like 20 miles. Yeah. And I'm going to miss it. I'm going to finish, but I'm, I'm so close to completing it in the cutoff time. Yeah. So we're panicked, and he said, no, he's motioning, just follow me, just follow me. So he literally starts going down a pedestrian path that no bikes are allowed on, or cars, because it's like a sidewalk, going through fields, going in the opposite direction of the finish town. And I see it on my phone, like we're going the wrong way. And he's like, just follow me. And so I'm, I'm like, all right. Do I go with Apple Maps? I don't trust, I don't trust for many reasons. Or do I follow this Frenchman who is pretty emphatically saying, follow me, I, I know where we are. And so I followed him, and we went maybe two or two and a half miles on pedestrian paths, where Apple's saying like, you can't be on this path. And then, we're still gonna get there late, according to Apple. We're still gonna get there late, we're still gonna get there late. And then finally we pop out on this road, and I see other cyclists. So we're back on the path, and so, okay, so we're back on the path, but Apple says, I'm gonna miss my, miss my time cut by 15 minutes still. And so we're, and I'm like, now I, now I see riders, and I just get, I say, look, I can pull us, just get on my wheel, just sit on me, and we'll go as fast as we can. We'll go as hard as we can until one of us passes out. And he ends up dropping off. And I take off and then the path, it still says I'm going to miss it. I've been riding for 20 minutes, it still says I'm going to miss it. And then the path that we're on goes up a one way street the wrong way, which Apple Maps won't let you do. And so as soon as I get to the other side of that, it drops it by 30 minutes. It's incredible. And I'm going as hard, I'm like, I'm head down, going as hard as I can without blowing up. Everything I got until that point. And I realize, like, I realize what has just happened and now I'm going to get there 30 minutes ahead of time. And I breathe, breathe for a second and still going hard. And finally I catch up with these, uh, these guys that are SFR, um, riders. And I'm just like, I'm about to fall over. Like, can I just sit on your wheel? And they let me sit on their wheels, Hans and another gentleman. And I sat on their wheel until the finish line. And got there in time. I was there. And then I'm super worried about the Frenchman, who, if it weren't for him, I'd be on a highway somewhere trying to get back to the start line. Yeah. Following Apple maps. Uh, and if it weren't for him, and he's in the same cutoff as me, so I did see him, uh, after he finished and he made the cutoff. And we had a great, we had a tearful embrace and it was, I was terrified I was gonna miss it. And I have all these emotions. And like, I was totally fine emotionally until I could even see the finish line. I'm like, there it is. Like, let's just, let's just go to it. And then I got to the finish line and lost it and burst into tears. And my friend Ray is there and he's like, wow. . Wow. Because he, he finished, he finished in, in 80 hours I think. Something. Okay. Like he finished really fast. No, he finished in, uh, 74 hours I think. Yeah. And so he had been there and gotten a night's sleep and, uh, and I was just a mess and I've never been like that. And maybe my first Ironman ever, cause I was, you know, I'd built it up in my brain that it was going to be this huge accomplishment and, and it was, it was, it was incredibly [00:34:52]Craig Dalton: emotional. Yeah. Understandably so. I mean, everything you went through to get there, to arrive in France in the first place, and then certainly everything you went through. Over the course of those 84 hours. Yeah. Like to finally like, not have to stress, [00:35:06]James Gracey: to not have to, you know, pressure on you to like, keep going and keep finishing. Yeah. And just where you can, like you didn't need [00:35:12]Craig Dalton: to do anything. You didn't need. It's done. Yeah, it's done. Throw the bike [00:35:15]James Gracey: down, pass out. I couldn't believe it and I made it. Uh, I did an 83, 83 25 I think. Okay. I had 35, 35 minutes to spare. So it was, it was close, especially considering an hour before that I was not going to make it and the time cut off at all. Do you [00:35:32]Craig Dalton: get the sense from some of your other riders that you knew, like Ray, like, did they get involved with groups that were like moving together throughout the entire [00:35:41]James Gracey: course? Ray did for sure because he left at 90 hours and he said he, they had really good groups taking turns. And, uh, and that's, that's. I mean, that's a good way to go. You know, it definitely is, uh, gets you going faster with less effort. Um, there were, there were large groups, probably, probably a lot of large groups from the 90 hour group. Uh, and then our group, I never really saw, I would see, there were, at the occasional control, or we'd leave an even, just a sandwich shop or something. People would say, all right, I'm going to go, and then two minutes later somebody else would leave, and then 30 seconds later somebody else would leave, and 30 seconds behind someone is no benefit. Yeah. So we would have to say, stop. Like, let's all leave in two minutes, and there will be five of us together instead of five individuals spread apart. And some people, I think, just want to do it on their own, and that's just where their, where their mind is, and where their, like, kind of their game plan is. I'm going to do it on my own. I'm like, okay. Yeah, but I need some help. , I need to ride somebody else. . Uh, and they were, uh, I did hear, I heard stories. Uh, I, I heard story of one person that had s schirmer's neck that put screws into her helmet and then taped, taped the screws and then taped the tape back to the back of her bag in the back to hold her head up so she could see. And then one gentleman I had breakfast with the next day. from, uh, he was Irish. He had, he had a, not terrible case of it, but pretty bad, I mean bad enough that he said he had to, he stacked all of his spacers onto his head tube to raise his arms up so he could raise up enough to see it's not the right position. And he said at one point he was looking at his fork and he said he looked at it for two hours in the middle of the night. He said, that's not my fork. That's not, somebody got, somebody while I was sleeping, came in here while I was eating, came in here and changed my fork to this fork. That's not my fork. Who would have done that? Gone through all that trouble. That's a lot of effort. To change, take my fork and give me this other fork. I said, how'd you, what'd you do? And he goes, I had to go back through pictures and find a picture of me standing next to my bike with that fork. To convince myself like, oh, I'm just, Not in the right place mentally to make decisions like this, you know, magical fork theft. Oh, yeah. And, uh, some stories like that I heard a lot of the next day. And a lot of Shermer's Neck stories of people that can't hold their head up. Yeah. And, uh, you could see, I didn't see any of, I didn't see any of this, but I did get told people would come to the finish line and it changes pavement. It goes from hard packed gravel to cobbles for 30 feet maybe. to, to loose gravel dirt in, uh, maybe 200 meters before the finish line. It changes three different pavements. And people would see the finish line and raise their arms and and celebration immediately fall to the ground. Because they have no control over anything. They have You know, something that muscles aren't working on them or they try to raise their arm and race that they would just see him like fall over and they've now crashed 25 feet from the finish line from no, from no reason other than celebrating that they're excited and they don't realize things don't work and yeah, like muscles don't work, their neck doesn't work, their arms, shoulders are all pinched and locked up and he said people are just falling over. Like, oh, person after person, after person celebrating. And they would just crash and they'd have to go pick 'em up. And then I can't imagine a kind of a worst way to . Worst way to end your 90 hour. Yeah. Uh, bicycle ride. It's crashing in the gravel and getting a bunch of rocks under your skin. A hundred [00:39:42]Craig Dalton: percent. So what do you, what do you do after finishing? You just go and crash somewhere and sleep [00:39:47]James Gracey: for a day? Yeah. Uh, I didn't have a plan 'cause I didn't know, I didn't know what was gonna happen. Uh, I did have a vehicle there. Uh, Uh, so I went and stayed in the barracks. So they just open up a big room, basically, in, in one of the buildings and throw cots in there. They have cots and, like, an emergency blanket. And I bought some, uh, I didn't, I didn't, I wasn't really thinking right. I ordered a pizza, but I don't think I ever went to pick it up. No, I went to go get a change of mind at a steak. And, uh, so I got some bottles of Evian. She rinsed off and went and laid down. And then people, I went to bed at maybe ten at night. Forty nine to one oesophytoptics. there at five or you know, just before five in the evening and there were people that kept coming in for the next, I was there twelve hours maybe I left at maybe ten in the morning and people kept coming in you could hear them like shuffling around falling over cots and they've been out there for at this point, like four days or maybe even longer depends on when they left because if you are, it's an out and back. So if you're 50 miles from the finish and you want to call it quits, there's nobody to call it quits too. There's not a control there. There's nothing there. You just need to ride ride on end. Yeah. And, and they kind of got, I think they were in probably pretty bad condition. Yeah. I slept, slept well, and then I went and had more food and I've been, I'm still eating, I'm still catching up on food and probably not fluids, but on, on food. Yeah. Um, that it, it just takes a lot of time to put it back in you to gain your weight back. [00:41:26]Craig Dalton: Such an incredible experience and accomplishment. Having done lots of big events, your Ironmans, your Leadvilles, where does Perry Breast Paris fit into the... It's pretty [00:41:36]James Gracey: high. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't think that at the beginning. And then I told, it may have been you that I told, that kind of the further I get away from that event, Um, the more special it is. Is becoming to me in my brain like remembering all of I probably have a I probably have a solid year's worth of writing stories Yeah in three days. Yeah, and some of them significant Some of them were like a very low point for me or a very high point for me or just seeing something I've never never seen I've been cyclist my whole life since I was 12. I ever seen Schermer's neck And know what it what it was. That's all dozen of them people that I don't know, you know There were people that were definitely being dangerous at the end, but they don't know they're being dangerous. Like, at one point, we had to tell one, uh, one rider to get away from us. Like, you were riding from the right line across the line to the left line on the other, on oncoming traffic. In fact, for every, you know, hundred meters you're, you're moving forward, you probably did 300 meters of riding because you're just going back and forth. And it's not a hill. It's flat, flat ish, and it's dangerous. And so they, you know, they gotta, they need to be able to stop those. But when do you stop? How do you tell an official? You don't, I'm not stopping to tell anybody anything. I'm going. Like, we're close. I did hear of one gentleman that was, that was just non responsive, 100%. He's standing there, eyes open. He's not saying a word. And he's just comatose. Yeah, and they pulled him. Yeah is what I heard and that probably is having people are the people are just it's in their brains They're gonna go and get this thing done. Yeah. And they like, I felt like I was really mentally prepared for it and these people are way more mentally prepared for it than I was. 'cause I, they're just not gonna stop to, probably to the point of being dangerous. Yeah. [00:43:32]Craig Dalton: But I mean, there's gotta be a little bit of that in you, just inherently in signing up for something like this. You know, as you said before, you know it's possible. You've previewed in your mind the places you're gonna need to go and the pain you're gonna have. Yeah. And you've said to yourself, Unless it's going to hurt me physically or my family, I'm going to keep going. Like, you're right. You're, you're sort of like, I made [00:43:52]James Gracey: those decisions. You make the trade in your brains already, uh, of what it is that you're willing to give up to get to the next control. Are you going to do this? Yes or no. And if you get to a point and you know, the answer is no, because I don't want to. Yeah. Be in the oncoming traffic. Yeah. Like if I were doing that, I'm like, all right, I'm going to finish, but I'm going to go to bed for until I wake up. I'm not going to set an alarm. I'm just going to go over to some grass somewhere and fall asleep. And, and then you can come back and you can finish. Mind if I make you time, but you did it in a safer manner. Yeah. I definitely got the feeling that some people are not, they were, it's almost like the way that I have ever explained, uh, uh, drinking alcohol to one of my kids. Like my kids are in young, young teens. So we talk about it. I'm like, somebody, like, you would never have, like, my son would never have ten beers. Ten. I mean, ten's a lot. But somebody with nine beers in them would. And it's not you anymore. Like, you are not making that decision anymore. It's the person with nine in them that's making the decision, and you gave them authority to make that decision when you had eight and seven and six, and, right, and back it on down. It's the exact same thing. That person, if I showed them a video of themselves, Right now, weaving all over the road, they would make the decision to lay down and go to sleep. Yeah. But it's not them making the decision anymore. It's them, plus 680 miles, or 700 miles, or even further, and, you know, three or four hours of sleep in four days, with this tremendous physical exertion, and this tremendous physical expense. Uh, so they're not making that decision anymore. It's whatever they have kind of predetermined in their mind as their break point. And their break point was pretty far. But, that said, I don't, I think, I, I did read an article that said it was an unsafe event. Like, they're, well, you put 8, 000 people on a bicycle, all at the same time something's gonna happen. It's not gonna be good. And that's just the law of probability. Like, I don't think anybody has died doing the ride in, maybe the last one was 2011 or something. And yeah, that's, uh, that's not, that's not bad. It's not like people are dying on it all the time, or even end up in the hospital, uh, to my knowledge. And for that reason, I think it's, you know, even though there are dangerous things that are happening, it seems to be like pretty safe event. Where you think [00:46:28]Craig Dalton: about the equipment available, the nutrition, like all the stuff. [00:46:36]James Gracey: It's, that's one of the things that draws me to it, to that specific event, like I feel like I feel accomplished as a rider for having done it and haven't gone through some peaks and valleys and a couple of significant valleys for me, like, I feel that makes you feel accomplished if it was just the easy peasy and I sat on somebody's wheel for 760 miles, like I probably still felt accomplished actually, [00:47:00]Craig Dalton: it's a long way, but [00:47:02]James Gracey: But doing it on, uh, what is probably a 40 pound bicycle, probably with solid, probably more than that. It's the same amount of climbing that they 40, 000 feet. Yeah. Uh, with whatever they had available to them and whatever, I mean, I've got heart rate and Garmin and I know the, I know, I see what is coming. I see the hills that are coming up through technology. I've got a relatively light bike. That is, you know, probably one of the, uh, it's probably a fantastic bike for this particular event packs, rain gear, technical gear, super stiff shoes, all [00:47:44]Craig Dalton: your bag of [00:47:45]James Gracey: modern medicine, I've got everything, a big, big top tube filled with rhodiola and, and salt tabs and like, uh, like all kinds of stuff. I can't imagine having done something like that 130 years ago. And and and finishing. Yeah, it's unbelievable to me that I mean people had some grit to be able to To do that like What distance or what level of complication or elevation would you have to accomplish now for it to be equated to that? I don't know. Yeah, but it's definitely further with a lot more climbing. Yeah definitely to match the same Tenacity that they had to go and yeah and say i'm gonna go do that. I mean, it's [00:48:31]Craig Dalton: unbelievable. It's unbelievable Yeah, it's I mean, it's just like everything It happening every four years Yeah, the sheer challenge of what you undertook. It's just amazing. Congrats for [00:48:42]James Gracey: yeah. Thank you. Thank you. It was, it was, it was awesome. I would love to go back and do it again with friends. Uh, as you and I talked about, it's a difficult, it's a difficult event to do with a friend, I think. Yeah. Because at some point, if you're one mile an hour off of the other one, you guys, you have to split up and go on your own. Um, and for, and that's the only reason it would be, it'd be difficult be, be fun to do the purveys together. It'd be fun to do the training together and be fun to make an adventure out of it together. Uh, and be, you know, as partnered up as you can, just like a cycling race. And then when it comes time to like, Hey, this is not working out for one of us. Yeah. The other one has to understand and yeah, [00:49:23]Craig Dalton: no, I think you, you just, you have your own journeys in these events. You have your own, it's your own, it's your own thing. Whether it's these big gravel events or per breasts, Paris, it's just like, Hopefully, I mean, I think that's the beauty of it. Right? You, you get to the finish line, you've all gone through your stuff, whatever that stuff was, but you were out there together. You saw the same things and you come back and you can revel in that shared experience, even though you weren't riding side by side. Yeah. Like [00:49:47]James Gracey: the guys that I rode with the last day, basically, if I saw them right now, I might give them a big hug and I barely know them, but we did that thing. We did that together, especially at the end. And, uh, and have that shared experience and can laugh about it and they all have their own lives to get by. It's not what they do for a living. Yeah. You know, it's a, it is a, it's a hobby. It's a, it's a good hobby. It's a athletic, it will help you live longer. Uh, but in the end it's just a, it's a, it's something you're doing for yourself as much as I tell my kids I'm doing it for them. I want to be around to help you guys later. The way I'm going to be around is stay fit. [00:50:27]Craig Dalton: Yeah. Thanks for sharing the story. Thank you for [00:50:29]James Gracey: having me, Craig. It's, Craig and I've been friends for 20 ish years and, uh, and it's, I'm super, uh, happy and, and really honored to be on your podcast. Yeah. A lot of people follow you and, uh, like even when Craig and I have been in different areas of the world, people said, are you Craig Dalton? Are you Craig Dalton? You have your, your gravel ride jersey on and they're like, do you know Craig Dalton? And one time you had to say, I am Greg Dalton. Right? I'm like, all right. It's, uh, so it's, it's fun to be a part of that. Awesome. Thank you very much. [00:51:02]Craig Dalton: You're welcome. I appreciate having you. Um, I was stoked to document some of this journey cause I want your kids and family to listen to it and hear all your stories and all of our friends. And hopefully everybody else out there will check out Peri Express Paris. There's a lot written about it. There's a lot of resources and you can see the journey that many people went on this year in 2023. Yeah. [00:51:23]James Gracey: Yeah. Thanks Greg. Awesome. [00:51:25]Craig Dalton: Thanks man. Yeah. That's going to do it for this week's edition of the gravel rod podcast. Big, thanks to James for coming on and telling us all about Perry breasts, Paris. I hope like me. You enjoyed learning a little bit more about the sport of randonneuring and such a story to event they have there and France. I forget if we mentioned it during the show, but it only happens every four years. So it's such a big deal. To arrive at the start line and get to the finish line. It's definitely one of those bucket list events. I was thrilled to get James on the microphone to talk about it as I wanted to document his experiences. So you could share it with his family first and foremost, but also to all of you. If you're able to support the podcast, please visit find me a coffee.com/the gravel ride or ratings and reviews are hugely appreciated. Until next time here's to finding some dirt onto your wheels   

Shimano ruft sehr viele potenziell defekte Rennradkurbeln zurück und Nicole fährt 1200 km am Stück durch Frankreich. Hier entlang geht's zu den Links unserer Werbepartner: https://detektor.fm/werbepartner/antritt (00:00:00) Begrüßung (00:11:11) Themenübersicht (00:11:50) Klingeln bei Klötzer: Rückruf bei Shimano (00:17:20) Der Rückruf muss ganz schön teuer sein für Shimano, oder? (00:24:47) Gegen was wird ausgetauscht? (00:33:01) Jetzt: Finger weg von Shimano?! (00:38:38) Zwischenmoderation (00:42:09) Ausfahrt des Monats: Nicole beim paris brest paris 23 (00:51:18) Der Brevet-Start (00:54:47) Schlafen beim Paris-Brest-Paris-Brevet (01:03:16) 1200km Radgedanken (01:13:16) Verabschiedung >> Artikel zum Nachlesen: https://detektor.fm/gesellschaft/antritt-shimano-ruft-kurbeln-zurueck-nicole-faehrt-paris-brest-paris-2023

Shimano ruft sehr viele potenziell defekte Rennradkurbeln zurück und Nicole fährt 1200 km am Stück durch Frankreich. Hier entlang geht's zu den Links unserer Werbepartner: https://detektor.fm/werbepartner/antritt (00:00:00) Begrüßung (00:11:11) Themenübersicht (00:11:50) Klingeln bei Klötzer: Rückruf bei Shimano (00:17:20) Der Rückruf muss ganz schön teuer sein für Shimano, oder? (00:24:47) Gegen was wird ausgetauscht? (00:33:01) Jetzt: Finger weg von Shimano?! (00:38:38) Zwischenmoderation (00:42:09) Ausfahrt des Monats: Nicole beim paris brest paris 23 (00:51:18) Der Brevet-Start (00:54:47) Schlafen beim Paris-Brest-Paris-Brevet (01:03:16) 1200km Radgedanken (01:13:16) Verabschiedung >> Artikel zum Nachlesen: https://detektor.fm/gesellschaft/antritt-shimano-ruft-kurbeln-zurueck-nicole-faehrt-paris-brest-paris-2023

Bonjour listeners! This week we bring you part 1 of my discussion with James Gracey and his experience at the 2023 Paris Brest Paris ride. Starting with his beginnings in Mississippi to braving the awe-inspiring 1200-kilometer cycle race, James offers us a riveting account. It's an ultimate test of endurance, perseverance, and grit, accompanied by the impressive camaraderie of the cycling community. We touch upon the importance of mental preparation, time-management, and effective strategies to conquer challenges. Support the Podcast Join The Ridership  Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: [00:00:00]Craig Dalton (host): Hello, and welcome to the gravel ride podcast, where we go deep on the sport of gravel cycling through in-depth interviews with product designers, event organizers and athletes. Who are pioneering the sport I'm your host, Craig Dalton, a lifelong cyclist who discovered gravel cycling back in 2016 and made all the mistakes you don't need to make. I approach each episode as a beginner down, unlock all the knowledge you need to become a great gravel cyclist. This week on the show, I'm welcoming my friend, James Gracey to come on and talk about Perry breasts, Paris. In fact, our conversation went so long. I'm going to break it up into two episodes. Have you ever seen those riders typically on steel bikes with maybe a rack up front and certainly a bag on the front of their bars, riding the roads potentially coming home at six, 7:00 PM. As you've long shelf to your gravel bike and been doing something else. The type of rider that's been out all day. Maybe they're wearing wool clothing, but they've got a little bit of a throwback vibe. I was a little bit unfamiliar with the sport of Renda nearing. But along the way, I've actually had a couple guests. I remember Yon from Renee. Hers was a big, random. And a rider. And also Tim from Kitzbuhel. I showed up one day riding one of those bikes on a ride I was on. I never really thought too much about it and about the history of this sport, but with James signing up or attempting to sign up for Perry, Brest, Paris this year. I dug it a little bit more and learn the history of the sport. Learned that it's a hundred year old event. It's the oldest cycling event in the world. Learned a little bit about what it takes to qualify I became fascinated by both the sheer endurance challenge of this 1200 kilometer ride, but also the culture around it. Now as James will mention in our conversation, he's relatively new to the scene. I've known him for 25 years and always known him to attack many, a cycling challenge, but he wasn't part of that random air culture. Much more than six, eight months ago. But he dove right in God has qualification for Perry brass Paris. And completed. The 1200 kilometer journey. Just in a Nick of time under his 84 hour time limit that he set off for himself. I thought the story was so fascinating. I thought I would share it with you. With gravel bikes, we have a similar type setup to these random airbikes they're often. They're designed around comfort and obviously long distance performance, just like many of our gravel bikes. So the way I think about it is the Renda near community. Is the kissing cousin, the older cousin. Of the gravel cycling community so i hope you enjoy the conversation as i said i'll break it up in the middle to put it into two roughly 45 minute episodes and with that here's my conversation with james gracie James, welcome to the show. [00:03:04]James Gracey: Thanks. Thanks for having me Craig Dalton. Welcome to the kitchen. Welcome to the kitchen This is where it all happens [00:03:09]Craig Dalton: this is a little bit of a detour for the gravel ride podcast because there wasn't a lot of gravel in Paris Brest Paris, but Talking to you over the months in preparation for this and talking to you during the event It just seems too good not to capture these stories Because i've always thought after I had learned about randoneering through a couple past guests I've always felt like it's the kissing cousin of gravel and a lot of the mentality is similar to some of these gravel events. So that's a long introduction, but I want to first start off by just asking a little bit about your background. Super quickly, where'd you grow up and how'd you discover the [00:03:46]James Gracey: bike? Uh, I grew up in Mississippi, uh, which is not a super bike heavy, uh, area. And I, um, bought a bicycle. When I was 12 years old for 120 from Sears, I thought it was awesome. And I remember going, uh, my very first time that I reached another city limit sign, which was like four miles from where I lived, I was like, I just rode to another city. It was Marion, and I was like, that is awesome. I was like, I went home, I rode to another town. And then after that, for years, I would ride to another town, or ride to another town, and I thought it was incredible. And so I kept buying bicycles that were, You know, probably beyond my capacity to spend on a bike, but that's where my, that's where I wanted to spend whatever money that I had. Yeah. And did [00:04:37]Craig Dalton: you start sort of taking bigger and bigger adventures as you became older? [00:04:41]James Gracey: And yeah, yeah, yeah. So I w I would take, uh, when I was 15 or 16, I'd ridden maybe up to maybe up to a 100 miles. And, uh, when I was in college, I took some bicycle trips. I worked at a bike shop And so I got inexpensive gear there with a discount, and I would take trips either back to my home, which was, like, the first time I did that trip was 140 miles. It's 90 on the regular highway. Uh, or I would, when I was in college, I'd ridden down to Florida to see a friend on a mountain bike because I didn't have another one. And I just, I thought it was awesome. From Mississippi down to [00:05:21]Craig Dalton: Florida? Yeah. And did you, were you? It sounds like the bicycle was a mode of adventure and exploration, but were you, were you discovering racing? Were you interested in racing? Uh, I [00:05:33]James Gracey: did mostly. I rode, I raced a little bit of bikes, mostly I did triathlons. Okay. I was doing triathlons when I was, uh, 14 and 15 in Mississippi, which is some of the oldest triathlons are, are from Mississippi. Was that right? They were from the, they were from the mid to late seventies. Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama has some of the oldest ones. Super interesting. And, uh, I was a swimmer growing up. And, and I would run to swim practice, like when I was 12 and 13, which is a couple miles each way. And so I just kind of, it made sense to put them together. Yeah. And I raced triathlons for 30 years. [00:06:09]Craig Dalton: And you moved progressively into the longer distances. [00:06:12]James Gracey: Into longer distances, and I did longer trips either by myself, like I bet a friend of mine when I was 25 that I could ride the Natchez Trace in three days. I bet him 20, and I have his 20 still in my, in my closet that he signed. Uh, and it was super hard. It was really hard. It was in July. It was 100 and something degrees every day, and there's no services on the Natchez Trace. Um, Which is actually this, this pen that I have, uh, given to you is actually a challenge, going to be a challenge pen at some point in this talk about the Snatch's Trace 444 that you and I may could do together. Okay. Uh, next year. And, uh, I did, I did that ride and it, it changed, it was, that was the hardest thing I'd ever done in my life. And, I really enjoyed that. It's a, it's by far the best way to see the world. You're going slow enough that you can see everything, but fast enough that you're not walking and you're not going to see the same thing over and over again for days on end. You can really, you can really move through an area or a state or even a country on a bicycle in not that much time. And it's, it's, it's hands down the best way to see the world. So I'm going to fast forward [00:07:33]Craig Dalton: maybe 30 years of time. So many, many Ironmen under your belt. You and I connected probably 20 years ago doing Ironman triathlons, but we've also had some other off road adventures together. We've done the Leadville 100 together. Um, we've gone to Europe a couple of times, road riding with a group of friends and gravel and gravel and gravel. Yes. Yeah. For the listener, James was on that Girona gravel trip in November of 2022 that I talked about on the podcast previously. So you've done a bunch of things. Cycling has always been part of your life. I've been fortunate enough to be your friend and been invited to do things with you and encouraged to do things with you. Earlier this year, the beginning of the year, you came up to me and you're like, Hey, I'm going to do Perry, Brest, Paris, you want to do it? And you said, here, there's all these things you need to do in order to do it. And I was like, dude, that's the type of invitation that I love one, but two takes me months and months and months to get my head around. So Perry, Brest, Paris is the oldest cycling race in the world. It goes from Paris to Brest, back to Paris, 1200 kilometers. Self supported and a 90 hour time limit. Is that correct? There [00:08:53]James Gracey: are, uh, there are three different time limits that are self selected. Okay. You can choose to do an 80 hour time limit, an 84 hour time limit or a 90. I chose 84. [00:09:02]Craig Dalton: Okay. So we can get into that to just set the stage because this is a gravel cycling podcast, the sport of randoneering in cycling is its own interesting thing. That's been around, obviously, since the. Yeah. But it's this concept that you've got multiple distances that are sort of official distances of Rendon air cycling. Can you just kind of talk through a little bit of your understanding of it? [00:09:29]James Gracey: Yeah. So it, uh, the reason it probably ties directly back to a gravel podcast is 130 years ago, they were, it was, it was born in gravel. It was born on either dirt roads or farm roads or whatever they had at the time. This predates almost automobiles. Uh, they had automobiles, but they didn't have roads. And, for the most part, I haven't done, I've maybe done one or two brevets that didn't have gravel in some sections. Some of them were six miles or eight miles. There was some gravel, uh, in Perry Brest. Not much, but percentage wise pretty small, but it may have been a couple of miles. And... And the idea that you're doing it on your own, especially back 130 years ago, that you're doing it on your own, self supported, likely with solid rubber tires back then, I don't remember when. They wouldn't have had a need for pneumatic tires at that point. And have to change everything and carry everything that you need to support your bike. Because you might get lucky and have a break in a town with a bike shop, and you might not. You might have a break in the middle of nowhere at three in the morning. And so, the idea behind that and self reliance is core to rent a nearing. It is core to the series that they have. It's core to just the whole idea of, I'm going to go do this thing. Whether it's a certified ACP Brevet, or whether you just want to go ride for whatever the distance is, usually they're pretty long, by yourself, and you want to be able to fix and do everything that you need. And whatever... Stumbling blocks you encounter along the way that you will be able to overcome them on your own. Yeah. Or, through the assistance of another randoneur, or, whatever, right, but that's, that's still on your own. If you were really hungry and you go ask the farmer for an apple, yeah, he gave you the apple, but you have to go get it. Got it. Uh, and so that's what, what, uh, that's, that's what the whole sport is about. That's what the whole um, uh, section of cycling is about. Yeah. And. They're on gravel all the time. Like I rode a gravel bike on this ride as did a significant amount of people. Yeah. When I wouldn't do that on a road bike. [00:11:52]Craig Dalton: When I see, you know, when I see the people in the Bay area that I consider to be randomers, they're often on steel bikes with a bat, a large bag up front. Yeah. And I would always see them and think. You know, that guy or girl is probably out for a long ride and you'd see him coming through our town of Mill Valley, going back to San Francisco at like 6pm, like having been out all day. So the, the, and the tire, I mean, the tire sizes that I often see on these road bikes were [00:12:20]James Gracey: quite big. Yeah, they're 35s or 40s. Yeah, yeah, [00:12:23]Craig Dalton: exactly. And that's, you know, I had, um, I had Jan Herne from Rene Hurst tires on at one point and he was telling me in the background of our, Conversation about the type of writing he likes to do and how gravel was nothing new for him because he'd been riding, you know, 47 seat tires tire on a road bike for many, many [00:12:44]James Gracey: years. Yeah, you have, uh, like the idea that you would do it on a, on a road bike with 23 or even 25 it's, that's pretty uncomfortable. You're on the bike for a long time and comfort is comfort is key in a gravel bike has longer wheelbase. so I don't know many other people who are so blessed with the opportunity and the journey and Well that's in the back. corrected that So it's a part [00:13:15]Craig Dalton: of my That's and sustain it while you're, because public transport done Perry Breast Paris before and introduce the idea [00:13:26]James Gracey: to you? Uh, I actually learned about Perry Breast Paris in 99 and the guy that told me was a Worked at one. It was a customer of mine in Mississippi and He told he had just come back from the 99 ride and he told me about it. I was like, I'm gonna do that That is definitely something I'm going to do. Yeah, and then when I found out how There's no brevets in Mississippi or Alabama where I lived at the time, or very few, and there was no internet, really, so you couldn't really figure out how to do it, so I back burnered it, and had thought about it for a while, and didn't, I didn't even know it was every four years until last year, I think, uh, and then, uh, one of my friends from Mill Valley, Ray Keane, had gone, uh, to the 2019, uh, Uh, addition and then he was telling me all about it and I followed him the year that he did it in 2019 and And he said it's not that hard you to join a club or you have to join a club. That is Russo the randoners of the United States Russo sponsored that they have ACP rides. So the ACP rides are brevets that are specific to qualification for Perry Brest and probably some other ones, but it has to be an ACP sanctioned event. And to get into those, you have to do four qualification rides within the prior year before Perry Brest. Uh, so they're not all over the place. And that's one of the things that made it seem so arduous, back 15 and 20 years ago, was that I don't know where any of these things are. I've never ridden overnight. I've never ridden for that long. So I was, had been a bicycle mechanic for a couple of years, but I doubt I could, you know, relace up a wheel on the fly to try to get you to the finish line. And, uh, so listening to him go through all of that, it sounded like maybe, maybe it was doable. And then when it came back around in, uh, this year for 23, but he and I started discussing it in 2022. Cause you really, some people prepare for it for four years. Most people that I spoke to prepared for it for two years, and I started, uh, training, I, I really got registered for this in January or February. And so you only have a couple of months to do all four qualification brevets. [00:15:53]Craig Dalton: And what are the, what are the distances of [00:15:55]James Gracey: those brevets? The distances for qualification are 200k, of 300k, of 400k, And [00:16:03]Craig Dalton: it's not just riding 'em. You have to ride them in a prescribed amount of hours. Right. [00:16:06]James Gracey: In a prescribed amount of hours. Yeah. So like the 600 K that I did had a 40 hour time limit, which is totally doable unless you have a problem. If you have a problem in the middle of the night, you have to wait for support or to get to a town that can help you out. You're probably not gonna, yeah, you're probably not gonna make it. As you sort [00:16:23]Craig Dalton: of said, you had a pretty intense schedule because of. The late time in which you started this pursuit. Most [00:16:29]James Gracey: people had already done one or two that allows you to preregister. Kind of at the end of 2022. And so then you can convert that to a full registration. You're almost guaranteed to get in. And I didn't, I didn't do that. And so I had one flexible date from February until the race, or until the, it's not race, until the event. That I may could have moved one thing, but I would have had, uh, Instead of driving to Sacramento to do the 600K, I would have had to fly to Southern California or Arizona to get it in. And it just happened that every one of them, like even when I started the 200K the day after spring break, I hadn't ridden a hundred miles since I was with you in Spain, which was six months before that. And I was just as worried about that as I was about the event. Because it had just been a while. And, um, and I flew in. I got back, I got home late at like midnight and left at four to go do the event. But I don't know anything about these events. And the second one, uh, that I did, there were only four people signed up. You don't know that. So I showed up and there was a guy on a motorcycle there, three other riders, and he said, Well, there's only four of you, so have a good ride. And that was it. Then we were off. There's no like start. There's no banner. There's no start gun. He's like, have a good time. But there are, there are [00:17:58]Craig Dalton: check in points that you have to get stamped or [00:18:00]James Gracey: something. There are, uh, and I did, I did, I brought my, my, um, passport, which is what you have to stamp at the ride. Uh, and so in the, in the ones that are, that are not a big event, like the one for four people, they are non, uh, there are controls that you have to stop at and you either have to purchase something And get a receipt that's time stamped. Yeah, or take a picture of yourself in front of wherever this control is so for a 300k there might be six or seven controls where you have to roll up to the grocery store or One of them was a stop sign Uh an intersection sign. There's nothing you just have to take a picture of yourself in front of it Yeah, and if you forget to do that, then you don't you don't you qualify and [00:18:47]Craig Dalton: that the Your success in these qualifiers, does it get logged somewhere? [00:18:54]James Gracey: It gets logged with RUSA and with San Francisco Randonneurs. So you joined a [00:18:58]Craig Dalton: local club and you submit the fact that you did this event and you have your control pictures [00:19:07]James Gracey: and they log it somewhere. Yeah, so you submit those either pictures or receipts. You scan all the receipts and you send them to whoever was in charge. Of the event that day. The qualification event. Yeah. And so if the event is over Sunday at midnight, you have until Tuesday afternoon at some point to get them either all of their receipts or the pictures and you know, and then they see that you have gone to all of the locations in whatever appropriate timeframe and send it into 'em. So [00:19:38]Craig Dalton: 200 kilometers, 120 miles, I can get my head around. I've done that 300 kilometers. Hundred 80 miles. Yeah. I can stretch my head right around that and say like, okay, start early in the morning. Keep plugging away. Possibly. I'll get that done. I've done, I think maybe on our coast ride, maybe we did 130 miles. Yeah. One year, which was the longest I've ever ridden. Okay. So 180, the 300 k, maybe you get it done in, in one kind of, yeah. [00:20:09]James Gracey: Fell swoop. Yeah. You don't, you don't stop for, you don't stop to like sleep. Okay. And then you don't even, you don't take naps. You just, you, you'll stop to have lunch. You just keep [00:20:17]Craig Dalton: plugging away, but obviously like you're starting in the, in the daylight and you're ending in the darkness or starting in the dark. [00:20:23]James Gracey: Yeah. That's like an 18 hour ride probably. Yeah. Uh, some, somewhere in there, you're probably 15 to 18 hours. It's been on the, depending on how much climbing you're doing. Yeah. And then [00:20:33]Craig Dalton: now bumping up to 400 K, 600 K. To me, that's just, Otherworldly like it's just the territory haven't been in [00:20:42]James Gracey: before it's definitely I had the exact same thoughts at 400k If I couldn't have done it in a different order, I couldn't have started with the 600 I would I don't know I wasn't really mentally ready for that. Yeah, and so the 400k is you're not going to bed You're gonna take a hour and a half long lunch and sit down as much as you can Um, wherever that is, do you remember the time limit for a 400 K? I don't. Okay. Uh, we came in, uh, we started at C it's either six or seven. And then we came in about 2 a. m. Okay. And you sort of, you [00:21:14]Craig Dalton: sort of implied this, that you couldn't have started out and done a 600 K right off the bat. Yeah. What did you learn? I mean, you, you did ride with some other PE people, some more experienced randomers over time. Right. I, one [00:21:26]James Gracey: of the, one of the true benefits of, of doing it in San Francisco or San or the Bay Area, including Sacramento. 'cause there's a lot of, lot of, uh, r years in Davis Yeah. In Sacramento, is that they have a lot of experience. So I would ride with them and just ask question after question after question. What do you do? I, I didn't even know there was a backdrop until we were on a. A, uh, 400 K and a guy said, yeah, well, yeah, there's a backdrop. You service you can sign up for. I thought I was gonna have to carry everything that I needed. Yeah. For three and a half days. And food, just food is a lot. Um, you know, I knew I could stop and buy things, but they also said you can't stop and go to a grocery store and get a cliff bar. It's not how it works. Like they don't have those things there. You can, you're gonna get a ham and cheese sandwich, or you're gonna get a croissant and a coffee and that's what you're getting. Yeah. And so, I was like, well, I don't know if I can make it on that. So when I learned all of these things, writing with people that had done for Perry Brass, and hearing all of their stories. One year it was 100 degrees, one year it rained, and basically got rained out at a super high DNF rate, maybe 12 years ago. And to know all of the things that could possibly happen, it was definitely a boost, because I'm learning and asking them questions for, Yeah. And that's all. It's a free, it's a free gift of, it's a free education. If you just want to do some pulling with them and wait on what one guy was sick. And so we waited, he didn't feel well. So you wait on him and make sure that they are getting the best support from you because you're going to turn around and need it from somebody else. [00:23:10]Craig Dalton: Yeah. I think it's so interesting because I mean, you know, many of us have road riding backgrounds and, Shorter distances. You're drafting You're breaking away there's the kind of push and pull of the peloton but there seems like there's more community to this because Way way into the the mileage you need people. [00:23:30]James Gracey: There there was uh, the the 300k that I did I didn't I hadn't really I didn't really meet anybody on the 200 Because I was in a hurry and had to get go pick up one of my kids And, um, so I didn't want to stay and chat and the 300k we were probably 40 miles in and I had a battery die on my shifter. I didn't have a spare battery. I just didn't even check it. And I looked for, I made four stops for batteries. It was Sunday, places are closed. They don't have this very specific battery shifter, or shifter battery. And he said, I've got one. And then he had to loan me this battery, had to loan me a screwdriver. If he hadn't done that, I wouldn't have, I would not have been able to go to Perry Brest. Because I didn't have another, didn't have any flexibility in my schedule. And when I was asking, I said, I really do appreciate this. It means a lot to me. He's like, oh no, we take care of everybody. His words were, we take care of everybody because we will need to be taken care of. And I saw that over and over and over again. And not only the, the lead up, uh, qualification brevets, but also in the event. People you don't know, you've never met. It's, it's not unlike a professional cycling event where two people are in the breakaway or four or five. They're working together for a common goal. Helping each other. And then at some point, that falls apart. But for that, for that time period, they are You're essentially on the same team. You're essentially doing things for one another. Even though you have diametrically opposed, you know, team programs. And you will eventually split apart and sprint to the finish. And you hope to crush them. Like that, that crushing part never really happens here. But, but, if you do, you know, somebody's, uh, going two or three miles an hour faster than another one. Like you're going to... It can't continue. Like, they're not there to necessarily get you to the finish line if you had just met. But there is definitely a commonality in the riders and in the community where it's, they support one another all the time. And likely someone would say that during the event I helped them significantly. And I definitely would say that I was helped significantly. It's definitely, uh, morale and, you know, People, uh, coaxing me along at, at certain points. [00:26:04]Craig Dalton: Yeah. So for the 400k and the 600k, are you sleeping during those? [00:26:10]James Gracey: Not for the 400. It's just too, it's too quick. I mean, it's, um, it was, uh, 20 something hours. Okay. I think. Um, and that was actually a pretty flat ride. The 300k was harder. It had a lot of climbing in it. And I was riding with people faster than me. Yeah. So I was struggling to keep up with them every time. And then the 600, we went to, we went to sleep on purpose because I wanted to see what it felt like to ride. Uh, we rode two, 250 or 260 miles. And I wanted to see what it felt like to sleep little and then wake up and ride again. Yeah. Did you sleep in a hotel or? We slept in a hotel. Okay. Yeah. There was not a predetermined. We just got to Winters, I think, or somewhere in, in, uh, um, kind of by Sacramento. And did you sleep [00:26:57]Craig Dalton: a considerable amount of time or just a [00:26:58]James Gracey: small amount of time? I thought it was, uh, I thought it was not very long. Yeah, we slept for like three or three and a half hours. Okay. And then people that came in after us when we went out to get breakfast, so I think we came in at, we got a room at like maybe 230. And so we went out to get breakfast in the hotel and we're like, where's, they're like, where'd you go? You're the last ones up. And I know people came in after us and they maybe laid down for like two hours, right? Crazy. Yeah. Well, it didn't make sense to me. I only slept for two hours after 260 miles. If you have plenty of time to well, that's the thing like we were not in danger of not making yeah But I think they were they were probably just using it as a training Experience. Yeah, I mean [00:27:47]Craig Dalton: and it's interesting We're recording this right on the heels of lachlan morton, uh setting the tour divide record We haven't talked about this, but he he basically committed he's like I don't want I want to sleep every single night and there'd been this trend towards Sleeping less and less and less and he's like I just need to sleep. I don't want to be miserable doing this. And he still beat the record. So it's just kind of curious to hear you say that. The other crazy thing is, so you've done, you've miraculously, in my opinion, you managed to squeeze in all the required training events, all the Brevets, you've gone up to 600 kilometers, which is insane, but the frigging event is 1200 kilometers. So, and I, yet, I mean, we can skip the, you had a busy summer. But you get on a plane, you go to France, got your bike ready, your gear ready. Now [00:28:39]James Gracey: what? Um, we were, we went to, I went to France with my family and we were there 10 days before the event. And I rode, I, I had a very, uh, busy summer with just kids stuff. And so I didn't ride. The only riding I did in the summer was basically the bourvets. To, to qualify and then occasionally paradise [00:29:05]Craig Dalton: loop with me for one day [00:29:07]James Gracey: I mean it wasn't much and I did a bike trip with one of my kids to Summer camp which is right before a trucking which was a which was a two and a half days And so I hadn't really written much and the only thing that you got from For me personally some people would probably ride more I guess, is if you just think about it a lot and you think about the position you're going to be in and you I would try to prepare mentally for what you know is going to happen. There's going to be a time in this ride where you think, What am I doing? I'm not ready for this. I don't have the legs for this. I don't have the energy for this. I've made a mistake. I gotta, I gotta quit. Yeah. You know you're going to get there. And so I think about it a lot. So even when I was on spring break and I had this like just a 200k coming up. what do you think? Or you're just sitting there and I was like, I'm thinking about a ride that I have to do in seven days that I'm nervous about, but I know that if I think about it enough, it will definitely help me during. It will definitely help me prepare. It's not a. As much as as writing itself close [00:30:15]Craig Dalton: to it, but there's, yeah, there's some, there's some great lesson there, James, and just like you can. Preview in your mind, the things that can go wrong. A [00:30:22]James Gracey: hundred percent. And you just get ready for him and you're like, all right, if this happens, what am I going to do? If this happens, what am I going to do? It's, it's just like any other training. If you know, any training you do for anything in life, whether it's professional or some personal training or athletic training, put yourself in that position. So, you know, you have that in the bank and I can go to the bank and make the withdrawal when I need, whether it's in the energy department, cause I need to keep going or mentally that, Hey, I've already been here. And I'm ready to have the answer of like, this is what I'm going to do, right? Even if it's, I'm going to chill out and sit down and I'm going to drink as much fluid as I can for 10 minutes. Even if it's just that. I'm ready for that and I'm prepared for that. And so, uh, going into that, I did get to ride some when my family was, we were at Ile de Ré and it was, it's a bicycle friendly island. Where you just ride between these towns. And so I would do a couple of rides. I was there and I rode, I rode, uh, once in Paris trying to fix a flat. I was like, I'm just gonna go ride to every bike store. But, and they were all closed. And, so, I didn't really have time to think about it, honestly. Like, much. Until the day before the event, because I'm with my family, and we have all of these activities that we're trying to kind of squeeze in, and let the kids enjoy the area. And then, When they're getting ready to go and I'm getting ready to start was the same day So I went to pack it pick up with them so they could see all of it and I'm really glad I did. Yeah I'm glad that They got to see like the excitement of it and people are really over the top and costumes and all of the different velomobiles One guy was on an elliptical, which, I don't think he finished, he may have, I couldn't imagine, like if you think what the ride itself is hard, like being on an elliptical, and standing up for three and a half days, like I couldn't imagine, and, uh, there was a lot of excitement there, so it was really, it was awesome to get ready for it, even though you're not, there's no way to like, there's nothing to do, there's no more training you could do, and even if you did, you would just be hurting, you'd be hurting. Yeah. Putting yourself in a, in a worse position by trying to go like train, loosening up after a long flight and driving a lot like that was needed for sure. [00:32:47]Craig Dalton: Quick detour just on your equipment. So what, what were you riding? What, you know, what frame material, [00:32:51]James Gracey: what kind of riding steel? It's an Olivetti. It's a frame builder out of, uh, he was in Mill Valley and now he's in Colorado. And, um, 30 twos, I think I switched tires right before I left based on the guy at sports basement. I said, what do you think about these? And, and they were, I ended up with tubes in them, uh, at the end because I couldn't find a hole in one of them before I started. So I put a tube in it, but I changed it. I searched for four flats. [00:33:24]Craig Dalton: And then are you, what kind of bags are you using? Like where are they located on the bike? And are you preparing to. CAREY Yeah. HAYDEN [00:33:33]James Gracey: So my favorite bag is the bag that Craig Dalton let me borrow which is my top two bag that has a little magnet on it because I couldn't find it anywhere it was awesome because you can get to everything really fast. Uh, I did carry um, I carried a, like a bike packer's bag off the back, uh, that's expandable that you could get, you know, I had, uh, I had arm warmers, lots of food in there. Uh, emergency, I all emergency, like blanket. I ended up with a sleeping bag in there because I, I didn't know where we, it was supposed to rain at one point, so I grabbed a sleeping bag from my, from my, um, uh, drop bag and I had a down, and I had a top two bag. So the top two bag, all, all I had in it was pills. I've got pills for, you know, B vitamins and multivitamins and amino acid pills, and lot tons of salt. I took all the salt that I needed for the whole ride. Caffeine. Look, I'll, I'll, you've probably seen me like go through a bag of pills, like there's a bunch of different things in there. It's [00:34:41]Craig Dalton: a lot. It's a lot. Keep us [00:34:43]James Gracey: old men going. And you keep going, like, here's a lot of just, uh, vitamins that you take to make sure you're not deficient in something. And I have, even though I couldn't pinpoint, oh, if I, if I'd had more vitamin B or vitamin D or E or potassium or something. Uh, that wouldn't have happened, but I've never not finished and I usually just keep the, a steady flow of all of those things going kind of all day. Was that something [00:35:07]Craig Dalton: that's just a James Gracie, I've been an athlete for my whole life thing? Or did you, did you learn [00:35:10]James Gracey: that from others? Yeah, no, it's just what I've been doing for anything long, uh, over, over the years and either trying to prevent a cramp or, you know, or just feeling like, ah, this stinks. I really want to quit. Yeah. Like in keeping your mood elevated, like rhodiola. I did one guy, I take rhodiola pretty regularly. One person that had done four, uh, peri breasts before he said, your rhodiola is, is key. I was like, I'm taking rhodiola. What is that? It's a, it's for mental function and acute. So you like keep your mind sharp is what I would call it. That's what, how he described it too. And I was like, I do take that. And if I could pinpoint one thing to take, it's that, besides salt and potassium, magnesium. It's that I saw people, I, I would notice my mind going on a detour for sure, and I would have, I would, I would have some rodeo. And then I'd come back to like, Oh, I was just on a mental trip, mental trip that did not exist. [00:36:10]Craig Dalton: Well, we might get into, if we have time, some of the mental trips, some of your fellow riders took you on in their own journeys. So you're at the start line, as you said before, Perry Bros Paris, every four years. Very [00:36:21]James Gracey: international. Yeah, 71 countries. Uh, at some of the larger controls they had 28 interpreters. Wow. Um, and so somebody's not getting interpreted somewhere, is my guess. Yeah. Uh, but they had, um, it's a very international event that has, everybody is so excited. You don't really notice the excitement until kind of later in the ride because that's why, that's, that's literally what's keeping them going is their, a hundred percent focused on this event, and may have been focused on this event for sixteen years and never completed it. And, uh, started it and didn't finish it. I started it and didn't finish it. Most people you talk to were repeat PeriBrass, Paris, Randonneurs, and they had, uh, they had, you know, end up in the bus. There's not even a bus. I made that up. You have to figure out your way. You have to figure out your way when you stop. You have to figure out your way home. And so they all had a story of like, I was very far from finishing my first time or my second time. Yeah. Clearly the math [00:37:26]Craig Dalton: wasn't going to add up. Yeah. Yeah. So you mentioned there's multiple different start times. One of them was you could start with 90 hours. You start at night. Yeah. Sunday night. Sunday night. You elected to start 84 hours Sunday morning. Monday [00:37:40]James Gracey: morning, Monday morning, 5. 15, which [00:37:42]Craig Dalton: seemed logical when we, you and I were discussing it at one point, but then everybody, the logic get, got lost [00:37:47]James Gracey: immediately. Yeah, everybody had different, uh, rationales for whatever they picked. Obviously the 80 hour group is going to be a faster group. And so maybe there are faster riders in there and you can catch your draft wherever you need. You don't, if you're a, if you're a 16 mile an hour, like steady state rider, you don't want to ride with the 13. He's just pulling, right? It's not doing you any good. You want to ride with a 16, 17. And so, those guys also leave Sunday night. Uh, the 90 hours, which is the bulk of the, the bulk of the entire event contingent, Uh, I think there were, I think there were 5, 000 people, or 5, 500, Uh, or maybe even 6, 000 that left Sunday night. Sunday afternoon. So they start at four and they end at ten, I think is the last, the last leave time. So they're consistently sending out all of these people. And then, I didn't realize that it was broken down that way. So I left, there were only, there was only, uh, two or three groups behind me. So I'm at the end. Okay. And so, if the fast people in those two or three groups pass you, which they did very quickly, Uh, There's nobody else to like help you out because you're, [00:39:03]Craig Dalton: I mean, you're going into it. You're, you're hoping that you're going to find some Patago groups to draft, to ride, [00:39:09]James Gracey: to ride with. And the first day it was definitely like that. The first hour of the event. It was, they blasted off, like I'm hanging on barely. I'm like, what am I doing? I knew I should slow down, but I'm also don't want to be literally the last person in the entire 8, 000 riding by [00:39:29]Craig Dalton: myself for to someone the other day and I was like, I, the temptation for me to follow a wheel is just too [00:39:34]James Gracey: strong. And that's how, that's how it is at every event. You just can't, even when you think I'm going plenty slow, you're going too fast. Just slow down. Yeah. And, um, Um, and so they, they're, they took off, I don't know how fast they're going, we're, I think in my first, like in my first couple of checks, we were going 28k, something like, it was like way too fast. And there's, you know, it's all rolling hills, there's about 40, 000 feet of climbing in the whole event. No mountains, it's just rolling hills the whole way. And, the groups, the group that I left with, there was maybe 2, 000 that morning. 1, 500 of them are ahead of me. They're gone. And the fast guys of those groups are gone, gone. And there's about 500 behind me. Each group is about 250 to 300 people. I was X. There's X, there's Y, there's Z. And then there's plus. I think the plus were maybe ads. And so there's maybe 700 people behind me. And so that makes the second day... Someone did tell me if you leave in the 84 hour group, you're going to be riding by yourself a good bit. Yeah. And the second day I rode by myself almost the whole, almost the whole day. And [00:40:43]Craig Dalton: what kind of terrain are you riding on? You mentioned it's undulating. It's no big mountains, but obviously mostly paved, as you said earlier. Yeah. But are you going through little French villages? [00:40:51]James Gracey: All the time. Okay. It's, it's, uh, it's consistently small towns. Even if you got into a big town, I don't know, a big town may have been 10, 000 people. Yeah. So not that big. It may be a little touristy. And it's beautiful French countryside over and over. I mean, it's just like, it's, uh, I never got bored of it, but it, it was to say it's farms and fields and livestock and sunflowers and corn and over and over and over again. And then through this, through the small towns, they would have roadside stands for you all over the place. Where they, were [00:41:30]Craig Dalton: they at the control stations or just randomly? [00:41:32]James Gracey: At the, at the controls, they have meals. And so if you left in the 90 hour group, like Ray, my friend from Mill Valley, showed me a picture of one of his meals. Yeah. Leaving in the 90 hour group. And I said, what is that? And he said, that was my meal at the second control. What did the picture of your meal look like? You don't want to take a picture of it. It was terrible. All the good food is gone. But I'm also not having to wait in line for food or the bathroom. Yeah. Or to get your stamps. Yeah, so that that's maybe a benefit and I've maximized my my daylight riding for sure because I left at daybreak Yeah, and so those the controls are There were having some pictures of them. They're pretty big. They have a lot of support They have a lot of people there Some of them had even mechanics shops like they'd have a couple of tents and if you just needed something basic They could help you out Uh, they had food, they were in cafeterias in elementary schools and middle schools, I guess is where most of them were. So they could set up and prepare meals and we would have pasta or sandwiches or something like that. Uh, if you asked anybody, everybody that I talked to, including me, if you asked anybody what is the defining characteristic of the event, it is the people of the region, hands down. They, this is their event. This is something that a 10 year old has been watching, you know, when he was 6, and then maybe if he remembered when he was 2, with his parent. His parent was watching it with his parent, or her parent, and then also with the great grandparents. And this entire lineage of people would come out, and a great grandfather is there with his great granddaughter, and he said, I'll watch this race, this ride with my great grandfather, because I've lived in the area the whole time. That's wild. They never, I mean they were there to support you. People were past us for three days honking and cheering and just people in the region. They would come up, they would have roadside stands with either a tent or no tent. They'd have a, some kind of table or folding table or a farm table out there with, with items that they had prepared themselves. Cookies and cakes, tea, lemonade, coffee. Uh, lots of baked goods, lots of croissants, and coke. Uh, some at night they would have soup that they've made for themselves. It's all free. Uh, and then occasionally there would be a road, a big roadside tent that was set up as a fundraiser. And you would pay a dollar for a soda and, you know, or a euro and two euros for sausages that were, I don't know if they were, they were amazing at the time. They were fantastic. I was very happy to have them. And, uh, so you would then give a pin, right? So you'd give a pin to one of the kids that would come up very proudly and present you with all of the things that his, either they have prepared or their parents have prepared for you. And they would be very excited to get the pin. They'd look at their mom and dad. Yeah. [00:44:33]Craig Dalton: You were explaining to me offline that San Francisco, all the different clubs create. [00:44:39]James Gracey: Tens from [00:44:39]Craig Dalton: all over the world you have a bunch of them on your person and you give them to anybody shows you an act of kindness Yeah, [00:44:44]James Gracey: or just somebody that's cheering and or you know, and you know rooting for you Basically, yeah like at the end I was meeting with I had lunch with some of the people that I did the ride with and I was Like they were they really did. What we decided was that they really treated you like was a hero to them Like you may as well have been a two hour stage winner to them They would come up and they would be so excited especially the kids to see you and it was Amazing. It was it would bring you to tears that especially because you're in a weird mental state and you're like, this is so great And you know and them supporting you in that way day and now you could be it'd be 3 in the morning Or 5 in the morning or 10 at night and there were people out in front of their homes or opening their garage You know, that's literally on the street And they would open their garage and say, Oh, we got coffee and soup and, you know, uh, some fruits. Yeah, it was, it was awesome. [00:45:42]Craig Dalton: So, this is where we're going to take a break for part one. We'll have part two in your feed next week. I hope you're enjoying the conversation thus far. Our pal James is about halfway through Perry, Brest, Paris. And I can't wait for y'all to hear some of the stories that in see you in the next 600 kilometers. As a reminder, if you enjoy what we do here at the gravel ride podcast, ratings and reviews are hugely appreciated. Or if you're able to support the show financially, please visit buy me a coffee.com/the gravel ride. Until next time here's to finding some dirt onto your wheels     

Dr. Brian Toone, assistant professor of computer science at Samford University joins us on the show this week. You may be wondering what a professor in computer science is doing on an outdoor podcast? Well, Brian is not only a brilliant professor, he is also an avid cyclist. And when I say avid, he's at a different level than 99% of cyclists in America. Recently, Brian competed in the 2023 Paris-Brest-Paris cycling event, a 761-mile ride through France where he finished the endurance race in under 59 hours. We're going to get into that more during this conversation, as well as his performance in the Race Across America where he was the first American to finish that year and third overall. We also talk about one thanksgiving where he decided to ride his bike from Alabama to Michigan to be with his family for the holiday. You'll enjoy this episode with Brian Toone even if you're not a cyclist. We are so excited to share this conversation and the incredible things Dr. Toone is doing with the research he's conducting as he rides. Follow Brian's work and find the app on mybiketraffic.com Follow Brian's cycling blog toonecyclying.com Strava asked Brian to guest author a blog series on their insider journal check those out for a deeper look into Brian's adventures. Click Here Visit Redbeardsoutfitter.com and use promo code TSO for a 20% discount outfitting you for all your outdoor adventures. For questions and Comments email us at thestoriedoutdoors@gmail.com Music written and recorded by Brad Hill

Neben spannenden Erlebnissen rund um unserer Training haben wir das Thema **Ernährung** heute mal wieder als Schwerpunkt gewählt. Übelkeit und keine Lust mehr zu Essen? Dieses Gefühl ereilt Chris und sicher auch viele von euch da draussen regelmässig bei den langen Ultra Rennen. Aber warum? Was kann man dagegen tun? Chris ging den nächsten Schritt und unterzog sich einer Ernährungsanalyse inkl. Bio-Impedanz-Analyse und Spiroergometrie bei [Kathrin Götz](https://www.instagram.com/kathrin_goetz/) von [Corevita.ch](https://www.corevita.ch/). Was er gelernt hat über sich, verrät er in dieser Episode. Auch Christian hat was neues ausprobiert: [Supersapiens](https://www.supersapiens.com/). Auch hier spannende Insights, allerdings anders als gedacht

Pour vous abonner à nos 300 émissions hebdomadaires d'une heure sans publicité pour seulement 2€ par mois, avec une nouvelle émission chaque jeudi rien de plus simple, cliquez ici : https://m.audiomeans.fr/s/S-tavkjvmo Grands tours et classiques, duels d'anthologie, lieux cultes : la grande et la petite histoire du cyclisme et de ses champions, racontées avec gourmandise par Jean-Noël Blanc, à notre micro. À savourer ! Une idée de génie est toujours bête comme chou. Pourquoi avoir attendu 1817 pour inventer de placer deux roues l'une derrière l'autre au lieu de les disposer côte à côte ? Le baron allemand Drais les relie d'un montant de bois, et voici la draisienne, l'ancêtre du vélo. Le bicycle est d'emblée voué à la vitesse et à la course. En 1867, la première course emmène 100 participants de l'avenue d'Antin à Versailles. Trois ans plus tard, on compte déjà 270 courses en France ! Bien entendu, la compétition pousse aux améliorations techniques. L'histoire des courses cyclistes est donc celle de l'émancipation progressive du vélo vis-à-vis de la bicyclette. Il ne faut pas confondre les deux. La bicyclette sert à faire les courses quand le vélo est au service de la course : ici le quotidien, là l'exploit, le rêve, la légende. Cette magie émerveille : le public s'extasie devant ces champions qui défient la montagne ou domptent les pavés. En 50 micro-chapitres illustrés par de nombreux documents d'archives et des photos contemporaines, cet ouvrage brosse par petites touches un panorama du cyclisme, avec ses « forçats de la route », grimpeurs, rouleurs, sprinteurs ou simples équipiers, ses heures de gloire et ses drames, ses beaux gestes et ses tricheries, ses évolutions techniques et ses décors de théâtre. Tour de France, Bordeaux-Paris, Paris-Brest-Paris, Six Jours de Paris, Milan-San Remo, Tour des Flandres, Flèche wallonne, Paris-Roubaix, Tour de Lombardie, Paris-Nice, Critérium du Dauphiné, Giro : il fait revivre toutes les grandes courses, qu'elles appartiennent au passé ou qu'elles soient toujours à l'affiche. Une histoire non encyclopédique mais subjective, écrite dans une langue savoureuse par un amoureux du vélo et de l'écriture. Pour Xpresso, Jean-Noël Blanc reviens sur son ouvrage en pleine actu du Tour de France, évidemment !

In today's episode of the BikeRadar podcast, digital writer Jack Evans and technical writer Oscar Huckle are joined by long-distance cycling doyenne Eleanor Jaskowska.  Eleanor is an expert randonneur, having completed the 1,200km Paris-Brest-Paris audax on a fixed-gear bike in 2019. She is also the founder of the School of Rocks, a women-led off-road cycling community.  Oscar recently rode a 300km overnighter, so both are well-equipped to tell you all you need to know about audax.  After explaining what an audax is and how to enter an event, Jack, Oscar and Eleanor chat randonneur awards, brevet cards and ‘audax hotels'.  Eleanor and Oscar share their recommendations on routes, packing, nutrition and hydration. They also discuss tech and bike setups. Eleanor suggests how to prepare for an epic ride such as the 1,000km Mille Cymru audax she completed in preparation for Paris-Brest-Paris. Although audaxes can be arduous, Eleanor urges you to try out what she believes is an unmissable cycling experience.  https://www.bikeradar.com/features/routes-and-rides/audax/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode we talk with María del P. Vázquez of Phoenix, AZ. Maria has successfully balanced a busy life raising 3 boys while single. She ventured in triathlons and ultra-running for a while but now she's focusing only on ultra-cycling races. Maria has conquered some of the most challenging ultra-cycling events out there around the globe; including The Longhorn 500, Hoodoo 500, Silver State 508 (‘Toughest 48 hrs in the Sport'), Paris-Brest-Paris, a grueling self-supported 750 miles race in France, and Tour De France, as part of an all-female team that for the 1st time in the history of the event completed all 21 stages a day prior to the Pro's. She also set a record by becoming the 1st female ever to cross the state of Ohio in both directions (E-W and W-E) in separate occasions and still holds one of them. Some of these events gave her the title of 1st Puertorrican Female ever finishing or 1st Puertorrican Overall (male or female) ever finishing some of them. As a cycling coach, Maria's mission is to get more women in the sport and help athletes reach their goals and finish their races. She believes she can do a lot more and cannot only rise above being average but inspire others to do so with her inspirational story! You can find Maria on Instagram at @coach_maria_pr Disclaimer: If you take any advice or opinions from this podcast, you do so at your own risk. Don't forget to rate and review us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you are listening if you enjoyed this episode! Another way to support the show is to follow us on Instagram at @nogimmicksjustsweat and to follow me personally at @ericmlogan Music: Hip Hop Background Beat by Sugar Beats (used under license from PremiumBeat) Contact: eric@nogimmicksjustsweat.com

In this episode of the podcast, I connect with Meaghan to talk about some of her 2022 cycling highlights, including the World 24-Hour Time Trial Championships, The trans Continental Race and Mallorca 312. Meaghan Hackinen is a bikepacker, writer and adventure seeker cyclist from Kelowna, BC, whose two-wheeled adventures have taken her from Haida Gwaii to Mexico's high plateaus, across Canada and the United States, and from North Cape to Tarifa along some of Europe's highest paved roads. She is a 4X Everester as well as wells as a Transcontinental Race, Trans Am Bike Race, NorthCape4000, Alberta-Rockies700, and Paris-Brest-Paris brevet finisher. Meaghan holds the women's FKT for The Big Lonely, BC Epic 1000, and World 24-Hour Time Trial Championships. Her debut travel memoir, South Away: The Pacific Coast on Two Wheels (NeWest Press, 2019) was shortlisted for two Canadian book awards; her upcoming memoir about competing in the Trans Am Bike Race is forthcoming from NeWest Press in late 2023.Meg is always a joy to talk with and I hope you enjoy this conversation.Save 15% at Redshift Sports when you use the code MB40Save 50% off your first month of coaching at Cycling 101 when you use the code MB40 at checkout.Save 25% at Dynamic Cyclist when you use the promo code MB40 at checkout.Thanks to Blivet Sports for their support.Visit Rollingdale CycleThanks to Ottalaus Inc. for their support.Thanks to Spandex Panda for their support.Thanks to Lakeside Bikes in Invermere for supporting me!

‘The Wheel Community' podcast ep 41 is out now! Mark North, a cofounder of Outpost Richmond bike shop, was my guest this week. During his visit Mark shared his short time participating in duathlons, doing local pickup races at Eastgate, participating and placing first in big off-road events, getting into the long distance ‘randonneuring' rides and eventually participating in the epic 1200km ‘Paris Brest Paris' event, and the his role in the founding of Outpost Richmond bike shop.

Meaghan is a Canadian writer and ultra-endurance cyclist whose two-wheeled adventures have taken her from Haida Gwaii to Mexico's high plateaus, across Canada and the United States, and from North Cape to Tarifa along some of Europe's highest paved roads.    She is a Trans Am Bike Race, NorthCape4000, and Paris-Brest-Paris brevet finisher, as well as the 2019 24-Hour World Time Trial Champion and current course record holder in the women's division.    In 2021, Meaghan took the overall win in the 2021 BC Epic 1000 and landed on the podium of the Alberta-Rockies 700.    Her debut travel memoir, "South Away: The Pacific Coast on Two Wheels" (NeWest Press, 2019) was shortlisted for a two Canadian book awards.    New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast go live every Tuesday at 7am UK time - Subscribe so you don't miss out.    To support the mission to increase the amount of female role models in the media visit  www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast. Thank you.      Show Notes Who is Meaghan Living in British Colombia, Canada Being on a journey of self discovery Her love of sports and competing  Being into sports from a young age Her love of full contact sports  Discovering more solo sports and getting into long distance cycling Structuring her life around the things that she loves The women who have inspired Meaghan Being inspired by Lael Wilcox  Taking on the Trans Am Bike Race across America 2017  Having the courage to sign up for the race Training and getting strong for spending long days on the bike Getting her first Bivvy bag Getting prepared for the race Mental resilience and mental grit and the new lessons that have been learned Having fears and insecurities and being worried about the race Why showing up to the start line is a massive win Taking the pressure off and focusing on the fun Book: How bad do you want it?: Mastering the Psychology of Mind Over Muscle By Matt Fitzgerald  Building up her own toolkit of resilience tips and tricks Dealing with sleep deprivation The balance between suffering and having fun How her training has evolved over the years Investing in an indoor smart trainer (Wahoo Kickr) Focusing on short intense indoor rides and long rides outside How many bikes?! Rest and recovery and injury prevention  Getting into a good routine North Cape 4000 Race  Setting goals and having a race strategy around sleeping for 4hrs each night Food and nutrition while on the bike Advice for women who want to sign up for a new challenge Having people around you who support you Magical moments and feelings of joy while cycling Connect with Meaghan  Writing her book: South Away: The Pacific Coast on Two Wheels Plans for 2022 Her aim of being - consistently consistent    Social Media   Website www.meaghanhackinen.com    Instagram @meaghanhackinen    Facebook @meaghanhackinen    Book: South Away: The Pacific Coast on Two Wheels    *Shortlisted for the Sixth Annual Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize - Nonfiction Category & Shortlisted for Best Trade Non-Fiction at the 2020 Book Publishing Awards!  

Recently, I was scrolling instagram and came across a post by Cheech, co-owner of Crust Bikes, that really struck a cord for me. I immediately reached out to see if she'd be down to chat! Visit www.BikesorDeath.com for a full writeup on todays episode! EPISODE SPONSORS Athletic Greens ~ Visit www.athleticgreens.com/bikesordeath to get a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. Kuat Racks ~ Kuat has a wide range of bike racks to suit every need and budget. The Transfer v2 is their price point rack, but as light as the price can be, it's heavy on features.

One of my favourite memories of Darren was at the National 24 hour TT in 2019 where he was the person who grabbed my bike at the end whilst I collapsed to the floor post race. Darren is one of the most accomplished ultra distance cyclists I know having tackled The TCR, TransAm Bike Race, Paris Brest Paris and London Edinburgh London to name a few. He is also someone who doesn't like to limit himself to one category and can be found racing in the Masters Crits in London. Darren is also the Co-Founder at Velomatch, a digital cycling marketplace which unbundles advising from selling. By disrupting the market in this way we offer more choice, better advice and greater convenience. Have a play around on the Velomatch website here: https://www.velomatch.com/ I've also set up a Patreon if you'd like to help support the channel for less than the price of a fancy London coffee and croissant: https://www.patreon.com/chrishallrides https://www.chrishallrides.com​​​​​​​ https://www.instagram.com/chrishallrides​ https://twitter.com/chrishallrides​​​​​​​ BUY SOME ZERO LEMON MERCH: https://www.zero-lemon.com/​​​​​​​ The following companies (that you'll see in my content) support me either financially or with free stuff, so huge thanks to these guys for helping me with the challenges I take on Attacus Cycling,  Cervélo, Lazer Helmets,  Shimano, Schwalbe Tires, Parcours Wheels, Aerocoach, Sungod Eyewear, Tailfin Cycling, Styrkr