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[personal profile] rebeccmeister
Just some things I want to remember to remember and comment on: I swear I had at least 6 different cyclists who blew snot rockets RIGHT in front of me. GROSS!! And unbelievable. C'mon people. Pull over to the other side of the road if you need to clear your sinuses. Have we learned nothing about vapor trails after four years of global pandemic??

Along with that, because of the international mix of riders, there's a chaotic international mix of riding styles. It seemed to me that many of the Asian riders are most accustomed to riding solo, and feel strongly compelled to attack on the hills, regardless of the fact that attacking on the hills did not seem to make them actually go appreciably faster than me (as evidenced by my leapfrogging the same riders over and over and over again).

Then there are some riders who seem accustomed to riding almost on top of the centerline, instead of riding on the right-hand side of the road. These riders are NOT people from Britain, Australia, Japan, etc., so this riding behavior is not explained by coming from a country that drives on the left. The centerline riders create a terrible dilemma for anyone trying to pass them: should we pass on their right side and remain safely in the correct traffic lane, but with the risk that they'll suddenly decide to get over and ride where they should have been all along? Or should we take on the risk ourselves and enter the opposing traffic lane? I'm curious to learn exactly where the centerline riders come from.

At the conclusion of PBP, I went with cabin-mate C to eat a huge feast of Indian food. We wound up sitting at a table next to a pair of riders from India. Apparently the only place where it's possible to ride road bikes in India is on the highways, which are multi-modal. The way the riders are able to ride, is by riding in the center lane on the highway, with one motor vehicle at the front of the group and one motor vehicle at the back of the group, to serve as protection from other motor vehicles. The highways tend to be fairly flat, and this overall arrangement very much helps to explain why the finishing rate among riders from India has tended to be somewhere around 30% successful (although apparently this year with the heat they managed a 40% success rate, wonderful!).

One of the big disadvantages to starting towards the back of the bulge in the P group is that after a certain point, all of the riders with any capability to paceline are ahead, and it becomes increasingly harder to try and catch up with any of them if you are riding solo, especially when it's hot and there's a headwind. The straggling riders who remain tend to all be individuals who have no experience riding in pacelines, and PBP is a terrible time to try and learn how to ride in a paceline for the first time.

Meanwhile, I was occasionally passed by the Danish Cycling team. At one point, they had a team photographer out and a drone that chased them along the course to film them riding along and looking all professional. It was really entertaining to ride just a bit behind them during that section, imagining that if they accidentally got any footage of me, they would delete it instantly because from my riding getup it's clear that I'm some sort of crazy joker out there. Eventually the drone had to turn off and they rode on into the distance. The Danish Cycling team was fantastic to watch because they were extremely smooth about maintaining a consistent cadence and pace. It wasn't as if they tore off at an insane speed; instead, they very patiently moved forward, holding the same pace regardless of whether they were climbing a hill, standing to pedal, or sitting to pedal. I think the only way to learn how to ride in this fashion is to officially join the Danish Cycling team and do every single one of one's training rides with them.

I accidentally tore past them on that last night heading to Mortagne-au-Perche. They really do have the best riding style, because they ride efficiently but briskly throughout the day, then they stop and have a full meal and drinks and enjoy themselves at the Controles, get a good night's sleep, and do it all over again the next day.

At one point I had to fire a British rider. He was already clearly going to be Hors Delai when I encountered him, based on his frame letter*, and seemed rather hellbent on sabotaging other peoples' rides as well, by chit-chatting at them while riding all the way over on the left-hand side of the road. After he had an extremely sketchy near-miss with an oncoming car, I had to tell him sternly that I did not want to be anywhere near him and he needed to leave and ride somewhere else.



*Riders started in waves, every 15 minutes. Waves were indicated by letters of the alphabet. Groups A through E were all people who signed up to complete the ride in under 80 hours. Group F consisted of the "special" bikes (recumbents, velomobiles, tandems, tricycles). I was all the way back in the P group. So if I was close to the control closing times, and saw someone with a lower letter, they were in trouble. I believe W, X, Y, and Z all started on Monday morning, with an 84-hour time allotment. I really appreciated the lettering system, although it has its downsides when one is feeling demoralized about finishing on time.

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