Paris-Brest-Paris pregistration complete!

[rebeccmeister]

Well, the subject line says it all, really.

I signed up for the 90-hour start, with a 6:15 pm start time. I will probably wonder for forever about the 84-hour start, but I'm okay with that.

On my third try, I finally figured out how to make pretty good homemade whole-wheat tortillas:

The basic recipe is below the photo (click the photo for the link). I read good things about coconut oil as another fat source, but for some reason I'm more comfortable with butter as my saturated fat. Midwesterners appear to be satisfied with bready, low-flavor flour circles, but good flour tortillas in Arizona and Texas have spoiled me.

I used some of the tortillas to make black bean, rice, and kale burritos for the 400k next Saturday. I'm grateful to have the time to plan out food in advance like this, and I'm also glad to have figured out that burritos work so well as an on-bike food for me. I can eat them while I ride, they don't taste like the garbage from convenience stores, and I can make and carry multiple different kinds of burritos so I don't get tired of eating them. I'd like to be enjoying more meals like the ones described here, but I suspect that will be easier to accomplish in France compared to the U.S. I'm still pondering exactly what I will do for food while on the PBP itself. I know there will be heaps of mashed potatoes and omelettes in there. Maybe I should pack some Cholula for myself, ha! Last time I brought along a squeeze bottle of peanut butter, which was good for adding protein to the multitudinous croissants that we ate (also a squeeze bottle of jelly). Hmm, maybe I should bring along an entire roasted Tofurky, heh heh heh...

Comments

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

Woo hoo, congratulations!
Ninety hours seems completely overwhelming to me.

I will try making tortillas now. It's something that's been on the to-do list forever.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Well, I know for certain that it's going to be intense. I think this upcoming 600k will be, once again, a good chance to prepare. The RBA here was telling me that he's something of a taskmaster during the first day of a 600k, because every 5 minutes wasted at a control could be 5 minutes of sleep. I think I'm going to try and employ that mentality and see how I do with it, because getting sufficient sleep during these things is luxurious...

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

The two guys I know who did the RAAM both said that they felt it was more a competition about sleep deprivation than about cycling.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Yeah, oof to that. I can handle a bit of sleep deprivation just fine, but extended sleep deprivation just seems ridiculous.

I think maybe some of my mentality is also tied to the whole "self-supporting" notion. A person can bike tour across the US without requiring SAG support, and that just sounds so much more pleasant to me.

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

In theory I agree. In practice, I think if I ever do a true cross-country it's going to be pretty SAGgy. Maybe I'll change my mind, but man...

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Well, I suppose it depends on how one wishes to travel. Adventure Cycling sells cross-country route maps that also point out all of the available amenities along the route - places to camp, buy food, fix a bike, hostels... Hauling one's own camping gear and food isn't a huge ordeal if you aren't trying to go super-fast. On my one 5-night bike touring trip, I was super happy to be bicycling up to the 60-mile mark every day, and it was only beyond that that I started to feel, "Okay, I'm ready to be off the bike now."

My friend who rode from Phoenix to Washington DC had a couple of days where she took a break for a day or two, generally in cities where she knew somebody.