PBP Brevet Booklet

In randonneuring events in the U.S., we typically get a brevet card for recording control times. At PBP, you get a brevet booklet. It makes a great keepsake of the event. Below are selected pages from the 2003 booklet.



The photo above shows the controls on the way out to Brest. They advance counterclockwise from the top left. Check out the fun stamps that different checkpoints used. As you can see, I reached Loudeac (452 km; 280 miles) at 7:51 p.m., about 23 1/2 hours after leaving St. Quentin. As I headed inside to have my card stamped, the leaders from the 80-hour group came charging past. They'd already been to Brest and back -- meaning they'd ridden 480 miles in 26 hours!

I continued past Loudeac and slept for six hours in a small village about 20 miles up the road. Thus the long time break between Loudeac and Carhaix. I reached Brest at 1:12 p.m. on Day 2 -- about three hours shy of the control closing time. I think I began heading east around 2 p.m. The picture on the right was taken on the bridge heading into Brest. Nearly everyone who had a camera stopped there for a photo op.


The page above shows the controls on the return trip. Notice I reached Loudeac at the end of the second night at 10:30 p.m. I rented a cot and tried to sleep at that control but the room was too hot and noisy. I tossed for a couple hours, then got up around 3 a.m. and headed solo into the frigid night. I hit the secret control between Loudeac and Tinteniac.

On Day 3, I reached Nogent-Le-Roi, the final control before the finish, at 11:39 p.m. I was only 36 miles from success, but I was too cold and tired to move forward. I decided to take a sleep break there and make the final push to St. Quentin in the morning. I rolled through the final control at 8:05 a.m. on Day 4, with a finish time of 81:35. What a sweet moment that was! The finishing time is inscribed on the handsome medal I received.



Here's the back page of the booklet, which shows a print-out of my control times. Those were compiled electronically. Each rider carried a magnetic card that was swiped through a reader at the controls. That information was then posted to the Internet, allowing family and friends back home to track the progress of their loved ones.