Wayne received his new Boxer Travel Randonneur in early August, leaving just enough time for him to get familiar with it, work out any glaring fit issues and practice assembling and dis-assembling the bike before his departure for Paris.
PBP 2011 runs from 21st – 25th August. Thousands of riders, from all over the globe, will endeavor to join the league of Anciens, those who have completed this storied bicycle ride within the alloted time frame. Some riders hope to make a good time, finishing the brevet in as hurried a fashion as they possibly can. Other riders will simply be glad to finish at all. And then there are those special riders who endeavor to complete the ride as near to the time cut off limit as possible, getting the full meal deal, you might say.
Of these many thousands of intrepid riders, three will ride their Boxer Randonneur bicycles. I can not tell you how cool that feels. It’s why I do this, toiling away, day after day. Riding PBP has been a goal for me for years and this and that other thing has conspired to keep me from it. In fact I missed the current edition (running as I type this) and the last, in 2007, so that I could continue to build Boxer Bicycles LLC, as a business and going concern. In ’07 Boxer Bicycles LLC didn’t officially exist, but I was building it behind the curtains, so to speak.
It will remain a goal for me, though I can’t forsee when I’ll actually ride it. Perhaps in four years. Perhaps in eight. Hard to say, but it’s still fun to dream and live vicariously through others who are experiencing it now. At this time, 11:18 pm PST Wayne is through the return controle at Tinteniac at 57:41 hours cummulated time, 867 kilometers of a 1200 km brevet.
I’m not sure which group he left with, but I think it was the 90 hour group. The official PBP website allows one to track riders and see some interesting breakdown of average speed between controls and overall average speed. It looks like that last stretch from Loudeac to Tinteniac was a slow go, though he may have taken a sleep break.
Anyhow, I am so glad that Wayne appears to be riding well. I hope his experience is matching what I see in his numbers. Good times for Wayne. And Jeff. And Vinny. And Robert!
Go guys GO!
Hi Dan, I’m back home from PBP. The bike performed very well, and the engine managed to keep chugging along. I finished in 86:05. It was nice to have full fenders — Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning were pretty wet. The bike got lots of compliments from other riders. Thanks very much for getting it into my hands for this ride.
Wayne