9606

As I understand it, one's closing times are adjusted for the wave time of their start (or when their chip goes over the start mat?).
One then has to manually calculate their closing time for each control, or use some sort of spreadsheet, or other means. Yes?
Can officials at each control tell a rider when his/her closing time is for a future Control X down the road?
Are there computer kiosks at each control where a rider can key in his/her number and get control closing times?
Is there a grace period if one leaves one or more controls past the closing time? Who determines this?
Are brevet cards pulled because of closing times?
At the finish line does one know immediately if they are homologated, or does someone have to review each brevet card after the finish (for 5,000 riders!!)?
Feel free to recommend a well written blog post about the in/outs of PBP control closing times, etc.

Many thanks -

Machka 

As I understand it, one's closing times are adjusted for the wave time of their start (or when their chip goes over the start mat?). -- Yes

One then has to manually calculate their closing time for each control, or use some sort of spreadsheet, or other means. Yes? -- Yes. You're set off in waves every 15 min. so closing time + 15 or + 30 or whatever.

Can officials at each control tell a rider when his/her closing time is for a future Control X down the road? -- Maybe. Some might be able to tell you. They'll certainly be able to tell you if you're significantly past the closing time.

Are there computer kiosks at each control where a rider can key in his/her number and get control closing times? -- No. At least there weren't in 2003. There were about 3 computer kiosks at the first control but those were the only ones I saw. I sent a quick email to my parents back home.

Is there a grace period if one leaves one or more controls past the closing time? Who determines this? -- No. The only exception to this is if you've done some heroic act for another cyclist.

Are brevet cards pulled because of closing times? -- If you roll in past a closing time you've DNF'd. I believe you would have to hand in your cards.

At the finish line does one know immediately if they are homologated, or does someone have to review each brevet card after the finish (for 5,000 riders!!)? -- Just like with any randonnee ... they have to be reviewed. They'll stamp your card, congratulate you for finishing, then a couple months later you'll get the card back.

Feel free to recommend a well written blog post about the in/outs of PBP control closing times, etc. -- the best idea is to try to cycle within the closing times on the card. That way if you've been set off 15 min or 30 min or 45 min later, you'll have a little bit of spare time up your sleeve

unterhausen

you can stay a long as you want past a controle closing time, you just can't get there past the controle closing time. The rider is the only one who cares when they leave.

At PBP, they will forgive being late for at least one controle. My guess it's more than one if you finish on time, even without medical excuse or other issues. In 2011, the controle officials were instructed not to pull someone's card. There were probably limits to that policy, but I can't imagine them doing it until it's really obvious you are dnf.

I am pretty sure I got to Dreux after it closed for me (and just about everyone else, for that matter) A couple of miles before the controle, I decided I was so sleepy that I would rather DNF than get run over by a morning commuter. The officials still stamped my card and I finished on time, so it counts as a finish.

If I had known how close I was to the controle, I probably would have ridden in, but being passed by crazy drivers at high speed while weaving on the bike just seemed like a recipe for disaster.

RUSA still sells the pre-PBP special issue. I think it's well worth the money. Dunno if they are going to print a new version, I hope so

thebulls

I have only a couple of things to add to what Machka and Unterhausen have said. First, it can be really confusing to figure out your control times when your brain is foggy from sleep deprivation and three days of riding. So for PBP 2011, I made up a little "sheaf" of cards with the control times that would apply for each possible starting group. Each card had all of the controls, and the control closing time that would apply for a given starting group. So the idea was that if I was in the starting group that was 2h45m after the official start, then I would go through my sheaf, find the card for "2h45m" and discard all the rest. Then the selected card would tell me my control closing time at each control.

Second, don't "count yourself out," let the PBP officials count you out. What I mean by that is don't look at your watch and conclude you've DNF'd because you think you are either arriving at a control after the limit or because you think that given the speed you are riding, you will arrive at the control after the time limit. Again, after three days of riding and with sleep deprivation, your ability to do mental arithmetic is likely to be compromised. So it's not unlikely that you will make a mistake in your calculations. When you get to the control, just check in, don't say anything that might make them look twice at your card. (Even if they did look twice, it sounds like they might not take your card, based on what unterhausen said.) If you get through the control with your card in hand, assume you are good to go, control as quickly as you can (in the context of whatever food/sleep you need) and get back onto the road. If you make it to the end before the time limit for your start group, then it will be up to someone to check later and determine if your intermediate control times are all OK. Eventually you'll find out if you qualified!

Nick

Machka 

Sorry, I think I read this question wrong. You can leave a control any time you want. No one cares what time you leave a control, they only care what time you arrive at a control.

unterhausen

somehow I knew exactly when I was supposed to finish. They stamped my card with 8 minutes left, i was getting a little impatient with the wait. But they counted the electronic timer. I have no idea about how close i was to closing the other controles.

This thread raises a really important question. The intermediate closing times have real consequences. I had no idea how long I had to sleep, so I didn't get enough sleep. Then I got too tired on the bike, and slept anyway. I had enough time in the bank that I could have gotten decent amounts of sleep. I got 6 hours of sleep over the last 100 miles. And there were numerous ditch naps along the way before that. I would have been so much better off if I knew how much time I had. Although since I didn't really plan on sleeping after Loudiac, my plan was flawed from the start.

One other thing, there are a couple of secret controles. I am told these are un-timed. Which is good, because one of them comes fairly soon after loudiac on the way back.

9606

Unter - are you saying that you would have slept more before the Loudeac return point so that the last 283 miles would have been more enjoyable?
2 or 3 sleep stops of solid 2-3 hour sleep over the entire course, to prevent multiple ditch naps during the last 283 miles?
But I suppose sleep strategy is like so many other rando items - saddles, bike, bag set-up, etc. - it depends on the individual, whatever works for you.

unterhausen

I am pretty sure I could have had sleep stops of 3 hours, 3 hours, and 4.5 hours at Loudiac, Loudiac, and Mortagne-au-Perche respectively without any time problems. I was miserable for most of the distance between Mortagne-au-Perche and Dreux. I did sleep 3 hours at Mortagne-au-Perche, but it was on the floor of the cafeteria, which is not exactly the best use of sleep time