Originally Posted by
GhostRider62
I think the idea of a 400K is to finish and sleep before the second sunrise. Anyone who starts at 4am should be in bed sleeping well before a second sunset if they want to comfortably do a 1200K. Ona flat 400K, this could mean finishing a 8 or 10 pm but on a hilly one, it could mean midnight or 2 am. If you get in at 2am after 400k on a 600k or 1200k, you can sleep 3-4 hours.
I believe ACP published statistics on finish times and PBP success rates. I also believe the DC Randonneurs or Potomac Pedalers did similarly publish such information but I do not have that anymore. Of course if someone has the ultimate goal of completing a 400K, what I wrote means nothing but a 400K is sort of the first day or maybe just short of the first day in a 1200k (Loudeac is 447km into PBP)
PBP''s time logistics have changed considerably, since I rode it in '79 and '83. It used to be the 90 hours started at 4am, 84 hours at 10am and 78 hour at 4pm. This allowed marginal riders like myself to minimize night riding by sleeping at Tinteniac, Carhaix (return) and Villaines. It divided the 750 miles into: 225, 200, 175 and 150. If one could maintain a 20 km/hr pace from ride start to the sleep point, it allowed 5 hour of sleep per night between 11pm and 4am. It meant less sleep, if one fell behind that overall pace. The idea was to start each day even on time.
They changed the setup in 1991, starting with the fast rider first and slowest riders last. This meant the 90 hour finishers would start at 4pm and go mostly in the dark, if they followed my 4 day breakdown. The alternative to maximize daylight riding is to use the 84 hour start and go clear through to Loudeac. That was beyond my ability and I would never have attempted PBP, under the present starting times.
I had to visit Bob Lepertel at his house before PBP in 1979 because my credentials got lost in the mail. At that time the ACP's recommendation for the 90 hours was to ride clear through to Brest, get a good night's sleep and then limp back. Many clubs would divide their riders between the 90 and 78 hour times. Those in the 90 hour group would pull the 78 hour riders back from Brest.
1987 was a bad year for doing PBP. There was a headwind and rain. I was there with a support vehicle for the Americans. The high dropout rate caused a lot of soul searching within the ACP. The different starting order was one of the resulting changes. Lepertel wrote me they did not want the 90 hour riders finishing in the dark. I think the nature of Scott Dickson's first place finish might have had more to do with the change.
The ACP ran some statistics on the 1987 ride. The 84 hour riders had the best completion rate. The ACP may have wanted to discourage the marginal 90 hour riders and force others into the 84 hour group.
I have not seen any recent ACP statistics regarding starting times for various distances vs. completion rate. The PBP statistics don't consider shorter distance completion rates.
As I said, I want to minimize the amount of time spent at night on the brevets and other long distance rides my club ran. My ideal 600 k start is 4am for a NYC to Montreal ride I used to run. The sleep over was Glens Falls and the goal was to cross the Jacques Cartier Bridge before 8pm. Similarly, my club used to run a NYC to Washington DC ride over Columbus Day weekend. We started at 4pm so that we would get out of NYC traffic before nightfall. There was no getting around 13 hours of darkness on the DC ride. The idea was to be as alert as possible in the dark.