Originally Posted by
MetinUz
This is certainly not true. In fact, quite the contrary. The headwind was on from the start, and lasted all the way to Loudeac. I was in better shape, and it still took me a couple hour longer than 2015, and a lot more effort. You would think there would be more organized pacelines in the headwind, but it seemed everyone was demoralized and there was not a lot of group riding.
Note that 84H group basically finishes around the same time as the 90H group, so the last 24 hours can't be an advantage. In 2019, I was shocked to start passing 90H starters way before Fougeres.
84H riders must finish by 5 pm on Thursday. My 90H group had to finish by 11:15 am Thursday. I finished Wednesday just before sunset and the last 5-6 hours, the wind was much lower but still a headwind. When I woke the next day, it was modest. Then, there was a touch of rain and at least in Rambouillet, there was no noticeable wind.
The headwind out to Brest switched to a tailwind to Brest (and headwind for those returning) mid morning on Tuesday. I was still seeing a lot of 84h riders going towards Brest on Tuesday and they most assuredly had a helping tailwind off the right hip. When they arrived to Brest, sure, they also had the headwind for the return but it moderated significantly for their last 24 hours. So, I suppose it depends when an 84H did most of their riding or sleeping and at what time they finished. Probably not easy to generalize, but that is how I saw it.
I saw a ton of group riding amongst the 80H riders, it was annoying how they would take the whole road, gutter to gutter. As a somewhat faster recumbent rider, it was impossible to pass them and if I could, they would catch me on climbs.....rinse, repeat. I eventually just slowed down. It took me much longer to get to Fougeres than planned. Maybe just under 11 hours, previous two times were 9:43 and 9:03. I think it was a hard 1220km. I also recorded over 40,000 feet of climbing, much more than in 2015.