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Paris Brest Paris in 90 Heures

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From Paris to Brest and back, there is one challenging factor to manage, and that is sleep. Not everyone can sleep for two hours per night over two nights or take power naps. Let's explore how we can allocate ourselves 6 hours of sleep per night and still finish within the 90-hour deadline.

Two hours per night or short naps.

Two hours per night, that's the personally experimented quota in 2011 on Paris-Brest-Paris, in 2012 on the 1,000 from the South, then used thereafter. It's quite unusual to do, but effective. It is important to respect one's own rhythm and not to get jet-lagged, just sleep-deprived.

Taking micro breaks, or power naps, means falling asleep quickly for a short period of time in order to resume immediately and repeat the process further on. Here too, it is better to respect one's own rhythm by taking micro naps at night in order to preserve one's internal clock.

Finally, and this is what interests us, how to sleep more. Is it possible to sleep 5 to 6 hours a night on the legendary Paris-Brest-Paris ride?

Sleeping on Paris-Brest-Paris: The Paris-Brest-Paris must be completed in less than 90 hours, with a departure at 6 p.m. having to arrive before noon on Thursday. The schedule can be broken down as follows: The cyclist rides between 6 a.m. and midnight, with two hours of rest and an average speed of 21 km/h. The cyclist rests between midnight and 6 a.m.

Here is a practical schedule:

Control cities are not necessarily searched for as stopover cities.

- Km 0 - Sunday 8 p.m. Departure from Rambouillet for a few hours.
- Km 84 - Midnight on Sunday - Stop for the night.
- Km 84 - Monday 6:00 a.m. - Departure for 336 km.
- Km 140 - Mortagne-au-Perche - control
- Km 223 - Villaines-la-Juhel - control
- Km 311 - Fougères - control
- Km 365 - Tinténiac - control
- Km 420 - Midnight on Monday - Stop for the night between Tinténiac and Loudéac.
- Km 420 - Tuesday 6:00 a.m. - Departure for 336 km.
- Km 452 - Loudéac - control
- Km 529 - Carhaix-Plouguer - control
- Km 615 - Brest - control
- Km 696 - Carhaix-Plouguer - control
- Km 756 - Midnight on Tuesday - Stop for the night between Carhaix-Plouguer and Loudéac (return).
- Km 756 - Wednesday 6:00 a.m. - Departure for 330 km.
- Km 773 - Loudéac - control
- Km 859 - Tinténiac - control
- Km 914 - Fougères - control
- Km 1002 - Villaines-la-Juhel - control
- Km 1084 - Midnight on Thursday - Stop for the night in Mortagne-au-Perche.
- Km 1084 - Thursday 6:00 a.m. - Departure for 140 km.
- Km 1161 - Dreux - control
- Km 1230 - Arrival in Rambouillet.

Summary: Sleep time: 25 to 30 hours. Rest time: 3 x 2 hours (day) + 24 hours (night): 30 hours. Biking time: 90 - 30 + 1 hour margin = 59. Average speed: 1230 / 59 = 20.8 km/h. Overall average: 1230 / 89 = 13.8 km/h.

If the cyclist is in the right mindset, he can choose only two cities as stops: Mortagne-au-Perche and Loudéac.
Sunday from 8pm to 2am: 140 km - Mortagne-au-Perche
Monday from 8am to midnight: 312 km - Loudéac
Tuesday from 6am to midnight: 321 km - Return to Loudéac
Wednesday from 6am to midnight: 311 km - Mortagne-au-Perche
Thursday from 6am to 1pm: 140 km - Rambouillet.

Paris-Brest-Paris seems much more manageable this way!
Discover the first-hand accounts of the experience of three Paris-Brest-Paris rides recounted in this book about Paris-Brest-Paris.

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