Usually reserved for
boring people who find 3 wheels to difficult to ride....Yes, I
hear you laugh but go out and try riding a proper 3 wheeler and
then come back here. I started off on a bicycle and rode Lands
End to John O'Groats in 13 days in 1989. I covered many a mile on
my Raleigh Randonneur which I still own and use.
I then rode the Paris Brest Paris in 1991
aged just 19, came home and bought a trike to make things more
difficult for myself. I set a few club records, some of which
stand and then rode a tandem tricycle with my dad in the Paris
Brest in 1995. I then went on to ride a tricycle in the 1999
Paris Brest.
Tricycles are a rare breed, as are their riders trikies. Most
trikes suffer from a fault known as the Herbie complex. You know,
that little car with a mind of it's own. Even experienced trikies
have found to their cost that as soon as they know that they are
an expert rider, along comes that complex to toss them in the
ditch. They day you say you know how to ride one will be the day
you come off. They also have a nice way of doing funny things for
no reason whatsoever. Mine has 69,000 on the clock and I still
can't second guess it. I've come off once on a flat road on ice,
without actually touching anything and once on a bend. Most
trikies have their wits slightly addled by this complex and tend
to ride around pretending they are on bikes. You will often see
them with a stream of bikes behind, furiously pedalling into a
headwind.....
They can be surprisingly nippy, winning the team time trial
against professional bike riders and getting banned for it. The
above linked photo will take you to George Longstaff Cycles who
also do a superb range of "conventional" cycles.
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Recumbents are so called
because the rider lies in a reclined position. On a single
tricycle, the cranks are in front with 2 wheels and 1 wheel is
behind. They also make bicycle recumbents. Here are a couple of
saner individuals who have now ridden their RTT on 2 Paris~Brest~Paris's
Pierre Giffard et M.
Noel Simpson (Le Petit) on the flying double bed
And they handle like go carts on rails downhill...Uphill is
another matter.
This is a Greenspeed one, click on it for a link to their page.
This is a solo one, also linked to their page.
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This is a Longstaff, similar to the
one I took on the 1995 Paris Brest with my father. Designed for
my mum and me or my mum and my dad, it proved a bit of a squash
but we still managed it. great fun but I would suggest trying one
before you buy one. The above linked photo will take you to
George Longstaff Cycles who also do a superb range of "conventional"
cycles.
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INTRODUCTION
Paris-Brest-Paris ("PBP") is the oldest traditional
cycling event, started in 1891 by a Frenchman named Giffard who
thought it would be a great way to promote cycling, as a test
"not primarily of speed but brains, skill and endurance."
It was held thereafter every ten years, and since the middle of
the century, every four years.
Attracting more than 4,000 or so riders from a number of
countries, it is a ride of over 1,200 kilometres (about 750 miles)
that must be completed within 90 hours. You must reach designated
checkpoints approximately 80 km. apart by certain deadlines as
well, otherwise you are disqualified. It is not a race, and
although there are some who do ride it as such (completing it in
little more than 42 hours!), no professional racers are allowed.
In many ways it resembles a cyclists' version of a runners
marathon, with many doing it with the only goal being completion,
or perhaps bettering their time from the last one.