it's not who you beat, it's who you help

Aug 30, 2007 17:04

"hey, how many other Filipinos are on this ride ( Read more... )

cycling, travel, brevets, paris

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Comments 17

silentq August 30 2007, 21:22:29 UTC
Do you recall what the other guy's frame number was? Did he finish as well?
Eddie did not look that old, hopefully PBP didn't age him too much! Sorry again for not thinking to get a picture of you two.
It's also great to hear stories of riders helping each other out rather than rushing to finish in the shortest possible time, devil take the hindmost.

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cris August 30 2007, 21:38:53 UTC
Mon nemesis, as damiel refers to him, was Lee Millon, frame number 4681. He apparently, finished at 2:53 pm or almost two hours before I did, so he should get the credit as the first Filipino to finish PBP, which is fine by me.

What's funny is that he showed up at Dreux about a half hour after I did, so if I didn't choose to take that hour nap and just pushed on, I would've come out ahead, but I thought it was just amazing how we always wound up being about within 15 or 30 minutes of each other and never crossed paths.

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2 hours? silentq August 30 2007, 21:52:44 UTC
But you finished at 3:30 or so and the tracking page says he finished at just before 3pm.

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Re: 2 hours? cris August 30 2007, 22:03:11 UTC
sorry, yeah, misinterpreted that result, and now that I think of it, he probably totally passed me while I had that flat in Rambouillet. Ah! Ships passing in the night, as it were.

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sirendipity August 30 2007, 21:36:00 UTC
Gah! I'm going to have to wait until late tonight or tomorrow to read the rest of your story on account of leaving work soon, huh?

You should seriously consider writing novels at some point. You are an amazing writer.

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cris August 30 2007, 21:39:46 UTC
Gah! I'm going to have to wait until late tonight or tomorrow to read the rest of your story on account of leaving work soon, huh?
unfortunately so, as the evenings are going to be occupied with CrazyPacking.

and thanks for the compliment. It's always appreciated :)

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sirendipity August 30 2007, 21:42:22 UTC
Speaking of, I have a few hours to spare tomorrow and you guys have helped me numerous times...what time do you need people over at your place for moving?

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cris August 30 2007, 21:44:51 UTC
I believe silentq has called the beginning of our move at 6pm. I'll nudge her to post an update. And thanks in advance!

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rojagato August 30 2007, 22:14:02 UTC
I didn't expect this wonderful present of your PBP essays so soon, and each installment following so quickly on each other. I am amazed, delighted, exhausted, and hanging by my fingernails on every cliffhanger even though I know how this ends ... it's the journey, not the finish line, I guess.

Your brevet series was really ... um, transporting, to coin a phrase ... but this series blows the previous one out of the water in terms of sheer craft. All together, all of the essays make a coherent body of work ... whatever form you choose to make of them, they should be required reading for anyone contemplating or involved in randonneuring.

I had this little fantasy that the Mystery Filipino was cannondale on no evidence whatsoever other than magical thinking.

When I tested the tracking form's lookup for frame numbers for thoroughbass with your name, you were listed as US -- I'm guessing that was based on your mailing address, while you're listed for the Philippines officially?

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rojagato August 30 2007, 22:38:10 UTC
Now that I'm thinking of you making this some sort of integrated whole, you need appendices (or sidebars) of your packing lists, and what proved useful, what didn't ... and your training schedules, and critiques thereof ...

The other night, at vestalvixen's farewell dinner at Redbones, I sat with a group of ex-messengers and mentioned that I knew someone who finished the PBP. They'd never heard of it before, but by the time we finished talking about it, I'm guessing that some of us might try to get in shape for the brevets for the 2011 PBP.

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cris August 31 2007, 12:49:38 UTC
field notes are certainly coming and if I have time, I'll go back into the previous brevet articles and add links to those once the field notes entry has been posted.

Oh, and, yeah, the more the merrier. It's too bad that Boston-Montreal-Boston is on indefinite hiatus at the moment, as that would be a nice capstone for any local who wants to do a 1200k but doesn't want to wait until 2011. Speaking of ex-messengers and bike punks, David Wilcox and a few of the Paramount regulars tend to make a go of it in the first 200k, but usually don't progress on to the longer brevets.

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cris August 31 2007, 12:41:38 UTC
thanks, paisley.

most of the stuff that I posted yesterday were initially drafted on my last two evenings in Paris and on the flight back, so there's probably going to be a bit of a lag before the second half of stories comes out ... especially, since, my immediate priority right now is to pack and move our apartment.

all in due time, though.

I filed my registration through RUSA which, due to special processing given the size of the American delegation, tends to get sent in as one large bulk. However, since they were specific about having me register at a separate booth as a Filipino, I believe that will be reflected in the final statistics.

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fls August 30 2007, 23:47:52 UTC
I'm not really around any more, but I had it in my mind you were doing this, and recently read somewhere else about how tough this particular iteration was. Serious congratulations, man.

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zincii August 31 2007, 00:39:48 UTC
Hey - saw your post on Cycling. If it's ok I'd like to add you as I have a sneaking suspicion that if I accidentally make too much money and/or have a head injury then I'll decide it's a good idea to start ultra-cycling. Love to follow the trials of the real deal (or a good faker, I don't care).

Cheers

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cris August 31 2007, 14:24:16 UTC
no problem. feel free ... and fwiw, I started on ultracycling after getting a few charity centuries and saying to myself, last year, "well, let's try a 200k and see how far that goes ..." so it's a little crazy how that sort of thing just takes off from a little curiosity.

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