Why Did The Oldest Existing Cycling Event Stop Being A Race?

One important aspect of working with a pro cycling coach is that the most popular disciplines for cycle racing require such different skills that they require fundamentally divergent training methods.

You would train far differently for a velodrome race or time trial than you would for a stage-based road racing event such as the Tour of Britain.

This is especially true of Audax, also known as randonneuring, which is the cycling equivalent of the ultramarathon. In Audax, riders attempt to travel vast distances in order to reach a series of checkpoints before a cut-off time.

What makes Audax unusual is that it is not a race; the ‘first finisher’ is noted for official records, but the focus is not on triumphing over opponents, but against the limits of your bike, your body and your mind.

This was not always the case for the oldest currently running cycling event, the Paris-Brest-Paris brevet.

Originally founded in 1891 as the Paris-Brest, the race was as much a test of self-sufficiency as riding skill and endurance. There is a 90-hour time limit to complete the 750-mile course, which is a minimum average speed of 8.5mph, assuming you never stop.

However, part of the point of the test is that you will need to stop and rest, as well as tend to your bike. Support vehicles are banned outside of designated checkpoints, but riders can buy supplies from any shop on the course.

The Paris-Brest race was extremely influential, as it proved the popularity of endurance racing, but the complexity of the logistics of a three-day open race ultimately led to the decision to only host it every decade.

Compared to the more structured Tour de France, Paris-Brest-Paris stopped being popular as a competitive race, which led to the decision in 1956 to change to an endurance challenge.

This has ensured that it has remained popular to this day as the ultimate challenge of endurance, resolve and self-sufficiency, and completing any brevet, let alone the PBP, is a huge accomplishment.