Kort kort had niet misstaan

New gymmm 🏋️‍♀️🏋️‍♀️🏋️‍♀️

Een van de allerleukste verjaardagsweken goed afsluiten 💖🫶🏼🎉

Not your average 32 birthday party 🎉🥳💗

DiT WorDt MiJn JaArRrrr 🎉

Als je 52:11 creatief naar beneden afrond krijg je 50 uur 💩💩💩

VERSLAG: 

✍🏻 It really took me some days to post something about this experience, and now I’m still struggling to find the right words.. 

🥈 Final time: 52:12:47 | 75th out of 6749 | 2nd woman out of 497 🥈

Even though Paris-Brest-Paris is not a race I still wanted to push myself and get the maximum result. But at the same time enjoy the atmosphere and the social aspect of the event! 

Of course I have to admit that I wanted to improve myself after my previous two ultra’s. I’ve been seeing my goals for this race for months as I create my own phone background/wallpaper. Written on the wallpaper are my 3 main goals: < 55 hours, zero flat tires and less sleep. I use the wallpapers as a affirmation to help me reach my goals, something i’ve been doing for many years. It has proven to me that it works. By confronting myself with my goal multiple times a day, thinking about, writing it down often, saying it out loud, (almost) all of my previous goals became reality. 

One year ago Lennart told me about Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP). He did it in 2019 and now I completely understand why he wanted to do it again: it is definitely one of the most amazing cycling events in the world that starts in the small city Rambouillet. All types of cyclists are welcome at the start of PBP, as long as you ride a series of qualification brevets. 

The fast ones on aero bikes, people on vintage bikes, bamboo bikes, tricycles, people that are actually too old but have been doing it for 6 editions so they just cannot stop: it’s like the Dutch ‘Elfstedentocht’ but on the bicycle.

I’m so happy that I got the chance to experience PBP with all the amazing people and volunteers. I nearly cried of happiness when people were cheering and giving snacks to me and my name buddy Nicolas during the first night in Le Ribay.

Small summary of my thoughts during the 1226 km:
❤️0-625 km: ‘omg I’m so strong why am I not doing this for a living I’m going to set the fastest time of a woman on PBP ever’
🤍625-900 km: ‘I’m going to sell my bike this is horrible - I’m going to shit in my pants if I don’t stop now - why am I so worthless - I miss my colleagues - I am capable of nothing - I hate this sport - I go back to playing hockey’
💙900-1222 km: ‘average fun’

Together with Lennart I started in group A, which wasn’t the best decision afterwards (but I stayed with Lennart for 4 hours while I thought it would be 4 seconds)! People from group B and C started to chase us and even people from group D ended up with us.

In the middle part I seriously thought about quitting since my stomach protested against the SIS Beta Fuel chews. For about 13 hours I only drank Maurten, since I couldn’t swallow anything else anymore. On the last morning, after cycling through the night with a small powernap of 30 minutes, I met some amazing guys that helped me to get into a positive mindset again. Thanks to Miguel and Jean I made it to the finish. They were strangers before, but because we went to such a tough (and very hot) event together it felt like we knew each other for so much longer. This is one of the reasons why I love this sport, and can’t live without it. We already decided to join London-Edinburgh-London in 2025 together!

⛽️ Total calories eaten: around  16.194
⛽️ Total calories burned: around 23.570

Paris-Brest-Paris: see you in four years!!! 🫶🏼

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Nicole van Batenburg

Parijs-Brest-Parijs ‘23 in 52:11:47 🥈

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Kort kort had niet misstaan

New gymmm 🏋️‍♀️🏋️‍♀️🏋️‍♀️

Een van de allerleukste verjaardagsweken goed afsluiten 💖🫶🏼🎉

Not your average 32 birthday party 🎉🥳💗

DiT WorDt MiJn JaArRrrr 🎉

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