FEB Kings Mt 200

MAR Midleton 200, Orwell 200, Mayo 200, Titanic 200, Midlands 300

APR Easter Fleche, Ardattin 200, Priest’s Leap & Devils Elbow 300, Vanishing Battalion 200, Carlingford 300

MAY The Quiet Man 300, Road to Salvation 400, National 400, North to South 400, Jimmy’s 3 County Challenge 400,Midlands Meander 200, National 600, Eoin McLove 600, Mick Byrne 200

JUNE The Night of the Swan 300, Banner 200, Celtic Knot 400/600/1000, Around Down 200

JULY Wolftrap 200, 3 Provinces 300, Audare 200, Rock Savage 200, Brownstuff 400

AUG Inner Ring 200

16/20 PBP

– All Irish qualifiers for PBP are listed above, earmark the ones that work for you and set aside those weekends. It is strongly recommended that you add ride both events in red, although neither acts as a qualifier.

– The qualifying series is where we learn our trade, try and ride as many brevets as is practical. The more you ride, the greater your experience and confidence. Always take a few moments after a ride to gather your thoughts and write down something that you learned that day. This doesn’t always have to be something profound, it could be as simple as don’t eat a hot curry the night before a 300k . Eventually you will draw up a list of what works or doesn’t work for you. No excuses for repeating the same mistakes! – Qualifiers consist of one of each of the following distances (200,300,400 & 600).

– Qualifiers can be ridden in any country, but always check with the organiser that they are PBP qualifiers.

– Irrespective of fitness or experience by Easter everyone should try and ride a Fleche, as 360k in a team environment should be well within everyone’s grasp by early April. This will provide invaluable experience in night riding, planning and will be a great boost to confidence.

– If all qualifying rides are completed by the end of May, take a break for 1 or 2 weeks from the bike this will give you a chance to replenish body and mind.

– If you do not manage to ride a 600 in May, the Celtic Knot 600 is a fall back qualifier.

– Your 600 should be ridden using the same bike, lighting and equipment that you will be using on PBP. This will be a perfect time to shake down everything and be confident in your bike set up

– Ride Celtic Knot 1000k, this will give invaluable experience at completing a longer distance and will leave you in a very healthy position for completing PBP.

Late July ride Brownstuff 400, this is a very challenging 400k strategically placed in the calendar 3 weeks out from PBP. We can use this as the last run out prior to PBP, at this point we will have peaked and with a good taper will be in ideal shape for Paris. Happy days,rest