Courtesy of Mark Thomas (Seattle, RUSA# 64), below are some stats on the 474 U.S. riders participating in PBP this year. A complete list of the U.S. team is here.

Riders by start time:

80h — 63 (16.9%)
84h — 92 (17.7%)
90h — 319 (65.4%)

61 riders are women, or 12.87% of the U.S. field. This is in keeping with all PBPs since 1987, and is about twice the participation rate of women as a whole on the event. Central Florida compares very favorably among 10 largest clubs, coming in second in female participation to New England.

262 riders will be attempting PBP for the first time. The repeat offenders break out as follows by number of prior completions:

1 — 92
2 — 54
3 — 25
4 — 17
5  — 13
6 — 6
7 — 2
8 — 3

Those going for nine are Paul Bacho — who has ridden a number of brevets with us — Tom Gee, and Doug Kirby. Note that the record stands at 11, and at least one of those — Dominique Lamoulier, the President of the FFCT and a frequent participant on UAF brevets — will be going for #12.  Central Florida compares favorably when looking at participants who are prior finishers. Fifteen of our riders are attempting at least their second PBP. Whether this is your first or seventh like Jim Solanick, good luck to all!

Here’s how old the U.S. riders will be at the start:

20-29 — 13
30-39 — 69
40-49 — 84
50-59 — 174
60-69 — 128
70-79 — 6

Note that you must be 18 to ride PBP, and several 18-year-olds have ridden it. There is a junior PBP, which is available to 14-17 year-olds and is quite special in that, unlike PBP, it can only ever be ridden once in a lifetime. Some details on it are here.

Finally, as a state, we represent very well. Only California (119) and Washington (64) are sending more riders than us (28).

Hope your training is going well and see you in France, if not before.