Paris-Brest-Paris 1975

Interview with Jim Konski, 1989, Syracuse NY

PM: Do you remember your first century?
JK: The earliest century I can remember doing was about 1934, I would have been seventeen at the time. I was riding in New York City in the late 1930s. I quite often went over a hundred miles in those days. On my fixed wheel, of course. I usually rode out into the nearby country, out past Rye, NY, past Queens, into Long Island, or I’d go across the George Washington Bridge or out the Jersey coast. The month before I went into the Marine Corps, in late 1939, I took a bike trip up through New England, staying in hostels at night; we through Sherbrooke, Canada, into Montreal, and back down the Hudson. I did about 1200 miles, a hundred miles per day. One day, as I remember, I did about 160 miles, in Canada. Most hostels had cooking facilities; I would go to the corner store and provide for my dinner and breakfast. Then for lunch, I’d buy cake and milk.
PM: Did you do any racing back then?
JK: Yes, I belonged to the Columbus Cycling Club, an Italian club on the New York west side. I couldn’t afford good equipment, but I held my own on runs, but nothing of great form. The fellows I used to ride with were more experienced European riders. I remember we’d make a trip into Jersey on weekends, and rode wheel to wheel with great discipline. It was very precise team riding. You held your place in the line of riders. You were told when to go to the front, when to fall back.
PM: Were you always more interested in long distance racing?
JK: I did road racing and even a little sprinting on the track. The long distance came on even more as I got a little older.
PM: Your first Paris-Brest-Paris was in 1975.
JK: I did pretty well. I made one mistake, I took wheels with twenty-eight spokes, and with the cobblestones and the rough roads, it was a big mistake. The rim began to buckle, and I was always stopping to straighten it. Just outside Paris I stopped in a little café to fix my wheel again. I was so tired I decided to take a short nap on the floor and I told the bartender to wake me in an hour. And he didn’t wake me. When I woke, it was much later, so I got into the Paris finish line a little late. But in the Great Book of the race it says: “The brave Konski rode 400km on a buckled wheel” so they gave me the medal.