London-Edinburgh-London

[Dominic]

A date for your diaries if anybody is intersted in July 2009,it's only 1400K

Details on [url]http://www.londonedinburghlondon.co.uk/[/url] (Couldn't copy link).Done

Cost is £150 which will include all food, accomodation, medal etc. The organiser has stated on the ACF website that she will accept £20 deposits up until Christmas. Balance to be paid in full by Autumn 2008. Places limited to 500.

Anybody else interested? Plenty of time to get the miles in

[Andrew G]

[quote]Plenty of time to get the miles in

[Dominic]

Andrew,

Prior to joining the club, over a 2 year period I think I did about 8 x 200km, 3 x 300kms and 1 x400 km rides. I also started a 600km ride but gave up after 200km. No motivation, not feeling right, (HR too high). With hindsight it was mostly mental and a handy train station. I was planning on having a crack at Paris-Brest-Paris, which has just finished. But my failure at the 600 showed that maybe I wasn't ready. I then joined Addiscombe to do something different so some good came out of it

The most I ever carried was contained in a Carradice SQR bag that I use for my everyday commute.

Food wise it was never too bad, you are never more than usually 40 to 50 miles between checkpoints that will have food. I usually used to carry some sandwiches for emergencies and fig rolls. I tried energy bars but after about 8 hours they get a bit much.

The most important thing is a tool kit and enough inner tubes. I have experienced a snapped chain and four punctures before, on seperate rides I have to add.

The time contraints on most rides are very generous, max average is allowed is usually 30 kph and the minimum 12 kph I think. Though that of course is overall time and the clock is always ticking so if sleep is required it needs to be built in. To give you an example the 400k I did went from Chalfont St Peter in Bucks to Chepstow and back. I did that in about 20.25 hours. Some people stopped for a sleep a some point and took over 30 hours. Horses for courses really.

I think Audax riding has got a bad image ie old men with beards riding tourers (there are a lot of them). On the other hand the chap I did my 400k with was younger than me and was riding a £3.5k Specialized Roubaix.

I have enjoyed my racing this year but I have to admit that I have missed seeing various bits of the south east and other bits of England on my travels.

The big disadvantage of the long distance stuff is the obviously the time. I have three young children so to give you an example I got home from the SCCU 50 by 11.30am. To do just a local 200k I would leave home at much the same time but would not get home much before 6 or 7pm.

Hope this helps

Dominic

PS I am working on the beard

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

Tempting......

[Andrew G]

Cheers Dominic, no family commitments at the moment so quite keen to do some of these sort of things while I still have the chance. I think it's the sort of thing it would be great to look back in a few years and say you've done it.

To be honest the time wouldn't be a consideration. I think I'm reasonably quick (relativity caveat in place) but the appeal of this sort of adventure to me is just that, an adventure, basically just to do the ride not "set a time". As you mention it would also be a great way to see a lot of the country.

I normally have a rack on my commuting/winter bike anyway as I much prefer to strap weight to the bike, not the body, so the couple of small panniers I have would be more than enough for for spare kit, tubes etc.

I'm seriously tempted by this, so much so I've printed off all the details and reports of previous LELs from the website, so I'll have a good read up and see it the desire is still there. After for a £20 deposit it's worth booking a place anyway just in case this lunacy phase I'm going through doesn't get any better.

BTW Paul they say to carry at least 2 bottles .

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

[quote]BTW Paul they say to carry at least 2 bottles

[Robert]

Tempting, same position as Andy at the mo, I did London to York in 2000 with CTC. How many miles in total? Are you a definite Dom? I found doing the York ride, which was the first time at anything longer than a 100, the company is invaluable. Of course since then I have 5 x 12hours under my belt!

[Dominic]

Definite enough that I will be sending in my deposit before Christmas, definite enough to mention it to my wife and definite enough that I promised myself I would do it after deciding no PBP this year. So pretty definite

I already planning in my head wether I will be able, or should that be allowed, to manage a Super Randoneur award next year as well as some racing. That is a 200k, 300k, 400k and 600k in a year, the audax year by the way runs from November to November.

Still early days yet

[Jon H]

One of my colleagues did Edinburgh to London last year in a group of about 4 or 5. They started early Saturday morning, rode through the night and got to London on Sunday afternoon. This year he came second in the national 24hr time trial (475miles). Nutter.

[Andrew G]

Well I've had a read of the stuff on the website and some of the reports from people who did the last LEL, and despite the fact it'll be tough as hell I think I'm still tempted enough to lash out £20 before Christmas.

This [url=http://www.maxp.net/bike/randonneuring/2005-lel-1400k.txt]report[/url] is well worth a read even if you don't even want to think of doing the LEL just because it's good. Does Finn remind you of anyone

Dominic what's the ACF website?

[Dominic]

Andrew,
http://www.anothercyclingforum.com/index.php

The Audax and cyclosportive section holds most of the information about LEL, PBP and related stuff.

Dominic

[Andrew G]

Well I've filled the form in......

[Dominic]

Just been looking at the form, what group did you put down Andrew, fast, medium or slow?

Thinking of doing a few audax's next year, well my SR series, if you fancy giving it a bash, and anybody else that is interested.

[Andrew G]

I did say filled in not sent , I'll date it and stick in the post this week I expect.

I went for medium, just because I didn't know which one really. I thought I'm probably not slow, but then I've no experience of these things so wouldn't consider putting myself in the fast bracket. Would it really matter as it only sets the minimum speed, so would slow be a better failsafe?

I'm going to do some longer distance TTs next year (I fancy a SCCU BAR & SE SPOCO - acronym overload), but one or two 200s (or a 200 and a 400) would probably be a good idea to help get a feel of what I'll be doing. I'd be grateful for advice on any particular rides you'd recommend.

[edit: stupid question deleted having re-read all of the thread].

[Dominic]

It's funny Andrew I was thinking the same about the speeds of the groups. If you start in the slow group then you will be catching people all the time I would expect. That always helps when the going gets tough!!

There is a series of rides in Kent called the Invicta series. Very handy for travelling to. In fact I cycled to the start of the 200 when i did it which added 20 miles to the days total. The 200 is in March and starts from Otford near Sevenoaks. Not a bad ride except for the last bit down the A20 or was if the A2? But by then I was past caring and wanted to get finished.

The 300 starts at 3am. This is amusing for the simple fact that you are cycling through the Medway towns with all the drunk halfwits going home. It's amazing how much hilarity a bunch of cyclists seem to make.

The first 200 that I did started from Meopham and is at the beginning of May. Truly is a superb ride when you take into account the fact that you are in SE England, quiet roads, good scenery everthing

I'll let you know nearer the time what rides I am doing. I'll probably send my entry off in December and pay for it all in one go. That way I am doubly committed.

Anybody else? I know RichV talked about is at Addiscome 10.