Where would you go?

gergusmcbergus

In summer, me and my friends are doing a race of sorts.
In pairs, starting from the same place at the same time, we have 12 hours to see who can get furthest away, as the crow flies, rather than distance ridden.
Only mode of transport allowed is bicycle and ferry, but ferry journey distance does not count towards your overall as the crow flies distance.
We live about 10 miles south of Cambridge, so this is where we start from.
In those 12 hours starting from roughly a bit south of Cambridge, where would you go in order to get furthest away and win the prize money?

ride_whenever

You can just ride as fast as you can for 12 hours, work on maintaining around 16 miles an hour (more or less depending on fitness obviously?) That then gives you a distance on roads.

Work out several potential routes, check elevations, with several routes planed based on stops etc. choose on the day depending on the prevailing wind.

Ands

Stay in the UK. If you went X-channel you're going to lose 3hrs checking in/boarding/sailing/disembarking from a ferry and achieveing nothing, thus only giving you 9hrs cycling time.

Head north, or head south-west. Have 2 routes prepared & decide according to wind direction on the day you travel.

Monty Dog

Given that you're likely to have a south-westerly prevailing wind, I'd head north - and stick to the east side of the country as it's significantly flatter too

Red Rock

If it was me I'd head north aiming for York but it would depend on wind direction on the day.

geoff_ss

Why not try an Audax UK York Dart (12 hours) or Arrow (24 hours). Start where you like but end at the York CTC Rally on the Knavesmire. You cover as many miles as possible getting evidence of your route with cafe receipts, ATM receipts etc.

Other than that I would think heading north would be the better route as it's flatter and more likely to be downwind. Good luck!

Geoff

deptfordmarmoset

You've got over 6 months to identify the fittest and smartest cyclist amongst your friends. On the day, draught them for 11 1/2 hours...I think you'll know what to do then.

iainment

We did something simila when I was younger, but it was hitching races. Start at same motorway roundabout Fri evening and see who could get farthest by end of weekend.
Great fun, I ended up in various places all over the UK and Northern Europe and had some really enjoyable times meeting some incredibly generous people. Had to prove where you got to by posting a postcard from farthest point. Sometimes the winners weren't decided for a week or so due to waiting for the post.

Pip pip