London Edinburgh London 1400km audax this weekend

vorsprung
vorsprung Posts: 1,953
edited August 2013 in Sportives/audaxes/training rides
The London - Edinburgh - London 1400km audax is starting this weekend, on the 28th of July!

The riders have just 116 hours including sleep time to get from London to Edinburgh and back

I'll be helping out at the control checkpoint at Brampton, in Cumbria

controls.jpg
Audaxing Blog - Long Distance Cycling
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Comments

  • charliew87
    charliew87 Posts: 371
    thats absolutely bonkers
    Canyon AL Ultimate 9.0
  • nevman
    nevman Posts: 1,611
    See you there Vorsprung .Get the (big) kettle on.
    Whats the solution? Just pedal faster you baby.

    Summer B,man Team Carbon LE#222
    Winter Alan Top Cross
    All rounder Spec. Allez.
  • marcusjb
    marcusjb Posts: 2,412
    Yep - my rough schedule has me passing Brampton late afternoon both times, I'll be dying for a cuppa by then!

    See you there vorsprung!
    Stuff about riding a bike a long way
  • Philip Whiteman
    Philip Whiteman Posts: 470
    Looking forward to it ...... I think
  • jcboy
    jcboy Posts: 6
    Philip Whiteman wrote:
    Looking forward to it ...... I think

    Met you on the Snow Roads, Phil.

    Best of luck for the LEL.

    Jason
  • peat
    peat Posts: 1,242
    Looks mega. Good luck all!
  • Philip Whiteman
    Philip Whiteman Posts: 470
    Danial posted this important message on YACF, announcing some important route issues:

    Don and iddu have just completed a test ride of the LEL route. This has uncovered a few things to be concerned about, as well as some good news.

    We're going to put in place a small diversion north of Thirsk. We'll update the files on the website in the next couple of days, and let you know when this is done. We'll also signpost the diversion, so if you're not able to update your mapping, just follow the diversion signs.

    The worst of the grot south of Eskdalemuir has been patched up. But it hasn't been completely repaired so we're still going to put out warning signs. We also found repairs happening around Castle and some lovely new surface at Toot Hill.

    We've also found something that might be a bit grim near Great Easton, but we've not decided what to do about that yet.

    We'll keep you updated on here.

    Big hand to Don and Iddu. This weather must have made it hard work.
  • Pumpkin Positive
    Pumpkin Positive Posts: 392
    Yes, good luck to all riding LEL.

    BIG respect!!
  • itboffin
    itboffin Posts: 20,052
    Woah that's totally mental, good luck all :shock:
    Rule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
    Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
    Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
    Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.
  • Pumpkin Positive
    Pumpkin Positive Posts: 392
    I wish I had the guts to take it on.
  • tetm
    tetm Posts: 564
    I wish I hadn't thought I had the guts to take it on!

    What time are you guys starting? I'm 0715...
  • marcusjb
    marcusjb Posts: 2,412
    9:30 start for me - trying to make the most of a reasonable lie-in before heading over to Loughton for the off.
    Stuff about riding a bike a long way
  • Brakeless
    Brakeless Posts: 865
    7.15 for me
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,255
    Looks like crap weather for at least 12 hours, with sharp heavy showers and a small monsoon... and you will be greeted by head wind on the way down... better you than me... :?
    left the forum March 2023
  • marcusjb
    marcusjb Posts: 2,412
    ugo.santalucia wrote:
    Looks like crap weather for at least 12 hours, with sharp heavy showers and a small monsoon... and you will be greeted by head wind on the way down... better you than me... :?

    I'll take 12 hours of crap weather out of 116!
    Stuff about riding a bike a long way
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,255
    marcusjb wrote:
    ugo.santalucia wrote:
    Looks like crap weather for at least 12 hours, with sharp heavy showers and a small monsoon... and you will be greeted by head wind on the way down... better you than me... :?

    I'll take 12 hours of crap weather out of 116!

    I suppose it's better than the 33 degrees we had last week... good luck anyway, you have all my admiration... I did think about qualifying for this or PBP in the past, but never got round doing anywhere near that kind of mileage... I found out my knees are no good for long rides and 200 Km is where I draw the line
    left the forum March 2023
  • watfordduck
    watfordduck Posts: 20
    Having done just half of that in 2 days earlier in the year I give you massive respect for doing this - I could barely cycle 10 miles on the 3rd day! Hope the weather holds out...
  • the_fuggler
    the_fuggler Posts: 1,228
    Tracking a friend of mine - he's just checked in at Brampton. It's only when I open up each location and see how far it is relative to the start point (and my longest rides) that I realise what a special sort of loon you have to be to take this sort of event on. His parting shot was that he wanted to be back for our social club ride on Wednesday evening....!
    FCN 3 / 4
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 16,860
    I heard this was sold out!

    how many entrants on this ride?
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • Mr Bunbury
    Mr Bunbury Posts: 37
    According to the system, 993 started. Of those, 905 have made it to Edinburgh, 48 have made it to Pocklington near York, half way south, and the lead rider is currently somewhere south of St Ives.
  • rodgers73
    rodgers73 Posts: 2,626
    Totally missed this thread!

    Good luck all - doing just half that distance was a massive challenge for me. Chapeau!
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 16,860
    how many finishers did you get in the end?
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • Pumpkin Positive
    Pumpkin Positive Posts: 392
    mididoctors wrote:
    how many finishers did you get in the end?
    I think they're still going. Nutters :wink:
  • Mr Bunbury
    Mr Bunbury Posts: 37
    They're still coming in! The cutoff for the last start group is in the wee small hours of Friday morning. Poetically, one of the last riders on the road at the moment is a certain Mr A Last.

    The first finisher was Anco De Jong, of the Neterlands, who finished in 65 hours 25 minutes. Here he is at the end (photo: Charlotte Barnes) and here is his progress through the controls.

    _LYP3459.jpg

    If you know anyone on the route, you can see their progress through all controls here.

    In anyone's interested in what one of the controls looked like, here are some of my photos from Pocklington. If it inspires you, why not volunteer (or even ride!) next time?
  • marcusjb
    marcusjb Posts: 2,412
    ^amazing acheivement.

    He finished it in a time not much more than my time spent on the bike (61 hours). If I can only learn how to eat enough in 4 hours of stopping, then I might be able to win next time.

    It was and amazing ride though - superbly organised and a really impressive event that I hope that the many overseas riders, as well as UK based riders, were thoroughly impressed with. It was, in many ways, better executed than PBP. Well done to all involved and thank you.
    Stuff about riding a bike a long way
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 16,860
    jeeezusss.

    though I still think the pendle 600 is more mental
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 16,860
    marcusjb wrote:
    ^amazing acheivement.

    He finished it in a time not much more than my time spent on the bike (61 hours). If I can only learn how to eat enough in 4 hours of stopping, then I might be able to win next time.

    It was and amazing ride though - superbly organised and a really impressive event that I hope that the many overseas riders, as well as UK based riders, were thoroughly impressed with. It was, in many ways, better executed than PBP. Well done to all involved and thank you.

    well done

    23kph not bad going

    what was your total time?

    is this an exercise in not sleeping?
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • marcusjb
    marcusjb Posts: 2,412
    Total time was 94 and a halfish hours, which sat well with my plan of doing it in 4 days,

    Audax is many things to many people - there are those who can't/won't get much sleep because they are either super fast (and going for a time) or super-slow (and not building up enough time in hand for a sleep).

    Equally, there are those who are super-fast, but choose to get 5-8 hours sleep each night and treat it as 4 separate day rides. I'm reasonably fast, and wanted to be back in the 4 days, so slept for 4 hours a night typically. More than enough.

    It must be so hard for the riders who do not have the pace to build up enough time for a proper rest off the bike. They are the real heros.
    Stuff about riding a bike a long way
  • Mr Bunbury
    Mr Bunbury Posts: 37
    805 riders clocked into the Arrivee at London, out of 993 starters. That's a 19% DNF rate, which shows, as if we didn't know it, that this sort of thing is still pretty challenging.

    Mr Last wasn't one of those 805, sadly he was out of time at Kirton.

    Tanja Kavcic of Slovenia was the first lady, finishing in 87:38. Here she is.

    9412586748_b2f5905af0_c.jpg

    See you all in 4 years!
  • vorsprung
    vorsprung Posts: 1,953
    I spent most of my time doing mechanics duties at Brampton, see my blog post on "Common Mechanical Problems" if you'd like to know how to avoid seeing a mechanic on a long distance ride

    Lots of photos of Brampton and the riders on facebook, here
    Audaxing Blog - Long Distance Cycling
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