London-Edinburgh-London 2013: The thread

[Ashaman42]

Now I'm imagining a group effort on a quadricycle, one of the big ones with a canvas roof and everything.

 

[ttcycle]

Yes that would be great Arch! This is shaping up nicely-what dates does it take place?

 

[PalmerSperry]

<sees vision of CC team towing Crackle on comedy wheeled four poster bed>

Well, it would be different...

Would it be considered an unfair advantage if said four poster bed came equipped for prepared and serving beans-on-toast?

 

[Arch]

Yes that would be great Arch! This is shaping up nicely-what dates does it take place?

Your location is London, right? Can you narrow it down a bit - North, South, east, west, Buckingham Palace...?

Oh god I've just thought...

conference bike

Nooooooooooooooooooooooonononononononononononononononono!

 

[longers]

Can I suggest volunteering at a control for a couple of days, or more, or less if you don't want to or are unable to ride for any reason?

 

[ttcycle]

haha I've seen those in operation- they're weird- An LEL on one of those?!!

South East - I don't have Maggie's lovely wave- therefore pleb..nowhere near the palace for me.

 

[Ian H]

The proposal at the moment is for an entry limit of 750. For those who don't at present do long distance I suggest working up to fitness the season before.

 

[Arch]

OK, random south east London location selected...

I've ridden a Conference bike, it's a hoot, but rather low geared. I suspect LEL would take 6 months....

Longers has a good point - it sounds from Andy's account like the volunteers at the controls were lifesavers, almost literally. Before I got the crazy idea of doing it, I was wondering about volunteering.

 

[Arch]

The proposal at the moment is for an entry limit of 750. For those who don't at present do long distance I suggest working up to fitness the season before.

Thanks for that info. And I'm certainly planning to work up well in advance!

 

[ttcycle]

It is a good idea- I'll see how things are going when I need to make a decision.

 

[Ian H]

Thanks for that info. And I'm certainly planning to work up well in advance!

And thanks for starting this thread.

 

[Ashaman42]

I'll probably post this in the gear section at some point too but what do people generally do for lights?

I can imagine a jaunt like this needing a lot of batteries, are dynamo lights bright enough for unlit roads when doing a decent speed?

 

[Arch]

I'll probably post this in the gear section at some point too but what do people generally do for lights?

I can imagine a jaunt like this needing a lot of batteries, are dynamo lights bright enough for unlit roads when doing a decent speed?

Oh yes, I reckon so. Probably good to have battery back ups too, but I think modern Dynamo set ups can be pretty bright....

So much to think about!

 

[Ashaman42]

I'm tempted by dyno lights, my current battery lights don't really cut it on unlit roads anyway and I think cost wise a decent battery set up won't be hugely cheaper than a dynamo.

Though a lot of dynamo lights are bolt on, not sure if you can get ones that come off the mount so you can take them with you.

<Ponder ponder>

 

[Arch]

Being bolted on, they are more secure, so you don't need to take them with you. It would be a determined and knowledgable thief who went to the trouble of stealing them. I've never had a moment's worry about the dynamo lights on my winter hack. My boss, who uses his bike as a test bed for the magazine ofen has two or three different sets on his daily use bike...

If you can afford it, and getting it built into a wheel, get a hub dynamo. Less resistance than a bottle dynamo, and less prone to slipping in the wet or getting clogged with mud. That's my upgrade for the winter hack once it's off duty, bottle to hub dynamo. They aren't that expensive, in the 40-50 quid range for the hub, depending on whether you need one with a hub brake too. And modern lights often have standlights, so they don't go off when you stop.

I'll be getting hub dynamo on my Galaxy too, eventually. And it would be nice on the trike too, esp if I'm going to be training on it! But I'm not sure of the logistics, what with a derailleur rear wheel and disk brake fronts...