Broadwith's end-to-end attempt

[MikeG]

Oh OK, I'll withdraw that.

If anyone wants to go out and cheer him on, he on the outskirts of Perth.

 

[swansonj]

But, compared to his schedule (and I've no idea what psychological basis the schedule was compiled on and therefore what weight to give to this) he seems to have lost most of his accumulated buffer on the leg up to Perth?

 

[Sea of vapours]

He's lost time through changing skinsuit at least once due to being rained on since Shap at dawn. He's also now switched to his road bike and is suffering neck cramps due to being cold/wet for a prolonged period. He's also alleged to be in good spirits though :-) (All this from Twitter and 'the other place'.) Right now, he's 13 minutes ahead of his schedule at the Pitlochry checkpoint, whereas he was about an hour ahead. It does seem to be creeping back in the right direction again though, in the last hour.

 

[Ian H]

150 miles suffering with Shermer's neck is going to be tough.

 

[Sea of vapours]

Having been several minutes behind schedule after climbing the long drag up to Dalwhinnie, he's five minutes ahead again at the Aviemore checkpoint. Another 150 miles from there with the neck issue looks remarkably unappealing, but then the previous fifteen hours of rain didn't appeal much either. On the upside, it does look as if the rain will be minimal beyond Inverness, and the wind is favourable.

 

[MikeG]

Whereabouts are you guys seeing his schedule? And is his schedule the existing world record? Because as far as I can make out, he's still well ahead of that. He's through the Cairngorms, so there are just a couple of really nasty climbs ahead of him (Berriedale and Helmsdale), and the long drag of Warth Hill right at the end, otherwise the worst is well behind him.

 

[srw]

https://frrt.org/endtoend2018/controls

To beat the current record needs an arrival time (if I've done the maths right) before 4:04am overnight. The schedule's last control is 17 miles from the end at 2:30am, so presumably scheduled arrival is around 3:30am.

 

[Sea of vapours]

Whereabouts are you guys seeing his schedule?

If you look on the tracker map you can see checkpoints (CP ....) quite regularly and each of those has a time in the name. On his purple trace, you can see actual times and compare the two (in both cases hover over the dot). Alternatively, there's a list of the checkpoints in tabular form somewhere, but I've 'lost' that now since the live map is much better. The schedule is to complete in 42h42m, so he has 1h22m above that to break the record.

 

[snorri]

I'm new to this record breaking stuff, can someone help me please?
Is he travelling completely alone, being monitored from a nearby vehicle or visually checked at the Control Points?
He has now reached the crest at Daviot and should make good speed on the downhill section to Kessock Bridge at Inverness.

 

[Sea of vapours]

There's at least one vehicle following him - something with a second bike and clothes. I don't know for certain about the checks, but various comments elsewhere strongly imply visual checks from the roadside.

He's just crossing the bridge north of Inverness now; eleven minutes ahead of schedule at the checkpoint at Inverness.

 

[Pale Rider]

I'm new to this record breaking stuff, can someone help me please?
Is he travelling completely alone, being monitored from a nearby vehicle or visually checked at the Control Points?
He has now reached the crest at Daviot and should make good speed on the downhill section to Kessock Bridge at Inverness.

Short video clips on twitter suggest he is being followed by a vehicle.

He's through Inverness, where he was due at 8.30pm, so I reckon he is a few minutes/mile or two ahead of control point schedule.

That schedule will see him break the record by an hour or so, so at the moment it's looking hopeful.

Edit: Beaten to it by @Sea of vapours.

 

[Ian H]

He will have at least one vehicle with team and observers. There will also be RRA observers along the route.
Currently they're sourcing a neck-brace for him as the rain, wind and cold has taken its toll. It's going to be a tough last 100 miles.

 

[snorri]

Thanks for the info guys
The weather here is better than it has been all day, dry with no wind.
I hope to see him soon!

 

[swansonj]

Significant gains made heading north from Inverness. I am finding this unexpectedly gripping.

Is there a reason why the professionals don't tackle this record? How would you expect a rider in Grand Tour form to fare at it?

 

[Ian H]

Same reason that Paris-Brest-Paris ceased to be a race.