FNRttC Friday Night Ride to the Coast York to Hull 9th September 2011

[mmmmartin]

Just a note to say that you are welcome to join me on the return ride from this.

(Some of you may find the next bit impenetrable gobbledegook, for which I apologise.)

I am thinking of getting the train up to York, riding with the Fridays to Hull overnight, then sleeping on Saturday afternoon and night in a Travelodge or similar near the Humber Bridge and on the Sunday, riding back along the 2013 London-Edinburgh-London route as a DIY Audax ride to the start near Theydon Bois in north-west London (or south-east Essex), and then staying in a hotel or youth hostel there and riding into the office on Monday morning.

I reckon the route from the bridge to the start of LEL is 300k so do-able in a long day (and worth a coveted three points!). This works for me more than riding London-York because I'd have to leave early on the Friday, which makes getting into London impossible by train, or on the Thursday, which means taking two days off work then sleeping somewhere and then hanging around all Friday waiting for midnight.

If you are thinking of doing LEL in 2013 and provide some feedback on the route, your name goes into a lottery and one person wins free entry to LEL but obviously that is not in itself sufficient reason to do this ride.

There's obviously plenty of time to plan for this, but thought you might like to start thinking about it.

Also, I don't think it's really necessary for a group to stick together like glue all the way back, so if you are faster than me, don't feel you have to hang around. We can regroup as and when.

The route I plan to do is obtainable from the audax website, John Hamilton is LEL DIY org. If you ride it as a DIY audax you'll need to enter as per usual. It can be verified by GPS or "brevidence". Obviously you might just want to come along for the ride: you're welcome. Riding 300k at minimum audax speed gives you about 23 hours I think.

The GPX tracks and Audax entry to the LEL perm are available on the auk website, so there's a big saving on the pre-ride faffing normally needed with routes and GPS on the usual DIY audax ride.

PM me if interested.

 

[martint235]

Tentatively interested Martin.

Without wishing to interfere too much, is there any legs in setting off straight after York - Hull possibly making it a 400km DIY.

However, there are a few things that need to come together before I can commit fully.

 

[mmmmartin]

Martin235,
yes there are legs in the idea of doing york-hull-london as a 400k DIY BUT this is why I opted against it:
there is the issue of minimum timing: the FNRttC would stop for regrouping and - of course - the fat boy breakfast. This means the audax minimum speed of 12-point-whatever it is might be a bit tricky to maintain because of the stops that will be out of the control of the "returning to London party". for instance, the York-Hull leg will be say 80k or 100k, depending on the route (which may change on the night if Dellzeqq so decides so when you apply to Audax UK you won't be certain of the route you'll follow) but will take about 8 hours plus an hour for breakfast so at that stage you might be a bit over the allowed time of 8 hours and a bit for 100k. You'll then have 24 hours - until 8am on sunday morning - to do the remaining 300k having had no sleep from Friday morning - so you'll have no sleep on Friday night OR on Saturday night. But starting after a night's sleep from the Humber Bridge early (3am?) on the Sunday morning gives you 24 hours 35 mins to get into Theydon Bois, which is reasonably do-able. Arriving at 3am at a Travelodge provides some sleep before going to work on Monday, for me.
Now obviously, I am a mere numpty at this game whereas you are A God Of The Cycling World so you might be able to make up on the "second" 300k section any time lost on the "first" 100k section. I would find myself really struggling to do that, though. Of course, frank9755 and Rimas could do it in their sleep (metaphorically), whereas I would actually be doing it in my sleep......
Your comments welcome..........

 

[martint235]

Martin235,
yes there are legs in the idea of doing york-hull-london as a 400k DIY BUT this is why I opted against it:
there is the issue of minimum timing: the FNRttC would stop for regrouping and - of course - the fat boy breakfast. This means the audax minimum speed of 12-point-whatever it is might be a bit tricky to maintain because of the stops that will be out of the control of the "returning to London party". for instance, the York-Hull leg will be say 80k or 100k, depending on the route (which may change on the night if Dellzeqq so decides so when you apply to Audax UK you won't be certain of the route you'll follow) but will take about 8 hours plus an hour for breakfast so at that stage you might be a bit over the allowed time of 8 hours and a bit for 100k. You'll then have 24 hours - until 8am on sunday morning - to do the remaining 300k having had no sleep from Friday morning - so you'll have no sleep on Friday night OR on Saturday night. But starting after a night's sleep from the Humber Bridge early (3am?) on the Sunday morning gives you 24 hours 35 mins to get into Theydon Bois, which is reasonably do-able. Arriving at 3am at a Travelodge provides some sleep before going to work on Monday, for me.
Now obviously, I am a mere numpty at this game whereas you are A God Of The Cycling World so you might be able to make up on the "second" 300k section any time lost on the "first" 100k section. I would find myself really struggling to do that, though. Of course, frank9755 and Rimas could do it in their sleep (metaphorically), whereas I would actually be doing it in my sleep......
Your comments welcome..........

I certainly wouldn't describe myself as such, I've never done an Audax yet!!!

What you've said makes a lot of sense with regards to not using the FNRttC as part of the overall. I will start workingon all the things I need to happen for me to able to join in!!!

 

[Davywalnuts]

I actually wouldn't mind, as Frank and a few of us mused earlier this year, in cycling up to the start for next years Hull ride, a bit like the Cardiff-Swansea ride this year. So sleep, then a cycle back would be good in my books, but of course, I would take the Monday of work and carry on to my bed, where I would then sleep for at least a month and wake up with a nice flat iron board like stomach...

 

[martint235]

I actually wouldn't mind, as Frank and a few of us mused earlier this year, in cycling up to the start for next years Hull ride, a bit like the Cardiff-Swansea ride this year. So sleep, then a cycle back would be good in my books, but of course, I would take the Monday of work and carry on to my bed, where I would then sleep for at least a month and wake up with a nice flat iron board like stomach...

Davy, there are bound to be hills involved

 

[Davywalnuts]

Davy, there are bound to be hills involved

Oh no, its flat as a pancake... I know this as I did mapping of that area for my ill-fated tour, so its would be a cinch...

 

[Aperitif]

Why is this chit-chat happening on a thread dated 9th September 2011. Is yesteryear the new black to the future or all you all crazy? Get yourself a calendar one of you M & Ms...(bloody Martins...although with Davy lurking it's beginning to sound like bloody Marys)

 

[arallsopp]

Well here's me coming in to give my $0.02, and it all seems to be rather in the past. Talking of which, didn't at least one of the Martin's on here say we should attempt to recreate our Summer Solstice ride on the Winter Solstice? That's a good 400k audax, with 2 kms to spare. And its in the future too...

Of course, Evey's birthday is on the solstice, so there's no way I'll be in attendance, but then its a bit of a mart fest for me anyway.

 

[Aperitif]

Solsticters of the world unite:

 

[martint235]

Ok I've created a new thread for the Hull - London leg. Here