London-Edinburgh-London 2013: The thread
- Thread starter Arch
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
martint235
Dog on a bike
- Location
- Welling
What's a reasonable length of time for me to leave my rider number attached to Lelly?
oldfatfool
Guru
Round about July 2017 as a rough estimate.
martint235
Dog on a bike
- Location
- Welling
I'm doing a pretty good job of blocking how it felt from my mind, particularly Thursday! :-)
ComedyPilot
Secret Lemonade Drinker
- Location
- The Kingdom of Yorkshire
So, LEL 2013 veterans, which 'leg' of the journey was (in your opinion) hardest, and why?
tubbycyclist
Senior Member
- Location
- Hebden Bridge
There is a clear winner for the leg that caused me the most difficulty: Saint Ives to Great Easton - the heat on Thursday afternoon was phenomenal, coupled with a strong headwind and the rolling terrain with 1300km in the legs meant I was down to a grovel at times. I suspect a lot of this was psychological, as I had started from Kirton that morning knowing that there was only a flattish 200km to go, had probably mentally ticked the ride as done. My complacency was repaid by the arrival of the fenland hill (headwind) and rapidly rising temperatures which sapped energy and speed.
martint235
Dog on a bike
- Location
- Welling
This ^^^^
Thursday was the worst day for me too having also left Kirton that morning. The heat was brutal and it took I guess around 3 hours longer for me to complete that distance than I would normally expect. I even walked up one hill as I couldn't be bothered to waste the energy to cycle it.
Hardest leg for me was Kirton to St Ives. I left at 1pm and it was absolutely roasting hot and even worse there was a massive headwind. Finally my bike had developed the most annoying creak that occurred with every pedal stroke. I really had to dig deep on this one to keep going at a reasonable pace. There weren't enough riders around to form a chaingang so it felt like it was me against the wind. By the time I got to Whittlesey I was seriously worried that I was going to succumb to heatstroke, so I diverted to the Leisure Centre where I put my head under the shower for a few minutes, which seemed to help a bit. The next section of road was a nightmare, with busy traffic and very impatient drivers. Before long I got a very uneasy feeling as 2 paramedic cars, an Ambulance and a Police car came along the road. It turned out there had been an accident involving 2 other LEL riders. I stopped when I got to the scene, but was told to carry on as the injured riders were ok. Not surprisingly after this, the traffic was much better behaved. I still don't know the full story of the incident, but I am sure it will come out in time.
Anyway the leg was 52 miles and I only managed to record an average speed of 9.1 mph. You can share my pain here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/352281049
On the last few miles I caught up with #middleagedcyclist and we picked up the pace together into the control. It was nice to ride a few miles with a fellow CCer.
Anyway the leg was 52 miles and I only managed to record an average speed of 9.1 mph. You can share my pain here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/352281049
On the last few miles I caught up with #middleagedcyclist and we picked up the pace together into the control. It was nice to ride a few miles with a fellow CCer.
middleagecyclist
Call me MAC
- Location
- Prestwich, Manchester
@Trickedem. It was a pleasure riding with you. I'd lost my riding buddy a short while earlier who decided she was out of time and was going to rest her back. I was having a break from the hairdryer headwind so it was good to team up again. Great pulling in to the control together. Cheers.
MichaelO
Veteran
The temperature graph
mmmmartin
Random geezer
Yes, that temperature was very high. When I was at Loughton the riders arriving at 1pm on Thursday were the fitter, faster ones and they were cheerful but said it was hot out there. As time passed those arriving were less fit and less fast and they were saying it was terrible - because of course they had ridden through the heat of the day as the hot headwind was becoming stronger. Those arriving in the early hours, as Tim did, were tired but not utterly on their knees because they had ridden the last several hours in the cooler dark hours. But someone I know who has done four PBPs and one LEL said it was one of the hardest he'd done because the last section was so brutal, when riders had 1,100k out of their legs and were riding into a stiff headwind in high temperatures. Not to mention that the last 50k is actually astonishingly hilly.
To answer the question in this thread, my least favourite bit was riding the Howardian Hills, which I was not expecting and had some long ascents, and some short sharp gravelly descents. I walked some of those hills.
To answer the question in this thread, my least favourite bit was riding the Howardian Hills, which I was not expecting and had some long ascents, and some short sharp gravelly descents. I walked some of those hills.
martint235
Dog on a bike
- Location
- Welling
I walked one of the Howardian Hills southbound. It was the one with all the gravel at the bottom and I'd decided when I rode it northbound that I'd be walking it southbound. I didn't even pretend to have a go at it.
I also walked a hill between St Ives and Great Easton that just seemed more trouble than it was worth to attempt in that heat.
