London-Edinburgh-London 2013: The thread

[mmmmartin]

[QUOTE 2574600, member: 30090"]I'd want to do it purely for the fact that it can lead to hallucinations. Whether this be your inner demons or a vision of Mickey Mouse having a fight with Goofy on who gets to take Minnie out.[/quote]
My hallucinations tend to be quite short in time and caused by tricks of the light. On a 600 in Norfolk I saw two drunks fighting on the pavement and when they saw me they started to run towards me. It was a tree. On the 100 mile walk I saw a Russian tank with the commander's head sticking out of the turret. Turned out to be the light coming through the tree branches. And coming in to Brampton I saw a young lady dressed as a milkmaid standing by the road. Turned out to be the light of the moon on a car in the distance. I am used to them now,and try to ignore them.

 

[frank9755]

My hallucinations tend to be quite short in time and caused by tricks of the light. On a 600 in Norfolk I saw two drunks fighting on the pavement and when they saw me they started to run towards me. It was a tree. On the 100 mile walk I saw a Russian tank with the commander's head sticking out of the turret. Turned out to be the light coming through the tree branches. And coming in to Brampton I saw a young lady dressed as a milkmaid standing by the road. Turned out to be the light of the moon on a car in the distance. I am used to them now,and try to ignore them.

Those sound familiar. I mostly see other riders ahead of me, or people standing by the roadsigns, but who turn out to be roadsigns, traffic cones or similar when I get nearer. It's things that are in your head, that you are expecting to see and your tired brain just jumps to the conclusion a bit early. But I'm not sure why you were expecting a Russian tank!

Worst ones ever were when driving back from Bryan Chapman (big mistake, never to be repeated) when I thought the white lines at the side of my lane on the M4 were concrete walls.

 

[AnythingButVanilla]

But all I did was pay my money, ride the bike a bit - sometimes with mates in the land of Johnny Foreigner - and rock up on the morning armed only with a steely determination to enjoy the ride. Which I did. i absolutely loved it.

This sums it up for me. Isn't that what riding a bike is about, the sheer joy that it brings?

 

[ColinJ]

Yesterday was the toughest yet. 370km from Moffat to Edinburgh and Barnard Castle. 2 blocks of wood for legs. Time to get cracking

Well done Tubby....I'm very impressed with what you've achieved in this last 18 months...an inspiration.

Indeed!

I first met tc about 3 years ago when he came out on some of my forum rides, and I could see why he had chosen his forum name! He was like me, a former slim and fit cyclist who had let himself go over the years; he had put on a lot of weight, and got pretty out of condition. In fact, on a couple of rides he was even slower than me, which was a rare experience in those days.

He decided to take drastic action, cutting out booze and taking his cycling a lot more seriously. I bumped into him in Hebden Bridge town centre a year ago and barely recognised him, his physique had changed that much. He should change his name to 'nolongertubbycyclist'!

Well done tc, and all of you attempting this madness! LEL is way beyond what I would ever contemplate tackling ...

 

[frank9755]

Indeed!

I first met tc about 3 years ago when he came out on some of my forum rides, and I could see why he had chosen his forum name! He was like me, a former slim and fit cyclist who had let himself go over the years; he had put on a lot of weight, and got pretty out of condition. In fact, on a couple of rides he was even slower than me, which was a rare experience in those days.

He decided to take drastic action, cutting out booze and taking his cycling a lot more seriously. I bumped into him in Hebden Bridge town centre a year ago and barely recognised him, his physique had changed that much. He should change his name to 'nolongertubbycyclist'!

I've not met TC but it is such a common, and positive story. So many people I know through cycling (including myself) have lost 2 stones or more in weight and feel fitter than they have done in decades.

 

[zigzag]

it was fascinating (still is) to follow the progress of the cyclists i shared a lot of miles with! very well done all!! @Frank, audax journalist - excellent digests.

Martin, Tim, Pete, John, Tynan - keep it going - nearly there!

all your efforts are a huge inspiration for my next challenge

 

[frank9755]

That should be 'fun', Rimas!
How far is your route and how long do you expect to take?
Do you have any sleep stops planned or will you look out for bus shelters?
Look forward to following your progress!

 

[LouiseL]

Chapeau to all the CCers riding LEL. I didn't even make it to the start.

Especially GRAND chapeau to mmmmartin and McShroom who showed immense physical and mental toughness to get as far as they did. Heroes both. I know it is far, far harder when you are a "full value" rider- less sleep, far more on the bike time, and probably twice as much time actually spent going up hills compared with the faster cyclists. Added to this is the mental stress of having to continually ride near the time limit, often completely alone so no one to take turns on the front with or chat to so as to pass the time, provide distraction from hurting bits and provide mutual encouragement or indeed to send out help from the next control should a disaster happen and there is no phone signal and you are in the middle of nowhere with no sign of habitation for miles. Over such a large distance the cumulative effect should not be underestimated. Some of the faster riders would not fare nearly so well if they had to replicate this I am sure. Massive respect for what you have achieved. Chapeau

 

[mcshroom]

Deckertim is at Barnie

 

[jowwy]

Looking forward to some LEL write up's after all this - looking at doing it myself next time round and want to hear people's stories, tips etc etc

 

[AnythingButVanilla]

@jefmcg arrived at Barnard Castle twenty minutes ago.

 

[mmmmartin]

people's stories, tips etc etc

Just do loads of audaxes, lots of riding in the dark, lots of bike maintenance, lots of riding in groups and lots of riding alone. Forget fitness, everyone is fit on these things, that is easy. What is hard is being hard. On yourself, I mean. You need to understand that the body is a semi-disposable object, there simply to carry you around. You need to understand how much punishment it can take and how to treat it - like a car you need to fill it with fuel and give it a service now and again. You need at a minimum to be able to ride alone all night in bad weather and to fix a puncture in those conditions, mend a chain, fettle a derailleur. Doing lots of audaxes will show you how very experienced riders do it. Copy them. Reading about other's rides will give you some shortcuts but little else. Bikes are for riding, not reading about. And lookat Drew Buck, nicer bloke never wore socks, see what he's riding. It's not about the bike.

 

[frank9755]

Tea time update:

John (Red) was at Thirsk at 1:30pm. Probably due in Pocklington soon.
Long Mart was there at 9am, then Pocklington just before 1. He is expecting to stop at Kirton as he has time in hand, and heat in feet.
Pete is still going very well to make it to Barnard Castle at 10:45 this morning. But no reports since. He should be showing at Thirsk any minute now, assuming all is still on track.
Tim has slowed down a touch after his strong ride to Brampton last night, but he was at Barnard Castle at 12:30. He may have slept later today after his late finish yesterday hence may be planning to push on further this evening - we will see: I'm just guessing, but he might get to Thirsk around 5:30, then Pocklington at 9-ish...

 

[MichaelO]

Looking forward to some LEL write up's after all this - looking at doing it myself next time round and want to hear people's stories, tips etc etc

You can't beat this from 2009

http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/seeya-arallsopp-does-the-lel.35203/

Edit: Might have to read it again

 

[oldgreyandslow]

So impressed absolutely heroes just to even consider it.

I don't do this chapeau cack, but hats off it is!