London Edinburgh London 2022

[Ajax Bay]

Here's another little story for you.
Rider Rimas Griganas, a friend of many from this forum. Rocked up to Debden on Saturday to help out and take in some of the atmosphere.
He registered there and then to ride the next day.
Knowing Rimas, that's no surprise. Bleedin' loony.

I'm back at the Debden control on Thursday when many of the riders are expected back.

Yep. Danial brought him to me on Saturday morning and said "Sort this out, Rimas will be T51, there won't be anything and he needs a drop bag for Brampton." I made up his brevet from a blank, miraculously found the discarded T51 wristband, gave him a DNS frame plate, green B drop bag and the bits and pieces (lanyard, brevet pouch, ear plugs, shoe covers, zip ties) and used a blank disclaimer form. No merch! Rimas went off to get organised ready for his 1030 start on Sunday. Impressive (am I right he is AC Hackney?).
He left Brampton (943km) heading south well after sunrise this (Wednesday) morning after ~70 hours riding (and sleeping).

 

[ianrauk]

View: https://twitter.com/orangtank/status/1557245370857672705?s=20&t=EXl1HBEt-Bxpn1296B1d4A

 

[Ian H]

Four back so far

 

[Ian H]

There seem to be quite a few packing.

 

[Ian H]

Nine finished now. Only 1000+ to go.

 

[ianrauk]

There seem to be quite a few packing.

I can only imagine the heat must be awful for them

 

[LucretiaMyReflection]

It was 34C in Cambridgeshire by midday!

 

[ianrauk]

It was 34C in Cambridgeshire by midday!

And is looking the same in London tomorrow and Friday. A tough old last leg for the riders.

 

[ianrauk]

Back in Laughton greeting some of the extraordinary.

Including @Ming the Merciless who arrived back this morning looking and sounding rather chipper. Chapeau dear sir.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Anyway started on Sunday, it was going reasonably well, and I don't know what happened, but I was found unconscious at the side of the road before the first control.

Were you wearing a light blue and dark blue top?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

The heat did me, suffering heat stress, not recovering after rest, food and drink; I abandoned after giving it 4 hours to be ready to go back out in the heat. I didn’t want to turn it into more serious heat fatigue or stroke up some hill between controls in Yorkshire.

I opted to ride back to start on southbound route, control by control, making a final dash at 3am from St Ives to finish via Great Easton control once volunteers updated me on the heatwave forecast.

Sunning simultaneous moonrise and sunset last night. I knew I could not capture it in any camera , thus just enjoyed the moment and light and scene laid out before me.

A photo take by a volunteer at Louth (think it was there) showing the salt stains on my top. I had a later shave and washed my top at Boston control, whilst waiting yesterday afternoon‘s heat out before an evening dash for St Ives control.

 

[Nebulous]

Were you wearing a light blue and dark blue top?

Yes I was, an Ythan top. I was in your start group. Did you see anything?

Edit to say: I don't have any memory of what happened, but the police said a member of the public called it in. It might well have been another cyclist. I'm very grateful, whoever it was.....

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Yes I was, an Ythan top. I was in your start group. Did you see anything?

Edit to say: I don't have any memory of what happened, but the police said a member of the public called it in. It might well have been another cyclist. I'm very grateful, whoever it was.....

Unfortunately (or fortunately) I did not see it happen. I’d stopped just before Fowlmere to get another litre of water, and stopped to chat with photographer (whom I know) after Barrington Hill, thus was a number of minutes behind the start group. I passed just as the ambulance then police arrived. I believe they closed the road to riders behind me. I just glanced left and saw you laying in road as paramedic knelt down next to you, and police were getting out their car.

I did not note any sign of a vehicle and did wonder if you’d overlapped wheels with another rider. But seemed odd that if you did, they hadn’t stayed with you. But you were indeed laying pretty much at the top of the hill, which ties in with your altercation with a car driver.

if you had a real time tracker you may be able to find out who was riding near you at time, and maybe make contact through Danial to see if there are any witnesses either directly or near the time. Someone may have GoPro footage of the incident?

Hope you make a full and reasonably quick recovery.

 

[Nebulous]

Thanks Ming I appreciate it. I don't think I was near anyone else. I was riding very close to a Japanese rider, but he stopped to fill his water from a bottle someone had left on a chair for us. There was a bit of headwind and the group had strung out.

I remember a driver swearing at me from a car and me pedalling on, doing my best to ignore it. That could have been earlier though.

So it was actually on the road, rather than at an opening / side road? I thought I might have been off the road.

Police, ambulance and hospital were great. Police kept my bike and gear safe and I recovered them two days later.

I hadn't paid for a tracker. My Garmin sent my wife an incident notification, so something happened.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

So it was actually on the road, rather than at an opening / side road? I thought I might have been off the road.

Yes, no junction involved. You were lying left side of road. Still entangled with bike, with bike facing forward from what I recall. I did a wide pass on opposite side of lane.

Edit - You should be able to pin point the location from your gps tracklog.