London Edinburgh London 2022

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ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
"Great video!"

YES!

"Amazing ride!"

YES!

"So, do you fancy having a go next time?"

HELL, NO! :laugh:
 
OP
OP
ianrauk

ianrauk

Tattooed Beat Messiah
Location
Rides Ti2
Just done 400k and that was enough!!

I don't think I'd cope without much sleep!!

That is a big problem. I have fallen asleep upon the bike a couple of times on very long rides at night. It's just one of those things you have to work on.

As I volunteered most of the week at Debden I should have a guaranteed place for 2025. So plenty of time to work on it
 

Ming the Merciless

There is no mercy
Location
Inside my skull
Went out for a ride yesterday afternoon as I may as well embrace this heat. Looks like I’m fully recovered.

C04E6391-A548-4BD1-A360-6F025F2EBC7D.jpeg
 

Ming the Merciless

There is no mercy
Location
Inside my skull
A nice video from the amazing Matt Page. The first finisher, about his ride.


View: https://youtu.be/1p3FZSKcyq4


What’s quite funny is that after I’d abandoned due to heat stress, had an overnight sleep, and was returning south… If you’d looked on the live tracker you’d have seen I was ahead of Matt. At Caistor I diverted down the hill to the chippy, just as Matt was passing. Matt strikes me as someone who wouldn’t divert to a chippy on LEL.
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
It is an amazing achievement by all of the riders. I was following the progress of @Littgull's son Matthew, who completed the event on Friday.

I could never see myself doing something like this, especially because of sleep deprivation, but it does make me think again of trying something I thought of year's ago - seeing how far I could ride from sunrise to sunset on Midsummer's Day. I wouldn't do it in the kind of very hot conditions that the LEL riders had to endure this year, and I doubt that I could get close in 1 day to what they averaged every day!
 

Ming the Merciless

There is no mercy
Location
Inside my skull
I did 40 miles with a mate yesterday morning, I was absolutely cooked when I got home and a similar shade of pink. I didn't feel fully back to normal until late pm / early evening, I think it was the humidity.

lets home for some rain this week to clear the air.

Yeah I’m planning to go ride in the rain tomorrow. My kind of weather !
 
Thanks - I'm feeling very grateful it wasn't worse. I have spent almost all my career working in care services, and am aware of the potential for life-changing injuries. It was just at the outskirts of Cambourne, on a road/lane called Broadway but the circumstances are unclear. I stopped in an opening, to dry my glasses and have a drink and thought whatever happened had happened there, but it appears I was a bit further along the road.

From police phonecalls to my wife it appears I was unconscious for a while and I may have been at the roadside for some time, so a lot of later riders would have seen it. I remember seeing something similar on PBP, with someone on a spinal board unconscious, and it had a big impact on me, so it must have been upsetting for some later riders....
Has this thread covered the non-UK rider hit by a truck on the same morning? Chinese Whispers at my control said he looked the wrong way and just sailed straight out onto a fast A-road :sad: Possibly an air-ambulance job?

p.s. glad you're still with us @Nebulous !
 
OP
OP
ianrauk

ianrauk

Tattooed Beat Messiah
Location
Rides Ti2
Has this thread covered the non-UK rider hit by a truck on the same morning? Chinese Whispers at my control said he looked the wrong way and just sailed straight out onto a fast A-road :sad: Possibly an air-ambulance job?

p.s. glad you're still with us @Nebulous !

Another accident happened at Debden on the Saturday afternoon.
Oldish, no, elderly entrant from Canada went out for a practice spin. Turned into a road on the wrong side and a van wiped him out. He was bought back by a member of the public who saw what happened. Other members of the public, 2 lovely ladies bought his bike back too.

He didn't manage to start.

I lost count as to how many riders I had to shout at, Keep To The Left.
 
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Another accident happened at Debden on the Saturday afternoon.
Oldish, no, elderly entrant from Canada went out for a practice spin. Turned into a road on the wrong side and a van wiped him out. He was bought back by a member of the public who saw what happened. Onother members of the public, 2 lovely ladies bought his bike back too.

He didn't manage to start.

I lost count as to how many riders I had to shout at, Keep To The Left.
Cripes!

(I don't recall this at PBP, despite all the Brits (+Aussies) there - maybe 'cos lots of Brits holiday in France already, often á velo?
 

adamski

Veteran
That is a big problem. I have fallen asleep upon the bike a couple of times on very long rides at night. It's just one of those things you have to work on.

Night rides are different because you have probably been awake all day. This year I did two overnight 300s and had to have a power nap on both rides.

LEL offers you different approaches because it can be broken into long days. For me:

Day 1 started at 11:45am and I was at a Hessle Premier Inn before 1am

Day 2 I got up at 6:30am and got to Moffat control at 1:30am. I did have a 20 minute power nap around midday as I was very sleepy.

Day 3 wake up was 6:45am and I got to Barnard Castle at 2:20am. This was my latest finish.

Day 4 I was up around 7:15am and rode until 1am. I had a 1 hour siesta but that was too avoid riding in the heat rather than because I needed the sleep.

Day 5 I was up at 6am and finished LEL at 6:15pm

So yes some long days but done as individual rides with sleep in-between. I followed a similar approach on LEL 2013, PBP 2015, LEL 2017 and ALPI 2018. The Dutch Lowlands 1200 started at 8pm so I had to ride straight through the first night on that event. (Let's not mention PBP 2019 on which I bailed after 220 km....!)
 
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