London Edinburgh London 2025

[robjh]

I'm O9, start 0730. I'd originally applied for a very early start but thought in the end that a couple of extra hours sleep might be useful before setting off.

 

[matticus]

You guys are plain mad how many hours do you sleep? 4/24hrs?

Funnily enough, yes that it exactly the amount that I find is just enough to be able to function/ride ok every day! But it seems to be a genetic thing - some folks can ride all week on 20mins sleep.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Some takeaways from the latest podcast
Apple:
View: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/london-edinburgh-london-the-long-distance-cycling-podcast/id1724367710


2478 start times allocated
Comment: Eight from the Guildhall, 49 from Writtle, so an average of 44 per start time (15 minute intervals). 2250 expected to start so the mean drops to 40.
8% women
Riders from 57 countries
40% from UK; next largest national contingent 9% from Germany. Some from France!

Route almost 'settled'. Whorlton Bridge (rebuilt) will not be ready in time so route crosses the Tees at Winston (N and S).
914 volunteers (already) registered
Reasons for not finishing addressed
'Literally' no plugging anything into a socket at any control. Powerbank hire described.
Drop bags will be weighed at point of deposit (ie on Saturday at Writtle) and >2.5kg rejected. Nominated drop bag controls to be done by 30 April.

• Final verb sap (from those on the podcast quartet):
• Have a plan but don't worry about 'sticking' to it.
• Get bike sorted (and then a decent ride on it in late July to bed in tyres/chain/cassette/cables/indexing/Di2 and bike bag set up)
• Don't start with a sleep deficit (so get the two nights before sorted) and take 'enough' sleep en route
• Eat, eat eat! And start eating and drinking early.

 

[yello]

I'm O9, start 0730. I'd originally applied for a very early start but thought in the end that a couple of extra hours sleep might be useful before setting off.

Defo sleep is something you don't want to start in defecit of. It gets precious as the hours/days tick by. Some folk are in a right state at the finish due to lack of sleep, bordering on dangerously so - but that's another story. I was a bit of a confused mess at the end of 2009's edition but hauled myself over the line. It's an obvious thing to say but different people cope differently on different occasions - and you never really know until you're there and amongst it. 2 years later, I finished PBP pretty much fresh as a daisy (but minus the attractive aroma in all likelihood)

 

[ianrauk]

I've got 2 very powerful (27000) powerbanks that I will be using. I've also hired one of the L-E-L Powerbanks as back up. It's such a great idea from the team. Between them all they should see me through the ride with phone, lights and gps. I will also be running 2 Hope Vision 1 lights which take AA batteries. So will be taking spares.

I do have a plan in my head but nothing set in stone. I know I can ride long distances, over 200+ miles pretty easy in a day. But this is another level and am fully aware of that.
The bike is always sorted, but there's always that little niggle isn't there that something may not be right. That odd click or rubbing noise.

I'm a morning person so I opted and got a 5:15am start which suits me fine. I'm volunteering at Whittle anyway so will be able to get an early night ready for the off in the morning. Hopefully rested and relaxed. I'm also one of those lucky people that can sleep 'wherever I lay my hat', so hopefully sleeping en route won't be a problem.

Eating.. On rides I can eat for England so that certainly shouldn't be a problem. I do however have a small problem with hydration on rides. I just don't drink enough, though over the past 6 months I have been making an effort to take on more fluids.

Roll on August.

 

[yello]

Have a plan but don't worry about 'sticking' to it.

Wise move imho. Flexibility is needed. Lots of stuff can crop up, some/much of it unforeseen, so a preparedness to respond on the fly is helpful. Don't overcomplicate, it's pretty simple at the basic level - just a bike ride. How hard can that be?

 

[yello]

I do have a plan in my head but nothing set in stone. I know I can ride long distances, over 200+ miles pretty easy in a day. But this is another level and am fully aware of that.

Sounds to me like you're sorted, in the right head space. Knowing you can handle that kind of mileage is very helpful. For many, that's a great unknown.

Someone once told me that if you can do 200 then you do LEL/PBP. I mean, it's an over simplification but it is to the heart of it. It means your comfortable on your bike for starters, and that factor alone sees some riders fall.

Neck issues (Shermers) can hit with longer mileage - much longer as a rule but still possible - but even then you can fashion an ad hoc brace using a spare tube or tyre if you're mad keen to continue... but you're really into 'what if' scenarios there.

As a general rule, if you feel good on your bike then you have every right to feel confident. Stuff can happen to scupper plans but that's true in all walks of life.

 

[Ajax Bay]

I do have a plan in my head but nothing set in stone.

Ian - I had a spreadsheet in 2017 which worked to a 100 hour schedule (but on a 117 hour limit to HD).
I compared that 'plan' with the 'actualite' days afterwards (with insight from brevet timings and garmin records): did not check en route (phone on airplane mode more or less throughout - time suck).
I stayed within 'literally' minutes of it till Alston on the way south (889km). The plan was to get to Barnard Castle and sleep there (planned arrive at 2352!).
But I reckoned I could get a bed in the YH (which they were using for volunteer accn) rather than pushing over Yad Moss and all that scenery in the dark (I did: sheets, duvet and super comfortable: stop was 393 minutes). Left before dawn and actually climbed the knoll by the col and sat watching the sun rise over Harthope and the view down Teesdale towards Barnard Castle.
So have a clear and detailed plan, based on rolling speeds (you think achievable, and reducing by 1kph a day, and 45 minutes at every non-sleep control), set in stone!
And then ride.
Dorset Coast for me yesterday: 207km, a ferry, and (on AAA calculator) nearly 3000m of climb.

 

[yello]

I stayed within 'literally' minutes of it till Alston on the way south

Where I was a volunteer. Good fun to see the other side of proceedings too.

 

[Dogtrousers]

What's the rationale behind the ban on use of sockets at controls?

I don't doubt that there's a very good reason or else they wouldn't have gone to all the trouble of power bank hire. Is it safety? (Non PAT tested devices?) Unfairness/ conflict? (Many participants, few sockets?)

I have to own up that I have at least once plugged a thing in at a control in an ordinary Audax.

 

[yello]

What's the rationale behind the ban on use of sockets at controls?

I thought you meant as in spanners! I was momentarily incredulous.

 

[yello]

I have to own up that I have at least once plugged a thing in at a control in an ordinary Audax.

Scale that up to x hundred riders and you begin to see the problem.

Perhaps one of cost too these days, I don't know. Controls are offered free/cheap so maybe sticking them with a 'lecy bill at the end of it all is not a good look.

 

[matticus]

Scale that up to x hundred riders and you begin to see the problem.

2200 riders in fact!!! When I was helping last time around, it did scare me seeing dozens of gadgets in daisy-chained mains adaptors, although I cannot say for sure that it was a risky arrangement (uSB draws quite a small current. Maybe the issue was that it's very hard to assure our landlords of safe arrangements? )

IRRC, Danial has stated there *was* a small fire at a control.

 

[yello]

2200 riders in fact!!!

They're not all going to be at the same control at the same time

 

[matticus]

They're not all going to be at the same control at the same time

We hope!