The power of EQ

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http://oneyeartimetrial.org.uk/thinking-of-being-a-host

Thinking of being a host?
In order to take this record I need to ride an average of 204 miles per day or more. This in turn requires at least 16 hours per day out on the bike in all weathers whilst coping with numerous issues along the way and coping with long term fatigue. Hosts would play a huge role in helping me along the way. By offering me a bed, food, water and maintenance for a night you’d be allowing me to concentrate upon what I do best, riding a bike. This has historical precedence. Many of the riders before me, including Godwin, had professional support and were clothed, fed and watered by the cycling community. I am hoping that the community can get behind me for this ride as well by offering me a similar level of support, for which I would be eternally grateful.

On this page I’ve listed the level of help I would need. At first glance it may seem demanding, but it is written from real life experience of what would be needed for me to rest and recover in the shortest time period possible between consecutive 200+ mile rides. I hope you understand the pragmatism that has gone into these host requirements, the team would do their very best to keep you informed but ultimately my recovery each evening would hinge upon the level of help you would be able to provide. The help of each and every host would be properly acknowledge at the end of my ride,and who knows you could become part of a momentous cycling achievement as I know full well that I cannot take on this challenge without the support of others.

This is how we would hope the arrangement could work:-I will be carrying a live tracking device which will update a website in real time with my location. On the day it would be great if you could watch the live tracker on line and be ready to expect me. I’ll be tired, hungry and maybe soaked to the skin and it would really help if there is food ready for me when I arrive. The key to a proper recovery is eating within 40 minutes of exercise ending.

On arrival I’ll probably be in need of a shower you’d take me to your bathroom where I would wash myself and put on clean clothes. If you could wash and dry any dirty clothes for me that evening it would make the next day so much easier for me. It is important to understand that I’ll probably be hugely fatigued and need to get to bed immediately after eating. Hydration is also important and a large mug of tea before bed would be hugely appreciated.

As I am sleeping there are a number of other small tasks that you could help with. Hopefully each is relatively straightforward. Firstly, you would take the batteries from all the electrical equipment on my bike to be recharged and replace them with my fresh batteries. Most of my batteries will be AA or AAA, though some of my front lights may use their own battery, I’d have a charger for that with me.

Next please take my GPS and camera, upload my GPS data onto Strava and pass on the photos to the person who will be taking care of the website, twitter, Facebook etc… Uploading data to Strava is very important because I will have 24 hours from finishing a days ride to upload it so that the UMCA can check it. I will have an instruction sheet for you available (when ready) that should make this all straightforward.

My bottles would need refilling with water and add 2 hydration tablets (which I’ll be carrying) to each bottle, make sure that reflective material and light lenses on my bike are clean (doesn’t need to be great so a quick wipe with a damp cloth/wet wipes will do) check my bike over briefly and fix any problems that you are able to. I’ll let you know on arrival if there are any issues I need help with, hopefully it will not be anything major.

To ensure that everything goes to plan I need to be organised to get away quickly the next morning. You could play a hugely important part in this by having any washed clothes ready to wear, or packed in my saddlebag, pocket food in my pockets or given to me before I leave,electrical equipment fitted on the bike with their fresh batteries plus any recharged batteries put back in my saddlebag or handed to me as I leave. Thing of it like a well organised pit stop with you as a the vital team crew ensuring that the rider is in the best possible position prior to departure.Now for the tough bit. I need to be out on the road as early as possible each day which means that I need to be woken at 4am. This may prove tricky as I’ll be tired and probably making excuses to relish a little more lie in. You need to be harsh and turf me out of bed before marching me down tothe breakfast table, a large mug of tea or coffee would probably be the best incentive. I may not be thankful for that at the time, but I certainly will once I’m underway thanks to your help. I’d be aiming to get from bed to road in under an hour in winter, under half an hour in summer. Weetabix or Granola are my favourite cereals (I don’t like many others, including porridge) if you had these my task would be so much easier.

However, it would be unlikely for me to turn down a fry up and breakfast could be anything I enjoy eating, even leftovers from my supper, so making extra large portions could save some effort.This could very well mean that you’ll be getting little sleep that night as I may arrive close to midnight, but at least you would not be heading out into the cold, that’s my job. Between us we are going to nail this record.

I’d be grateful for any food for my pocket when I set off . Sausages, cheese, bananas or anything that you use yourself will do. I will probably be reporting hints about what I like to eat at the time on Facebook and twitter.

Remember, things can go wrong, I may decide not to visit because of bad luck, bad weather or logistical reasons. I may also have more than one potential host for the same day to enable me to take the best advantage of, or avoid weather conditions. We will do our very best to keep you informed but please understand if for whatever reason I do not turn up. You still played your part by being there in the first place.

Reimbursement.
Obviously, food costs money and this means that you’d need to be reimbursed for money spent on food.

Remember, this is not a professional attempt. We are doing the best we can to raise sponsorship from the cycling community and surrounding suppliers. Ultimately any shortfall comes from my life savings. However, at this stage we are confident that there will be a daily budget for food bought by hosts (currently £10 including breakfast). This may go up or down during the year and you will be informed of what budget we have when you receive your confirmation email. We probably won’t be able to give you more than the amount we state. You may, if you wish, decide to donate food to the cause. In which case, feel free to spend as much as you like!

The easiest way to be reimbursed would be for me to hand over cash.Alternatively, you could email photos of receipts to the Host Manager who will forward the information to accounts to Pay Pal you the money.

If you need money in advance, then please advise the host manager who will arrange with accounts forward money to you via Pay Pal. Though we don’t anticipate you spending more than£10 per day on my behalf, we do understand that this is a lot of money for someone on a tight budget.

Cash in hand will always be best from my point of view.

I hope you understand that with 365 days to account for we are desperately trying to keep costs down. My daily food budget currently stands at £27 for the day, which also has to pay for any stops for food made at cafes.

If none of that has put you off being a host, then please get in touch with the host manager (we currently do not have a host manager, so please be patient. You may show interest by emailing me here, though we don't anticipate the need for many hosts until the early spring) The host manager will make sure that you are suitable and fit in with any other plans. If you are too far away from where I would be staying the night before then we would ask if we can arrange another day. If you live somewhere hilly such as the Lake District or heavily built up areas, such as London and we don’t have a suitable route to reach your home, we will say “thank you” but will probably not go there.We have areas blacklisted on a map. You can suggest a way of reaching your home, but it will have to be along roads that are suitable. No big hills. No roads with lots of congestion, junctions and traffic lights and no convoluted routes along narrow lanes which require care on descents and lots of braking, though very short sections (less than 3 miles) of the above may be acceptable. Any suggestions will be checked by the route manager.

You’ll need to give your name, address and email so that we can plan a route to your home.Your address will not be made public. The route manager will set up Strava so that the end of my days track will end before I reach your home and the GPX track shown to the public will end roughly half a mile from your home. I’ll do the last bit by homing in to a waypoint on my GPS.You’ll receive an email to confirm your place on the calendar and information which should be helpful, including food I like to eat. You’ll also be given the email addresses of the webmaster and social media manager so that photos can be uploaded from my camera from your computer,though you could always upload them yourself on your own computer or phone.

Finally, thank you again for giving this your consideration. I know that being a host will not be easy as will anyone whose partner has returned from a 200 mile ride. Yet your help will underpin this record, you’d be part of a team attempting to relive history and put a willing British cyclist squarely on the cycling map.

Looking forward to meeting you already.

Steve
 

vernon

Harder than Ronnie Pickering
Location
Meanwood, Leeds
Nice bit of cutting and pasting.

What else can you contribute?
 

theclaud

Openly Marxist
Location
Swansea
I've suggested to the mods that the posting is merged with the thread containing most of his other postings regarding the One Year Timetrial.
He appears to be looking for somewhere where he can needlessly disparage Steve's attempt in peace. I have a suspicion he won't find it anywhere on the forum.
 
OP
OP
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Arrowfoot

Guest
The right thing to do is to convince his crew chief to re-write it pronto while this is only day 3. The requirements for the host is inappropriately written. Also explains why those responding are not attempting to defend the indefensible but prefer to make silly remarks and possibly what they believe might even be witty ones at that..
 

theclaud

Openly Marxist
Location
Swansea
The right thing to do is to convince his crew chief to re-write it pronto while this is only day 3. The requirements for the host is inappropriately written. Also explains why those responding are not attempting to defend the indefensible but prefer to make silly remarks and possibly what they believe might even be witty ones at that..
Indefensible? Why should he need to defend himself - he's making a request for support or assistance, which people may offer or not as they see fit - if you find it unreasonable, that's fine - I doubt that he'll lose much sleep over it after riding 200-odd miles in wind and pissing rain.
 

TVC

Guest
My response comes from the fact that you gave no explanation for your OP, just cut and pasted a passage with no context. Still confused at the reason for this thread.
 

compo

Veteran
Location
Harlow
I couldn't put him up but crikey, if he was coming my way I would be happy to fix him up with a hot meal, and wouldn't want payment for it either.
 

Foghat

Freight-train-groove-rider
My response comes from the fact that you gave no explanation for your OP, just cut and pasted a passage with no context. Still confused at the reason for this thread.

That'll be the power of IQ+EQ brackets lackthereof then (not yours).
 
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EltonFrog

Legendary Member
Forgive me I'm probably being a bit thick here.

What is the point of the OP, and what does the power of EQ mean?
 
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