The thread for the insane ride from London to York

[martint235]

Ok, there is another thread here that began with a plan. And it's a very good plan. The plan is to ride the FNRttC from York to Hull, rest and then ride from Hull to London down part of the LEL 2013 route.

This thread isn't about that, this thread is about the mad plan to ride from London to York BEFORE the start of the FNRttC. This plan is still in the basic planning stage but add thoughts, registrations etc and we'll work it out eventually.

A couple of good things have happened that means I can now more fully commit to this (and hopefully to LEL 2013) assuming nothing goes wrong between now and then.

 

[Davywalnuts]

After watching shutter island, inception and black swan back to back, am wondering if these rides we do are a test of reality or that were actually all sectioned already and in cloud cookoo land..

 

[Flying Dodo]

I may be up for doing some or all of the bit going north to York.

If you allow 14 hours, that should be more than enough time. Aim for a 7 or 8 am departure from London, which will give you plenty of time for recuperation in a York hostelry.

 

[martint235]

Yeah I was kind of thinking of around 8am, depending on who and how many it should be ok

 

[Red Light]

Took me 17 hours to ride when I did London to York a few years ago. 14 hours would be a good pace.

 

[mmmmartin]

I am not man enough to do the "Up and Back" so do please ignore my comments if you feel so inclined. If you are preparing to ride London-Edinburgh-London why not ride the London to Hull section - the "Up" bit - along the LEL route to familiarise yourself with it, then ride or train to York, then do the FNRttC to Hull, then follow the LEL route - the "Back" bit - back to Loughton? It's not the shortest route but you do get to ride almost half of LEL, which might come in useful at 3am in late July in all those confusing Lincolnshire lanes in a rainstorm when you're exhausted.......
Also, Hull to Loughton is 300k, and audax (BRM) time is 20 hours, so for those thinking of riding up to York from London in 14 hours, I humbly bend knee, tug forelock, bow head, and admit to being in the presence of Gods Of The Cycling World. You might want to have a bit of a rethink as well.......

 

[Flying Dodo]

Actually yes, you're right. I was thinking 14 hours based on a Luton to York distance. Allow 16 hours from London, so you'd better look at a 7 am departure.

 

[martint235]

I am not man enough to do the "Up and Back" so do please ignore my comments if you feel so inclined. If you are preparing to ride London-Edinburgh-London why not ride the London to Hull section - the "Up" bit - along the LEL route to familiarise yourself with it, then ride or train to York, then do the FNRttC to Hull, then follow the LEL route - the "Back" bit - back to Loughton? It's not the shortest route but you do get to ride almost half of LEL, which might come in useful at 3am in late July in all those confusing Lincolnshire lanes in a rainstorm when you're exhausted.......
Also, Hull to Loughton is 300k, and audax (BRM) time is 20 hours, so for those thinking of riding up to York from London in 14 hours, I humbly bend knee, tug forelock, bow head, and admit to being in the presence of Gods Of The Cycling World. You might want to have a bit of a rethink as well.......

I have a thing about getting on trains with my bike. Plus I just enjoy being out on it. I can see the sense in what you say with familiarisation in mind however that won't do me any good. I've done the FNRttC to Brighton about 5 times now and it's still nearly always a surprise!!!

220 miles if it's fairly flat I would say is do-able in 16 hours if there's only 4-5 people (and one of them isn't semi-permanently in a Tesco toilet!!! ).

At the moment I'm definitely very much still in the "Here's an idea" stage but moving towards "Yeah sod it, I'll give it a go" stage.

 

[dellzeqq]

I have a tried and trusted route in my back pocket. 199 miles from HPC. Some hills in Leicestershire, and a bit of unpleasantness between Northampton and M. Harborough, but mostly very good riding.

 

[ufkacbln]

This thread isn't about that, this thread is about the mad plan to ride from London to York BEFORE the start of the FNRttC. This plan is still in the basic planning stage but add thoughts, registrations etc and we'll work it out eventually.

You are Dick Turpin John Nevison AICMFP

 

[martint235]

You are Dick Turpin John Nevison AICMFP

Hey that's a good sign, he made it to York!!!

 

[ufkacbln]

Hey that's a good sign, he made it to York!!!

I wouldn't recommend Nevison's incentives of death or deportation to Tangier as a training programme though

 

[User10119]

Whilst I do appreciate that the preferred style of the average FNRer is likely to mean that your preference would be to repair to a local hostelry for a spot of rest, rehydration and ribald banter before le Grand Départ from the Minster (at which I shall endeavour to be present with 2 working elbows and, assuming I accomplish this, shall aim this year to keep both in that state thus enabling participation beyond Grimston Bar roundabout) I can quite likely offer early arrivals in York tea, coffee, cake and quite possibly other tasty_baked_comestibles together with a certain amount of bed/sofa/floor space to catch a hour or two's kip. If that helps.

 

[martint235]

[QUOTE 1652129, member: 10119"]Whilst I do appreciate that the preferred style of the average FNRer is likely to mean that your preference would be to repair to a local hostelry for a spot of rest, rehydration and ribald banter before le Grand Départ from the Minster (at which I shall endeavour to be present with 2 working elbows and, assuming I accomplish this, shall aim this year to keep both in that state thus enabling participation beyond Grimston Bar roundabout) I can quite likely offer early arrivals in York tea, coffee, cake and quite possibly other tasty_baked_comestibles together with a certain amount of bed/sofa/floor space to catch a hour or two's kip. If that helps.[/quote]
That's very kind of you CL. I'm nowhere near far enough in planning to actually consider what will happen on arrival in York. When I finally get round to working the details out I'll keep your offer in mind. Given that York will effectively be around the half way point, sleep may not be a bad idea.

 

[ianrauk]

And anyone who has tasted Mrs C Lions scrumptious cake-age would know that it's a very fine offer indeed