The Flattish ACME Grand 01/09/2022

[yanto]

I'm at a 1018, including a detour to go home first evening to stuff myself with pasta and put the big battery in, I must have cocked it up!

[felstedrider]

You're all very organised....

I got as far as booking a hotel for Friday and telling Mum I was popping in for lunch on Saturday.

[FifeingEejit]

Not got that far yet, I'm trying to work out a route so i can see what hotels I might pass.

[Rod Marton]

You're all very organised....

I got as far as booking a hotel for Friday and telling Mum I was popping in for lunch on Saturday.

You're about as organised as me. I have booked a hotel on Friday night (York, if anyone's interested) and train tickets to and from Witham, but that's about as far as it will go. Plan (such as it is) is to get a good night's sleep at York and work steadily back to Witham, as I don't want to arrive there at Audax o'clock. I certainly haven't done any route planning, nor do I intend to; as a former resident of Maldon, Haverhill and Stamford I used to know most of the southern part of the route and I'll make it up as I go along.

[Nick]

Well I am really keen on this, I think it'd be a great thing to do before PBP - just to see how I cope with this sort of distance. I'll be interested to see the official route as well and look at booking options for sleep. What do peeps that use hotels usually opt for?

Ta,
Nick.

[tippers_kiwi]

It's not the official version but I have run through this with Tomsk and made a few amendments that he pointed out which should keep it pretty much to the Route Sheet. This comes to 1,035km

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/39743977

I believe Wilkyboy is working on the official version.

I'm riding a week ahead of the event as a 'route check'. I've messed around with timings but ended up with 'sleep' stops at Goole, York and Peterborough. Whether they are sleep stops, very expensive showers or cancelled sleep stops will all come out in the wash. Originally I had booked Newark for the first night but then realised I was a bit more flexible with start time on a route check so I'll start at 0600 instead of 1100 using the extra time to aim for Goole.

My Hotel Choices, all pretty close to the route,
Premier Inn at Glews Garage, Goole (~325km)
Travelodge York, Monks Cross (~605km / 280km for the day)
Premier Inn Peterborough Hampton (~925km / 320km for the day)

Newark was at about 240km I think, right on the route but it made for a pretty long second or 3rd day. To be honest I'm not doing PBP next year so if I do happen to stuff my timings up it's no big issue, I am just in it to finish it. Initially I had considered riding through the first day and night but as I am riding Solo I thought getting some sleep was probably a safer option, and I am nearly 50 ya know ;-)

[Nick]

Great, thanks for that and I will look over it later. Thank you for adding the sleep stops as they’re very helpful!

[FifeingEejit]

I'm thinking day 1s sleep is a head down on the McDonalds table at Glews.
They are open at night again, yeah?
Or staggering into the premier inn at 3/4am asking for a room (in which case I'd take 2 nights)...

325km
I've diverged from The Grand's route before Belton cos its a bit shorter to Glews and seems to combine fairly red lines on RWGPS' heat map and roads I've ridden before.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/40588505

Glews - Glews 340
Picking up the A1(M) support road earlier as per Great North Road (IIRC), works out shorter, and it's a steady climb, I remember seeing Aidan's flashing rear lights disappearing off into the distance and slowly rising in the process
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/40588929

Glews - Newmarket - 330
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/40589348

Tried to dodge the climbs around Lincoln... failed

Newmarket to Witham - 60
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/40589413

Total 1055

Now I need a think, do I really want 3x300km plus days?
The obvious changes are to use York and Peterburgh
But... I'm a late nighter, hm

[felstedrider]

I think I'm going to try to get home on Saturday night.   I can then ride the 10m to Witham Sunday morning to check in and have a chat.

I think I'll be at my hotel near York at a decent time on Friday so can go to bed early and leave quite early on Saturday.   It does mean riding straight through Thursday night.

[CrinklyLion]

I'm thinking of a bivvy extravaganza for the Grand (depending on the weather outlook)

I suspect that the Den isn't a bazillion miles off your route. And has a pretty decent sofabed, if the stars and the timings aligned...

[FifeingEejit]

Looking at YviaE I was 15hrs for the first 300, conditions were favourable and I was 10kg lighter.
Great North Road was similar, hm...

Sent from my IV2201 using Tapatalk

[tippers_kiwi]

I think I'm going to try to get home on Saturday night.   I can then ride the 10m to Witham Sunday morning to check in and have a chat.

I think I'll be at my hotel near York at a decent time on Friday so can go to bed early and leave quite early on Saturday.   It does mean riding straight through Thursday night.

This has crossed my mind as well. I've made Flex bookings so if I get a good kip Friday night and make good progress Saturday morning I might well skip the Peterborough sleep.

Based on my 'PLAN' (I used the word much more loosely than this looks) I would only be there for 4 hours with a 01:00 start so it feels as if it has definite potential.

Also, there is a guy from Colchester Rovers making an Eversting attempt on North Hill in Baddow on the  27th/28th so I'd love to get back and give him some support...and see if I can make it up there after the 1,000km 

[felstedrider]

I think I'm going to try to get home on Saturday night.   I can then ride the 10m to Witham Sunday morning to check in and have a chat.

I think I'll be at my hotel near York at a decent time on Friday so can go to bed early and leave quite early on Saturday.   It does mean riding straight through Thursday night.

This has crossed my mind as well. I've made Flex bookings so if I get a good kip Friday night and make good progress Saturday morning I might well skip the Peterborough sleep.

Based on my 'PLAN' (I used the word much more loosely than this looks) I would only be there for 4 hours with a 01:00 start so it feels as if it has definite potential.

Also, there is a guy from Colchester Rovers making an Eversting attempt on North Hill in Baddow on the  27th/28th so I'd love to get back and give him some support...and see if I can make it up there after the 1,000km 

I worked out if I could get a hotel in Newmarket and then realised it's 50k home from there on a pretty benign route.   That's still 2hrs + at the end of a long ride so I'll see how the day goes.

[BFC]

I expect I will go with my arrow and back plan - down jacket, a few extra layers, rest anywhere but keep rolling if the headwind drops overnight.
Probably use a bike with gears though, and no everything is shut 'cause it's Easter Sunday to deal with.
Its only 2 nights without sleep.

[rt]

having read all of the above posts I'm feeling more and more unprepared.
I did a few Audax rides back in 2019 max being a 300k but these were on a penny farthing training for a LEJOG attempt so totally different pacing.
Needing a new challenge I've decided to have a go at the Grand but I have no idea how to pace it. What average speed do you folks expect to be riding at? I'd thought about booking hotels but don't really know where I will be when, you all sound super organised.
Might have to be a bivvy job 

[tippers_kiwi]

having read all of the above posts I'm feeling more and more unprepared.
I did a few Audax rides back in 2019 max being a 300k but these were on a penny farthing training for a LEJOG attempt so totally different pacing.
Needing a new challenge I've decided to have a go at the Grand but I have no idea how to pace it. What average speed do you folks expect to be riding at? I'd thought about booking hotels but don't really know where I will be when, you all sound super organised.
Might have to be a bivvy job 

To be fair any plan I make is mostly a waste of time as I am never sure what's going to come out in the wash. A head wind across the fens, mechanicals, heat and a million other things can put me out of my plan and one thing I know is I won't panic when that happens. My underlying thought is that these long events are just about being on the bike covering miles as much as you possibly can.

I'm usually much too tight to book hotels on an Audax, part of the reason I ride Audax is because they are cheap. For this one, because I am riding a week early on my own I decided to treat myself. I've booked them all so I can cancel them on the day of arrival so if I'm running to an unsuitable time schedule I have that option.

So if it makes you feel any better, looking like I am organised is more of a smoke screen. Getting my bike sorted and packed was the bit I put a lot more focus into.

[Tomsk]

I'm waiting to see how my half-an-LEL back problem goes. Still a bit sore and stiff, but off the Vitamin I and doing lots of stretching at every opportunity. 7 hours of gardening work yesterday became a bit of a trial by the afternoon. Shorter rides this week and then I'll try the 200km B&M perm next week, doing a delivery round of thank-you certificates to the Hopstock cafes.

I really don't want to mess it up for the Dutch Trip though - that's #1 priority. And I've already got my 1400km BRM in for my PBP prequalifier.

[Tomsk]

I'm thinking of a bivvy extravaganza for the Grand (depending on the weather outlook)

I suspect that the Den isn't a bazillion miles off your route. And has a pretty decent sofabed, if the stars and the timings aligned...

Just properly re-read the thread ... thanks for the offer CL, very kind but I think I'll be sticking to the route NW of York. If I do ride, I'll be aiming to sleep around 3 hours every night, near to: Retford (258km), Pocklington (609), Chatteris (907) leaving 100-ish km to the finish on Sunday. Having checked out Streetview, it looks like plenty of easily-accessed fields in the vicinity. Standard (for me) 300km/day plan. Up at first light, ride as near to midnight as possible.

[Bikeabilityman]

I was so sorry to hear from Deano that you’d packed. I had a bad lower back towards the end of volunteering, but was fine for the ride home.

“Fail to plan and you plan to fail” is what I used to hear. I still don’t plan Audaxes, even after reading this thread, but I may just check where the Wetherspoons are near/on the route. I’ll probably just take wet wipes, ride until I’m tired, sleep somewhere hidden, and enjoy a few beers along the way.

[felstedrider]

I've changed my mind.   I was thinking I'll be at Pock the 2nd time circa 6pm Fri and don't want to waste daylight so I've cancelled The Motel and booked in at Glews Premier Inn.   I'm a bit more confident getting in and out of Premier Inns as they are bike friendly and there's loads of eating options on site.   It will make Saturday's ride a bit shorter and I can make a slightly later start.

[tippers_kiwi]

I've changed my mind.   I was thinking I'll be at Pock the 2nd time circa 6pm Fri and don't want to waste daylight so I've cancelled The Motel and booked in at Glews Premier Inn.   I'm a bit more confident getting in and out of Premier Inns as they are bike friendly and there's loads of eating options on site.   It will make Saturday's ride a bit shorter and I can make a slightly later start.

Damn you

That had not even crossed my mind. It's a pretty flat ~30k from my Travelodge in York back to Glews. I've just updated my booking for 2 nights which works really well in addition, saves me a few quid and My 'plan' had me arriving at 6pm so should still get in with time for a good rest and slightly later start.

[FifeingEejit]

Glews x2 makes a lot of sense to me, it's just, even if I manage 15hr 300, that's a 3am arrival and having to phone them after 3...
I've been scoping out fields for ninja naps, which is fine if it's dry, and probably more comfortable than on the tar at Kinbrace station, potential problem there is that the Hairst has started here (and is a bit of a disaster) so presumably the Harvest has started down Lincolnshire by September?
MY scoping out bus shelters hasn't revealed much.

[yanto]

potential problem there is that the Hairst has started here (and is a bit of a disaster) so presumably the Harvest has started down Lincolnshire by September?
MY scoping out bus shelters hasn't revealed much.

I would say harvest is 90% - 95% complete already down Lincolnshire way, they've been at it for nearly a month now. Plenty of bivvy spots with the mice and rats 

[FifeingEejit]

potential problem there is that the Hairst has started here (and is a bit of a disaster) so presumably the Harvest has started down Lincolnshire by September?
MY scoping out bus shelters hasn't revealed much.

I would say harvest is 90% - 95% complete already down Lincolnshire way, they've been at it for nearly a month now. Plenty of bivvy spots with the mice and rats 

Ah I have things the wrong way round, I thought harvest was after ours cos it's warmer, and sunnier and drier later, but that just means stuff grows faster and therefore ready earlier.
Sorted for beasties, mice and rats

A 2nd night shower would be nice though.

[Nick]

I think I'm going to try to get home on Saturday night.   I can then ride the 10m to Witham Sunday morning to check in and have a chat.

I think I'll be at my hotel near York at a decent time on Friday so can go to bed early and leave quite early on Saturday.   It does mean riding straight through Thursday night.

This has crossed my mind as well. I've made Flex bookings so if I get a good kip Friday night and make good progress Saturday morning I might well skip the Peterborough sleep.

Based on my 'PLAN' (I used the word much more loosely than this looks) I would only be there for 4 hours with a 01:00 start so it feels as if it has definite potential.

Also, there is a guy from Colchester Rovers making an Eversting attempt on North Hill in Baddow on the  27th/28th so I'd love to get back and give him some support...and see if I can make it up there after the 1,000km 

I like your Spot setup - is that expensive?