Well, I'm pleased to report that all VC167 riders finished within time, though Steve's epic lanterne rouge ride, bouncing along at the time limit from Robin Hood's Bay to the finish, was maybe cutting it a bit fine.
I'll have to have a think and sort out the few photos I took (a Mars Bar-lens interface kinda spoilt it), but my planning and preparation all worked, and in the end, local knowledge had a huge effect on our success. I commented that there weren't too many local riders, as most of 'em weren't daft enough to enter or were wise enough to DNS, but on the ride, we knew what to expect and where the good cafes were and so on. And we'd all experienced worse conditions on the same roads!
Many commiserations to those who DNF'd - those showers were a bit grim, and the start of day 2 was an absolute bastard. It took us 7 hours to cover the 90 km to Hexham. It did eventually get better, but only after 50 miles of headwinds from Kielder to Lockerbie.
Many thanks to Mr Corless for putting on a special event. If he does put it on again next year, I'll happily volunteer to help out (and point and laugh).