Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => Audax => Topic started by: pioto on 02 August, 2013, 08:29:25 pm
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What did you see or hear of on your way to Edinburgh and back?
For me it was a quite unspectacular event in terms of "no major problems". Very much enjoyed the ride, even though I missed out on Hummers's beer seminar.
Here's what I heard of:
A French rider lost one pedal, I think while riding his bike. It fell off the crank and flew into high grass next to the road. Poor guy apparently had Speedplay pedals, special system and very small. He couldn't find the damned pedal. After a while he gave up and contacted the next bike store, which only carried standard (Look?) pedals. He ended up buying new shoes and pedals in order to not DNF. Must have been about 150-200k before the finish line. I asked him how much shoes and pedals cost. He just answered "please don't ask".... The same guy was very lucky to 1) not fall off his bike and 2) break his rear wheel when the rain jacket got into the rear wheel thoroughly (I happened to see that personally).
This story is nowhere near the one with the Canadian on his way to Paris (PBP2011), who thought he'd already been in Brest, but in fact had only made it to the stop before Brest and accidentally went left instead of turning to the right side towards Brest. When he was told that one stamp is missing, it was too late for a second try, so he rode back to Paris.
Would love to hear of some more stories of this kind. There must be dozens around.
PS. In Pocklington "One flew over the cuckoo's nest" was shown on TV on my way back. Don't know whether it was a video or a TV rerun. Had to smile when I saw Mancini say: "I'm tired and it's a lot of baloney", because I felt the same way and a few other real-life lunatics were around as well.
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At Barnard Castle, a French rider exploring the menu with a kitchen volunteer and translating for his friend:
French rider: "What is this?"
Kitchen volunteer: "It's beef with vegetables."
French rider: "Boeuf et legumes. And this?"
Kitchen volunteer: "That's cassoulet."
Both French riders: "British cassoulet?"
Kitchen volunteer, patiently explaining cassoulet to Frenchmen: "It's like a bean stew."
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The rider wearing a jersey sponsored by the German regional savings bank Sparkasse Neunkirchen. The jersey design features the slogan "Gut für die Region" ("Good for the region"). Anglophone riders of a certain age might be less keen on a jersey with "Gut" stretched in large letters across the area prone to middle-aged spread.
Pictorial evidence:
(http://24.media.tumblr.com/9e4e89b55fe9bf2b142c4d915fb2d2dd/tumblr_mqolu8IfWQ1qcrp8no1_1280.jpg)
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- Getting hit in the face by a bat while on the road to Moffat in the dark.
- Lifting Peter's trike over the central reservation barriers of the A15 (road over the Humber Bridge) to get to the southbound lane. And then later back again when we missed the junction (it was about 3am).
- Passing Drew setting himself up for a snooze on a verge after Market Rasen: it was a very methodical and practised setting everything out: his bike, himself, his phone for the alarm, all aligned and spaced properly.
- Whisky and porridge at Traquair: the rumours are true :thumbsup:
- Attempting to bunny-hop cattle grids at speed (after Traquair).
- Diverting to a third bag-drop at home in Cambridge on the penultimate leg to drop off unneeded gear and being ordered into the shower (alone) because of the smell and my entire kit getting a quick laundry cycle ... and actually making up a small amount of time ;D
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The French rider who told me the highlight for him was riding a stage with John Spooner.
He was happy to have ridden it slower than he would otherwise hae done just to be with the legend himself, and was clearly intending to dine out on the tale when he got back to his club mates.
In all corners of the world do they speak his name with awe...
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Farts. We heard a lot of farts.
I'm looking at YOU DrMekon! ;D
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Farts. We heard a lot of farts.
I'm looking at YOU DrMekon! ;D
Our ride soundtrack:
"sorry"
pbfft.
Repeat 1/km
;D
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You still hold the timing record though.
Perfect fart/cattle-grid synchronisation :thumbsup:
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The controllers at Market Raisen trying to stifle their giggles (and failing) as I left the sleeping room at 1am in my special sleeping pants.
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Farts. We heard a lot of farts.
I'm looking at YOU DrMekon! ;D
Try attending an AUK Reunion in a wheelchair (or maybe not!)
The nose is at bum level of the standing AUK :sick:
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Chris S timing his perfect pitch wind for precisely the moment a dapper gentlemen emerged from the Haslingfield village shop.
The exploding deer was amazing - could not have been closer for Chris S and Boab, which would have taken out the tandem train. Equally, was amazing to look around and see Mark, Gadget and Jordan not covered in entrails, given I was showered with headlight and bumper shrapnel.
My own flatulence was perfectly normal, and needs no comment.
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Farts. We heard a lot of farts.
I'm looking at YOU DrMekon! ;D
Our ride soundtrack:
"sorry"
pbfft.
Repeat 1/km
;D
Over time we developed a great system with enough time between "sorry" and fart to allow for a sideways dodge.
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1-spotting the first rider about to go back over Yad Moss when I had just gone over it northbound! So already 400 k ahead of me.
2- Stopped at the large Sainsburys garage between Kirton and St Ives I overheard a rider telling someone else that due to tiredness they had got to St Ives to find they had missed out the Kirton control so had gone back to Kirton and were on their way south for a second time.an extra 160k!
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I found a newt.
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I was surprised by the owner of the newsagents in the small village in Terrington in the Howardian Hills, when I stopped to get a coke and he asked my cut off time to get back to London.
He had been tweeting photos and comments about the event to others in the village including this one (https://twitter.com/Terringtonian/status/362610392398180352/photo/1) featuring j cloths, marigolds and frozen peas.
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I was surprised by the owner of the newsagents in the small village in Terrington in the Howardian Hills, when I stopped to get a coke and he asked my cut off time to get back to London.
He had been tweeting photos and comments about the event to others in the village including this one (https://twitter.com/Terringtonian/status/362610392398180352/photo/1) featuring j cloths, marigolds and frozen peas.
We have a winner!
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I got flagged down by two French-speaking riders upon leaving two different controls in the dark on two different days, both of whom had ridden past the control and had realised their possible error 3km or so up the road. "Have we passed the control?"
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Day 2 was surreal, we kept passing lone cyclists standing at the side of the road gazing into the distance
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Riding with a group of 5 Japanese riders. I picked them up on the ride from Kirton to St Ives. They were pleased that I knew a few words. We stopped at a cafe about half way through the stage for coffee and ice cream in a tea shop. I sat on the front and kept my speed down a little to hold the group intact. Because the pace was moderate but faster than the solo riders we caught, the group grew and grew on the way to St Ives. It grew to about 20-30. One of the Japanese riders took turns on the front as well as a Danish rider in an older PBP top and later a British guy who we caught. We caught one group on the fenland drain road but they didn't speed up to join ours, they were sitting at 20kph.
After some time we caught a group at Kings Ripton. Inititially our group just sat on the back but this group was the same size as ours so I made a break in attempt to split the group, breaking from the middle and dragging some riders with me. It was lovely to have company for the whole stage and the Japanese riders in particular were great value. Could have gone a fair bit faster but the group riding made the stage much more fun. :)
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Dogging is alive and well around the lanes of Malton :o
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Dogging is alive and well around the lanes of Malton :o
Not in Yorkshire, surely!
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More scary than funny (although my wife thought it was hilarious) was on the way back to Market Rasen heading south I got to the top of the never ending climb in the dark and in the rain (Wednesday night) and my batteries went in my front light so I pulled over to change batteries and realised my rear light battery also needed replacing. Getting out my "emergency torch" (a cheap led hand-held, like a maglite) I searched in my Carradice and was dumbfounded to only find 2 aa batteries whereas I was sure I'd carried enough to replace everything. I rationalised this in my fatigue in that I must have miscalculated as I'd had to replace the 2 batteries in my Garmin earlier that day. So having to adapt I replaced the rear light battery and did the last 5 miles (mostly a very slow decent) with my hand held torch held in my mouth! Probably the scariest 15-20 mins of riding in my life-so imagine my lack of amusement when after a sleep at Market Rasen I remembered I'd put all my new spare batteries from my bag drop in a waterproof bag along with my "emergency phone" ( my works Blackberry)-and I'd actually taken that bag out of my Carradice when searching for batteries and put in back not thinking about what was in it. I'd love a photo of my decent with the torch in my mouth and likely a look of terror on my face! Fortunately the photo doesn't exist though as the only people I saw all the way to the checkpoint were 2 other cyclists who flew past me on my crawl down the hill.
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I met my brother on the northbound ascent of Yad Moss at High Force. He knew I was riding but
- He was on holiday with his family
- He had no access to the rider tracking
- He had no idea of the route
He saw some bikes outside the hotel with the LEL numbers on, and had just tried ringing my parents for an estimate of where I was (They were out). He was roadside for ~5 minutes, and I met him!
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Two stories with third party idiots staffing the Market Rasen control
On the way up they were doing fish and chips. a yank before me asked a bad tempered and rude 'head chef' if there was any tomato sauce
'are you taking the piss? if you want tomato sauce, go down the road to the shop and fucking buy some'
we met at a later control and yank pointed out that every other control had tomato sauce, even those not serving fish and chips
and Market Rasen South, the same outfit had no hot food at 4.30am, only muesli and bread, a bad tempered second chef grudgingly agreed to cook a plate of scrambled eggs only when asked to and did it one plate at a time when asked, when I was a minute late coming to collect mine he told me he was very busy and didn't have time for time wasters
it was so ludicrous, he was doing nothing other than chat to the other kitchen staff, that I could only solemnly thank him, there were loads of riders still there and they were doing absolutely nothing about making anything for then
MR and Pockington were noticeably substandard regarding food and attitude because they used professional caters at least in part, Pockington had only a sausage and an egg on a side plate, dried under a heat lamp with a dish of dodgy pasta, lukewarm on top and cold at bottom, and their orange squash was rank
no better on the return after getting cold and wet in the rain they served lukewarm food, no pudding and had the aircon for unfathomable reasons
the other controls were all anything between good and splendid with lovely volunteers, Kirton for me, all home cooked food from some very cheerful and encouraging catering students
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oh and I was told of a rider going direct from Brampton to Traquair following his gps, to be asked where all his missing stamps were
and a friend picked up another rider who was a bit lost a mile out from Barnard Castle, to be asked 45 minutes of going quick over hillls, 'how far to the control?' and an oath when the friend said 50km, the slightly lost chap was heading for Barnard Castle when slightly lost
So and extra 75km for him, said friend said e hadn;t arrived at the next control in time
For a ride as huge as that some riders seemed very casual regarding navigation and time planning, I'm wondering about DNF and packs, we saw a lot of riders already struggling on day one
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On Thursday I was helping at Loughton by handing back the dropbags to the riders. One rider, who'd finished & wanted his bags back, handed me his brevet card to confirm they were his bags. I pointed out to said rider he should hand his brevet card to the team for validation. But he couldn't as he'd ridden from St. Ives back to Loughton via the northbound route, thereby missing out Gt. Easton, so no validation for him. Oops. I guess if he's really wanted the ride validated he could have ridden Loughton > Gt. Easton > Loughton and he'd have still been within time as it wasn't that late.
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Two stories with third party idiots staffing the Market Rasen control
On the way up they were doing fish and chips. a yank before me asked a bad tempered and rude 'head chef' if there was any tomato sauce
'are you taking the piss? if you want tomato sauce, go down the road to the shop and fucking buy some'
we met at a later control and yank pointed out that every other control had tomato sauce, even those not serving fish and chips
and Market Rasen South, the same outfit had no hot food at 4.30am, only muesli and bread, a bad tempered second chef grudgingly agreed to cook a plate of scrambled eggs only when asked to and did it one plate at a time when asked, when I was a minute late coming to collect mine he told me he was very busy and didn't have time for time wasters
it was so ludicrous, he was doing nothing other than chat to the other kitchen staff, that I could only solemnly thank him, there were loads of riders still there and they were doing absolutely nothing about making anything for then
MR and Pockington were noticeably substandard regarding food and attitude because they used professional caters at least in part, Pockington had only a sausage and an egg on a side plate, dried under a heat lamp with a dish of dodgy pasta, lukewarm on top and cold at bottom, and their orange squash was rank
no better on the return after getting cold and wet in the rain they served lukewarm food, no pudding and had the aircon for unfathomable reasons
the other controls were all anything between good and splendid with lovely volunteers, Kirton for me, all home cooked food from some very cheerful and encouraging catering students
Also noticed an incident with the MR chef creature. At the point where you picked up a tray there was a permanent sign saying something with pasta. The sign had a LEL-specific one put over the permanent school one. But one could still clearly read pasta. A foreign rider politely asked for pasta. The chef more or less shouted we don't have any f*ing pasta. Only toast. And then he went on and told his fellow volunteer you really must cover that f*ing pasta sign, people are giving me the p*ss about f*cking pasta. Very unfortunate that kind of thing would happen... >:(
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The French rider who told me the highlight for him was riding a stage with John Spooner.
He was happy to have ridden it slower than he would otherwise hae done just to be with the legend himself, and was clearly intending to dine out on the tale when he got back to his club mates.
In all corners of the world do they speak his name with awe...
If it's the same chap, what actually thrilled him was meeting Drew Buck and yours truly on the same day. Otherwise mostly true.
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I was accompanied on my journey by a Minion (Tom) which was given to me by a friend. This is Tom being scared by the showers in Market Rasen.
(http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii182/Evilchuffy/Showers-MktRn.jpg)
En-route I found another Minion by the roadside, so I had to stop to collect him
(http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii182/Evilchuffy/Chomper-Brampton.jpg)
Together they invaded Scotland.
(http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii182/Evilchuffy/MinioninvasionofScotland.jpg)
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Ended up in a group of ten or so just as we rolled off the Humber bridge, riding along the first road off the cyclepath we spearated into a seven and a trailing three (I was in the latter group), maybe 10 metres between the two groups at most.
Heard a rolling crack-crack-crack, I thought it was fireworks (at silly o'clock), suddenly a rather large bough of a tree fell down into the road between the two groups, managed to swerve around it without taking out anyone/being taken out but it was rather close, would only had to have fallen a second in either direction to have squished someone. :o
We even circled back to check no-one was under it it was that close.
Definitely woke us all up for a bit.
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The exploding deer was amazing - could not have been closer for Chris S and Boab, which would have taken out the tandem train. Equally, was amazing to look around and see Mark, Gadget and Jordan not covered in entrails, given I was showered with headlight and bumper shrapnel.
The exploding deer incident was indeed, bloody scary. We all needed some moments to calm ourselves afterwards.
It was all so fast. I never even made any kind of move to the brake levers - there just wasn't time - one instant, there was road ahead, the next moment there was a bloody great deer - leaping left to right in front of me, close enough to make eye-contact with me. Then
BANG!
as it was hit square on by the oncoming car doing (probably) 40 or 50mph. The carcass then flew past fboab, before skidding along the road narrowly missing the last rider in the train. How none of us was hit by deer, bits of deer, or impaled on bits of flying car-fragments, is anyone's guess.
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Was the driver okay?
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I bet you got an adrenalin rush from that.
AIUI it's sometimes a brownish colour?
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The exploding deer was amazing - could not have been closer for Chris S and Boab, which would have taken out the tandem train. Equally, was amazing to look around and see Mark, Gadget and Jordan not covered in entrails, given I was showered with headlight and bumper shrapnel.
The exploding deer incident was indeed, bloody scary. We all needed some moments to calm ourselves afterwards.
It was all so fast. I never even made any kind of move to the brake levers - there just wasn't time - one instant, there was road ahead, the next moment there was a bloody great deer - leaping left to right in front of me, close enough to make eye-contact with me. Then
BANG!
as it was hit square on by the oncoming car doing (probably) 40 or 50mph. The carcass then flew past fboab, before skidding along the road narrowly missing the last rider in the train. How none of us was hit by deer, bits of deer, or impaled on bits of flying car-fragments, is anyone's guess.
From the various descriptions, this does indeed sound like a flipping scary incident. I am sure many of us have had deer leap out in front of us, but to then have the thing obliterated on the other side of the road, it just really doesn't bear thinking about the potential consequences.
Bloody glad you all made it out of that scrape in one piece.
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Was the driver okay?
Undoubtedly. We didn't stop. I thought afterward, "Perhaps we should have stopped." - I even said as much to the others, but we were all so shaken up - we just kind of rode on, on auto-pilot. I said to boab "We've just been involved in an accident, shouldn't we stop?" to which she replied "Involved how?".
Typing this now, I'm once again filled with the thought that we should have stopped. But at the time, all I could think was "Blimey, that was close".
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(http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii182/Evilchuffy/Chomper-Brampton.jpg)
I've got that Simpsons jersey too... Although I haven't quite had the courage to wear it out of doors yet!
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I am sure many of us have had deer leap out in front of us,
Mine was May,2009: Southbound down Glen Garry.
Close enough to be almost wearing it's horns on my barbag.
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Was the driver okay?
Undoubtedly. We didn't stop. I thought afterward, "Perhaps we should have stopped." - I even said as much to the others, but we were all so shaken up - we just kind of rode on, on auto-pilot. I said to boab "We've just been involved in an accident, shouldn't we stop?" to which she replied "Involved how?".
Typing this now, I'm once again filled with the thought that we should have stopped. But at the time, all I could think was "Blimey, that was close".
Adrenaline doing the thinking, no doubt. Which is probably a good reason for stopping, in itself (at least when there's traffic and stuff to deal with). Glad it wasn't more serious, anyway.
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The exploding deer was amazing - could not have been closer for Chris S and Boab, which would have taken out the tandem train. Equally, was amazing to look around and see Mark, Gadget and Jordan not covered in entrails, given I was showered with headlight and bumper shrapnel.
The exploding deer incident was indeed, bloody scary. We all needed some moments to calm ourselves afterwards.
It was all so fast. I never even made any kind of move to the brake levers - there just wasn't time - one instant, there was road ahead, the next moment there was a bloody great deer - leaping left to right in front of me, close enough to make eye-contact with me. Then
BANG!
as it was hit square on by the oncoming car doing (probably) 40 or 50mph. The carcass then flew past fboab, before skidding along the road narrowly missing the last rider in the train. How none of us was hit by deer, bits of deer, or impaled on bits of flying car-fragments, is anyone's guess.
Gah, you could have taken it to the next control - waste of good food ;)
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On my return trip I used a washroom reserved for disabled people (at Barnard Castle I think). On entering the room I noticed the previous user had not flushed. I flushed. And then all hell broke loose as a bidet emerged and sprayed a geiser so high it hit the ceiling! I cleaned the toilet seat up and used the toilet while having to endure "rain" dripping on me from above. On my leaving the washroom a Frenchman entered. I told him "Whatever you do, you MUST close the lid when flushing! He kind of brusquely replied with a grunt. And so I repeated the warning, pointed to the dripping ceiling and said BIDET! Then he understood and we shared a laugh. :)
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Riding across the border into Scotland with a French rider named Bruno. Nothing remarkable in that, but I couldn't help reminding him that just after the Humber Bridge he'd asked me if we were still in England.
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Rode across the border to Scotland with a German chap, Frank I believe. He didn't understand why I started laughing. But the timing of a rainshower exactly as we crossed the border line was just too amusing. Welcome to Scotland eh?
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Two stories with third party idiots staffing the Market Rasen control
On the way up they were doing fish and chips. a yank before me asked a bad tempered and rude 'head chef' if there was any tomato sauce
'are you taking the piss? if you want tomato sauce, go down the road to the shop and fucking buy some'
we met at a later control and yank pointed out that every other control had tomato sauce, even those not serving fish and chips
and Market Rasen South, the same outfit had no hot food at 4.30am, only muesli and bread, a bad tempered second chef grudgingly agreed to cook a plate of scrambled eggs only when asked to and did it one plate at a time when asked, when I was a minute late coming to collect mine he told me he was very busy and didn't have time for time wasters
it was so ludicrous, he was doing nothing other than chat to the other kitchen staff, that I could only solemnly thank him, there were loads of riders still there and they were doing absolutely nothing about making anything for then
MR and Pockington were noticeably substandard regarding food and attitude because they used professional caters at least in part, Pockington had only a sausage and an egg on a side plate, dried under a heat lamp with a dish of dodgy pasta, lukewarm on top and cold at bottom, and their orange squash was rank
no better on the return after getting cold and wet in the rain they served lukewarm food, no pudding and had the aircon for unfathomable reasons
the other controls were all anything between good and splendid with lovely volunteers, Kirton for me, all home cooked food from some very cheerful and encouraging catering students
Also noticed an incident with the MR chef creature. At the point where you picked up a tray there was a permanent sign saying something with pasta. The sign had a LEL-specific one put over the permanent school one. But one could still clearly read pasta. A foreign rider politely asked for pasta. The chef more or less shouted we don't have any f*ing pasta. Only toast. And then he went on and told his fellow volunteer you really must cover that f*ing pasta sign, people are giving me the p*ss about f*cking pasta. Very unfortunate that kind of thing would happen... >:(
Was it this chap in post 2?
https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=74537.0
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Two stories with third party idiots staffing the Market Rasen control
On the way up they were doing fish and chips. a yank before me asked a bad tempered and rude 'head chef' if there was any tomato sauce
'are you taking the piss? if you want tomato sauce, go down the road to the shop and fucking buy some'
we met at a later control and yank pointed out that every other control had tomato sauce, even those not serving fish and chips
and Market Rasen South, the same outfit had no hot food at 4.30am, only muesli and bread, a bad tempered second chef grudgingly agreed to cook a plate of scrambled eggs only when asked to and did it one plate at a time when asked, when I was a minute late coming to collect mine he told me he was very busy and didn't have time for time wasters
it was so ludicrous, he was doing nothing other than chat to the other kitchen staff, that I could only solemnly thank him, there were loads of riders still there and they were doing absolutely nothing about making anything for then
MR and Pockington were noticeably substandard regarding food and attitude because they used professional caters at least in part, Pockington had only a sausage and an egg on a side plate, dried under a heat lamp with a dish of dodgy pasta, lukewarm on top and cold at bottom, and their orange squash was rank
no better on the return after getting cold and wet in the rain they served lukewarm food, no pudding and had the aircon for unfathomable reasons
the other controls were all anything between good and splendid with lovely volunteers, Kirton for me, all home cooked food from some very cheerful and encouraging catering students
Also noticed an incident with the MR chef creature. At the point where you picked up a tray there was a permanent sign saying something with pasta. The sign had a LEL-specific one put over the permanent school one. But one could still clearly read pasta. A foreign rider politely asked for pasta. The chef more or less shouted we don't have any f*ing pasta. Only toast. And then he went on and told his fellow volunteer you really must cover that f*ing pasta sign, people are giving me the p*ss about f*cking pasta. Very unfortunate that kind of thing would happen... >:(
Was it this chap in post 2?
https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=74537.0
yep
guys got issues, he's being paid to do a job and he didn't do it, he was standing around doing jack shit while tired and hungry people wanted exactly the thing he'd been hired to do, and all he did was give bad attitude like it was about him and not them
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Two stories with third party idiots staffing the Market Rasen control
On the way up they were doing fish and chips. a yank before me asked a bad tempered and rude 'head chef' if there was any tomato sauce
'are you taking the piss? if you want tomato sauce, go down the road to the shop and fucking buy some'
we met at a later control and yank pointed out that every other control had tomato sauce, even those not serving fish and chips
and Market Rasen South, the same outfit had no hot food at 4.30am, only muesli and bread, a bad tempered second chef grudgingly agreed to cook a plate of scrambled eggs only when asked to and did it one plate at a time when asked, when I was a minute late coming to collect mine he told me he was very busy and didn't have time for time wasters
it was so ludicrous, he was doing nothing other than chat to the other kitchen staff, that I could only solemnly thank him, there were loads of riders still there and they were doing absolutely nothing about making anything for then
MR and Pockington were noticeably substandard regarding food and attitude because they used professional caters at least in part, Pockington had only a sausage and an egg on a side plate, dried under a heat lamp with a dish of dodgy pasta, lukewarm on top and cold at bottom, and their orange squash was rank
no better on the return after getting cold and wet in the rain they served lukewarm food, no pudding and had the aircon for unfathomable reasons
the other controls were all anything between good and splendid with lovely volunteers, Kirton for me, all home cooked food from some very cheerful and encouraging catering students
Actually we used independent professional caterers at Kirton too. And St Ives and Brampton. It was actually the school that catered at Pocklington, as they did at Edinburgh, Thirsk and Moffat too.
I completely take on board comments about Vincent at Market Rasen. His behaviour at Market Rasen was totally unacceptable, in particular his treatment of our volunteers and his own staff. We will not be using his services again. Apologies to anyone who was on the receiving end of his abusive language. If it's any consolation, I got a few stroppy stares that I'm sure would have been barrages of abuse if I wasn't the person paying him at the end.
I don't accept your description of the other chef as an 'idiot'. He was an incredibly hard-working and good-natured chap whom I gave a generous tip for enduring a constant barrage of abuse from Vincent. He was also under the cosh because the third chef had to be sent home for drunkenness. Any grumpiness after catering for 850 riders over 18 hours is unfortunate but understandable.
How did it get to this stage? We were let down by the school's caterers. Having originally agreed to cater for us, in April they suddenly became incredibly obstructive, asking for £30-40,000 to manage the event. With no contacts or experience in recruiting freelancers, we had to scramble to pull a team together. What worked at Kirton and Brampton was not as successful here. And while nearly every rider got fed very well (roast dinners, fish and chips), breakfast service could have been much better. I suspect a better chef team would have pulled something better out of the hat.
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Tynan,
I'm very sorry for what happened at those controls, and all feedback is welcome, even the bad stuff. But is this the place?
"Nice/funny/strange" ? :(
Perhaps it was strange because everyone else at MR and Pocklington was so marvellous? :)
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Was the driver okay?
Undoubtedly. We didn't stop. I thought afterward, "Perhaps we should have stopped." - I even said as much to the others, but we were all so shaken up - we just kind of rode on, on auto-pilot. I said to boab "We've just been involved in an accident, shouldn't we stop?" to which she replied "Involved how?".
Typing this now, I'm once again filled with the thought that we should have stopped. But at the time, all I could think was "Blimey, that was close".
you should stopped and checked. I stopped when Peter and Alan had their accident: i found out today it involved broken ribs and a head wound (which i could see), but the visceral need of both riders to continue was utterly inspiring and had me in tears at the time and then racing off to complete within time in spite of the time spent with them the police and the paramedics! (both riders will be okay in time, nothing permanent)
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no criticism of the orgs from me, promise, it was all great and I utterly appreciated all the hard work that clearly had gone into everything
I've posted a few things that struck me on the ride, that I think came under strange, nowt as strange as folk and all that
as for 'idiot' he did say what he said to a rider who politely asked for tomato sauce to go with fish and chips, I appreciate he might have had a tough day but that's his job and to say that to a 'customer' that's tired and hungry and perfectly civil would be actionable in most professions
cooks that are rude to hungry people that they're being paid to feed is an odd one for me
anyway, observations not criticisms
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I was surprised by the owner of the newsagents in the small village in Terrington in the Howardian Hills, when I stopped to get a coke and he asked my cut off time to get back to London.
He had been tweeting photos and comments about the event to others in the village including this one (https://twitter.com/Terringtonian/status/362610392398180352/photo/1) featuring j cloths, marigolds and frozen peas.
I took an identical picture, it was an Irish guy his Achilles were on fire!
He put frozen peas in marigold gloves and bound them to his Achilles with jay cloths and tape.
My left one flared up and he gave me some gel for it later in the ride.
The newsagent was brilliant, he me gave a leaflet detailing the TDF route for next year, boasting that there would be no potholes. He was also talking about putting camp beds in the village hall to accommodate people wishing to watch the Tour as York is completely booked up.
His customers felt miffed they'd not been told about LEL, they loved it and seemed to want to be somehow involved.
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One of my best moments was just after Thirsk northbound. I had slept and left reasonably early Monday morning.
You climb a short hill and then there is a racetrack next to you.
As I went along the road, 4 beautiful racehorses were being put through their paces.
The noise of horses galloping is something else.
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no criticism of the orgs from me, promise, it was all great and I utterly appreciated all the hard work that clearly had gone into everything
I've posted a few things that struck me on the ride, that I think came under strange, nowt as strange as folk and all that
okey-doke, let's leave it be. :thumbsup:
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Was the driver okay?
Undoubtedly. We didn't stop. I thought afterward, "Perhaps we should have stopped." - I even said as much to the others, but we were all so shaken up - we just kind of rode on, on auto-pilot. I said to boab "We've just been involved in an accident, shouldn't we stop?" to which she replied "Involved how?".
Typing this now, I'm once again filled with the thought that we should have stopped. But at the time, all I could think was "Blimey, that was close".
you should stopped and checked. I stopped when Peter and Alan had their accident: i found out today it involved broken ribs and a head wound (which i could see), but the visceral need of both riders to continue was utterly inspiring and had me in tears at the time and then racing off to complete within time in spite of the time spent with them the police and the paramedics! (both riders will be okay in time, nothing permanent)
We were in a train doing evens. We slowed enough to check everyone was still alive/with us/ not covered in entrails but by the time we thought about checking on the car (which was going the other way at the head of a stream of traffic) we were probably a mile away.
I'm ashamed to say if it had been a cyclist we probably would have stopped and checked on them, twigged sooner it was a person and not just a vehicle vs animal.
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I think as the car was part of a stream of traffic (rather than on it's lonesome which is what I thought at first) you're ok then. Someone stopping in a car is going to be far more equipped to help anyway.
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as for 'idiot' he did say what he said to a rider who politely asked for tomato sauce to go with fish and chips, I appreciate he might have had a tough day but that's his job and to say that to a 'customer' that's tired and hungry and perfectly civil would be actionable in most professions.
You're mixing your chefs up. Vincent was the one shouting at riders about ketchup, which was an idiotic thing to do. The other chef was, for the most part, unfailingly polite to everyone.
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I don't know if it was the same one but the guy I saw both times seemed like a top bloke.
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I did most of the return leg from Thirsk to Pocklington with a rider called Dan, who I think occasionally reads these pages. He rang his wife while we ate at Pocklington. He also had a chat with his daughter, and looked a bit less cheered by that. He told me later that she'd said, "Dad, some people have already finished this ride and other people have decided to pack, so what are you doing still out there?". A career beckons in motivational coaching.
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The strangest incident was trying to sleep during the very hot night before the prologue. It was hot and airless in the YH, so I went outside to sleep under the porch. I was half asleep when I felt something on my toes. I sat up with a start, to see a fox - it bolted off and I'm not sure who was more surprised! Presumably it thought I was a pile of rubbish and might contain something edible.
The most impressive thing I saw was in the darkness as we headed north - somewhere in the Pennines I think. One of the Polish riders in the red and white kit was at the side of the road tinkering with his bike. I pulled over and asked if he was OK. He musn't have had much English, because he just pointed at his busted derailleur and said in a thick Eastern European accent "I make singlespeed". I checked he had a chain splitter and left him, full of admiration that he could do the job in the dark. Some folk would have just bemoaned their misfortune and called the cavalry - this chap was like the proverbial 'irresistible force'. Top man.
I was also the last rider through when the tree split and fell after the Humber bridge - it reminded me of some of the noises you get climbing in the Alps before a 'bad thing' happens. I was convinced that there was going to be trouble and was extremely relieved to see that nobody was under it.
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Actually we used independent professional caterers at Kirton too. And St Ives and Brampton. It was actually the school that catered at Pocklington, as they did at Edinburgh, Thirsk and Moffat too.
...
What worked at Kirton and Brampton was not as successful here.
Our three strong catering team at Brampton were superb - absolute stars.
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Our three strong catering team at Brampton were superb - absolute stars.
Same at Kirton - they worked like galley slaves and were unfailingly smiley people. At Kirton, much of the food was made in my local market and driven over by a couple of volunteers. This worked really well and it was a pleasure to sink a lot of your cash into local small businesses.
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Our three strong catering team at Brampton were superb - absolute stars.
Yeah, I remember standing in the queue talking to the guy who's day job is in a school in Workington. Very cheery & friendly.
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I chatted to a few volunteers. It is always worth it to make them feel appreciated. Especially if the previous rider was grumpy.
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Aye it was nice chatting with you Simon.It should be noted that you were chatting with my wife initially ;)
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Many people will have heard (even if not seen) the German tandem couple having one of their many rows. They started with a stand-up million-decibel domestic at registration, and were last heard having a go at each other as they left to return home yesterday. And they didn't let up on the ride itself. The tandem is powered by pure bicker.
Anyway, Bernd learnt yesterday that he is to be a grandfather, so congratulations, Opa Bernd!
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Many people will have heard (even if not seen) the German tandem couple having one of their many rows. They started with a stand-up million-decibel domestic at registration, and were last heard having a go at each other as they left to return home yesterday. And they didn't let up on the ride itself. The tandem is powered by pure bicker.
What were they arguing about??? We need to know!!
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They weren't always arguing. Some of the time the chap was just letting the barrage wash over him.
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Many people will have heard (even if not seen) the German tandem couple having one of their many rows. They started with a stand-up million-decibel domestic at registration, and were last heard having a go at each other as they left to return home yesterday. And they didn't let up on the ride itself. The tandem is powered by pure bicker.
What were they arguing about??? We need to know!!
Usually the tiniest thing. I've known them (especially Bernd) for a few years. Each of them came up to me individually and said in hushed tones things like "That woman's impossible - how long does it take to pack a rucksack?" or "he has no idea of teamwork - all I asked was for him to fill my bottle". At the finish I thanked Bernd for the entertainment they had provided.
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They weren't always arguing. Some of the time the chap was just letting the barrage wash over him.
Assuming he's on the front of the tandem, does that have the same effect as a tailwind?
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Many people will have heard (even if not seen) the German tandem couple having one of their many rows. They started with a stand-up million-decibel domestic at registration, and were last heard having a go at each other as they left to return home yesterday. And they didn't let up on the ride itself. The tandem is powered by pure bicker.
What were they arguing about??? We need to know!!
I was behind them at the start of the prologue. They had a very loud disagreement about which side of the road to ride on. No, really: he wanted to ride on the right (wrong) side so she could take pictures of the peleton. She disagreed, and didn't care who knew.
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At about 3am Wednesday Morning Brampton control.
'You need to put a notice on the disabled toilet to put the lid down before flushing, it has a built in bidet and the water hit the ceiling when I flushed it'
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as for 'idiot' he did say what he said to a rider who politely asked for tomato sauce to go with fish and chips, I appreciate he might have had a tough day but that's his job and to say that to a 'customer' that's tired and hungry and perfectly civil would be actionable in most professions.
You're mixing your chefs up. Vincent was the one shouting at riders about ketchup, which was an idiotic thing to do. The other chef was, for the most part, unfailingly polite to everyone.
I accept that, apologies, the taller chap was standing nearest when I was told the story and he did at the time look a bit moody, my bad
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Our three strong catering team at Brampton were superb - absolute stars.
Similarly, we had some of the school kitchen staff in Barney for a couple of the day shifts and they were absolutely brilliant. Helped to turn us motley crew of willing amateurs into halfway competent caterers and coped womanfully with the utter chaos that we were inflicting on their kitchen.
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Anybody else stop and buy a glass of fanta and a biscuit off the little stall run by three children between Kingston and Bourn ? brought a smile to my face especially the little girl ecstatically telling me they had made a whole £9:00 and the pop and biscuits had only cost £1:20 ;D
Paul
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Anybody else stop and buy a glass of fanta and a biscuit off the little stall run by three children between Kingston and Bourn ? brought a smile to my face especially the little girl ecstatically telling me they had made a whole £9:00 and the pop and biscuits had only cost £1:20 ;D
Paul
Lemonade and back currant when I went past, welcome in the heat.
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Somewhere in the middle of the route - it's all running together a bit already - I turned a corner and saw three folk on the roadside. They gave me a cheer, which was nice but not all that unusual, and then one of them held something up for me to take as I passed. It turned out to be a caramel waffle biscuit. I think they might have been friends of the Dutch rider I'd been chatting to earlier, who by that time was probably about 5 mins ahead of me. Gave me a real lift, it did.
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Many people will have heard (even if not seen) the German tandem couple having one of their many rows. They started with a stand-up million-decibel domestic at registration, and were last heard having a go at each other as they left to return home yesterday. And they didn't let up on the ride itself. The tandem is powered by pure bicker.
What were they arguing about??? We need to know!!
mmmartin OTP provided me with a running translation of their row on Friday morning at Loughton after the finish when it was raining.
It all rang very true, although with my limited knowledger of German I was not able to verify its veracity (especially when delivered at spped in such shrill tones)
This went on for some minutes of angry tones, tears, walking off in a huff, returnig to get a last word in ......before I commented to mmmartin that I was thoroughly impressed with his knowlwdge of German.
No, he said, he'd made it all up. In my sleep deprived state this was the absolute funniest thing I had ever heard, and I was still giggling to myself 20 minutes later when Maggie returned with the car.
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Somewhere in the middle of the route - it's all running together a bit already - I turned a corner and saw three folk on the roadside. They gave me a cheer, which was nice but not all that unusual, and then one of them held something up for me to take as I passed. It turned out to be a caramel waffle biscuit. I think they might have been friends of the Dutch rider I'd been chatting to earlier, who by that time was probably about 5 mins ahead of me. Gave me a real lift, it did.
This was turning left by the pub (on the right) heading south to Thirsk. Did same for us as well.
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yes, a nice thing
ditto the small children although they were on the wrong side of the road, although I can see that their parents wouldn't want to let them operate from the right side
the very odd time someone knew what we were all doing and called out good luck etc was very heartening
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Grumpy German Lady wants Coke. 'Sorry, no Coke. Shop just up the road'. 'Why no Coke? I pay for Coke'. Now much grumpier.
Ice-cream van appears. Brainwave - 'Don't let him leave until I've found the G.G.L. and alerted the fried inhabitants of the Starship Gt Easton'
G.G.L. now has ice cold Coke and is happy. Hugs me.
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the very odd time someone knew what we were all doing and called out good luck etc was very heartening
Very much this!
Boab loved it too. "Ooh Ooh, it's like PBP!"
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Anybody else stop and buy a glass of fanta and a biscuit off the little stall run by three children between Kingston and Bourn ?
I paid my 10p for a glass of lemonade and it made me smile for the rest of the day. Very sad they they were not still there for the return. No wonder the country is going downhill. No work ethic these youngsters. Just make a fast buck and then retire. I blame the investment bankers ;)
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I rather enjoyed the.perplexed double and triple takes as various riders realised that yes, ir was me again.
And found it highly amusing that a few french riders briefly thought I actually was french. That hasn't happened to me since I actually lived there many years ago. And even then.people assumed I was from.the Alsace or summat! They must have been tired :)
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Hey, I know you're not french and still did a double take as you discussed risotto and rice pudding options.
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I rather enjoyed the.perplexed double and triple takes as various riders realised that yes, ir was me again.
It was worse than that. You had a spell as my imaginary friend on the St. Ives - Great Easton leg, calculating average speeds required to get to GE before the cutoff. I think chillmoister may have put in a cameo appearance as well.
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German tandem fracas on Friday.
Given what happened later - I am fairly sure that it was a row about
- well you packed my stuff - so where the F*ck is it now?
No I didnt - you didnt take it on the ride.
Of course I bloody did - i always take it .... unpack your bags and find it
Why dont you unpack your bags and look properly - and while you are at it - just leave the bag over your head - not only would I not be able to hear you but looks wise it would be a great improvement too.
For Fucks sake - i have looked at your fat arse for 1400kms - and you have lost my xxxx - just get stuffed and sod off back to your wife too - while you are at it . You really are a useless tosser
Repeat 6 times - louder each time..
Ok so what was it that was lost -- well she came up to me 15 minutes later - when i was pretty busy trying to get japanese who spoke no English a taxi to bayswater - and she fairly politely asked about lost property at Loughton. Went on to explain - now almost in tears that she had lost a very special , very old , irreplaceable cycling skirt -- I momentarily wondered whether she rode side -saddle - but as i failed to jump to her command - and she was beginning to look ready for another MAJOR yelling row - I pointed her towards the lost property boxes - unfortunately they did not contain the missing garment -- and I am fairly sure that I was now classified as a brain dead toss pot - and the whole effing organisation of LEL was worse than useless.
She then departed.
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Perhaps the funniest row, in an endless series of rows, was when they finally tried to get the tandem out of the door at Loughton. There was a minor difficulty, as you would expect, in getting a long tandem with a couple of panniers thr ough a door. Leaving aside the issue of loading a tandem AFTER taking it through the doors, there was yet another slanging match.
I think they should be offered free entry to 2017 because of the great entertainment provided in 2013.
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Perhaps the funniest row, in an endless series of rows, was when they finally tried to get the tandem out of the door at Loughton. There was a minor difficulty, as you would expect, in getting a long tandem with a couple of panniers thr ough a door. Leaving aside the issue of loading a tandem AFTER taking it through the doors, there was yet another slanging match.
I think they should be offered free entry to 2017 because of the great entertainment provided in 2013.
I thought they were arguing about who should hold it up while he tried to pump up the tyres. I'm sure they are both lovely people.
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Are they actually a married couple and their whole day to day existence is like that?
i was impressed - I would not get away with treating Mrs FB in such a way in private - never mind in public, in front of 100 curious audaxers. We should have asked a German to translate, or Damon to film.
Now if they were the German couple who thought their tandem had been stolen - the row then must have been spectacularly explosive ( for those who are unaware - huge effort was put into finding a replacement tandem and then it turned out that the hotel had moved it somewhere else for security reasons)
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In Edinburgh I queued for one of the working toilets. After 20 mins we agreed to check progress,
guy in queue: knocked and asked if they were ok/going to be long?
Guy in loo: pardon?
Guy in queue: are you ok, and will you be long?
Guy in loo: I'm ok, thanks for checking - I'd fallen asleep
2 mins later guy in loo says, oh shit - there is no paper :facepalm: :sick:
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I thought this was funny on the return leg:
SO Ramsey St.Mary, Ramsey Heights
You had to be there!
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I take it Ramsey Heights is around the 10 metre contour line? (Can you find a contour line in that part of the world?)
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IIRC Ramsey height is about 3 metres. Just enough to get a boyracermobile nicely stuck when it veers off the road into the ditch. I assume the bulk of the many potholes are subsidence caused by the use of hefty tow trucks.
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In Edinburgh I queued for one of the working toilets. After 20 mins we agreed to check progress,
guy in queue: knocked and asked if they were ok/going to be long?
Guy in loo: pardon?
Guy in queue: are you ok, and will you be long?
Guy in loo: I'm ok, thanks for checking - I'd fallen asleep
2 mins later guy in loo says, oh shit - there is no paper :facepalm: :sick:
:like:
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Perhaps the funniest row, in an endless series of rows, was when they finally tried to get the tandem out of the door at Loughton. There was a minor difficulty, as you would expect, in getting a long tandem with a couple of panniers thr ough a door. Leaving aside the issue of loading a tandem AFTER taking it through the doors, there was yet another slanging match.
I think they should be offered free entry to 2017 because of the great entertainment provided in 2013.
I thought they were arguing about who should hold it up while he tried to pump up the tyres. I'm sure they are both lovely people.
Don't worry, they are :) And they've ridden numerous long rides together, including the 1200 at the start of July. Their specialism is losing each other in controls (not usually by accident). I'm actually impressed when they arrive at any control together.
Definitely a positive contribution to a ride, far better than silent happy people.
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On the return leg back to Brampton I was struggling to stay awake. Banksy had been ahead of me drawing some fantastic cartoons on the road, on the other hand it may have been the damp patches from the rain. However the most amazing thing was the small shoebox sized recumbent with green rear lights that undertook me, then disappeared. I suspect you could pay good money for drugs that would give a similar hallucinogenic experience.
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A classic car towing a caravan was dangerously overtaking cyclists in the hills near coxwold - he tried to pass me near the top of one blind summit just as a car crested the other way and they both hit the brakes and (luckily) stopped.
After that he could not get going again, revved hard, lots of smoke, a crunch of gears, and he rolled backwards. After a while I decided it was safe to pass, and politely shook my head at the driver who was getting redder and redder. No idea how he got going again...
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I take it Ramsey Heights is around the 10 metre contour line? (Can you find a contour line in that part of the world?)
Let's just say it was a big ring climb ;D
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I liked the bit, not too far into the ride, when the lady was shouting to riders... "Cambridge that way, Edinburgh this way".
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I liked the bit, not too far into the ride, when the lady was shouting to riders... "Cambridge that way, Edinburgh this way".
That was so the LEL riders didn't get mixed up with the London to Cambridge charity ride that was using the same section of road. We chuckled too :D
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In no particular order,
Getting an unexpected 4am face wash from that disabled bog where I did not put the seat down. Then finding myself having a Basil Faultyesque rant at said bog.
Being woken by a massively loud fart by a neighbour in the Brampton dorm, eventually leaving my pit early rather than face death by farts.
Eating the bestest porridge ever at Moffat. I had to have three bowls full just to be sure.
In the toilets at Traquair after consuming a couple of drams, waving my hands furiously about to start the hand drier only to realise after some considerable time, it was a paper towel machine.
Approaching Thirsk and finding a rider (Calvin McKensie ? )having trouble with his bottom bracket which was in mechanic speak 'shagged'. Being able to use local knowledge to direct him to Cowleys Cycles in Northallerton where the b/bkt was replaced in the time it took him to drink a coffee. Nice one Cowleys. ;D
Pub staff allowing me to eat my chippy bought fish and chips in the pub whilst having a pint at Stamford Bridge. The locals were very interested in LEL, having seen the coming and going of riders over the previous few days. Loads of praise and admiration from the pub punters subsequently leading to difficulty in donning casque.
Northbound at Kirton I complained to Gerry B that the dehydration notices had been placed far too high up. Gerry said he was still able to read them despite his limited stature. I said I could read them okay but couldn't piss high enough to compare the colour to the chart. A lady sat beside him was eating soup and did the food /nose snorting thing. I'd call that a result!
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;D
You had far too much fun- clearly not trying!
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I liked the bit, not too far into the ride, when the lady was shouting to riders... "Cambridge that way, Edinburgh this way".
That was so the LEL riders didn't get mixed up with the London to Cambridge charity ride that was using the same section of road. We chuckled too :D
In the early start before L2C had started there was a loud shout and a tandem screeched to a halt halfway down the hill thinking they had gone wrong, nearly causing a massive pile-up. We were thinking it would be utterly chaotic with 4000 L2C riders on the road later on.
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I started 9.45, and the section shared with the L2C riders was indeed chaotic. Three four people on mtn bikes etc riding abreast. People loking backwards swaying all over the road, fast race types motoring through the packs on the outside, dangerously close to meeting traffic. Was a big relief when the routes diverged. Then later they met again. Was thinking oh no, here we go again. But luckily they had a R@X after just 100m or so. Phew!
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One of my best moments was just after Thirsk northbound. I had slept and left reasonably early Monday morning.
You climb a short hill and then there is a racetrack next to you.
As I went along the road, 4 beautiful racehorses were being put through their paces.
The noise of horses galloping is something else.
Like a TdF moment?
I had similar but it involved cows.
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I had similar but it involved cows.
Do they race cows in France? You'll be telling me next they eat horses. It couldn't happen here, of course.
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Saw a velomobile attempting to get around the hairpin on the South bound decent to the Tees, seems the turning circle is somewhat lacking (fortunately he stopped safely). Had seen one the previous day going unbelievably fast down hill, but that road was much straighter.
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Saw a velomobile attempting to get around the hairpin on the South bound decent to the Tees, seems the turning circle is somewhat lacking (fortunately he stopped safely). Had seen one the previous day going unbelievably fast down hill, but that road was much straighter.
My brakes failed on that when I was a kid, and I used the handy escape route down the footpath towards Whorlton Lido ;D The gap's probably a bit too narrow for a rampant velomobile, though.
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On the last day, just after dawn, cycling along side the river just behind a Barn Owl that was out hunting, I followed and caught up with it
over about 4 - 500 meters.
It was such a beautiful moment. As I rode alongside it, it peeled off, away from me between two trees and off across the river.
I told other riders later on, at least two other groups had seen it.
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Saw a velomobile attempting to get around the hairpin on the South bound decent to the Tees, seems the turning circle is somewhat lacking (fortunately he stopped safely).
Which leaves me wondering how the 'reverse gear' works on a velomobile. Presumably the gaps in the floor are big enough to get a foot down, otherwise it must get pretty tedious...
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German tandem fracas on Friday.
Given what happened later - I am fairly sure that it was a row about
- well you packed my stuff - so where the F*ck is it now?
No I didnt - you didnt take it on the ride.
Of course I bloody did - i always take it .... unpack your bags and find it
Why dont you unpack your bags and look properly - and while you are at it - just leave the bag over your head - not only would I not be able to hear you but looks wise it would be a great improvement too.
For Fucks sake - i have looked at your fat arse for 1400kms - and you have lost my xxxx - just get stuffed and sod off back to your wife too - while you are at it . You really are a useless tosser
Repeat 6 times - louder each time..
Ok so what was it that was lost -- well she came up to me 15 minutes later - when i was pretty busy trying to get japanese who spoke no English a taxi to bayswater - and she fairly politely asked about lost property at Loughton. Went on to explain - now almost in tears that she had lost a very special , very old , irreplaceable cycling skirt -- I momentarily wondered whether she rode side -saddle - but as i failed to jump to her command - and she was beginning to look ready for another MAJOR yelling row - I pointed her towards the lost property boxes - unfortunately they did not contain the missing garment -- and I am fairly sure that I was now classified as a brain dead toss pot - and the whole effing organisation of LEL was worse than useless.
She then departed.
It's amazing the trouble a bit of skirt can get you into :-)
I think I know the skirt in question - she put it on at the control (and presumably removed her shorts beneath it). To be honest, we had more stylish tea towels...
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Which leaves me wondering how the 'reverse gear' works on a velomobile. Presumably the gaps in the floor are big enough to get a foot down, otherwise it must get pretty tedious...
Yes. Mine had a 24" Flintstone reverse gear. The more streamlined only have openings on one side, so are a 12" :)
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Many velomobiles such as the Quest have heel slots for reversing, some velomobiles don't have a reverse such as the Evo-K- and Milan SL which both have solid floorpans for more speed.
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I'll add 'parking sensors' after 'periscope' on my velomobile essential kit list then :)
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At Buckingham Palace, with Charlotte busy with her camera.
Me: "Hey Charlotte, how come you are not riding this?!"
Charlotte: "Because I'm sensible!"
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LEL 1993, middle of the night. Dark, cold and drizzly. A19 north of York. Up ahead I make out a couple of red light. One is static, but the other, next to it, is moving up and down, as if someone is playing with an LED-equipped yo-yo to pass the long hours of the night. When we (I was riding with Ann and Bernard Daws) caught up with the lights, it turned out to be a youthful teethgrinder on his Moulton/Pashley APB with a small LED light attached to his ankle.
Fast forward to:
LEL 2013, early morning. Sunny but fresh. South of Lockerbie, heading north. Teethgrinder, on his new orange Moulton/Pashley, overtakes us (Bruno and me) with an enormous grin on his face. He gets about 10 yards ahead of us, fumbles in his pocket, extracts a yo-yo, and starts displaying his yo-yoing skills as he rides away from us. Cue laughter from me, bemusement from Bruno and another grin from tg as he replaces the yo-yo in his pocket and disappears up the road towards Moffat.
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He's special, isn't he?!
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as for 'idiot' he did say what he said to a rider who politely asked for tomato sauce to go with fish and chips, I appreciate he might have had a tough day but that's his job and to say that to a 'customer' that's tired and hungry and perfectly civil would be actionable in most professions.
You're mixing your chefs up. Vincent was the one shouting at riders about ketchup, which was an idiotic thing to do. The other chef was, for the most part, unfailingly polite to everyone.
To this point I have kept quiet about this cretin, assuming that his rudeness and complete idiocy was limited to the period when I stopped at this control.
Where shall I start? Least serious first:
1. As I leave the premises, he screams at riders, "get these fuc$ing shoes out of the way". I narrowly avoided an explosion with this character but bit my lip in fear of destroying what had been an enjoyable day to that point.
2. Secondly, he screams at a kitchen assistant, '"fuking well finish that". Oddly, the assistant was using a chip fryer outside of the kitchens in the yard. I am not convinced that North Lincolnshire Council's regulatory services would have approved of such unusual hygiene standards.
3. The most serious: I suffer an unusual food intolerance caused by onions. It is not my expectation for caterers or the LEL organisers to cater for such an oddity. However, when I asked the Chef a straight forward and politely questioned, "does this contain onions as I have an intolerance", all I received was a rude retort. "What the fuk are you on about?". He then points at some trays. One mouthful of what was clearly an onion based gravy was sufficient. Perhaps he was being vicious, perhaps he did not understand, perhaps he did not hear me correctly or perhaps he was mistaken in his advice?
That was the end of my LEL.
I crawled to Plocklington with increasing discomfort and nausea. Coupled to the fact I could not get an early bed, by dawn I was shot. Not that a bed would have helped. At 45 minute intervals I was sat on the one of the few Plocklington toilets trying evacuate this poison. The cramps and discomfort in my stomach made me wonder if a Nazi jack booted soldier had decided to use it as a punch bag. It took 24 hours to recover. LEL was over and I limped into York station the following morning dosed with antihistamines and Gaviscon and attempting to eat anything bland that may settle this discomfort.
It has convinced me that events such as LEL are not for me unless I source my own alternative food supplies. Perhaps I should have given more forethought to the matter. By no means is this a criticism of the marvellous team that ran this event or the volunteers at Market Rasen, who have my deepest sympathy.
PS. Onions will not be on the menu at The Kidderminster Killer
EDIT - Despite my protestations and the forced DNF, the LEL gave various pleasures: (i) a wonderful outbound ride with some great fellow riders; (ii) engagement with a wonderful atmosphere (minus the chef), and (iii) an enjoyment reading about and following those fellow riders that did manage to finish.
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Yegods. As you say, catering for everyone's dietary requirements is borderline impossible, but providing accurate information about ingredients is a serious matter, extremely helpful and costs nothing.
That he evidently had an attitude problem goes without saying, but that sort of misinformation can be life-threatening if not ride-threatening, and you'd expect a professional caterer - no matter how bad-tempered - to know better.
>:(
(I'm also convinced that providing at least some of my own food is a necessity for longer audax events. While I'm relatively lucky in that it would normally take a whole portion of onion/tomato/chips/fryup to trigger similar symptoms, I have the additional awkwardness that simply not eating enough can have the same effect.)
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I saw horse poo advertised everywhere as "horse manure"... except in the Howardian Hills, where it was advertised as "horse muck" as can actually be seen on this picture: https://twitter.com/Terringtonian/status/362531341973204992/photo/1
The smell of it at Brampton on the way back didn't contribute to my appetite, I have to say.
I'm sad to report that the German tandem wasn't of much entertainment to me. They overtook me while the stoker was clearly having an argument, with the Swedish recumbent in their wheel. And they missed a turn (left off the B1192 going north) immediately after, I had to use my imagination about what happened on that tandem when they found out. It took quite a while before they overtook me again.
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I seem to recall an episode at the Barnard Castle control were arvid and companion where taking a great deal of interest in DrMekon's jersey, and having a bit of a giggle.
Something to do with it advertising a Dutch DIY outfit or something :D.
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Ahhh, is *that* DrMekon. From Emmen! (http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=12/52.7783/6.8919)
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Many people will have heard (even if not seen) the German tandem couple having one of their many rows. They started with a stand-up million-decibel domestic at registration, and were last heard having a go at each other as they left to return home yesterday. And they didn't let up on the ride itself. The tandem is powered by pure bicker.
Anyway, Bernd learnt yesterday that he is to be a grandfather, so congratulations, Opa Bernd!
They were also seen outside the Wetherspoons in Loughton on Saturday evening, well she was outside, he was inside, but that didn't stop them having a humdinger, we were sat outside absolutely bemused!
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Did anyone NOT notice the Marmalade sandwich reference in Kirton?
I would take a photos but my phone was stolen at the time.
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Many people will have heard (even if not seen) the German tandem couple having one of their many rows. They started with a stand-up million-decibel domestic at registration, and were last heard having a go at each other as they left to return home yesterday. And they didn't let up on the ride itself. The tandem is powered by pure bicker.
Anyway, Bernd learnt yesterday that he is to be a grandfather, so congratulations, Opa Bernd!
They were also seen outside the Wetherspoons in Loughton on Saturday evening, well she was outside, he was inside, but that didn't stop them having a humdinger, we were sat outside absolutely bemused!
She was loud wasn't she? He came to heel very quickly indeed. And all to get into Halfords before it shut. Must have needed some valve caps or summat.
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Many people will have heard (even if not seen) the German tandem couple having one of their many rows. They started with a stand-up million-decibel domestic at registration, and were last heard having a go at each other as they left to return home yesterday. And they didn't let up on the ride itself. The tandem is powered by pure bicker.
Anyway, Bernd learnt yesterday that he is to be a grandfather, so congratulations, Opa Bernd!
They were also seen outside the Wetherspoons in Loughton on Saturday evening, well she was outside, he was inside, but that didn't stop them having a humdinger, we were sat outside absolutely bemused!
She was loud wasn't she? He came to heel very quickly indeed. And all to get into Halfords before it shut. Must have needed some valve caps or summat.
I have a hunch that the German tandem pilot was eternally gratefull for the LEL earplugs...
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She was loud wasn't she? He came to heel very quickly indeed. And all to get into Halfords before it shut. Must have needed some valve caps or summat.
[/quote]
Now I know who you mean - just after 5pm at the Loughton control there was a life-and-death, end-of-the-world crisis all because of bar tape and a panic the local bike shops would be shut. (As you'd expect, Keith was calm and helpful.)
I imagined that once the bar tape had been secured everyting would return to 'normal.'
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Is it such standard practice that noone feels it worth commenting on ...
the (nameless) rider who pulled a full-size glass bottle of Jack Daniels from his saddle-bag?
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orange tricksy bike?
the famous teethgrinder
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I was passed by a Finn/Brit duo 20-30 km before Edinburgh. When they were about 100m ahead of me, they do a U-turn (led by the Finn) and stop at the side of the road. Finn whips out his camera and points it at a dead badger (which looks bloated and ready to burst). Brit looks at me and shrugs his shoulders. When they pass me again there is an explanation of sorts: "They don't have badgers in Finland."
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I was passed by a Finn/Brit duo 20-30 km before Edinburgh. When they were about 100m ahead of me, they do a U-turn (led by the Finn) and stop at the side of the road. Finn whips out his camera and points it at a dead badger (which looks bloated and ready to burst). Brit looks at me and shrugs his shoulders. When they pass me again there is an explanation of sorts: "They don't have badgers in Finland."
That was me and Markus. ;D
The pic was for his girlfriend. Who says romance is dead? :-* :smug:
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I mentioned the badger crash to a foreign rider at Great Easton and then had to attempt to describe what a badger is. Surprisingly tricky!
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As I was waiting at the lights to turn left onto the A1123 leaving St Ives northbound, I saw a tandem riding up the hill from the centre of St Ives. Briefly, I wondered if they were on the event and had missed the turning for the control, but then realised the stoker was a kid, so decided not. I passed them on the hill, then thought little more of it, but they caught up with me on the flat heading north on the B road past RAF Wyton. So they rode with me for a bit, and each asked where the other was going. "Edinburgh," I said. "The Lake District," they said. They were heading for Nottingham that night, then the Lake District the next day, so not trivial daily milage by any means. They were carrying a couple of well-filled panniers, and were going well on the flat, but not quite so fast on the gentle inclines north of St Ives. I think they probably had a very nice holiday, and it was nice to see a bloke and (presumably) his teenage son - 12 years old or thereabouts, at a guess - enjoying cycling together and taking on a decent challenge. We parted company when LEL riders turned right towards Kings Ripton.
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Ahhh, is *that* DrMekon. From Emmen! (http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=12/52.7783/6.8919)
Indeed - the joys of sub £5 second hand jerseys from eBay. Delighted to know its provenance.
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Little rise from King's Ripton up to B1090, young fellow wearing cap glances at me and spins furiously past, no greeting just a withering look. On the main road his cap blew off.
At the next junction, on another rise to the RAB, he catches me again, same thing, no greeting, just the look.
The kid inside me reacted and overtook him before the RAB.
He shouted "Git!" as I went by
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I mentioned the badger crash to a foreign rider at Great Easton and then had to attempt to describe what a badger is. Surprisingly tricky!
I had that with some oregonites as well. I think there was an assumption of something cute, fluffy and charming about the size of a rabbit
Unfortunately we'd lost contact before the corpse hove into view. I was mildly tempted to stand there and wait just to say "told you"
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My alaskan ride buddy on day one was rather startled by a corpse on the road I didn't see. Clearly it was a badger, which apparently they have in Alaska, but they are very rare.
(Personally I was startled by a road-kill hare, which had huge back legs and I though for a minute was a Wallaby)
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My alaskan ride buddy on day one was rather startled by a corpse on the road I didn't see. Clearly it was a badger, which apparently they have in Alaska, but they are very rare.
(Personally I was startled by a road-kill hare, which had huge back legs and I though for a minute was a Wallaby)
I saw something on Day one which I swear was a peeled monkey. Didn't stop to investigate though.
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Riding south from Pocklington the rain started. As I headed up a hill there were thousands of tiny frogs trying to cross the road, picked out in my lights. I zig zagged with the best of them as I attempted to weave a path through. I think I succeeded.
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Riding south from Pocklington the rain started. As I headed up a hill there were thousands of tiny frogs trying to cross the road, picked out in my lights. I zig zagged with the best of them as I attempted to weave a path through. I think I succeeded.
Waste of time mate, they'd all been squished by the time I got there ;D
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I rescued a few toads, as well as the newt I found on the road to Eskdalemuir. I also found a very large water vole sitting on the road. It was looking rather traumatised, as if something really horrible had just happened. I picked it up and put it safely on the verge, but I don't hold up much hope for it. :-[
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I had a badger run across the road towards me, it was 5/10M in front and it decided not to jump up the verge and ran ahead of me for about 50M then jumped up the verge which seemed of identical height to where it had crossed originally? not a very bright badger ;D
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Ratty, Badger, Mr Toad and I saw a dead mole:
(http://www.paulfrasercollectibles.com/upload/public/docimages/Image/u/w/d/The-Wind-in-the-Willows.jpg)
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I rescued a few toads, as well as the newt I found on the road to Eskdalemuir. I also found a very large water vole sitting on the road. It was looking rather traumatised, as if something really horrible had just happened. I picked it up and put it safely on the verge, but I don't hold up much hope for it. :-[
Good man (I presume?). I'm always rescuing stuff and wondering whether they make it.
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I rescued a few toads, as well as the newt I found on the road to Eskdalemuir. I also found a very large water vole sitting on the road. It was looking rather traumatised, as if something really horrible had just happened. I picked it up and put it safely on the verge, but I don't hold up much hope for it. :-[
Good man (I presume?). I'm always rescuing stuff and wondering whether they make it.
Man? <checks under towel> Oh yes, so I am. :thumbsup:
I really hate seeing squashed wildlife, so I'll always stop and relocate it to a verge if it's sat on the tarmac looking daft. I'm also very good at recognising shapes in poor light, so I can usually spot a toad, where most people would just see a rock.
The watervole confused me. It was on the top of a hilly-ish section and seemed out of place. I did wonder if it had been dropped by something, which would account for it's bewildered and lethargic demeanour.
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The watervole confused me. It was on the top of a hilly-ish section and seemed out of place. I did wonder if it had been dropped by something, which would account for it's bewildered and lethargic demeanour.
Are voles allowed to participate in Audax? Would seem to fall foul of the 'human-powered vehicle' rule. Not surprised it got dropped on a hilly section though, even with short cranks it would have to make a serious effort to keep up...
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I seemed to encounter a large number of spectacularly suicidal rabbits. I'm not sure if it was some aspect of the recumbent that confused them, but almost to a bunny they would sprint from the verges to run about my front wheel. Caused a couple of frantic swerves and clenched moments.
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Rabbits
They'd be taking part in their national competition of 'Chicken'. Seems to be held late spring through summer.
B and A roads hold preliminary rounds, with semis' on dual carriageway and final on M25. Knockout rounds in all cases ! There's sometimes a 'pot' for the runner up.
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Rabbits
They'd be taking part in their national competition of 'Chicken'. Seems to be held late spring through summer.
I'm fairly sure they're actually playing 'badger' ;D
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Thanks arvid (reaches for Google Dutch translator, but realise with my basic level of Afrikaans I can actually follow quite a bit)
With my level of Afrikaans (which never really progressed much beyond "Hoe gaan dit?" and "Hardloop! Dit is die SAP!") I gave up trying to understand it after the first few words!
Lets cross-quote here. The black velomobile and I had received an alternative route to the Howardian Hills on the return. Where we went off the official route, two ladies followed us. At some point we arrived near a railway where we couldn't find the road or track we were supposed to take. He and I had a discussion in Dutch about how to continue, the scenic way or the A19. We didn't agree so we thought "well now we have to explain our options to these ladies and have them have a voice in it" because it had become apparent that they had no idea how to get back on route nor had a GPS, we felt we should at least guide them back to the official route. And then one of them reacted "oh, we understood you, Dutch is very much like Afrikaans and we're from South Africa" and then continued in Dutch with less of an accent as the average Flemish.
"Oh... OK."
We were both quite surprised and hoped we hadn't gossiped about them within hearing distance.
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Cat calling women at the roadside from the French group I got towed by for 20-30km. And female riders too. Made me a bit uncomfortable.
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I was manning the bag drop at Brampton during the return leg and a lovely french rider with an impressive moustache brought his bag to me , to be put in the van for return, and in very broken english asked me to take special care as , I worked out, he had put something fragile in it which he'd bought in Edinburgh. So, OK , its a bit daft buying an unboxed china mug and putting it in a drop bag, but I did make sure it got down to London safely and handed it to Sue. I do hope it was in one piece when he got it back.
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Wednesday night a chap comes into the control at Gt Easton: 'Something wrong with my bike - won't freewheel properly and feels weird out of the saddle'. Ok, i-cycle and I have good look, cleaning off the crud in case there's a crack in the frame somewhere. Nothing wrong, gears work fine, wheels true, tyres hard etc....make sure he's having plenty to eat and drink [suspect paranoia due to incipient bonk] 'I've fixed it', I tell him....later a happy bunny powers off into the night.
I did use reel skilz to turn a Pinarello Dogma into a serviceable 2 speed though....
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It is still all kind of a blur, but some standout memories:
1. Stopping for ice cream in Crowland (across from the trinity bridge), and having a local gentleman ask where we were headed. I think I said Market Rasen, just to avoid explaining the whole thing. He said "too far. you'll never make it."
2. On the return ride, going up Yad Moss, a French rider at least 20 years older than I, who could have dropped me like a stone, caught up to me and started chatting. I suggested he go on ahead and not slow down for me. He said "If I wanted to ride LEL by myself, I would have ridden it last week."
3. Stopping to watch a sheep dog do his work somewhere in Northern England
4. Another French rider who refused to leave me behind even though the heat and headwind had slowed me to a crawl on the last day into St. Ives.
5. After St. Ives, I got a flat tire, and discovered that, after my previous flat, I must have left my tire lever in my jersey pocket that I left in a drop bag. A passing rider, wearing a tweed cycling cap, loaned me his, and asked that I return it at the next control. Before the next control, I found a tweed cycling cap lying in the road. Managed to return cycling cap and tire levers.
6. The phone booth on top near the top of Yad Moss.
7. The barn owl hunting in broad daylight in the fens on the first day.
8. A wee dram in Traquair!
9. Tony the solicitor who provided excellent company for a long portion of the ride.
10. The fact that over the whole ride I did not meet a single unfriendly person, or have an unpleasant encounter with anyone--rider, volunteer, or civilian.
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Nice one L. Lagopus, we were all very appreciative of the Flandermoose.
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He said "If I wanted to ride LEL by myself, I would have ridden it last week."
That's lovely. And quotable.
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Hi,
first message here, sorry for my english (I'm an italian living in France).
I wish to thank all the volunteers and people of the LEL organization.
I wish to thank in particular Noel from northern Ireland (hope he can read this) that helped me near the village of Whittlesey, where my right body-pedal unscrewed from the spindle and was shot into a ditch by a van behind me (I think that this can be considered a funny episode). He phoned a shop in the village that rescued me with new shoes and pedals (I use speedplay pedals and 4-holes shoes and yes, is plain stupid, even if comfortable). Without the help of this kind person I was never be able to phone to the local shop explaining what I was doing and my needs due to my english skills.
Thank to LEL organization for the great road books with helpful addresses.
Glad to have shared the roads with many friendly people from all around the world. I don't remember most of the names, but on the road to Edinbourgh I met the very kind Michael with a yacf plate on the back of the bike with the nickname "Mikey bikey". :thumbsup:
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Glad to have shared the roads with many friendly people from all around the world. I don't remember most of the names, but on the road to Edinbourgh I met the very kind Michael with a yacf plate on the back of the bike with the nickname "Mikey bikey". :thumbsup:
Mikey bikey is well known around here - I'm sure that name will stick
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Perhaps the funniest row, in an endless series of rows, was when they finally tried to get the tandem out of the door at Loughton. There was a minor difficulty, as you would expect, in getting a long tandem with a couple of panniers thr ough a door. Leaving aside the issue of loading a tandem AFTER taking it through the doors, there was yet another slanging match.
I think they should be offered free entry to 2017 because of the great entertainment provided in 2013.
Not quite endless. That could well have been the penultimate. They parted company a few miles south of Loughton, and while one half "rejected herself from the tandem" and took the train, the front half rode home solo via London, Winchester, the New Forest, Poole, Guernsey, St Malo, Dieppe, Roubaix, Gent, Eindhoven, Boxmeer and Kleve (1100 km) before training the last bit home because of worn disc brake pads.
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So John, are we to guess that rather than go home, where he would meet her, he rode a tandem 1,100k on his own?
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So John, are we to guess that rather than go home, where he would meet her, he rode a tandem 1,100k on his own?
They live about 100km from each other.
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How is it that I found this thread so late??
The first day was a blur, I don't remember much at all, the fens just seemed to whizz by and the crossing of the humber bridge was made memorable by the two chaps directing people on to the right side of the bridge. The heavens opened before pocklington and the views of several mini storms below me on the vale of york was quite amazing. I ate and slept (sort of) the constant banging of the bog door was really disagreeable. I rose at about 4AM to be greeted by the carnage in the main hall which made me realise actually how lucky I had been. I pressed on and the early start was rewarded by a stag crossing the road in front of me as I passed through the castle howard estate. Again the second day seemed a blur and I shared the latter part of it with some very nice south african ladies who I introduced to the pleasures of IRN BRU at a garage just over the border before that dreadful bit of old A road on the way to Moffat. Ah Moffat!! what an amazing checkpoint /food/shower/ bed/ sleep. Again a nice early start and a hearty breakfast to climb through the darkness with what appeared to be a string of red fairy lights in front of me and white ones behind, I was on my own but I wasn't, about 1/2 way up there was someone asleep on the porch of a village hall, very comfy he looked too. The sunrise arrived just as I crested the climb and some wonderful views of the hills beyond edinburgh were had, I stopped to take some selfies before descending in to edinburgh, seeing some people coming towards me raised mixed feelings but they were soon forgot when I reached the check. There was the man who had talked me in to doing this all smiles - Danial was uplifting as usual. There was a birthday celebration for two triantelopes who I had seen several times over the first couple of days, they were faster than me but I spent less time at the checks, it was to be the last time I saw them, I don't know what happened to them?? A good feed and another PEP talk from Danial and the big fellow with the beard and I was off to face what was to be probably the most memorable day, the two small checkpoints, I have the dubious claim to have had the last bowl of porridge. then over the border once more, I minor altercation with some wheelsucking poles at brampton was my only cross words for the whole ride. I pressed on over yad, through the most amazing rainbow to reach Barnard castle in darkness, the last few miles being a 4 up crazy chaingang which whilst memorable was pretty scary at the time. Barnard castle a good supper and kip up early again and press on hard to try to get to Kirton where my Mrs was sheduled to meet me. Not far after the bridge it started raining I arrived at Market Rasen like a drowned rat (as did many others) again my mentor and helper appeared with some cheery words, I actually managed to get said fish and chips without any drama, most agreeable it was too, if it hadn't been for the prearranged meet at Kirton I might have stayed, but I got back on and it was drying up for a very pleasant dusk time ride to Kirton, I arrived and there on a corner was my partner, our daughter and our dogs, what a sight for sore eyes ;D. There was a shortage of beds but I curled up on the floor and made the best of it, waking up half way through the night to find an empty bed. Another early start and off on to the fens however I missed a turn and lost the best part of an hour trying to get back on route. I got to st ives and there was no 2nd breakfast!! only toast, I think that this was my downfall, that and the hour lost meant I was short of fuel in searing heat on the lumpy essex return leg, even a sandwich and an ice cream did not revive me. I could barely hold 12 mph. I eventually made it to great easton for the feast of sweets and cake etc in front of me, I shared this with some dutch lads and another south african girl, the mood was ecstatic, but I knew that I still had a hard last leg ahead of me, lots of people were now passing me, this was unusual as I had spent most of the ride on my own with sporadic joining up with people, however when I finally reached the familiar roads of Loughton I felt quite amazed and was totlally blown away by the reception at the school, "come on lad you don't need that any more" said the chap at the finish as he tried to prise me off my bike and lead my into the hall to the desk to handover my brevet. I saw a few of the people I had shared moments with on the ride and I welled up, how amazing 8) I take my hats off to the organisers and the volunteers, I apologise unreservedly for my grumpy single minded attitude, but it worked. See you all again in 2017 - maybe I will be a little more relaxed. Pic is from last morning after I had got back on track.
(https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1/1012918_10152073460307802_1090639819_n.jpg)
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Line-break free but a great ride report :)
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Line-break free but a great ride report :)
aplogies, stream of consciousness, better not to interrupt it ;)
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The anecdote that surprised me most occurred on the run in to Edinburgh. On the run up to Moffat I briefly joined a pretty quick group, but it fragmented at a junction, and I ended up trying to follow a strong rider but it wasn't long before the gap opened up and I didn't see him again for several hours.
I was going to see my family for a while in Edinburgh, and had given them an ETA which turned out to be slightly optimistic. When it started raining I decided to press on rather than stop to put on a jacket, but the rain ended up getting quite heavy. The time and starting to get cold meant that I started pushing quite hard, hoping to get through the really wet conditions, and I saw a few riders sheltering in those miles. I also saw the rider from the Moffat leg riding a bit up ahead.
As soon as the rain eased off, the adrenaline ebbed away and I felt really tired. While dragging myself along trying to take on some food, two riders came past that I think I had been sheltering from the rain, and the first asked if I was OK. I said that I'd run low on energy, and just managed to hang onto the back of them. Rider 2 presently took a turn on the front for a bit, then Rider 1 looked back before taking another turn. I was starting to recover, but wasn't yet ready to contribute. When rider 2 took the lead again, Rider 1 looked back at me, and then immediately accelerated back to the front in (what I took to be) a blatant effort to drop me. They opened a gap, and started closing on the Moffat rider. I have never encountered such sportive-like behaviour on an Audax before, and was certainly not expecting to find it after 2 hard days of riding LEL.
It amused me greatly, therefore, that once they'd caught the Moffat stage rider, Mr Sportive started struggling to hold the other pair's wheels, and I caught up with the three a short while later. You are free to speculate about how many turns I took on the front in the following half hour to the control, but the four of us all arrived together. The delight of seeing my children there meant that I missed the chance to discuss the stage with that rider.
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did one have a beard and a mahoosive carradice saddlebag? were they in matching kit? I had several instances of I'll sit on your wheel but not give you mine. Sad but I (for the most part) didn't let it bother me.
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No, that doesn't sound like them.
I'd worked well with another UK rider on day 1, and we'd dragged a few continental riders round for a long time with them unwilling to go on the front at all. While I had tried to encourage them a few times, we never tried to ride away from them. I was just gobsmacked by the attitude, as I'd have been happy to contribute to the group once I'd recovered a bit.
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There was a birthday celebration for two triantelopes who I had seen several times over the first couple of days, they were faster than me but I spent less time at the checks, it was to be the last time I saw them, I don't know what happened to them??
They finished. They're not really Tri-ers, the West Suffolk Wheelers became the WSW &Tri in 2010(ish). Deane & Ron pre-date the change.
Birthday boy (LEL was his nth birthday present to himself) got a nasty case of Shermers neck, but finished by plodding to the end, dragged along by Deane. We saw him looking very dazed at Loughton. They had a great time (kind of).
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Nobody wanted to wheel-suck me !
The only bit of unsporting behaviour I came across was from an Italian rider we came across on the first day. Some of the time he seemed to want to work with me, ignoring the fact that I already had a riding companion, whom he refused to acknowledge and everytime she went past him he would look like thunder and work his socks off to get back to the front and away up the road. Then he's slow down again, we'd catch up and the whole thing would be repeated.
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There was a birthday celebration for two triantelopes who I had seen several times over the first couple of days, they were faster than me but I spent less time at the checks, it was to be the last time I saw them, I don't know what happened to them??
They finished. They're not really Tri-ers, the West Suffolk Wheelers became the WSW &Tri in 2010(ish). Deane & Ron pre-date the change.
Birthday boy (LEL was his nth birthday present to himself) got a nasty case of Shermers neck, but finished by plodding to the end, dragged along by Deane. We saw him looking very dazed at Loughton. They had a great time (kind of).
Very pleased to hear it, I hope he has recovered from Shermers neck - whatever that is??
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Shermer's neck is pain and weakness in the neck on long rides. Some people have used bungee cords to stop their head flopping down.
H*lm*ts and low handlebars may be causative factors.
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http://www.active.com/cycling/articles/shermer-s-neck-cycling-s-most-bizarre-injury
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8. A wee dram in Traquair!
Yes - I enjoyed that too when we stopped for the night down south however I broke two cardinal drinking rules:
- Do not drink directly from a bottle and
- Always check for sediment first
Despite a lifetime of drinking, in my enthusiasm to quaff I failed to observe both of the above and at some point on the penultimate leg (after Castle Howard) I was in the uneviable situation where one has no other shorts and can no longer trust a fart. In the end, I propped the bike up against a gate and threw myself into a field in a desperate move to find some outlet for my condition.
Unfortunately, my efforts awheel had robbed me of the ability to crouch so I had to prop myself up on one buttock and with an ample supply of straw and dock leaves to hand, attempted make the best of a bad job. As wave upon wave of effluent flowed forth from under me, I clearly remember a sizeable earth worm surfacing and squirming for its life - desperate to get away from what must have seemed like a lava flow of shit. :o
Think on.
H
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Anyone got any spare mind bleach? Mine isn't strong enough.
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Anyone got any spare mind bleach? Mine isn't strong enough.
Pass it my way once you're finished.
Mind you, binge-shitting in fields stories are always funny for everyone else.
Luckily everything toilet-wise worked well throughout LEL. No playing the gas or solid game at all thankfully. Edit - no - at Alston on the way back, things were getting serious on the toilet front. Luckily a pub beckoned (and I found George Hanna and crew in there about to start on their second pint before heading over Yadd Moss).
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Think I'll file that one under "etc."
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Not the first person with that problem, Hummers. Sacrificing socks and/ gloves mid-event is never fun but better than most of the alternatives. Personally, I prefer holing up in a pub when those sorts of problems strike.
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Personally, I prefer holing up in a pub when those sorts of problems strike.
I can forsee that solution may open up another avenue of temptation and for me is a) best avoided and b) left to those who have mastered the combination of miles done + beer + miles to do + saying "No, I have had the three and must get on". I remember bumping into the Hanna Beer Charabanc on the way through Middleton in Teesdale and one chap seemed a pissed as a pig. Not George, you understand. He had laid out the last 100k as a route that roughly followed LEL but diverted to a couple of recommended pubs en route to the finish.
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