[LEL17] Doing LEL on my own!

[LittleWheelsandBig]

I'm looking forward to seeing Rene out there. Say hello, if you wish, to #AA20 riding a Moulton.

[The French Tandem]

I have an health insurance which pays hospital costs, so this is all I need.

Nope. You also need a third party insurance, in case someone consider you to have provoked an accident.

And I am very annoyed how to try to subscribe for LEL:
The way with downbraking servers, sitting in the evening, in the night and in the morning in the front of the computer and getting nothing is a shame for the second biggest long distance event in Europe.

The whole thing have been set up by unpaid volunteers who did their best for an event whose size nearly doubles every 4 years. If you think you can do a better job for LEL 2021, I'm sure the team will warmly welcome your help.

[chrisbainbridge]

I think you can be sure that people writing computer script did not get a place.  PhilW wrote a long piece about how he looked for that and threw them out.

Quite clearly this year if the criteria had been the same as PBP you would not have been eligible as you do not have a 600km.

But it is a free country and the rout is in the public domain.

[LMT]

- insurance. The orgs make sure that any rider has a liability insurance. ...

- food. as others have pointed out, you'll struggle to find food in the remote areas up north....

- atmosphere at the controls. I think it really changes the atmosphere if volunteers have to actively look out for non-registered riders who may sneek into the controls. ...
All in all, I have to say I find this plan pretty selfish. Many riders who did not get a place are volunteering this year and get a guaranteed place for 2021. I would recommend doing the same. Or go and ride a different event, or the route at a different time. Riding the same route on the same days as LEL is just disrespectful and against the spirit of Audax, as far as I'm concerned.

Hello Mr Redfalo,

to your topic:
Insurance: Very German way of thinking! A insurance didn't save my life when I am in need, it just pay you some money afterwards. I have an health insurance which pays hospital costs, so this is all I need.

Food: I got a long list of stores all over the way. Thanks to the nice person who mad this for me!!!!

Atomosphere: I DONT want do visit the checkpoints, I want to do this selfsustained. I dont want to get something for which I dont have paid!
I dont want to steal food or a bed, that someone others needs.  I want to get the amtosphere on the route with many nice riders. It is a free country and free roads, why it is an disrespect when I ride on the same road?

And I am very annoyed how to try to subscribe for LEL:
The way with downbraking servers, sitting in the evening, in the night and in the morning in the front of the computer and getting nothing is a shame for the second biggest long distance event in Europe.
There are only a few places for non british people. And it seems that persons got some who wrote Script-Programs which type all data 100times faster than a human.
There were people who get a starting slot with the help of ten people who all try to enter the data on ten different computers.
Your are looking 4 years forward four such an event and your just kicked out by a not working computer and DNS-attacks.

My ride shows that some people dont want to be stopped by a big computer-problem.
To my Opinion at PBP they made the better system: The more you ride an audax the earlier you can subscribe.

And all in all there are some selfish things:
Done: PBP2011, LEL2013, BOB2014!
I had my starting slot for PBP 2015, but I cant ride it because of knee problems 2 month before, which didnt stop.
I had an knee surgery in early 2016! Everything went well, but I took some time to recover. So I had to skip BOB.
But I rode 11000km that year, LEL in mind the whole year.
I broke my ankle in early january 2017. Surgery again, all well, doctor gave OK for LEL .  But I was late in the year. I have 200, 300 and 400km audax but im lacking of the 600km.
So most official BRM with > 1000km are impossible.


Weatherforcast shows up some rainy days. Happy to meet all the bikers in their rainjackets!

Enjoy your ride Rene, hope you get round okay. 

[Kim]

I have an health insurance which pays hospital costs, so this is all I need.

Nope. You also need a third party insurance, in case someone consider you to have provoked an accident.

Or simple boring things:  I've just had to have a third party claim for damage to a car that my bike hit after a catastrophic puncture caused me to lose control.

[mattc]

Surely Redfalo's point is very clear and a part of me fully agrees with him, yet I think the subject is more complex than that.
In the last years the organizers poured a great effort in promoting LEL with the goal of making a great event of it, and - last but not least - of selling it out quickly.
They've done so for very valid reasons, essentially in this way they were able to prepare the event for the target number of participants, with a well-defined budget, relying confidently on the idea that both the participants and the money would have been there at the right moment.
This made it possible for them to give the registered riders the best value for their money.
A side effect of the quick sell-out is that several, strongly committed people are out.
I imagine the majority of those who tried to register but found themselves out where not so committed, or even if they were, they sighed at first but then started searching a new goal for this summer and found something else to aim to.
Yet it's reasonable that, among so many people, several of them are so committed to LEL that they can neither give up the idea and choose another ride, nor reconvert themselves into volunteers.
I think that, as long as the number is small, this is to be accepted as an unavoidable side effect.
We registered riders should keep in mind that teasing the desire of many people that eventually found themselves out is part of the strategy that made it possible for us to participate at a fixed price to a really well organized event - I can't wait to ride and check the facts that will confirm my strong belief about the great organization...
What if LEL subscription form said "now you subscribe and commit to pay us an undefined fee; later on, when we know how many participants we've got, we shall tell you how much it is" ?
Also without being so brutal, any uncertainty regarding the number of participants and therefore the budget would have harmed the "value per cost" ratio.
I believe that, as long as the number of outsiders like René is neglectable compared to the number of paying participants, the phaenomenon has to be accepted as a direct consequence of us being able to pay the minimum possible fixed amount instead of a larger or variable one, for the value we'll receive.

I think that's a very good analysis. 

(I speak as an LEL graduate and 2xvolunteer. Cos that makes my opinion worth 3 times that of Lesser Riders )

There is also the DNS figure to consider. We don't know the 2017 stats yet, and so we don't know if this "different" marketplace will affect the DNS numbers. It will be interesting to reread this thread with that knowledge.

[jsabine]

There are only a few places for non british people.

This is absolutely not true.

I believe it is about 50/50 UK/non-UK riders, and I understand they come from 58 different countries.

Good luck on the road, and say hello to V34 if you pass me.

[MikeFromLFE]

If this ride is so important to the OP why not do ELE, or do it a week later, or a week earlier?
The team of volunteers who have set this event up do not deserve the tirade above.


Tapatalk puts this signature here, not me!

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Tirade is overstating things, particularly when not the OP's native language.

[redfalo]

So I decided to do LEL on my own, with no help from the guys who organized this trip.
Same time, same rules (max 120h) and no car for backup.

Even if you don't use the controls, I actually think it's poor form to ride as a stowaway. In many ways, you will be part of the event and benefit from the truckload of work Danial and others have put in. Problematic issues, for instance, are:

 (...)
- food. as others have pointed out, you'll struggle to find food in the remote areas up north. If you are struggling, you may need to use the help of controls, even if you currently don't intend to do so. Just from your very own perspective, that may not matter, you might think. but if a lot of non-registered riders came on the ride, this would surely turn into a problem

- atmosphere at the controls. I think it really changes the atmosphere if volunteers have to actively look out for non-registered riders who may sneek into the controls. again, you may currently not plan to do so. but imagine foul weather, a mechanical breakdown, or health issues - you very well still will be forced to use the infrastructure of an event you are not part of. and this would but volunteers in a bind. Should they send you away even if you are in distress? (surely not, but then you're really free-riding) The only way of making sure you won't is to do the ride on a different date when no one else is riding.

I try hard not to feel smug, but.... https://www.facebook.com/groups/392520757598601/permalink/755762927941047/?comment_id=756176361233037&reply_comment_id=756241594559847&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R0%22%7D

[StuAff]

Rene did in the end get an official entry, but DNF....

[redfalo]

Rene did in the end get an official entry, but DNF....

so much for his great prep then. however,  this is not about Rene, but about moral fiber