[LEL17] Managing the spikes at controls

[Pale Rider]

Seems to me the spikes in demand for both beds and food at controls were greater this time than in 2013.

As well as the Lincolnshire and Yorkshire controls being mobbed on the first night, I read various reports of log jams/food shortages at other controls later in the ride.

Many riders, at least publicly, seem quite phlegmatic about it, apparently taking the view that beds and food are available on a first come, first served basis, rather than expecting both to be available on demand.

My guess is the organisers won't be happy with what happened, even if the riders are not minded to complain.

In an ideal world, there would be a reasonable choice of food and a bed available for every rider that asked for it.

Is that a realistic target to aim for?

And how might it be achieved?

Reducing numbers may be seen as a backward step, but would help ease pressure on controls.

Upping control capacity, or the number of controls, is another obvious answer.

Or attempt to better manage capacity by having bed/food availability somehow published to the riders in real time.

Nearly all of which would cost money and time.

A substantial increase in the entry fee would allow the organisers to spend, spend, spend, but might take the event too far away from its audax roots.

Danial and the team have a good track record of taking feedback on board, so I'm sure they will be keen to hear any suggestions to improve control service for next time.

[Marmitegeoff]

1 very simple suggestion would be to have  a male / Female tick box on the entry form so that there could be a realistic attempt at a segregated bed system.  We were told thet there were 50 female on the event so put 18 beds into a separate area.  I think in the end everyone kipped where they could find a bed, regardless of gender.

[alwyn]

The only two controls that were mobbed were Louth (night 1) and Brampton (nights 2 and 3).  That is partly my fault, because I put too much gap between the fast and full-value riders. This resulted in too few riders making it to Pocklington, which had bags of space throughout. A bigger control in Louth would be useful, or rather more space in the control.

The school is really keen to work with us again, and will do the catering too now that they've seen it happen. It's a shame they wouldn't do it before, as we suffered terrible food shortages in Louth and Spalding; the catering in both was amateurish at times thanks solely to the supplier that I chose to work with. This was my fault too and I was mortified to watch it unfurl.

On the whole I'm quite happy with the event this year. I always welcome ideas and feedback though.

[Delph Cyclist]

1 very simple suggestion would be to have  a male / Female tick box on the entry form so that there could be a realistic attempt at a segregated bed system.  We were told thet there were 50 female on the event so put 18 beds into a separate area.  I think in the end everyone kipped where they could find a bed, regardless of gender.

Is having segregated sleeping arrangements a requirement?

I would be surprised and disappointed if there were only 50 females out of the 1500 (or so) starters.

[CrinklyLion]

Alwyn, can I just say how incredibly refreshing it is to "work" for someone who, when a thing cocks up, is able to sit back and look at it (this close after the event too!) and then hold their hands up to say 'fair play, that one's on me' so straightforwardly?

[Duckfoot1606]

The only two controls that were mobbed were Louth (night 1) and Brampton (nights 2 and 3).  That is partly my fault, because I put too much gap between the fast and full-value riders. This resulted in too few riders making it to Pocklington, which had bags of space throughout. A bigger control in Louth would be useful, or rather more space in the control.

The school is really keen to work with us again, and will do the catering too now that they've seen it happen. It's a shame they wouldn't do it before, as we suffered terrible food shortages in Louth and Spalding; the catering in both was amateurish at times thanks solely to the supplier that I chose to work with. This was my fault too and I was mortified to watch it
On the whole I'm quite happy with the event this year. I always welcome ideas and feedback though.

Don't beat yourself up, there were heroes (and heroines) on and off the bike. 👍

[Delph Cyclist]

As a helper at Eskdalemuir we seemed to cope.  We only got riders through southbound of course, so only half the load of other controls.  There was some anxiety as we moved into Tuesday, with the majority of riders still to arrive.  The longer it took for the peak to arrive meant that the eventual peak would be bigger.  And it did come, but the hills after Edinburgh played their part in spreading the riders into manageable bunches.

The local villagers were on top of the catering and they were fantastic.  The menu was limited, which meant that I had nothing to eat for three days except soup, pasta bake and chicken pies for breakfast dinner and tea (translation for you southerners: breakfast, lunch and dinner).

Beds were a limiting factor.  Or rather, space for those beds.  We couldn't physically get more than 55 beds down on the available floor space.  I don't think we were an "official" sleep stop.

Actually, the real bottle neck at Eskdalemuir was the entrance lobby, where we only had room for 5 at a time, taking off, or putting on shoes.  It would have helped if riders had carried their shoes with them in the supplied carrier bags.  The potential for losing your shoes was enormous.  For next time, we'd need a gazebo (or two) outside to manage this.

[Peter]

Actually we were a sleep stop, Mike, in that we were down on the control chart as having 30 beds.  We opened up the community hall up the road to try and accommodate the greater number requiring sleep and we had beds and floor space but insufficient blankets.  However, now I know that we were only designated 30 spaces - and the riders could have known that - I feel less bad than I did at the time, running the overspill hall, having to explain about the lack of blankets.  I don't know how everyone got on but I did ascertain that Alexander and Steven, the two Germans who were last to leave me finished in time.  Sadly Gordon and his riding companion, who got very cold, did not, but there may have been other factors.

Peter

[MikeFromLFE]

Alwyn, can I just say how incredibly refreshing it is to "work" for someone who, when a thing cocks up, is able to sit back and look at it (this close after the event too!) and then hold their hands up to say 'fair play, that one's on me' so straightforwardly?

+1

[basset]

As one of the earlier riders through I would say all the helpers did a superb job at all the controls , even when a group of us arrived back at Brompton on day two which was packed by then I think it was Chris Crossland phone Alston to see if there was room there for me , that to was full so he went looking for floor space for me. Got a hard floor space but that was a no sleep night for me but had a two hour or so rest and told myself hey it's a Audax get over it 💨💨
Some of the others were a bit cross as attempting to ride from there to Barnard Castle with over 400k in your legs is probably beyond most of even the fast people , I'm sure with a bit of thought this can be solved either through qualification so less numbers or being able to book your bed slot where your bag drops are maybe extra sleep controls , I think the problem you get is if you charge them £350 they probably expect a bed for a few hours or it needs to be made clear it's Audax your on y own .
Hardest think I have ever done thanks for everyone who put it on .

[grams]

As I said on the other thread, I think the bed booking desk should start handing out blankets when the beds are full rather than asking people to come back later. I'm assuming spare blankets and space aren't a problem, at least at Louth and Brampton.

In my case I turned up at Louth at 1am completely exhausted and the advice given was to come back in half an hour*, which I took at face value, but of course there wasn't really anything coming free and wouldn't be until much later. If I do an event like this again I'll head straight for a dark corner myself, but as this was the first night of my first one and I was so tired I was at a complete loss. I feel like the advice given out by the desk should reflect what an experienced rider would do.

(* I don't mean this at all as a criticism of the guy there, who was definitely trying his best, seemed absolutely mortified by the situation, and is probably reading this)

[mcshroom]

Bed booking was probably the hardest job on the rota I think. In general we didn't seem to get swamped at Thirsk, just very, very busy for a lot longer than I remember being at Barney last time. The extra 500 riders was noticeable for the volunteers as the surge where you needed to be flat out just carried on for a lot longer. I think that was about as many people as the event could have coped with in this current model. Some of the volunteers were looking more spaced out than the riders by the end

I'm feeling a little guilty now because we had loads of extra blankets around for some reason.

[hellymedic]

1 very simple suggestion would be to have  a male / Female tick box on the entry form so that there could be a realistic attempt at a segregated bed system.  We were told thet there were 50 female on the event so put 18 beds into a separate area.  I think in the end everyone kipped where they could find a bed, regardless of gender.

Is having segregated sleeping arrangements a requirement?

I would be surprised and disappointed if there were only 50 females out of the 1500 (or so) starters.

I don't see any point in segregating sleeping facilities. Most exhausted AUKs are beyond modesty and niceties. Segregation would just increase queuing and potentially waste free 'beds'.

[Marmitegeoff]

1 very simple suggestion would be to have  a male / Female tick box on the entry form so that there could be a realistic attempt at a segregated bed system.  We were told thet there were 50 female on the event so put 18 beds into a separate area.  I think in the end everyone kipped where they could find a bed, regardless of gender.

Is having segregated sleeping arrangements a requirement?

I would be surprised and disappointed if there were only 50 females out of the 1500 (or so) starters.

I do not think that it was a requirement but was something we thought we could offer.  In the end it was sleep anywhere.  And there were certainly more th.an 50 females. probably nearer 2 - 3 hundred.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

At St Ives the food preparation area looked out onto the bike racks.  Although this was fortuitous (not part of the intention) it meant that I could see a bunch of 30 riders arriving and divert as many hands as possible to the food service point and pause their food preparation activities.  That way we got them served in double quick time and five minutes later could revert to our food preparation tasks.  That probably won't be possible in many places, but having a runner to take a message to the kitchen when there is a sudden flood of riders (especially grouped together in Fenland winds!) could help reduce some of the queues that take place.

[The French Tandem]

1 very simple suggestion would be to have  a male / Female tick box on the entry form so that there could be a realistic attempt at a segregated bed system.  We were told thet there were 50 female on the event so put 18 beds into a separate area.  I think in the end everyone kipped where they could find a bed, regardless of gender.

Did any female rider complained about having to sleep near male riders? (Or the other way round?)

[jelhinks]

I was one of those who having paid out £330 was expecting a bed maybe, a snack hopefully and a coffee definately.
St ives was OK squash and pasties , didn't need it then so heyho
Spalding the food just ran out as I got to the front of the queue and there was no coffee
Louth no food no space on the floor .. the coffee was truly wonderfull tho
Queued for a bed and when one came available someone else was already in it.
No sleep  and no breakfast I left for pockington and found some food along the way
By then I was overtired having been awake since 2am sunday , hadn't eaten or drunk enough so diverted to market rasen train station
Feel a bit pathetic now but in reality I should have checked the route for food and drink stops as per normal
I'll know better next time than to trust anyone who aint me and to prepare properly
Learned a lot, had a great time ,met some lovely folk no regrets at all

[Redlight]

On the whole I'm quite happy with the event this year. I always welcome ideas and feedback though.

AsI said to you this morning, I think you and the team have done a great job and the focus on riders' needs was very welcome.


If I could offer one bit of advice it would be this: stay away from this and other fora for about a week and let all the moaners have their moans and declare how much better they would have organised things. More thoughtful and constructive comments will come later, I'm sure. Compared with the last time I rode LEL (2009) the organisation this year was superb - and in many aspects better than a certain French event).

[chrisbainbridge]

Learned a lot, had a great time ,met some lovely folk no regrets at all

I would echo this. I may not have a 1400 in me, I am not sure at the moment. But I loved this LEL and have no regrets. Some sadness obviously but the whole tenor of this year seems differe from my viewpoint.

[frankly frankie]

Feel a bit pathetic now but in reality I should have checked the route for food and drink stops as per normal

Seems a shame when the package you bought included pre-paid food (of some sort) at each control - but it does seem as though a future tweak could be to waymark any roadside opportunities (petrol stations, convenience stores, bakeries).  By all accounts of what food was on offer, if I had been riding I might quite often have wanted to bounce a control and head to the next 24h service station - riding PBP I usually preferred to do that (substitute boulangerie for service station) but of course the difference there is the food is not pre-paid.

[Marmitegeoff]

1 very simple suggestion would be to have  a male / Female tick box on the entry form so that there could be a realistic attempt at a segregated bed system.  We were told thet there were 50 female on the event so put 18 beds into a separate area.  I think in the end everyone kipped where they could find a bed, regardless of gender.

Did any female rider complained about having to sleep near male riders? (Or the other way round?)

Not that I know of but it was when we were first setting up on Saturday that it was mentioned that there were 50 female.  so we set up an area.  When they were coming in there were a lot more than that.  After the setting up I had nothing to do with the sleeping arrangements as I was meching cooking parking serving and everything else.

[Carlosfandango]

The Louth control really is out on a limb, 80km from Spalding and 100km from Pocklington, it is a an obvious sleep stop especially for riders with an afternoon start.

It was swamped when I was there, no food and no available beds. I think it`s very poor and potentially dangerous if a control can`t provide some food, how difficult is it to cook porridge or toast? It was known that 1500 riders would require a meal here. I  pity riders who, with no local knowledge had to ride 180km through the night on one meal from Spalding.

I don`t think an adequate number of beds can be arranged within the space at Louth.

Maybe another stop, not necessarily a control, within 20 or 30km could spread the load?

[CrinklyLion]

how difficult is it to cook porridge or toast?

Not difficult at all.  Doing it for several hundred people at the same time in an unfamiliar catering kitchen is trickier.  If you want to see how tricky, can I suggest that you register as a volunteer for the catering brigade in a honeypot control for 2021?

Alwyn has already said upthread:

The school is really keen to work with us again, and will do the catering too now that they've seen it happen. It's a shame they wouldn't do it before, as we suffered terrible food shortages in Louth and Spalding; the catering in both was amateurish at times thanks solely to the supplier that I chose to work with. This was my fault too and I was mortified to watch it unfurl.

[mcshroom]

Even trickier if you don't have any food in. We bought extra on top of what we had when we heard the reports from further south. Thankfully Stefan the chef had got his numbers right and we didn't need the contingency, but it got quite close.

We were lucky that 6am-midnight every week day we had access to a supermarket just down the road. Some of the other controls are far more remote,

[CrinklyLion]

Also, riders could check out so that the next control actually knows you're incoming and can consider when to put the porridge pot on.