Author Topic: [LEL17] LEL Suggestions Box  (Read 48831 times)

hellymedic

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Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #25 on: 03 August, 2017, 07:13:28 pm »
I too have requested cornflakes at 'odd' times on long rides!

Riders' digestions are very varied. For myself, I would not have been able to face a 'heavy savoury' meal early on a long ride. As a 'full value' rider, it is devastating to arrive in extremis at a depleted control. I feel for those who had to go without and confess that a hypoglycaemic Helly is NOT a nice person! I have sympathy and respect for those poor controllers who had to face angry riders they could not feed properly.

Food cravings and appetites change during the progress of a long ride and it's obviously impossible to please everyone all the time.

I will try to assemble a poll to see what riders want when but it will be complicated!

Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #26 on: 03 August, 2017, 08:33:23 pm »
Reading this thread and drawing on volunteer experience from last time, one food keeps cropping up.

Corn flakes, big bowls, with room for lots of milk.

Get that available 24 hours a day and you won't go far wrong.


hellymedic

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Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #27 on: 03 August, 2017, 08:39:03 pm »
Good point! My first 600 was fuelled by the cornflakes I had eaten the previous day, having had a big vomiting bout in the run-up.

I got round.

Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #28 on: 03 August, 2017, 10:01:59 pm »
I've not long got home from Spaldng, had food & a bath- so feel a bit more human. If anything below seems to reflect poorly on SpaldingJim, then that's not the intention- it was a pleasure and a privilege to work at his control.
A few thoughts on some of the comments above:
Food - it not safe, fair or workable to restrict the food to riders; if a rider needs seven helpings of chips and custard to keep going, then that's what they need; it's a learning item that control(s) ran short of food; perhaps one partial solution might be to have a 'bottomless vat' each of porridge, rice pudding, and soup that riders can help themselves to?
Numbers of volunteers- as SpaldingJim said, you need the right volunteers, not big numbers of volunteers; maybe a clearer statement of what would be expected of a volunteer- before they are recruited- might be useful; on a couple of occasions I noticed that when we had lots of volunteers around, there was a temptation for the volunteers to gather in groups to chat while ignoring riders.
Rider expectations & behaviour- I was appalled at the way a couple of our volunteers were treated by riders, a statement laying out ground rules for the standards of behaviour toward both other riders and toward volunteers needs working on before the next event (I know a plate of food was thrown at a volunteer, and I don't know how MarmiteGeoff kept his cool when he was unable to true a Spectrum rim with a broken aero-spoke for an Italian rider who was becoming increasingly agitated.)
Qualifiers - I increasingly felt that there needed to be a threshold before riders were able to enter - some countries may not have active Audax clubs, so could AUK (or LEL ltd) validate DIYs for these countries? I don't feel the threshold need be very high- maybe a 600k in the previous 12 months? This might help 'weed out' those on unsuitable machines, or without an understanding of what long events entail.
First Aid / Medical - I was a more than a little concerned about the arrangements for dealing with injuries and illness. I would suggest that LEL should seriously consider a) having sight of First Aid certificates of those standing as First Aiders b) employing a registered Paramedic to be on the phone to give advice, and based at a central control (Louth / Pocklington) rather than relying on 111, local pharmacies, and retired healthcare professionals.
Local liaison- at least let the local cycling clubs along the route, or in the control towns know that LEL is coming to town - they may not be the best resource for volunteers (for a number of reasons) but their local support and knowledge could be very useful.


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Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #29 on: 03 August, 2017, 10:13:17 pm »
Food: Real coffee - some controls had it, most didn't. I started the adventure hating coffee powder, half way through I despised it.  Is it really that hard?(Question not sarcasm)
Pocket food. I would normally get 2/3rds of my energy that way. Some argue it causes too much waste but that is obviously not true looking at the tableware at 2/3 of the controls. Apples were good - saved me. Also flapjacks at some of the controls but not at some of the critical ones for me.
Muesli - I would also have coped with grenola. The perfect control that ticked all the boxes for me was Great Eastern but alas that was too close to the finish so I didn't want or require much from there.

There was an inconsistency and I'm sure it caused riders to make mistakes, pocket food was included at some controls, non existent at some and charged at others. The French event has pocket food available at all controls and all food is charged for so you know where you stand.   

I did get the hang of it at the end, after spending a 3rd of the ride with indigestion - find any food that is slightly solid, tuna and salad looked to be the best for me, and shove it between 2 slices of bread and put it in the back pocket for later.

I also think the start food was a bit wrong for the use case, pasta is the traditional pre-event food. Chips aren't great - too high a glycemic index, too much fat and not great those of us that are supposed to avoid nightshades. A bit of choice would have been great. I ended up stuffing some salad into a bun. Great for the finish though.

This takes nothing away from the effort and helpfulness of the volunteers and the many hours of work put in by the organising team. I am grateful to all.

Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #30 on: 03 August, 2017, 10:33:54 pm »
And - live tracking : this is a real double edged sword. When it is saying what the supporter wants it to say it's great, but when it 'fails' it causes panic. We had a (American?) supporter whose rider had left Loth but hadn't got to Spalding in what they thought was a reasonable time, there was no phone connection ( no coverage / flat battery?) - and they were determined to go to the police to report the rider missing - I don't know if they did (I imagine the police would have told them to 'do one' as we say round here), but supporters need to be made aware of the limitations of the technology. This would apply to Spot Trackers as much as any other system.


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Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #31 on: 03 August, 2017, 10:48:48 pm »
And another before I go to bed - consider an approved messaging system for control-control requests/ information- I'm not sure that Facebook is either the best or appropriate medium for some of the more 'semi-formal' stuff?


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Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #32 on: 03 August, 2017, 11:28:19 pm »
Maybe some historic ride reports on the LEL website to let potential entrants what they're in for. Ride reports for both finishers and those who've dnfed. Stats of failure rates, by age, country etc. I know the argument is that everyone who rides PBP has an SR series under their belt, and that's historically had an equivalent failure rate to LEL, but reading some of the messages on Facebook, it does seem that the less experienced suffered more on this iteration. Of course it could just be that as they've withdrawn they're posting on social media while the majority are still riding and not posting, merely giving the impression of high failure rates.

Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #33 on: 04 August, 2017, 02:00:19 am »
CL - Barney was amazing. "You say that to all the controls" - nuh uh! Mega food, massage, and an ace wheelbuilder.

Only a few controls got veggie food right for me, and veggies need protein too. My heart grew sad at seeing the meat eaters getting bacon and sausages, whereas I got full english minus bacon and sausages. Loughton was mega, and the omlette at Edinburgh was awesome. The veggie curries were good (as in tasty) until my GERD meant I was scoffing gaviscon advance at an alarming rate (having forgotten to pack my usual drugs).

I could kiss whoever thought to make rice pudding with coconut milk at Spalding on the way up.

Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #34 on: 04 August, 2017, 06:53:39 am »

I could kiss whoever thought to make rice pudding with coconut milk at Spalding on the way up.
That was amazing - most of the volunteers have got the outline of the recipe - it's not coconut milk, it's block coconut, which is coconut fat, plus desiccated coconut, in a standard rice pudding (with maybe a bit of added extra butter in one of the earlier iterations)


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Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #35 on: 04 August, 2017, 09:51:50 am »
Don't have an answer to this problem but think it needs to be discussed.

I DNF'd, got to Louth early, and a bed at 2300, with a wake up call at 0230.  However this did not happen and I was sleeping like a baby until just before 0600!  Was then very late, no breakfast except for a bit of cake... At this stage I should have had four hours in hand but had none.  I carried on up north and enjoyed it, and as my partner was volunteering I was determined not to pack before then

The issue is the oversleeping, the notice said maximum three hours and NO Mobile phones, which I was happy with.  But with a lot of things on this thread it is a balance between individual responsibility and collective good.  The volunteers forgot to wake me, happens, then should I have phone on, or at least vibrate, but if that is the case we need to make it clear.  And do we enforce the three hour rule, which I would have suspected would have been done.

Individual v collective?

Kim

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Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #36 on: 04 August, 2017, 11:03:46 am »
Vibrating alarms are surely a reasonable compromise?  If a mobile phone inna sock is banned, then a vibrating watch ought to suffice.  With the best will in the world, I don't think I'd trust a wakeup call to happen.

Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #37 on: 04 August, 2017, 12:06:26 pm »
Don't have an answer to this problem but think it needs to be discussed.

I DNF'd, got to Louth early, and a bed at 2300, with a wake up call at 0230.  However this did not happen and I was sleeping like a baby until just before 0600!  Was then very late, no breakfast except for a bit of cake... At this stage I should have had four hours in hand but had none.  I carried on up north and enjoyed it, and as my partner was volunteering I was determined not to pack before then

The issue is the oversleeping, the notice said maximum three hours and NO Mobile phones, which I was happy with.  But with a lot of things on this thread it is a balance between individual responsibility and collective good.  The volunteers forgot to wake me, happens, then should I have phone on, or at least vibrate, but if that is the case we need to make it clear.  And do we enforce the three hour rule, which I would have suspected would have been done.

Individual v collective?
We had a rider who wasn't woken at Spalding - I think he was given the additional time back. (The post-it not had fallen off the board).
There needs to be a lot of discussion about what happens in this type of scenario, and the 'rules' around sleeping. Frankly I think (as someone who will never do such an epic ride) that a maximum of 3 hours sleep is unreasonable, and possibly introduces additional safety risks - I understand the pressures on beds, but the eventuality of huge numbers of riders  needing sleep needs to be planned for as far as humanly possible - even if it is on a blanket on the floor, when all the air beds are taken.
There have been a lot of comments about the unsuitability of dormitory accommodation (for both riders and volunteers) - this is a factor of our modern society where we are no longer used to sleeping this way (Youth Hostels, National Service, public schools etc). Short of commandeering entire hotel chains, dorms are inevitable, as it snoring and farting. We need to learn how to best manage them.
Too many angry people - breathe & relax.

CrinklyLion

  • The one with devious, cake-pushing ways....
Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #38 on: 04 August, 2017, 01:55:16 pm »
A central information board in the control for the volunteers.  If something happens in a precious 'rest' period (like some of the volunteer bathrooms being taken out of service because of the Rugby Boys, a message from another control to look out for a particular rider for some reason etc) it would be useful to have a single place to check what the latest news is as people are so busy that the lines of communication get stretched.

A designated Welfare Officer as part of the team leading at each control, whose job should include managing the volunteer rotas and wellbeing and who, along with the chief controllers, is supernumerary to the rotas.  On both 2013 and 2017 I've seen people pushed to the edge by the workload - indeed, I experienced it myself and completely ran out of social skills a couple of times.  In my case it was a reasonably well informed and self aware choice to exceed my realistic capacities because I had a pretty good idea what I was letting myself in for having volunteered on events before and done a lot of voluntary stuff including all-nighters in my youth, together with the knowledge that I could afford a recovery day or two of not doing anything or seeing/speaking to anyone afterwards.  I also am a native english speaker and apparently fairly assertive (such that it was commented on, kindly not nastily I hasten to add, by another volunteer!) and I do know that if I really _couldn't_ do something I would be able to say no.

Volunteer management is a really hard job.  People who are choosing to do a thing bring an enthusiasm and a willingness to go above and beyond that no amount of money can buy, but are under no obligation to do what they are told.

Mr Larrington

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Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #39 on: 04 August, 2017, 03:40:42 pm »
To add to Crinkles' comments, it'd be handy if the Controller's master schedule and the individual ones for each volunteer were the same :D  alfapete otp did a sterling job of pointing the Legions of of the Damned Confused into places where they were most needed.
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Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #40 on: 04 August, 2017, 03:55:50 pm »
Agree with a lot of what I've read on this thread. My tuppence worth (and my brain is working on 2hrs sleep in 48hrs so bear with me!) and all the volunteers did an amazing job in my experience and nearly everything was perfect (apart from the catering arrangements at Louth north and south which was unacceptable IMO)...

- Don't use hosepipes for providing water, especially 50m long ones. Having water that tasted of hosepipe after Brampton until I could get to replace it was not pleasant.

- Shoes on/off just to check in/out was a real pain when you're tired and using overshoes, i.e. cover the floor to the desk or have the desk in a shoe accessible area.

- Have a qualifier event, e.g. a UK 400 or 600 in the year of the event. I saw some shocking rider behaviour and some very dangerous incidents. Some of the lack of preparedness was scary. I saw two riders seconds from potentially fatal incidents through their own lack of experience of riding UK roads.

- Jugs of milk. And then more jugs of milk. And cornflakes.

- More Cake. First cake I encountered was at Moffat AFAIK. Maybe it was me but there seemed to be a general lack of sweet stuff?

- The A701 to Edinburgh was horrendous. The surface was almost unrideable (e.g. through Broughton) for much of its length.

Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #41 on: 04 August, 2017, 04:06:54 pm »
Vibrating alarms are surely a reasonable compromise?  If a mobile phone inna sock is banned, then a vibrating watch ought to suffice.  With the best will in the world, I don't think I'd trust a wakeup call to happen.

I used a smart watch with a subtle vibrate alarm, I can't even hear it myself.

jiberjaber

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Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #42 on: 04 August, 2017, 06:21:22 pm »
Agree with a lot of what I've read on this thread. My tuppence worth (and my brain is working on 2hrs sleep in 48hrs so bear with me!) and all the volunteers did an amazing job in my experience and nearly everything was perfect (apart from the catering arrangements at Louth north and south which was unacceptable IMO)...

- Don't use hosepipes for providing water, especially 50m long ones. Having water that tasted of hosepipe after Brampton until I could get to replace it was not pleasant.

- Shoes on/off just to check in/out was a real pain when you're tired and using overshoes, i.e. cover the floor to the desk or have the desk in a shoe accessible area.

- Have a qualifier event, e.g. a UK 400 or 600 in the year of the event. I saw some shocking rider behaviour and some very dangerous incidents. Some of the lack of preparedness was scary. I saw two riders seconds from potentially fatal incidents through their own lack of experience of riding UK roads.

- Jugs of milk. And then more jugs of milk. And cornflakes.

- More Cake. First cake I encountered was at Moffat AFAIK. Maybe it was me but there seemed to be a general lack of sweet stuff?

- The A701 to Edinburgh was horrendous. The surface was almost unrideable (e.g. through Broughton) for much of its length.

Agree with a lot of what has been covered and still not mentally able to process all the improvements... but

I was over the moon to finally have something other than pasta/rice/spud designed to have broad appeal (i.e. bland) when I hit BC I was over the moon to get Panang !  :thumbsup:  I suspect we later starting riders hit the first controls when they were in a closing down phase perhaps? on the way back they were better.

Some of the controls I could control at in my shoes, but it was getting a real pain and time waste to take them off and on each time especially when the weather wasn't great.. a HUGE improvement would be getting the position of the desk right, that's possibly a hour or two of sleep across the whole ride potentially lost if a control is being bounced.

I came down of YM soaked but full of high spirit with a view to optionally bouncing BC as I didnt want to get out of wet but warm gear to have to then put wet but cold gear back on... It would be a huge help to have perhaps the menu visible at the control desk and perhaps some grab & go food there as an option (perhaps some thought needed on how to keep the menu updated and discourage troughing of the grab & go (fee to cover packaging?) I was probably slightly ratty when

The weather on YM was atrocious and epic in equal measures, a high pressure jet wash, limited visibility, high wind and remote location - there were a lot of riders I came past who looked unprepared and inadequately dressed, I would say the conditions perhaps were almost Type 3 and I don't really want to get in to a debate about was it life threatening etc but it just takes a lot of little things to align for the conditions to be life threatening, and I reflected as I was passing through that it was probably all there to be worse.  The non mandatory control at Alston was  closed when I got there (it wasn't that well signed as I came through northbound) I was lucky, the builder supervisor was really helpful and showed me the working loo & filled my water bottles and also gave me some flapjack. Perhaps there is a case here to have something at this location (or a better one that allows a diversion route?) in case of very bad weather up top... I know the spirit is supposed to be self sufficient, but in a hierarchy of preserving life, "it's your own fault if you die" I feel gets trumped  by "sorry mate, you should not proceed up there in just shorts & jersey and no lights!"

I'd also echo  seeing shocking rider behaviour and some very dangerous incidents with bonus no lights riding going on also North through the fens, South in to Pok.

Louth was a disaster zone Northbound and I understand there are probably some reasons behind this but to a damp, fatigued rider at 04:00 there was no food and it was heaving, we waited ages, some food came out but people were taking away multiple plates, perhaps for a group of them maybe not, there was no info available about what/when food might be available and we ended up going off route to 'control' at a forecourt just on the outskirts of Louth - there didn't seem to be any visible presence of being in control of the situation..  There is certainly some analysis by those who are in possession of the full facts around what lessons can be applied going forward as contingency to mitigate in the future.

A couple of toilets for the volume of people is never going to work some toilets we miles away and had to be navigated with/without shoes, the simple act of just changing shorts in some privacy was a challenge at times and often a bit of lost time in waiting for somewhere to do so...  Some locations had changing rooms, some didn't  (or appear to have) Signs were generally good, but it was a bit of an exploration to find a empty loo. Perhaps a simple wall map showing the locations (& number!) of facilities would have helped reduce the faff

I think someone has mentioned the TCP tasting water at Brampton - foul!


Checking in and out at various activities (sleep, bag drops etc) was inconsistent

The limited tracking was great and the buzz on the social media pages about the dot watching is excellent even my Dad was following the progress of riders I didnt know.... Fantastic and surely a good thing and also not without its challenges...

As a rider with a diminishing cognitive capability along the ride, only being able to track individuals and session security errors etc was a real pain.  I wanted to know where the rest of my team was as a minimum, were they alright? Were they asleep and if so for where/how long? (could we all catch up?) etc  It felt like all the components were there to resolve some real world user needs - at the moment, just less than 12 hours after finishing, the rider tracking has been taken down, luckily I have  a screen grab, but I can't check if friends made it etc.   (**ETA** Phil has now put up a provisional finisher's list :thumbsup: )
 
This is a suggestions box, and by its nature might come across biased to what went wrong, but there was also a lot of what went right - perhaps another thread for What went right to keep the balance, last thing we want is for all the great people that made sure the event worked to feel !
Regards,

Joergen

Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #43 on: 04 August, 2017, 06:31:27 pm »
My tuppence worth (and my brain is working on 2hrs sleep in 48hrs so bear with me!) and all the volunteers did an amazing job in my experience and nearly everything was perfect
This, in spades.
The whole thing was bloody brilliant... and I hope riders AND volunteers don't focus too much on the smalll things that might have been done in a different way ( in their opinion )

- Have a qualifier event, e.g. a UK 400 or 600 in the year of the event. I saw some shocking rider behaviour and some very dangerous incidents. Some of the lack of preparedness was scary. I saw two riders seconds from potentially fatal incidents through their own lack of experience of riding UK roads.
I'd agree with having a qualifying requirement - to prepare riders for some of  the challenges involved and hopefully reducing DNF rate, by doubt very much it will do anything to reduce dangerous riding.
The worst examples I saw were from an experienced Italian randonneur who I'm fairly sure did 2013 as well as 2017 and still indulged in practices that would shame even the most hardened RLJer.

Jugs of milk. And then more jugs of milk. And cornflakes.
Yes to milk - but I'd run a mile from any event where conflakes were the only choice at a control.

- More Cake. First cake I encountered was at Moffat AFAIK. Maybe it was me but there seemed to be a general lack of sweet stuff?
Yes, I looked for sweet stuff (other than rice pudding) on a couple of occasions and failed to find any.   Something other than cake (maybe along the lines of apple pie & custard) would be a bonus

- The A701 to Edinburgh was horrendous. The surface was almost unrideable (e.g. through Broughton) for much of its length.
Agree - I had a conversation with a (succesful) French rider this morning who told me that cut backs meant their roads were now beginning to resemble those in some English counties and he accepted this was 'par for the course' but that he wouldn't be coming back because of the poor state of some roads in Scotland.
I confess to yelling out things along the lines of "FFS" a few times myself.

Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #44 on: 04 August, 2017, 06:34:08 pm »
 @ Jiberjaber

On the shoes thing - I can (and did) see that it is a real difficulty in some circumstances.  But in some places (Eskdalemuir, for example), the community hub had new floors, some sprung for dancing and the request for people to take off shoes is reasonable.  Unless, of course, riders think that £350 includes a requirement to provide a custom-built control at every checkpoint!  On the difficulty of being able to keep in contact with your own "team mates" via LEL's electronic media, I just don't think that is reasonable at all.  I hope you'll agree when you've thought it through, if that is indeed what you meant.  If it isn't, my apologies!

Peter

Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #45 on: 04 August, 2017, 06:41:16 pm »
- The A701 to Edinburgh was horrendous. The surface was almost unrideable (e.g. through Broughton) for much of its length.
Agree - I had a conversation with a (succesful) French rider this morning who told me that cut backs meant their roads were now beginning to resemble those in some English counties and he accepted this was 'par for the course' but that he wouldn't be coming back because of the poor state of some roads in Scotland.
I confess to yelling out things along the lines of "FFS" a few times myself.

Yes, the A701 is bad, I presume due to the logging lorries.  They destroy whatever roads they use.  However if you had carried on to central Edinburgh you would have come across far worse.  The council seem to have stopped any attempt to repair/resurface roads.  Some are truly shocking and, as you say, a real embarrassment if in the company of overseas riders.
The sound of one pannier flapping

CrinklyLion

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Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #46 on: 04 August, 2017, 06:50:09 pm »
Re the £350 thing - I did wonder if some riders had formed the view that price rise was meant to mean a higher level of 'service' than in previous incarnations. It felt to me like quite a lot of the field had higher expectations than last time, and I encountered a few who came across a bit entitled.

My understanding was that the increase in the registration fee was primarily to cover the costs of commercial caterers and cleaners, thus lightening the load on volunteers so that those people who used their holidays to come to the event could work mere 16+ hour days which only included a minimal amount of cleaning shitty toilets and mopping up vomit...

Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #47 on: 04 August, 2017, 07:08:56 pm »
Floors: we didn't ask riders to de-shoe at Spalding and this caused confusion. Maybe the organisation could look at sources and costs of disposable floor covering to protect controls where this is required (maybe that green grass like stuff in rolls and soak test it beforehand at a few very busy AUK events?)


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Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #48 on: 04 August, 2017, 07:14:29 pm »
Toilets : I was embarrassed by the toilets at Spalding but was told that they were par for the course for school toilets. FFS is this what our kids have to put up with? Control toilets need to be plentiful, clean and well signposted. Ours were all of these (particularly clean - the school staff did wonders) but the main block was outside the control building, and with hindsight might have been better signed. Perhaps  dedicated Male & Female changing areas might be a good idea which could release a bit of space in the latrines?


Tapatalk puts this signature here, not me!
Too many angry people - breathe & relax.

Re: LEL Suggestions Box
« Reply #49 on: 04 August, 2017, 07:28:35 pm »
Qualifying: there's got to be something, but it's complicated.
On the one hand there's a need to make sure that riders and their machines are up to the task. Understanding the physical and mental resilience; understanding the demands on the machinery and how continually riding on grotty roads will destroy unsuitable bikes and parts thereof.
Equally - as has been demonstrated, there is a need for an understanding of etiquette of riding, and the rules of the road.
Some of this can be done by getting potential entrants to demonstrate completion of (say) a 600k event; some of this can be done by giving riders reading beforehand to inwardly digest.
But to keep the essential international element the question remains about what to do about countries with no 600k events? Of course if they can rustle up enough interest they can run a qualifier if they have a national Audax club, but for countries with no critical mass of riders - then what? Could AUK help these lone wolves by validating DIYs especially for LEL?
Someone up there suggested producing a digest of 'riders tales' including DNFs - this along with well written guides to riding in Britain in the 21st century- presented in an attractive format (perhaps with some of the excellent photos that are appearing) could be sold to wannabes.


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Too many angry people - breathe & relax.