shout out to ACME

[Lightning Phil]

Excellent

[alwyn]

Fabulous, can Liam sort out radio London coverage, or the evening standard, that kind of thing?

Liam is v much on it

[Fidgetbuzz]

Top post .. i was trying to help a rider who will finish sometime tomorrow ,, that is 2 days and 12 hours after the last finish time. That to me is hopelessly late .. dogged determination ..yes .. but reality is she should never have  entered , has given our southbound controls a headache as they have tried to provide some support even though they closed and packed up long before she arrived  and there needs  to be a limit on how this sort of effort is recognised. as otherwise it sets a precedent that will be seen as reasonable . I think we should have removed her brevet card at Dunfermline .. so that it was  quite clear she was no longer riding LEL.

[FifeingEejit]

why should they be hurt? they are riding a bike on the road as thousands of us do every day without support. food is available, shelter is available, water is available.

And they're being followed by people, in an area where there are actually trains, which all adds up to a fair whack more than what you'll get on many regular calendar events.

Minter of a troll

[grams]

The tracking site’s cut out. Could someone put 50p in the meter?

[mmmmartin]

it sets a precedent that will be seen as reasonable . I think we should have removed her brevet card at Dunfermline .. so that it was  quite clear she was no longer riding LEL.

As would have happened on PBP I think. Half of me says this is great publicity for the event. The other half frets over what'll happen next time. And i thank heaven these are decisions made by others, so i don't have to wrestle with these dilemmas.
I'll be volunteering next time, unless i ride.

[Philip Whiteman]

Gareema at Debden today.   





Picture by Alison Veloqi on Facebook

[abc123]

Fair play to Gareema for riding to the finish, and well done to everyone who has supported her. However, there is a risk of creating a precedent for riding LEL at touring pace, so it might be something the organisation have to think about for the next edition? Many other long distance challenge events do have definite control cut-offs, where riders who arrive too late are explicitly excluded from the event. I recognise that Audax is a bit different, because you are effectively just going for a cycle ride on an open public road, and the organisers have no responsibility for what happens while you are doing that.

[Zed43]

What do you propose we do? Lasso them and herd them into pens for their own safety?

[...] I think we should have removed her brevet card at Dunfermline .. so that it was  quite clear she was no longer riding LEL.

I think the above sums it up pretty nicely.

You can't stop them from riding further (and why would you want to). But make clear they're now doing a DIY.

I do think these people would appreciate getting their card with the stamps so far mailed to them though. Should they get a medal mailed as well? I actually don't have an opinion about that 

[Fidgetbuzz]

I think it has to be made clear that they are no longer riding LEL , so that if there was an accident .. then there can be no claim on LEL insurance.
This must be on our wrap up agenda, for  discussion, but  we are prepared to allow continuing if it seems  that an in time finish is possible.
this lady accompanied by her film crew and her father has caught us off balance   and once she acquired media celebrity .. we were stuffed !!!
The real Indian lady to celebrate is their first in time finisher not someone pottering around at 8kms an hour
 

[abc123]

Making a film documentary must inevitably be slowing things down even further.

[arabella]

What do you propose we do? Lasso them and herd them into pens for their own safety?

[...] I think we should have removed her brevet card at Dunfermline .. so that it was  quite clear she was no longer riding LEL.

I think the above sums it up pretty nicely.

You can't stop them from riding further (and why would you want to). But make clear they're now doing a DIY.

I do think these people would appreciate getting their card with the stamps so far mailed to them though. Should they get a medal mailed as well? I actually don't have an opinion about that 

Also agreed - brevet card is surrendered as soon as it's no longer possible to complete the rest of the ride at 30kph will give sufficient margin for people who can catch up (out of time at intermediate controls), unless we want to go down the route of 'must be in time at every control'.  It also means controllers are unlikely to remove the card prematurely in the event of an as yet unkown extension.  Anyone who can actually ride at 30kph will be unlikely to fall in to the category of being so far behind etc.
As they're no longer on the ride should thier wristband etc also be removed to prevent "unauthorised" access to a control from a non-rider? 
For discussion, as Roger says.
Did they have press credentials?

[Cudzoziemiec]

Gareema at Debden today.   





Picture by Alison Veloqi on Facebook

The Pakistan flag is upside down. I don't know if this is to indicate distress... Well done Gareema!

[hellymedic]

Also agreed - brevet card is surrendered as soon as it's no longer possible to complete the rest of the ride at 30kph will give sufficient margin for people who can catch up (out of time at intermediate controls), unless we want to go down the route of 'must be in time at every control'.  It also means controllers are unlikely to remove the card prematurely in the event of an as yet unkown extension.  Anyone who can actually ride at 30kph will be unlikely to fall in to the category of being so far behind etc.

I think you mean 12kph...

[CrinklyLion]

I don't think she does.

If you are 300km (somewhere around the humber bridge?) from the end with 10 hours remaining, you could theoretically make it if you can keep up 30kph average including any stopped time, so a moving average above that. Very few people could actually do it, especially not the majority mere mortals and especially not after having already done 1200km, but maybe it could be applicable in one of those edge cases e.g. where a super-speedy person has had to have a long stop to buy a new frame (or weld their frame back together again) and then rebuild their bike before attempting a heroic flat out dash to the end despite being out of time at some intermediate controls, in a way that tells a good story, and might feel unfair to DQ.

At 12kph you'd have 25 hours left to complete the ride, and you'd be within the normal control times. There's no need to surrender a brevet card, you're on track, and have over a day left to get to Debden. Get pedalling!

If you were at the same point with just 9 hours left to do those 300km, requiring an average speed in excess of 30kph, it wouldn't feel unfair to remove the brevet card and say 'your ride is over' because you couldn't do it while respecting, over the remaining controls, the maximum average speed allowed in the rules even if you were that super rare bird that was capable of it.

[bhoot]

+1 to Crinkly's logic

[grams]

Most of the brevet confiscating would need to happen on Friday evening when the controls would be packed and gone.

(I’d also say you’d find few people cold-hearted enough to do it, but the DNF thread says otherwise)

[CrinklyLion]

I have to say, grams, one of my favourite things about 2017 was you realising (after a decent night's sleep, iirc) that you weren't prepared to leave the dragon unslayed and getting back on a train north to pick up where you'd left off

ETA - and Granny Annie was tickled pink to offer a very unofficial 'control' in Pocklington!