A rider was, at silly o'clock in the morning during the Brevet Cymru in the Llangattock Community Centre, trying to pin Mark down on whether there would or would not be a 'bag drop'. He did not commit either way (but I suspect there won't be and riders should plan accordingly). As Ritchie (who was in the kitchen serving up all kinds of goodies has said (a propos the BCM)):
" If anyone thinks they need a bag drop, let me know and I will explain how you can carry everything you need for 1,200km+ in a saddle bag!"
Will there be 'bag drops' on PBP? Not for most British riders, I think.
So what?
People have ridden X-rated Welsh events without a brilliant night-stop such as that at Llangattock - does this mean the LL'k stop was a daft idea? Many many people ride PBP* with some form of support, and Mark has provided bag-drops on many (not all) of his events.
That's a ridiculous answer from Richie, and you should know it. It's a perfectly reasonable question to ask.
*which I've ridden twice without bag-drops, for the record
"So what?" Just trying to pass on the distinct impression that there would not be a bag drop, Matt, and I'm not saying that bag drops are daft.
The excellent night stop at Llangattock was much appreciated - of course it wasn't "daft" - not able to follow your chain of logic/relevance there, unless you're suggesting that bag drops and arranging a place to control indoors on a 400 or longer are in the same bracket.
I don't know what proportion of riders on PBP ride with "some sort of [external] support". Do you? Can you agree that (rephrasing what I said) "most riders from the UK will not use bag drops (or other external support) on PBP2019". If so a reasonable inference might be that they might be well advised to ride their qualifiers without relying on a bag drop.
Ritchie did not say this at Llangattock: it is a footnote to his Bryan Chapman Memorial 600 Event Notes (Jan-15) link in the BCM calendar page:
http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/19-195/He may have resiled from this as volunteers have come forward to drive a hired van with bags (optional - £3 per bag - which funds the van) to King's these last few years, and this is the arrangement this year.