Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => Audax => Topic started by: Cycling Daddy on 27 January, 2015, 09:23:16 am
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I am not clear about the rules but I gather that it is allowed to move bike and rider from one position to another. I think Tommy did this using trains? I wondered if there was a role for people to transport Steve + bike(s ) from one place to another to make use of quieter./flatter/ less windy roads and to go with the wind where possible? Would be able to do this from time to time with say an early or end of day pick up in MK
L
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I suggested on another thread Steve could be transported to Milford Haven ( 207 miles from MK ) to take advantage of strong westerlies.
There are risks involved in this strategy which include 'transport breakdown', 'loss of quality sleep' and 'traffic'.
Steve and his crew may decide not to employ this strategy due to the risks involved.
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I think the logistics of such a policy make such things overly-complicated. In effect you would need another team of people with vehicles of unknown reliability trying to make decisions based on the unpredictable. It seems to me that Steve has pretty much the ideal set-up and, the possibility of a PBP-bound ferry apart, he has the prospect of a "pure" ride - one that is unsullied by assisted transport. Even Tommy didn't manage that.
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I am not clear about the rules ...
There's no need to be unclear, they're right here. (http://www.ultracycling.com/sections/records/max-mileage.php)
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There was an early debate when there were very strong westerleys - scrap the plan , ride to Lowestoft from MK , and then get transferred back to do it again.
Problem is this either ruins Steves sleep plans completely ( unless we have access to some sleeper van ) or loses 2 or 3 hour s of riding time - so was not actioned -- and seems unlikely to be a ""on the day "" change of plan.
Use of weather forecast and impact on 2 or 3 days out -- is thought about - and I think today is itself a change of original idea.
Roger
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My suggestion (a couple of months ago) was to decamp to the S of France for 3 months. There are Auks who could put him up down there. Better weather, quieter faster roads, boulangeries at regular intervals. Obviously he'd need a relay of minders with him, but I understood there was money sloshing about, so why not.
Doing it the hard way doesn't seem to be such a good idea to me.
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Splitting the year in two by taking an overseas trip to France, IMO is a bit of a risk. Travel upsets, breakdowns, food poisoning, crowds of other cyclists with Americans amongst them,,, toooo risky.
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Splitting the year in two by taking an overseas trip to France, IMO is a bit of a risk. Travel upsets, breakdowns, food poisoning, crowds of other cyclists with Americans amongst them,,, toooo risky.
Because, of course none of those things would be relevant in this country, would they?
Oh, hang on...
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Apart from his own vast experience Steve has a good team around him - they will make the right decisions. The recent weekend jaunt to Yorkshire was an excellent move, and I think we will see more tactical moves as the year progresses.
PBP will be another issue, and one where a camper van may be a huge benefit, as he'll need a good time. His August 87129 target is 272 miles per day, which my schoolboy arithmetic equates to a 66 hour PBP
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I can see the Times headline now,,,
“British world record attempt cyclist put out of action by contaminated Californian sausage.”
I can see the Sun headline now,,,
“Knobbled by a Yankee banger.”
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FF -- it is only since early/mid Jan that the money side has begun to look OK -- and I dont think the team was even in place finally until mid Dec - I only got involved in late Nov when i was still in OZ. I think crew chief was early Dec .
I dont think Steve could have contemplated going off to foreign climes -- as if AUK had been the source of a lot of finance ( as I imagined originally ) - the uproar from those who objected to a holiday in S France on their money would have been colossal.
Attractive as the idea is -- even now I am not sure that we would know how to set it up -- so that it worked clickety click-- and Steve might not be pro the idea -- he knows the UK - and seems to be very comfortable with what he is doing at the moment
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First time I've heard it described as a holiday, FB - it's been sounding like bloody hard work to me ...
And do you really think AUK members would have objected to Steve getting some dosh towards going to France? I mean, if Provence was better for him than Peterborough, it wouldn't be a hard call - but I do reckon it might be hard to make the (dread words) "business case" that would outweigh the benefits of familiarity with the UK for him and the support team.
As for Cycling Daddy's post about helping to move Steve around, I think CD's said elsewhere that he's got a campervan, so I assumed this was a factor in the suggestion - move and sleep1 at the same time ...
1: Badly, probably.
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I reckon there's quite some advantage to Steve riding the roads he knows well and sleeping in his own bed a lot of the time. Without wishing to be a prophet of doom, it would be a remarkable achievement if this year were to sail through without some unforeseen snag - it's a testament to Steve's planning of the cycling side, and the support team's hard work, that it's going so well - and it will be vastly simpler to sort something out and get him back on the road when pretty much everything he needs is "on the peg" in Milton Keynes.
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For the support team - think of swans!
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I reckon there's quite some advantage to Steve riding the roads he knows well and sleeping in his own bed a lot of the time. Without wishing to be a prophet of doom, it would be a remarkable achievement if this year were to sail through without some unforeseen snag - it's a testament to Steve's planning of the cycling side, and the support team's hard work, that it's going so well - and it will be vastly simpler to sort something out and get him back on the road when pretty much everything he needs is "on the peg" in Milton Keynes.
FWIW, that would be the way I see it too.
Steve's his own man - as evidenced by the fact that he's the one actually riding the bike.
As long as he feels confident and comfortable enough to turn round to the team and say, "hey, this needs to change, like right now", then what is there to be done that's different? It would be sad to think that he might ever be suffering in silence, feeling that he can't ask for changes to be made, now it's all set up, but I'd be amazed if that were to ever happen.
I don't know how he does it, I really don't. Get me to Florida or South of France any day, but I really wonder if Steve is really that bothered about the cold. It would appear that what bugs him the most is the amount of time it takes to get dressed, rather than being out in it. And the roads? Heavens above, he's riding some busy old roads, day in day out.
For us, what would appear to be the hard way [putting it mildy] is for Steve, well....just the normal way it's done.
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First time I've heard it described as a holiday, FB - it's been sounding like bloody hard work to me ...
And do you really think AUK members would have objected to Steve getting some dosh towards going to France?
Well ... a lot of AUKs have happily spent good moeny on trips requiring us to ride 300k/day across foreign fields for a week. And some of us even claimed to have enjoyed it!
So; although it's a tricky one - and part of me agrees with you! - I think that it _would_ slightly reduce the immense goodwill currently out there.
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For the support team - think of swans!
They belong to Missis Kwin? They're nowt but fookin' big ducks?
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All proud subjects of her Madge, I wager.
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So; although it's a tricky one - and part of me agrees with you! -
<Swoon>
I think that it _would_ slightly reduce the immense goodwill currently out there.
Impossible to know - but yes, I think some of the goodwill and fellow-feeling maybe comes from recognising some of the roads, some of the cafes, some of the hills, and feeling that we too could be out there Right Now (if only we were a little bit more committed).