I'm a liar!

[Jethro]

On the Irish Mail 400 this year, and at the Tesco control, Holyhead about 21.00hrs.

Employee:  Where have you cycled from?

Us:  Shrewsbury

Employee:  What today?

Us:  Yes

Employee:  Where are you going now?

Us:  Shrewsbury

Employee:  When?

Us:  Now

[nuttycyclist]

Jethro - We had exactly the same conversation at the Taunton Dean motorway services with a group of northerners.

"Where have you come from?"
"London"
"When did you start?"
"This morning"
"Where are you going?"
"London"
"When will you get there?"
"Tomorrow"





And in Dunwich after the Blue Moon ride I was giving Stefan the directions back home to Southend (He wanted a kip whereas I was heading straight off).  The waitress was just clearing up and setting the table for the start of the lunch service, and saw us with the maps out.   "Where are you going to now then?"
"Southend"
"How many days will it take you to get there?"
"I was planning on getting there in time for my evening meal"
"     ."

[Greenbank]

...
Me: (Pointing to GPS) "Oh, go on, it's on my route."
...

That's why I like maps instead of GPS     Road closures are easy to navigate around.

OK, I'll bite.

I find following an arrow on a GPS screen to be much easier than pissing about with maps in bar bags (I also dislike the way a bar-bag affects the bike's handling). For this situation I just zoomed out on the track/route view page, picked a different road out of Chertsey and picked roads that sent me in the right direction to rejoin my route a few miles later. It worked a treat. If I really needed it I had an appropriate map in the rack pack, so navigating round any road closure wouldn't have been a problem.

If I had to pick between a map or a GPS then it would depend on the ride. But being able to take both means I can use the GPS as the primary method, with maps as a backup.

I'm guessing this is why people like those GPSes that have built in maps as it combines the best of both worlds.

[mattc]

On the Irish Mail 400 this year, and at the Tesco control, Holyhead about 21.00hrs.

Employee:  Where have you cycled from?

Us:  Shrewsbury

Employee:  What today?

Us:  Yes

Employee:  Where are you going now?

Us:  Shrewsbury

Employee:  When?

Us:  Now

I now have an image of 5-6 bedraggled randonneurs sat round a table of dirty crockery, shouting these answers out in the style of a pep-rally.

(You know the sort of thing:
"What do we want?"
"More money!"
"When do we want it?"
"NOW!"
)

[border-rider]

"Where have you come from?"
"London"
"When did you start?"
"This morning"
"Where are you going?"
"London"
"When will you get there?"
"Tomorrow"

We've had this on the Brevet Cymru, at Newquay, and on the Bryan Chapman, at Menai. 

Substitute "Chepstow" for "London" in both cases

I also had it involving London and Edinburgh, and London again

[Ian H]

At the Keele services on the M6, some years ago, several of us had arrived to control on the Burton-Bala Bash.

A motorist came up and said, "I hope you don't mind me asking, but how did you get here on your bikes?"

I was in the middle of telling him how the slip road off the motorway was okay so long as you pedalled fast when a fellow rider with a different idea of humour butted in to say that actually we'd used the service entrance.

[Greenbank]

I was looking for places to stay near Thorne if I were to do the London->Thorne DIY 300 later on this year.

There's a Travelodge at the M18/M180 junction between Thorne and Doncaster, but the only access is by Motorway, not even a local service road (like Membury/etc).

But you can get to within 50 yards or so along some farm tracks off public roads.

[border-rider]

I was looking for places to stay near Thorne if I were to do the London->Thorne DIY 300 later on this year.

There's a Travelodge at the M18/M180 junction between Thorne and Doncaster, but the only access is by Motorway, not even a local service road (like Membury/etc).

But you can get to within 50 yards or so along some farm tracks off public roads.

I stayed there before/after LEL last time, and we also used it as a doze stop on the 2006 Easter Arrow

I can confirm that you can get through to the services that way.  My advice, based on experience:

Don't drink a  skinful after a 1400 k event and fall off your bike in the pitch dark at about midnight, dropping your car-key (with it's easily-identifiable up-market car-maker's logo) on the rutted and overgrown farm track (which leads to exactly where your car is parked) , necessitating a return to the spot for a frantic search at first light - before anyone else - instead of the anticipated post-LEL lie-in.

Don't startle the couple in the car parked on the lane, thinking they'd found a quite place for a shag, and not expecting the midnight arrival of 5 randonneurs with Solidlights ablazing

[ParrettPedaller]

Not sure if it's connected but an AUK jersey has often stopped most people coming up to me like that. Perhaps we are the cycling equivalent of bus enthusiasts

Badge collecting obsessives in badly designed clothing with a penchant for distances,  routes, time schedules, and an unhealthy interest in bus shelters?

Sounds worryingly similar 

[pdm]

I was looking for places to stay near Thorne if I were to do the London->Thorne DIY 300 later on this year.

But you can get to within 50 yards or so along some farm tracks off public roads.

That will be Cuckoo Lane, then - must be an allusion to what all good Audaxers are... 

[Martin]

I was spied drinking my milk at Severn View Services late on Friday night while on my failed 1000k ride.

was this El Supremo's? he said you'd entered

I was looking for places to stay near Thorne if I were to do the London->Thorne DIY 300 later on this year.

There's a Travelodge at the M18/M180 junction between Thorne and Doncaster, but the only access is by Motorway, not even a local service road (like Membury/etc).

But you can get to within 50 yards or so along some farm tracks off public roads.

I'm pretty sure all Motorway services have emergency access via non motorway roads so no problem just riding in a la Membury

[border-rider]

That Travelodge doesn't seem to have a drivable way in/out other than the motorway.  We spent a long time looking...

[teethgrinder]

If I'm with a group, where everyone else has 700c wheels and it's more noticeable, I occasionally get people saying "Your bike's got little wheels!"

I used to get that when I rode my Moulton.

I remember a conversation with a workmate on a Wednesday morning. I never told anyone except for him exactly how far I used to ride.

Him: Fuckin' 'ell! You look like you've been on a ride! (My eyes were red and puffed up)
Me: Well, it was foggy this morning.
Him (looking puzzled): No it wasn't.
Me: Yes it was.
Him (looking thoughtfull): It wasn't.
Me: Well it was on the A40 east of Cheltenham at 0200 this morning, I've ridden just over 200 miles since you saw me yesterday.
Him (laughing): You fuckin' nutter.

[mattc]

That Travelodge doesn't seem to have a drivable way in/out other than the motorway.  We spent a long time looking...

OS map (well, online ones, anyway) show footpath right-of-ways into the services from the NW and S, so I guess those must still exist, even if the developers have attempted to make them less than visible.
(I'm guessing you folks used the one from the NW, leading to Nettleholme Lane (track) which is off Cuckoo Lane. From the South would be off Old Thorne Road, but looks like more off-roading.)

[Greenbank]

I'm pretty sure all Motorway services have emergency access via non motorway roads so no problem just riding in a la Membury

No, that's why I mentioned it. Look at the satellite photo if you don't believe me.

OS map (well, online ones, anyway) show footpath right-of-ways into the services from the NW and S

Yup, footpaths, but no way you could drive a car in.

[Martin]

I eyed up the bridge under the M way on Sat, decided it was too Ploddable, and I would have been seen from a train; didn't notice the path though. Am I the only vagrant on this board?

[border-rider]

From the South would be off Old Thorne Road, but looks like more off-roading.)

That would be the one

We're claiming a roughstuff Arrow

Also (one of the reasons why) I fell off and lost my key.

[mattc]

I'm pretty sure all Motorway services have emergency access via non motorway roads so no problem just riding in a la Membury

No, that's why I mentioned it. Look at the satellite photo if you don't believe me.

I wonder if you're almost both right!
Places like Membury would be vulnerable to a motorway closure, so need the access roads round the back. The Thorne services can be accessed by 2 motorways - both would need to be closed for them to be stranded.

So maybe there is a "Martin's Law" in place, but it is flexible.

Cyclists don't need emergency access to services - unless they're Randonneurs, in which case they are assumed to be wily enough to get into anywhere.

[miniog]

I remember making my way back towards Beddgelert through Waunfawr on the BCM one year*, when I passed a shadowy figure taking his dog for a walk (it was after midnight). I was rather taken aback when he called out : "All downhill to Chepstow now!"

On the same stretch this year, at around midnight, a similarly shadowy figure shouted "only 250K to go!" to Nuncio and myself

[border-rider]

Places like Membury would be vulnerable to a motorway closure, so need the access roads round the back. The Thorne services can be accessed by 2 motorways - both would need to be closed for them to be stranded.

It's more to do with getting deliveries in/out, and for Police/RAC/etc access.  Membury has a 24 hour lorry garage on one side too, which is why the roads in are unbarriered (unusually)

It's known as Jn 14 1/2 by locals

[rogerzilla]

If I'm with a group, where everyone else has 700c wheels and it's more noticeable, I occasionally get people saying "Your bike's got little wheels!"

I got that from Peli on the Swindon ride 

[teethgrinder]

It's known as Jn 14 1/2 by locals

Does the M4 go to Hogworts* then?

Or whatever the school in Harry Potter is called.

[JJ]

On the other hand:

The evening before last I was pottering along into a gentle breeze, heading home post-lesson, with my guitar on the trailer when a portly (slightly more so than me) gentleman of middle years (slightly more so than me) appeared in my mirror and gradually drew level.

"How do you get on with that Bob Yak?  I'm thinking of getting one" and he proceeded to explain that he generally takes around 9 stone of luggage with him when he tours.  His next trip is Cambridge to Cardiff, which he plans to do in 10 hours.

Should I have looked less askance?  Displayed more credulity? Was there doubt of which to give him the benefit? 

Last weekend I took 16hrs 20 for an unladen 300.  Admittedly there were  (more than) a couple of piercing exchanges of view with a certain fairy, and a rather more pleasant interlude in the Cafe at Offord,but I reckon I'd be doing pretty well do go better than 14 1/2 hours unladen.

[Mr Larrington]

I'm pretty sure all Motorway services have emergency access via non motorway roads so no problem just riding in a la Membury

Sir clearly didn't do the 2006 Invicta 400 with the Grassy Knoll Incident at Maidstone services so eloquently described by Hummers over the road.