'Managing Spikes', has a long history. In 2001 analysis was done on the results, and a graph appeared at the bottom of the Arrivee roundup of the results.
http://www.aukweb.net/_resources/files/results/lel/lel2001.pdfThat informed the provision of controls in 2005, especially the twinning of Langdon Beck and Alston. Langdon Beck wasn't far enough from the previous control, and it ended up being very quiet there on the first day, especially as there was a tailwind. It had been proposed that LB would open later, for the Lea Valley starters to take advantage of it, but Heather resisted that, as she wanted to prepare the control. It picked up later on and became one the best controls, especially as it had a bar.
The combination of the Thorne start and the Lea Valley start meant that there was a chance of a mega-spike, with two sets of riders along the course, and back. The controls were small back then, and the entry fee wouldn't stretch to much in the way of luxury.
A lot of lessons were learned from 2005, and Simon Doughty was very much the man to make sense of those lessons. Unfortunately Simon had a life changing interaction with a drunk driver on the way to work at Manchester velodrome. A nurse called Mel, who had been involved with organising CTC events visited him a lot, and was the source of updates on his condition here. Mel had been the controller at Thorne in 2005.
With Simon out of action, there was an election at an AGM to appoint an LEL organiser, the candidates were Mel, and Pam, an organiser in the Hampshire area, who was a travel agent, and booked the AGM venues. Mel proposed carrying on with the plans for an AUK flagship event, Pam proposed a more bare-bones approach.
Mel won the day, and commented to me that the AGM had little conception of what handing over the event to a strong-willed Lancashire redhead might mean. This clearly would be something to watch.
I had a front-row seat, as Heather was down to control at Alston. The plan was to use the school at Alston. That booking possibility foundered at short notice, apparently on insurance grounds. We'd taken to skiing at the Yad Moss slope, and Heather hired her equipment from the Alston Outdoor Centre, so when it was suggested as a control, as the Youth Hostels were booked, we already had an in.
The Outdoor Centre was clearly inadequate, so I went up with lots of prepared food, largely tins, and erected our tent in the grounds as a provisions store, to make space in the kitchen. The start was now Lea Valley only, so there was a measure of predictability. If anything slowed riders in the Alston area, the control would resemble an improvised dressing station at the Battle of the Somme, and that's what happened when the rain and the wind came.
There had been lots of input from Nigel Hall on predicting flow rates for 2009, and discussion on here. It was early days for YACF, and there were loads of theories. At some point someone would have to set the actual policy in stone, which Mel did at a meeting in York. That's the last we saw of Nigel, who'd been down to run a control. That was the last meeting prior to the event, so we wouldn't meet the new controller for Thorne.
2009 was the first year of a single start from Lea Valley, and about 600 were signed up. That was twice as many as had previously started from any single point. If there was a tailwind, the bulk of the field would want to sleep the night at Thorne, at 300km, which was clearly not possible. I was sanguine about this prospect, as Heather is from Thorne, and her mum lives there. I would have a bed and a bath, and something to eat at Jean's house. So I got to see Thorne twice on each passing, before and after sleep.
On the way back, Thorne had a voucher system to ensure that riders only went round for food once. The other controls were ad-lib, especially Alston, where we'd catered for 600, rather than the 500 who'd turned up. We still have tinned peaches in our larder from 2009.
I got the impression that the controller at Thorne in 2009 was keen not to see anyone else parachuted into a situation with a large capacity for apparent failure. The other controllers had seen the situation developing over the years, and had experience of controls such as Loudeac on PBP.
There are two camps on the subject of spikes. Those who feel that the problem is amenable to a technical solution, and those who quite like finding themselves on the set of a remake of M*A*S*H.
I'm reading a book called 'The House of God', about interns in 1970s US hospitals. I'm starting to suspect that medics and the military like the chaos and sleep deprivation of LEL, because it reminds them what it was like to be young. I can see that for someone who thinks they've just booked a holiday, it might look different.
