Good luck Justin!
...I found a pdf of the routesheet from the calendar event -- the introduction was:
Thank you for your interest in the 3rd running of the
Crackpot 1000km
Since planning events of any distance I have always felt that
one should ignore contours. The response has always been
most encouraging; continualy closing the frontier between
Classic and impossible. And so it is with the Crackpot.
So what were the criteria in plotting the route? No straight out
and back; keep it cheap; keep it all on one map (The West
Country Tourist Board Official Tourist Map, Wessex. Estate
Publications). Involve experienced organisers using their
homes if possible allowing for maximum recuperation; keep
the cafes, restaurants and cash gobbling motorway services to
a minimum. Keep it interesting.
Having arranged the bare bones next consider how to ride it;
devise a schedule. Break it into stages; Ride the first night and
all day and expect to cover 500km in the first 24hrs. Sleep and
eat and look at 300km for the next 24 hrs before more sleep
leaving a nice steady 200km to finish. That sounds quite good.
Average speed for 1st spell: 21kph. 8hrs sleep leaves average
speed of 18.75 kph for 2nd spell. 6hrs sleep will leave me
12hrs 40min with 200km to go (16kph).
Time to glance at the contours. Good Grief! One counts. One
calculates. One shudders. Classic? Impossible? - A Razors
edge between.
The event is off the AAA scale. The 7 AAA points are
calculated by adding the pts first 400 to the pts for the next
600. Only the very best will keep to the original schedule.
Time to rethink.
The controls as far as and including Axminster have a min
speed of 15kph and closing times reflect this. Tor Hole will
close at a time calculated on an overall min speed of
13.3km/hr. The effect is to make Tor Hole the natural sleep
stop with so much time in hand built in (4hrs 24min). West
Stafford and Codford will also have floor space allowing for a
good kip. On a murderous nay suicidal route of this distance it
is essential that you schedule your ride; that you have a plan
at the outset; anyone who finds they do not break their
schedule is having the ride of their life!
A condition of entry is that you provide a schedule with the
entry form and it should be as realistic as possible please.The
controls will be of greater help to you the rider if we know
beforehand that riders are not being over ambitious.
The Crackpot 1000 is the severest test of stamina, endurance,
determination, grit stretching beyond 'challenging'. The Hard
Boiled was a challenge; so was the Porkers; Brimstone is still
a challenge. The Crackpot is there, taunting, haunting,
tempting you; gnawing your marrow; eating into the very
fibre of the raison d’etre of long distance cycling.
Challenging.
Prepare well. If you are in the very least not sound in wind
and limb you will struggle and be an additional danger to
yourself and other road users around you. At best you will
struggle; at worst you will suffer the agonies of the damned.
Have you read the routesheet yet? Do so many times before
the day and do so with a map so that you get the overall
picture as well. Know the route. Memorize the tricky bits.
Please note that we make no allowances for the dark. Trunk
rds as night stages are out. Winding, dirty, dusty, narrow,
country lanes are in. Lights to see with will mean that you can
avoid the tussocks, rockfalls and potholes in the pave. Be
prepared to be astounded by 1:4 descents. Brown corduroy
could be making a comeback. Polish up your navigation, you
will need it!
In '96: 21 started: 11 finished. In '98 it was 17 out of 24.
All in all a fine Tour de Wessex.
Enjoy, and safe cycling