Reading previous accounts of the attempts and following our recent 3, now 2 intrepid attempted record breakers, one reoccurring theme that is largely beyond the control of the riders is the weather.
Naturally there are greater dangers on the road and breakdown etc happen, but it does seem to be the inclement / windy weather which is most trialling.
Twenty odd years ago in the CTC magazine, then editor Tim Hughes ran a series of articles from a guy called David Bowen an ex Royal Navy meteorologist who had extensive records that gave a series of weekly and fortnightly trends on likely weather conditions throughout the year.
These do hold water as I compared them for a number of years and found them to be pretty much spot on.
Is anyone using these in providing Steve advice?
Also given the area in which Steve lives and rides, another CTC member Richard N Hutchens of Bedford published a book / pamphlets entitled something like "Quiet Wind Assisted Rides (between Rail Stations) which took into account terrain and wind directions. The routes were researched by volunteers and for a number of years the author could be found in the CTC Rally marquee at York with his trusty Moulton that he lent to volunteers who carried out research across the country for him.
Anybody remember or ever use either of these two sources?