However the shortest route between controls should be set so that the ride is within say 5% of stated distance (short rides) to 2% (long rides).
Which is just about the AUK line.
I shall be interested to see just how 'flexible' the organisation can be - on LEL.
We saw the 'official' distance drop to 1300 temporarily, then return to 1400 a few weeks ago. 2% of 1400 is say 30k, 5% is 70k - what say the actual distance is only 1330km??
Taking one leg at random, Gamlingay-Thurlby by the (2005) Route Sheet is about 15km longer than the shortest cyclable distance, over about 80km - about 18%. Out-and-back - that's 30km shortfall on its own.
I imagine there is a possibility of one of the LEL legs being 'extended' (dog-leg) to make up the distance - but adding either a secret or info control is surely impractical. No manpower for a secret, and with so many overseas riders an info control just wouldn't work. So I wouldn't be entirely surprised to see a completely unregulated dog-leg inserted somewhere. How popular would that be??