Author Topic: [LEL17] The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]  (Read 31607 times)

Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #50 on: 15 January, 2017, 07:05:48 am »
I hope to make it on Wednesday. See you there

Oscar's dad

  • aka Septimus Fitzwilliam Beauregard Partridge
Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #51 on: 15 January, 2017, 08:09:03 am »
Does anyone attending on Wednesday want to purchase an ACME cap or jersey?  Both items will ensure you are amongst the best dressed LEL riders and are guaranteed to improve your performance.

Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #52 on: 15 January, 2017, 09:05:05 am »
Mmmm, new jersey ...

Oscar's dad

  • aka Septimus Fitzwilliam Beauregard Partridge
Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #53 on: 15 January, 2017, 09:15:59 am »
Mmmm, new jersey ...

Tomsk, can you bring the ACME shop on Wednesday?  I'm happy to run if you're going to be busy chairing the pubinar.

Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #54 on: 15 January, 2017, 09:19:38 am »
I want a cap!

I assume the small jersey I wanted to swap the original medium for is in Tom's possession still?!
Those wonderful norks are never far from my thoughts, oh yeah!

Tomsk

  • Fueled by cake since 1957
    • tomsk.co.uk
Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #55 on: 15 January, 2017, 02:11:20 pm »
I'll have the ACME Apparel to pass on to Tedshred for Saturday's Kelvedon Oyster, so punters can have first dibs on Wednesday. Thank you OD for offering to be shopkeeper - gratefully accepted. Cash, cheque or paypal are all acceptable. Jerseys are £45, caps £13.

huggy

  • ACME GCFO
    • ACME
Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #56 on: 16 January, 2017, 09:37:24 pm »
Has anyone spoken to the 'spoons about a group of cyclists turning up expecting to sit within earshot of each other? I know there is no reservation system there but some early arrivals strategically bagging tables could be useful
Never knowingly underfed on an Audax

bhoot

  • MemSec (ex-Mrs RRtY)
Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #57 on: 16 January, 2017, 11:54:08 pm »
I am planning to get there a bit early and have something to eat before the serious fun starts, so I can try to locate a suitable area if I know roughly how many are turning up. Anyone else arriving early as it would be easiest to "reserve" lots of seats if there are 2 or 3 of us to occupy the space.

Redlight

  • Enjoying life in the slow lane
Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #58 on: 17 January, 2017, 10:04:26 am »
I am planning to get there a bit early and have something to eat before the serious fun starts, so I can try to locate a suitable area if I know roughly how many are turning up. Anyone else arriving early as it would be easiest to "reserve" lots of seats if there are 2 or 3 of us to occupy the space.

Redfalo, Maxap and I will be arriving from that London, hopefully by 8!
Why should anybody steal a watch when they can steal a bicycle?

Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #59 on: 17 January, 2017, 11:55:41 am »
I am planning to get there a bit early and have something to eat before the serious fun starts, so I can try to locate a suitable area if I know roughly how many are turning up. Anyone else arriving early as it would be easiest to "reserve" lots of seats if there are 2 or 3 of us to occupy the space.

Redfalo, Maxap and I will be arriving from that London, hopefully by 8!
Are you using Refalo's route out? Any idea what time you are likely to leave and be heading past Canary Wharf(ish)? I am thinking about bringing the bike in to work and if I can get a chaperone for my first ride out of London I might ride all the way to Witham.

Redlight

  • Enjoying life in the slow lane
Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #60 on: 17 January, 2017, 12:30:08 pm »
Quite the opposite, I'm afraid. We'll be coming by car  :-[
Why should anybody steal a watch when they can steal a bicycle?

redfalo

  • known as Olaf in the real world
    • Cycling Intelligence
Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #61 on: 17 January, 2017, 12:42:35 pm »
Quite the opposite, I'm afraid. We'll be coming by car  :-[

Indeed. As much as I like the idea of riding out, I won't do it. I can only leave office after 5pm, which would make being in Witham by 8 a stretch even at best of times. In mid-January, with temperatures at around zero, and the prospect of getting a  lift by @Redlight is just too tempting.
If you can't convince, confuse.

https://cycling-intelligence.com/ - my blog on cycling, long distances and short ones

Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #62 on: 17 January, 2017, 03:08:10 pm »
I am quite glad that is the case to be honest :-)

See you there chaps!

Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #63 on: 17 January, 2017, 06:17:02 pm »
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: alwyn and redfalo, wise thoughts and more to digest. Extra highlighters and a bigger flip-chart needed for the pubinar!

...on the afternoon start in 2009, it did me a power of good to catch morning starters in Yorkshire, without feeling I was pushing hard to catch up*

* There was a significant tailwind...

 :-[ :-[ :-[

Like a Swiss alarm clock

You came past as I was having a lovely kip on the grass at Yafforth in 2009 AND 2005 !
#makewattsnotwar

Tomsk

  • Fueled by cake since 1957
    • tomsk.co.uk
Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #64 on: 17 January, 2017, 09:12:58 pm »
:-[ :-[ :-[

Like a Swiss alarm clock

You came past as I was having a lovely kip on the grass at Yafforth in 2009 AND 2005 !

Happy Days! And that was before the sleep deprivation hallucinations kicked in  ;D

bhoot

  • MemSec (ex-Mrs RRtY)
Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #65 on: 17 January, 2017, 09:41:29 pm »
Will anyone have a laptop with them? (I will but it's likely to be my work one which has a battery life equal to a gnat's attention span) If so it might be interesting to look at the position grapher that Jo Wood did for LEL2013. I know things will be a bit different this time with more widely spaced start times, but it's still fun to watch.
You can find it here http://www.staff.city.ac.uk/~jwo/lel2013/

Tomsk

  • Fueled by cake since 1957
    • tomsk.co.uk
Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #66 on: 18 January, 2017, 09:04:51 am »
^ Can't help with the laptop, but I'd endorse this and encouraged folks to familiarise themselves with Jo's graph. In odd moments I'm still trawling around my cycling archive for relevant LEL stuff! Somewhere there's my 2009 LEL Arrivee piece...

huggy

  • ACME GCFO
    • ACME
Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #67 on: 18 January, 2017, 05:47:20 pm »
I'll bring my iPad which can be passed round for watching animated squiggly lines
Never knowingly underfed on an Audax

bhoot

  • MemSec (ex-Mrs RRtY)
Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #68 on: 18 January, 2017, 07:02:32 pm »
Work overran and just missed train, so I won't be early to bag seats, sorry folks

huggy

  • ACME GCFO
    • ACME
Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #69 on: 18 January, 2017, 07:26:25 pm »
Work overran and just missed train, so I won't be early to bag seats, sorry folks
i have got loads of seats and Raymond has just turned up. At the front of the pub
Never knowingly underfed on an Audax

jiberjaber

  • ... Fancy Pants \o/ ...
  • ACME S&M^2
Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #70 on: 19 January, 2017, 12:46:59 am »
Many thanks to Bhoot, Wilky, Tomsk & Redlight for all the helpful thoughts around their LEL experiences - it was a good session and we got some bonus Arrow planning in as well - Just need to score a place on the start line now!  :facepalm:

Regards,

Joergen

Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #71 on: 19 January, 2017, 08:37:07 am »
I echo jiberjaber's thanks. It was an informative evening.

My goal to determine the start time and how an ACME peleton (s) might work weren't achieved. I got a feel for 2 schools of thought re start times.

Appreciate that some group riding over the coming months will help inform what people plan to do on LEL, but if we're on different start times that might become somewhat difficult. What do other's think?

Eddington: 133 miles    Max square: 43x43

Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #72 on: 19 January, 2017, 10:32:27 am »
It was an excellent planning meeting, thank you to all the contributors.  I am still not sure whether I am happier with a plan or without.  Having a plan makes it all seem a bit more difficult than just turning up and riding your bike until the end.  Then again, if it avoids discovering that you are 80k from the next control and not 50k as you thought  :facepalm: in the middle of the night in the middle of France then that might be a good thing.

It looks like the ACME peloton might have a natural split between a 2pm group and a 4pm group.  This will probably make it easier to bag the right time slots as well.  The Arrow offers an ideal opportunity to ride in similar groups - most of us know which people we are comfortable riding with, but it is always difficult to stay together over long distances. 

I would guess that Psyclist falls into the faster ACME Dynamite group which is aiming for a 4pm start and a long burst up to Thirsk (or probably Edinburgh if Tomsk is at the front  :o).  The ACME Anvil group will most likely go with a similar strategy but from the earlier start time.  The Anvil group so far comprises; me, Carlos, the Straggler and Bobb and the Dynamite group; Tomsk, Jiber, Tippers and Psyclist.  There is plenty of time to finesse arrangements and we will all end up seeing each other on the road anyway. 
The pleasure of pain endured
To purify our misfit ways

the straggler

  • ACME Award Recipient & ROTY 2021
Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #73 on: 19 January, 2017, 10:36:41 am »
I too gathered some practical and helpful information from past LEL riders experiences (much appreciated!), especially remembering to clearly mark my identification to my belongings at the sleep controls. Managed to get team name agreed 'Acme Anvils' sailing under Admiral Ted.

Still undecided upon favourable start time for full value pace. Further discussions required.
CCS - Setting the Standards

redfalo

  • known as Olaf in the real world
    • Cycling Intelligence
Re: The ACME LEL Peloton Thread [All Welcome!]
« Reply #74 on: 19 January, 2017, 12:29:50 pm »
The evening's only disappointment was my amazingly stringy steak at the 'spoons. However, this was more than compensated by the rich intellectual food for thought, and the nice war tales by LEL veterans.

The biggest takeaway for me was to prepare for a roller coaster in terms of temperatures. While I had read about the cold and the heat  before, it does make a difference if you hear several first hand accounts on that. I will also think about a unique marking for my shoes.

Thanks a lot to everyone, and particularly to @redlight for giving me a lift.
If you can't convince, confuse.

https://cycling-intelligence.com/ - my blog on cycling, long distances and short ones