Author Topic: [LEL17] Things about LEL I now recognise.  (Read 4590 times)

[LEL17] Things about LEL I now recognise.
« on: 16 August, 2017, 01:16:57 pm »
I don't know if it's the correct term in cognitive psychology, but I think LEL is a fine example of the 'prepotent knowledge'. No matter how much we try to advise people, the power to absorb knowledge depends on experience.

I've ben driving around delivering oil this week, and Radio 2 is on. Dedications from Doreen in Loughton, and Bill in Brampton now trigger the synapses in a way they didn't a couple of weeks ago. There are similar effects surrounding what we see in accounts of LEL. You might now think, 'I wish I'd known that before', but it's in the articles from previous editions. What was the advice which sank in, and what do you wish you'd paid more attention to?

Re: Things about LEL I now recognise.
« Reply #1 on: 16 August, 2017, 03:08:08 pm »
The advice that really worked in my favour:

The benefits of a late start time
  • Not over-planning
  • A fully serviced and prepared bike
  • A proven and familiar approach to navigation
  • No faffing at controls
  • Riding at my own pace
Things I wished I'd considered more:

The inability to sleep...
Most of the stuff I say is true because I saw it in a dream and I don't have the presence of mind to make up lies when I'm asleep.   Bryan Andreas

redfalo

  • known as Olaf in the real world
    • Cycling Intelligence
Re: Things about LEL I now recognise.
« Reply #2 on: 16 August, 2017, 04:33:12 pm »
Well, sometimes not even experience is sufficient to teach you certain things.

My rear gear cable started to frail north of Thirsk on the way south. When I had the bike serviced beforehand, I had asked the mechanic to replace it IF NECESSARY. well, it worked fine for another 1000k. schoolboy error. I was carrying spare on the bike, and Colin at Thirsk gave me the gears back within 15 minutes.



At least this time, my gear cable lasted for more than half of the ride. On PBP, I only made it to Loudeac  :facepalm:


Why have the bike serviced  beforehand, when you can do it on the  way?
If you can't convince, confuse.

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

Re: Things about LEL I now recognise.
« Reply #3 on: 16 August, 2017, 04:38:53 pm »
Well, sometimes not even experience is sufficient to learn certain things.
I'm never riding in the Fens again....until September  :facepalm:

Alex B

  • Headwind specialist
    • Where is there an end of it?
Re: Things about LEL I now recognise.
« Reply #4 on: 16 August, 2017, 04:50:52 pm »
I'm never riding in the Fens again....until September  :facepalm:

I thought one of the principal reasons for riding LEL was so that you *didn't* have to ride The Flatlands ;D

eck

  • Gonna ride my bike until I get home...
    • Angus Bike Chain CC
Re: Things about LEL I now recognise.
« Reply #5 on: 16 August, 2017, 05:24:03 pm »
A wise person on LEL, possibly Salvatore OTP, opined to me that the trouble with experience is that it comes at the cost of age.
True. Sadly true.  :(
It's a bit weird, but actually quite wonderful.

Phil W

Re: Things about LEL I now recognise.
« Reply #6 on: 16 August, 2017, 06:59:21 pm »
There are none so blind as those who will not see. The most deluded people are those who choose to ignore what they already know (and can see)

Give somebody an inch and they'll take a mile.

Saying no is often the only sane option.

Fidgetbuzz

  • L sp MOON. 1st R sp MARS . At X SO sp STARS
Re: Things about LEL I now recognise.
« Reply #7 on: 16 August, 2017, 08:47:17 pm »
There are none so blind as those who will not see. The most deluded people are those who choose to ignore what they already know (and can see)

Give somebody an inch and they'll take a mile.

Saying no is often the only sane option.

I am with Phil on this one.  Take each of those three statements apply it to our LEL experiences ,, and every one is true over and over again.   

1) We joked as most of you will have seen on the FB group about the price for asking a question that was already on the very carefully prepared web pages  .. £100 for first offence , rising to £500 ..if only we had been able to actually levy the fines we would have been quids in.

2) try to help a little .. and before you know it .. you have become engaged in something that goes way beyond your original perception of the problem

3) in a sense this a corollary of 2) .. say NO to start with... would have made life much easier !!
I was an accountant until I discovered Audax !!

Re: Things about LEL I now recognise.
« Reply #8 on: 16 August, 2017, 09:57:21 pm »
Quote
Things about LEL I now recognise...

That I will volunteer in 2021

Re: Things about LEL I now recognise.
« Reply #9 on: 16 August, 2017, 10:07:07 pm »
A wise person on LEL, possibly Salvatore OTP, opined to me that the trouble with experience is that it comes at the cost of age.
True. Sadly true.  :(

or km ridden

Re: Things about LEL I now recognise.
« Reply #10 on: 17 August, 2017, 12:27:48 am »
I had a rider thank me for a film I made, at the end of the ride at Loughton. It was the 'LEL Cushion' one.



That was based on the conventional approach to PBP; 'Fast out, tour back'. That derives from the usual PBP Westerly, and works because you need to expend more effort into the headwind, in anticipation of a tailwind on the return. PBP 2011 had tailwind both ways, so lots of finishers.

LEL is more 'Make hay while the sun shines'. There's every chance of a tailwind on the way up, and a headwind on the way back. The message that intermediate control times would be subject to some latitude made sense in order to limit demand for beds. However, it removed the spur to make progress in the first half. PBP does that by making the out and back asymmetric in time terms, and adhering to control time discipline.

I got the impression that slower riders thought they'd be able to make time up on the return. That may have been based on PBP 2015 experience. But anyone who knows Britain, knows that the chances of a Northerly in August is remote.

There were plenty of finishers without Audax experience. But they were young, strong, keen, and had exercised due diligence in their research.



Re: Things about LEL I now recognise.
« Reply #11 on: 17 August, 2017, 06:29:07 am »


LEL is more 'Make hay while the sun shines'. There's every chance of a tailwind on the way up, and a headwind on the way back. The message that intermediate control times would be subject to some latitude made sense in order to limit demand for beds. However, it removed the spur to make progress in the first half. PBP does that by making the out and back asymmetric in time terms, and adhering to control time discipline.

Agree, many riders lingering in Louth on the way up could have created a comfortable time cushion when going north. I was surprised how lonely the ride from Louth to Pocklington was, given the enormous pelotons during daytime. So an awful lot of people were sleeping in Louth although many of them could have pressed on to Pocklington.

Re: Things about LEL I now recognise.
« Reply #12 on: 17 August, 2017, 07:27:47 am »
People might wonder how controllers keep coming back to a situation which is almost guaranteed to break down at some point. Heather Swift, the boss at Brampton, rode PBP in 1990, and stopped at Fougeres, finished in 2003, supported me on PBP 2007 and 2011, and filmed in 2015. It's thanks to Ivo that we got press passes in 2007, and all the following times.

I slept in the car during the 'bulge', while Heather spent 90 minutes filming the mayhem at Loudeac. Heather has done the North Cumbria control since 2001, and there has been plenty of chaos during that period. It's a fascinating example of the accordion effect. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accordion_effect

In theory the problem can be solved by extending capacity, at Brampton the issues are compounded by the returning riders. Heather is reading a book on traffic at present. Here's the film from 2007 of Loudeac and St Martin. We've never recorded North Cumbria mayhem, as Heather is too busy to film during those episodes.


Redlight

  • Enjoying life in the slow lane
Re: Things about LEL I now recognise.
« Reply #13 on: 17 August, 2017, 11:33:12 am »
The lesson for me was how beneficial a hotel stop along the way can be.

As some will be aware, I tend not to sleep on rides of up to 600km (partly because I'm such a slow rider that I have little choice). My (3 x successful) PBP strategy has always been to ride through to Brest before going horizontal and then catnap on the way back, but I've always slept badly at the Brest control so it's been an effort to get moving again and I know I'm not as energetic as usual.

For my last LEL (2009) I rode through to Edinburgh with only a catnap at the table at Alston. I planned to sleep for a few hours at the Edinburgh control but it was too noisy. I struggled back to Traquiar at which point, serendipitously, the appalling weather led to a forced stop and some fitful sleep in the village hall. I then managed a couple of hours at both Coxwold and Gamlingay.   It's fair to say that, although I finished within the time limit, I was riding sub-optimally for much of the southbound journey.

This time I booked a room at the Travelodge about 2km from the Edinburgh control and slept there for about six hours before heading back to the control for some food ahead of setting off for London. A decent shower and uninterrupted sleep in a proper bed left me completely re-energised and I was able to ride to the finish with only a couple of catnaps, at  Pocklington and St Ives. Admittedly, I wasn't leaving myself much of a time margin  but I was confident at that stage that I would make up the time steadily on the way back.  As it turned out, the weather intervened and I was in deficit most of the way back, but I clawed the time back to finish in the time limit.

I did have a room booked near Pocklington too but cancelled it once it became clear that I would be arriving in the early hours of the morning and settled for an hour and a half at the table instead.

I doubt I'll ever have the luxury of a hotel stop on a 600, but it's something I will bear in mind for PBP should I enter in 2019.
Why should anybody steal a watch when they can steal a bicycle?

Re: Things about LEL I now recognise.
« Reply #14 on: 17 August, 2017, 11:59:35 am »
I'm never riding in the Fens again....until September  :facepalm:

I thought one of the principal reasons for riding LEL was so that you *didn't* have to ride The Flatlands ;D
Exactly, that was what I had thought....but it seems wasteful to miss out on a fixed SR when the 200, 300 and 400 are already done. Although if the forecast is truly dismal that opinion may well change!

fasilbalti

Re: Things about LEL I now recognise.
« Reply #15 on: 17 August, 2017, 12:32:07 pm »
It's fair to say that, although I finished within the time limit, I was riding sub-optimally for much of the southbound journey.

Ditto (in relation to 2009). In my case, a niggling achilles after Barnard's Castle reduced my pace and committed me to slower than usual speeds. A back of fag packet calculation showed that I was able to make it back at my reduced speed at the cost of less sleep. I was a bit of a wreck at the finish in truth.

What I learned? Despite having spent near on 12 hours at Eskdalemiur (due to the storm), I'm not really quick enough to ride LEL and get the sleep I need. I think I'm a danger to be frank, to myself and to others. This is a personal statement btw and I do not apply it to others, others who clearly can - and do - perform the distance/time/sleep balance adequately.   

Re: Things about LEL I now recognise.
« Reply #16 on: 17 August, 2017, 01:26:00 pm »

What goes up, must come down.
(Geographically as well as vertically)

Re: Things about LEL I now recognise.
« Reply #17 on: 17 August, 2017, 06:00:47 pm »
I doubt I'll ever have the luxury of a hotel stop on a 600, but it's something I will bear in mind for PBP should I enter in 2019.

On the advice of a PBP ancien I booked a cheap hotel room (22€ inc. breakfast from 6am) a few km shy of Brest. It proved a brilliant incentive to keep plugging away on the Monday evening, knowing I would soon be in a bed, getting some peaceful kip before controlling early on the Tuesday morning and returning east. It's my belief that this was one of the key factors in getting round. I had an hour under full lights on the floor of the main control at Villaines on Tuesday night and 30 minutes in a hedge on the approach to Dreux, which was enough to sustain me to the finish.
Your next 1200's your best 1200.