[LEL17] Suggestions for bag drop locations & time registration opens on Jan 20

[canuckystan]

I will be registering on Friday - any suggestions on bag drop locations would be appreciated so I can designate them when I register. 

I would like to access the bags both ways, and have them spread fairly evenly in terms of riding effort, not necessarily distance.  Also nice to have showers and beds available at the same control as the drop in order to freshen-up before putting on new kit. Not sure if some controls are busier than others for bag drops, perhaps a quieter control would give quicker access to the bag (not sure there).

Also, does anyone know the time when registration opens?  You are 8 hours ahead of me and I want to register asap to ensure a spot.

[The French Tandem]

I will be registering on Friday - any suggestions on bag drop locations would be appreciated so I can designate them when I register. 

You do not need to choose them now. You will just register now, and choose your bag drops later.

Also nice to have showers and beds available at the same control as the drop in order to freshen-up before putting on new kit.

From our experience of last time, I would say don't try to overthink this. Sleeping where your fresh bag drop is waiting is a nice thing, but not an essential thing.  1400 km is a long ride, and although you can fairly well predict where you are going to sleep on the first night, your predictions for nights 3 and 4 are very likely to be wrong.

Also, does anyone know the time when registration opens?  You are 8 hours ahead of me and I want to register asap to ensure a spot.

https://londonedinburghlondon.com/2016/12/2017-entry-news/

[Fidgetbuzz]

You will NOT be able to ask for start time or bag drops when you try for a place. The rider area will open sometime in February

[Fidgetbuzz]

FACT ON TIMES OF OFFERS

For everybody else, we open for entries on Friday 20 January 2017. We will sell tickets in three batches, at 18:00 GMT, 23:59 GMT, and 07:00 GMT on Saturday 21 January 2017. If we sell out, we’ll set up a waiting list. Full details to follow should we need them.

just 150 places available for each time slot

[alfapete]

Not sure if some controls are busier than others for bag drops, perhaps a quieter control would give quicker access to the bag (not sure there).

Never heard of a queue of more than a couple of minutes for retrieving your bag at a control - it's not an issue.

Stop stressing! (Though it's reasonable to stress about whether you'll get a place or not...)

[canuckystan]

Thanks all.  Already booked a place to stay, so I'm anxious to get a spot for LEL.  I didn't see a lot of detail on the bank transfer process or Transferwise - is that pretty straightforward when you register?   

[L.Lagopus]

Not sure if some controls are busier than others for bag drops, perhaps a quieter control would give quicker access to the bag (not sure there).

In 2013 I used Brampton for a bag drop. Because it was the farthest north control that is used both out and back, it was a very popular spot for bag drops. Even so, there was no delay at all in getting my bag both times.

[mongo]

Once you secure your place, the LEL team with send information on the various bank accounts that were setup to accept £, €, or $. 

Being based in the US, my bank wouldn't do a bank transfer unless I had a business account with them, so I went thru Transferwise & felt that was a straightforward process.  I converted $ to £ thru Transferwise & the cost of conversion & their fee was a few dollars less than if I had done a direct bank transfer into the LEL dollar bank account....YMMV since the dollar has a gotten a bit weaker in the last couple of days.    One person made the comment that Transferwise setup wouldn't allow them to send dollars to the LEL $ account & a currency conversion had to be done, but I have no idea if that is correct or was some sort of user error.

Once Transferwise made the deposit in the LEL account, I heard back from Danial in right around 36 hours confirming that I had paid.

Overall a very painless process & credit the LEL team for monitoring the various forums & dealing with issues as they came up.  My only issue in the process was that the initial email didn't have the entry fee for $ or €, if people wanted to pay that way.  They commented the thread where I brought up the question with a hour or so & they got another email out to the folks who registered within a day or so with the additional info for € or $ oriented folks.

Scott

[jsabine]

One person made the comment that Transferwise setup wouldn't allow them to send dollars to the LEL $ account & a currency conversion had to be done, but I have no idea if that is correct or was some sort of user error.

AIUI, that's how Transferwise works - your transaction must include a currency conversion, so you can use it to pay in USD for a GBP transfer to the GBP account, but I couldn't use it to put a GBP transfer on my UK credit card.