ACME Grand 1000km 28 June 2018

[Ivo]

There are no options for BRMs to be any nominal distance other than the standard 200, 300, 400, 600 or 1000k, so an 1100km BRM isn't possible.

Is there a particular reason why this event couldn't start and finish about 20km west of Witham to bring both the shortest and routesheet distances closer to 1000km?

800k also exists but is hardly ever organised.

Not in http://www.audax-club-parisien.com/EN/312.html so possibly as exceptions to the rules.

I rode one in 2004, the Ladoga 800. It has been organised multiple times until traffic became to dense around St. Petersburg.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

I can't think of any other 800 BRMs this century.

[psyclist]

England play Belgium in their final World Cup group game on 28th June, so the roads may be less busy during the first afternoon/evening of this ride. Good planning Tomsk 

[mattc]

England play Belgium in their final World Cup group game on 28th June,

Oi! We only need to beat Panama & Tunisia to progress - and we haven't lost to Belgium since 1936.

I'm not suggesting you put any money on it - god forbid - but it's not inconceivable that we will get out of that group

[psyclist]

Final group game ... rather than final World Cup game. I expect there will be some suspense, but definitely possibilities for a final 16 and possible final 8 game also.

[Ajax Bay]

First and second in the group will likely turn on the result of the Belgium match, and therefore which nation England will face in the next round will mean this match gets huge viewing, with beneficial effect on the numbers out and about on the roads.

[GPS]

I was on the road during England's dreadful World Cup match against Germany in 2010.

There was crazy driving leading up to it, an enjoyable traffic-free few hours during the game, and then a gradual return to 'normal' afterwards.

It was also a very hot day during which I was struck by the dozies having been on the road the night before.

Hopefully the ACME grand will be more enjoyable !

Which reminds me - I really ought to get my entry in ...

[jayteezim]

Hmmm. Unless someone can correct me, it's 75h dead, even for a n+5%km event. So we'll be riding an extra 50km, maybe more, in the same time limit.

That's quite a big disincentive for me - 2-3hours+ less sleep Still, good to be transparent about these things 

Leaving the football aside... the above statement encroaches on my worries as well. Not from the sleep but the time. Last year I did the Celtic Knot in 72 hours. It was less stressful as it was 3 loops. So any distances that are 50km out will already be closing in on my limits.  I have already entered so that is not an issue- goes to a good cause. Will have to wait for recommended route before booking accommodation depending on total length

[Tomsk]

Provisional routesheet on AUKweb. There's a lot of it I need to lie down in a darkened room for a while...

If anyone would like to check it as a DIY I'd be grateful, but I'm aiming to do the same in May. Likewise if anyone can do a bullet-proof GPS track I can use for our customers...

[mattc]

Provisional routesheet on AUKweb. There's a lot of it

Is there a lot of overdistance?

I can probably do some route-checking of the Oxon-ish bits if that's helpful.

EDIT: you've got Chepstow->Pershore as 39km. It's more like 80km.

[whosatthewheel]

Provisional routesheet on AUKweb. There's a lot of it I need to lie down in a darkened room for a while...

If anyone would like to check it as a DIY I'd be grateful, but I'm aiming to do the same in May. Likewise if anyone can do a bullet-proof GPS track I can use for our customers...

Do you have a link to something mapped on Ridewith GPS or similar? I might be able to help with the Towchester-Bambury-Wellesbourne area

[Tomsk]

Provisional routesheet on AUKweb. There's a lot of it I need to lie down in a darkened room for a while...

If anyone would like to check it as a DIY I'd be grateful, but I'm aiming to do the same in May. Likewise if anyone can do a bullet-proof GPS track I can use for our customers...

Do you have a link to something mapped on Ridewith GPS or similar? I might be able to help with the Towchester-Bambury-Wellesbourne area

Sadly no - I'm a Ridewithout GPS kinda organiser...

The Gavin & Stacey route has been ridden by two; I've driven & ridden parts, also the urban Cardiff section. I rode from Coleford to Banbury via the mid-return sections in October.

EDIT: you've got Chepstow->Pershore as 39km. It's more like 80km.

Yes...will look at this and maybe have to tweak it a bit 

[Tomsk]

The Grand has been tweaked...

And I've been doing my 'Woodman's Daughter' 50km routesheet this evening - on & off road options  . Next week I might get some paid work done  Happy the weather has been a bit orf, very few miles this week.

Mrs Tomsk has been immersed in building her new website [not without a few frustrating 'issues' along the way...] for the past few days, so I don't feel to bad about neglecting her - we've met up for meals...

[whosatthewheel]

Whether you ride with or without a GPS is not the point. I am surprised there is nothing mapped... how do you work out the elevation?

Anyway, when I find the time I'll have a look at your routesheet for the area I know and I'll let you know if there is some road that is best avoided or alternatively if there is a road "not to be missed"

[Tomsk]

... how do you work out the elevation?

Google Maps set to 'walking' - AUK's preferred method for finding minimum distance and elevation. Maybe not ideal, but it is simple and anyone, ie me, not remotely techie, can make it work...

[megajoulesexpenditure]

Can I just ask and please don't take this as any criticism at all.


Nearer the time when the route has been all checked and the routesheet updated, can we please know the total distance of the actual routesheet so that if we were to follow your recommended route(which I usually prefer to do as I would think this would be the happiest route to go) to the letter we have a grasp of the actual distance we are planning for?

[Tomsk]

...can we please know the total distance of the actual routesheet...?

Fair point - I will do this, at least as far as Mrs Google will play along...

At one time I used to have actual distances on routesheets as well, but found some got confused with the minimum distances on the brevet. I should probably have a supplementary recommended route distance list along with the min. dist.

[mattc]

I think with BRM the most important thing to know is the "official" (i.e. minimum rideable) distance, but it's a bit swings-n-roundabouts. I've seen both sets of data supplied, and as long as it's clear, that seemed to work well.

Hopefully when some kind soul puts a GPX together for Tomsk, from that someone can pick out the "routesheet" distance breakdown. If that can be put on one webpage with the route, all the better - some mapping sites are great for this, some not.  (Being a rider, I know the temptation to leave stuff like that to the last minute - it's much better for everyone if it's done as early as possible )


_{(Having organised a flat-but-overdistance BRM, it became clear that you're damned whichever way you do it ... )}

[Tomsk]

I've had a quick run through with Google maps to update the distances sheet - on AUKweb now...saved a few kms by using the garage on Barry outskirts the first time around. Mrs Google places Llandovery way off the town centre, so this and one or two other similar vagaries corrected.

36 'bonus' kms, over and above the 1008 minimum distance; could be more if the 'Hill-Dodger's' strategy is deployed in the Welsh Valleys. As I've probably already mentioned, the main roads are there and may be good in the dead of night, or ok, but unpleasant at other times. I think all-in-all it has worked out much as expected...

[megajoulesexpenditure]

Many thanks Tomsk. That's great. Looks like we need to plan for a ride of around 1050k sticking to the routesheet then.

When the physical on road routecheck is done can I make a request for the actual routesheet distances for each stage to be marked even if just in brackets?

Meantime I'll go back to my turbo trainer and wait for the snow to melt

Looking forward to next years ACME rides.

I've had a quick run through with Google maps to update the distances sheet - on AUKweb now...saved a few kms by using the garage on Barry outskirts the first time around. Mrs Google places Llandovery way off the town centre, so this and one or two other similar vagaries corrected.

36 'bonus' kms, over and above the 1008 minimum distance; could be more if the 'Hill-Dodger's' strategy is deployed in the Welsh Valleys. As I've probably already mentioned, the main roads are there and may be good in the dead of night, or ok, but unpleasant at other times. I think all-in-all it has worked out much as expected...

[wilkyboy]

Provisional routesheet on AUKweb. There's a lot of it I need to lie down in a darkened room for a while...

If anyone would like to check it as a DIY I'd be grateful, but I'm aiming to do the same in May. Likewise if anyone can do a bullet-proof GPS track I can use for our customers...

I concur — there is a lot of it!  I've just spent the afternoon and most of the evening wrestling with it.  The results of my endeavours are here in a shiny RWGPS track.  We're still six months away from riding it and and it may all change a bit anyway as people ride sections and Tomsk subsequently tweaks the route, so I won't turn it into various flavours of GPX and TCX until we're a bit closer to the event.  Anyway, feel free to browse the route in RWGPS — you can get a good feel for it from there.

The headlines:  1059km, 10,500m climbing.  The distance I'm confident with, although you can shorten it by not going all the way into Barry.  The elevation is always a bit iffy with these things and very hard to confirm either way with a simple barometric elevation measurement.  It seems quite a lot, but it works out at 1%, which is about average for the UK.  Some big climbs in Wales, and some flat bits in England, so there will be a tough day in the middle!

I need to find my own darkened room and have a lie-down myself, cor blimey! ...

[Carlosfandango]

Thanks Wilky, well done. 

That's about the same over-distance for  one of Tomsks 200km perms

So if I ride from home to Witham and back that'll be a nice little ECE for 1100km.  😀

[wilkyboy]

Stage distances and cumulative distances for the draft route of December 2017:

STAGE 1    61    61   BUNTINGFORD
STAGE 2    47   108   ST NEOTS
STAGE 3    65   173   TOWCESTER
STAGE 4    28   201   BANBURY
STAGE 5    68   269   TEWKESBURY
STAGE 6    17   340   CHEPSTOW
STAGE 7    58   398   PONTYPRIDD
STAGE 8    27   425   BARRY

STAGE 9    33   458   TONYPANDY
STAGE 10   70   528   LLANDOVERY
STAGE 11   50   578   NEATH
STAGE 12   64   642   BARRY

STAGE 13   54   706   CHEPSTOW
STAGE 14   86   792   PERSHORE
STAGE 15   44   836   WELLESBOURNE
STAGE 16   51   887   TOWCESTER
STAGE 17   65   952   ST NEOTS
STAGE 18   46   998   BUNTINGFORD
ARRIVÉE    61  1059   WITHAM

[Alex B]

1060 km in 75 hrs.

On LEL it took me 83:20 to get that far.

O goodee - a challenge 

[Tomsk]

1060 km in 75 hrs.

On LEL it took me 83:20 to get that far.

O goodee - a challenge 

But you finished an over-distance 1400, right?

I looked over my old 1000km+ brevets [I knew I'd kept them for a reason] and at 1000km I'd taken between 68 and 72 hours. And I'd had enough sleep - I reckon on an x-rated event I'd lose a lot less time at controls and therefore gain more time for sleep, but be very tempted to ride 2 nights on naps. PB PBP through the first and last nights, but with a good kip on the second night.

Look at it like this: 1060km @ 20kph = 53 hours for riding, almost a day for sleep, cafes, faffing...19 controls - say half an hour at each, on average [between 10 mins garage stop and an hour at a Wetherspoons], that's roughly 10 hours 'down time' or thereabouts. Most of us ride a bit faster than 20kph too.

And  a big THANK YOU to wilkyboy for looking over the route on RWGPS