Extended Calendar Events; A Marriage made in Heaven?

[Greenbank]

There is a perfectly good 100km event on the same day

As I said, the 50 could suit my timings better.

ECE-ing the 50 into a 200 means I'm at home, done by 3.30pm. No trains required as home is 75km from the 'Uts. 75 + 50 + 75 = 200.

ECE-ing the 100 into a 200 means I finish doing 200km at ~5pm somewhere between the 'Uts and home with a £12 train fare plus awkward tube ride to get home (or another 50km to cycle bring it up to 250km and an ~8pm finish).

If, for example, Mrs GB wants to go out that night then an 7pm finish from me is pretty useless. 3.30pm means I can be showered and looking after baby GB well in time. Of course, I could do a DIY ride starting at 5am but that doesn't help support existing calendar entries or give me people to chat to (if only for some of the ride).

Thanks for the clarification on the results page...

[mmmmartin]

an ECE must be completed at a minimum of 14.3kph; based on the time you roll off to the time you finish the ECE leg (or calendar event, as many ECE's are one way). Thus on a 200+ event with a minimum of 15kph you have longer to complete the ECE leg, and on a shorter and potentially slower event you have less time if you complete the calendar event at less than 14.3kph

To the uninitiated this sounds complicated but actually makes perfect sense and is dead easy to work out. In the case of the 200k Man of Kent on Sunday, which I plan to make an ECE by riding 100k to the start:
the 300k I will ride in total needs to be done at 14.3kph minimum, so I can take 20 hours and 58 minutes. Let's call it 21 hours. I have to finish the Man of Kent by 9.40pm, Dave says. So I start riding at 00.40 hours on Sunday morning. This gives me 7 hours and 20 minutes to do the 100k to the start of the calendar event, which is at 8am. This is a minimum speed of 13.64kph. Were I to ride that 100k at the BRM speed of 15kph it would take me 6 hours 40 minutes. Thus the ECE speed of 14.3kph overall for the full 300k means I get 40 minutes more to do the 100k that is the "pure ECE" bit.
I am not sure many are interested but I write this here because it might be a useful guide to someone else trying to work it out.

[Martin]

Bear in mind though that an ECE is a separate event that just happens to include (or be tacked onto) a calendar event (which is why you can have the calendar event validated but still DNF/DNS the ECE)

It was a pretty controversial entity to introduce into AUKs rules structure (replaced the old DIY+Cal which had even more problems) so best not to push the time envelope too much for the sake of 20min in this case; especially if you end up missing the start of the calendar event as a result  you should be aiming to complete the ECE leg at 14.3kph especially if it is 200 or longer. John Ward the perms secretary has the final word on validation.

[mmmmartin]

Again, this just for the record.
It worked very well, and I will try to do it again. A few points:

• I had a nasty moment when a cash machine refused to soldier at 3.30am - there was no other way of obtaining proof of passage in that village so others may wish to have a Plan B at controls on an ECE. (i know this also applies to doing perms by night.)
• Nail the nav. I had a GPS and maps of the route but when the GPS sent me off-route I was in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night so couldn't knock on a door and ask someone, off the area covered by the cut-down maps, so had to rely on the GPS to get me back, but by then I didn't trust it..... .   (This applies to the night section of all Audaxes, of course, but remember I had no carefully worked out routesheet.)
• Timing is all. I had it worked out to the minute, which isn't difficult, and it worked a treat. You start with the finishing time of the ECE and give yourself 14.3khp - that sets your start time for the ECE, even if you have 15kph allowed to ride the Calendar Event.
• Finally, I thought it was a great way to extend an event, and get there without using a car. The night riding was especially enjoyable with hardly a car on normally busy roads, but you need the very very best in lighting, both to see and be seen. I had planned to ECE El Supremo's Hudson Horrible Hunded next Sunday until My Present Wife pointed out - with A Look - that it was Mother's Day.

[Martin]

I'm pleased to announce that I can now accept proof of passage of ECE's by gps  

 you still need to purchase an ECE card and nominate control points on your entry form but only need to provide a gpx track for the outward and / or return leg to show you visited these (a big advantage being that they can be anywhere not just one where you can obtain a receipt) You can submit a track of the whole combined ride if you prefer; just indicate the finish time of the caledar event when you return it to save me wading through the 10 billion trackpoints to find it.

[Philip D]

Excellent news Martin, nice one.

[Jaded]

Yes, thank you Martin!

[mmmmartin]

I can now accept proof of passage of ECE's by gps

That is super news. When the cashpoint at Headcorn refused to soldier at 3.30am Ithought I was completely stuffed*
I shall now set to work on a nice route from home to Hailsham, the spiritual home of my Audax life.


*I made it work in the end after several attempts to stuff the card in, because we all know that a simple pigheaded refusal to look facts in the face will always see you through.

[PloddinPedro]

Really good news Martin, well done.

[Martin]

I am pleased to report that The AAA Man has approved AAA points to be added to an Extended Calendar Event provided a tracklog of the whole extended ride (or ECE legs if extending an AAA calendar event) is submitted to myself

A minimum of 100 km must be eligible for AAA and this must include a proportion of the extension

If an existing AAA calendar event is extended the additional AAA will be added to the ECE legs only. If the existing event is below the threshold for AAA but the combined ECE is above; points will be allocated to the whole ride or an eligible 100km+ section of it.

AAA points must be requested at the time the tracklog is submitted, I will not check every gpx this way

[AndyH]

Excellent news Martin 

The GPS recorded 3500m of climbing, of which 1955 was the event. Shame I cant claim another 1.5 AAA points for the ECE bit.

[akin]

I would like to enter an ECE on Saturday to bring Mad Jacks 120k up to 200k. My house is conveniently 81k from Hailsham.

I am probably missing something but can I buy an ECE virtual card online for GPS validation?

[Martin]

I would like to enter an ECE on Saturday to bring Mad Jacks 120k up to 200k. My house is conveniently 81k from Hailsham.

I am probably missing something but can I buy an ECE virtual card online for GPS validation?

yes; just select the GPS vlaidation option and go off and ride 

you will have to add 100km to it though not 80; see the FAQ

http://www.ukcyclist.org.uk/extendedcal

[akin]

...and there was me trying to find the answer without burdening you with any additional work.

Thanks Martin.

[Ivo]

Finally another organiser organises an event 43km from home. Are ECE´s also possible with foreign events? (A Belgian BRM in this case)

[Martin]

Finally another organiser organises an event 43km from home. Are ECE´s also possible with foreign events? (A Belgian BRM in this case)

well I'd have no problem validating the ECE; would the Belgian BRM go up on the AUK results? I would say do the whole thing as a DIY but presumably the result would appear twice?

[Ivo]

Finally another organiser organises an event 43km from home. Are ECE´s also possible with foreign events? (A Belgian BRM in this case)

well I'd have no problem validating the ECE; would the Belgian BRM go up on the AUK results? I would say do the whole thing as a DIY but presumably the result would appear twice?

Foreign BRM´s usually only get into the AUK results lists when they are claimed by the rider himself (usually on the basis of an ACP homologation number or an online result sheet). It takes some time before the result appears. I´m a bit short on events since most events in my area aren´t acceptable for AUK purposes so if I have to choose between DIY 300 or event 200 I have to give preference to rating it as an event.

[Felicity]

Is a 150k calendar event + an extension of 50k still permitted (to make a 200)? It's not listed on the Audax site as an option, but a while ago Martin said that 150 + 50 would be counted as 100 + 100 (because that would make no difference to the points). So does that mean one just enters 150 + 50 as thought it were 100 + 100?

[Martin]

Is a 150k calendar event + an extension of 50k still permitted (to make a 200)?

yes it is  it appears as a 100+100 in the results as the points are exactly the same (a 150+150 thus appears as a 100+200 etc)

entry form is here (or snailmail if you prefer) but please enter it as a 150+50

http://www.ukcyclist.org.uk/extendedcal

[Felicity]

Ah, that's a helpful answer and a very useful link - will be carefully bookmarked. As far as I can tell, there's no link to that from the Audax website, where the information on entering ECEs looks a bit different - or have I missed something? (I actually put a paper ECE entry in the post to you today, Martin, not knowing - or possibly not remembering - that there was an online version.)

[Martin]

all the ECE events on the AUK website have link to it via this convoluted route

http://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=46498.0

[Martin]

following on from the DIY thread and with ECEs now almost having completed their 3rd season, what do people think of the concept? should it continue? (it was always supposed to be a trial)

FWIW I'm still happy to administer them 

[Chris S]

Yes. A well worked out solution, very well administered.

[Paul Rainbow]

Excellent system Martin, can't fault it in anyway 

Keep up the good work!

[mattc]

From the user end, they're great 

(I'd still like to see the EPE idea happen too; but that's already on another thread ... )