Author Topic: [LEL17] Doing LEL on my own!  (Read 8612 times)

[LEL17] Doing LEL on my own!
« on: 21 July, 2017, 12:12:26 pm »
Hello,

My name is René from Germany.
I'm new here in this forum.

I want to do LEL this year like most people here!
But saldy i got no starting slot, like most cyclist from the continent.

So I decided to do LEL on my own, with no help from the guys who organized this trip.
Same time, same rules (max 120h) and no car for backup.

But without any controlpoints, where I can eat or sleep it will be much more difficult.
Ok, food can I buy. But sleeping is a thing which I try to plan before the trip starts.

My plan is to solve this trip in 4 stages of 350km ( 220mils).
So I need 2 times a place to sleep somewhere between Pocklington and Thirsk
and in Edingburgh.

My Question:
Does anybody know a hotel(or something else, not to expensive please) in theese areas near the track,
which are open 24h. So I can check in there at any time and sleep a few hours?

Any Ideas or things(eg. smartphone Apps) that helps to find a bed for the night would be nice.

Bye
René

Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #1 on: 21 July, 2017, 12:54:09 pm »
Two hotel chains to look at are Premier Inn (www.premierinn.com) and TravelLodge (www.travelodge.co.uk). Usually cheap, open long hours and the times I've used them they've found somewhere for the bike or allow it in the room.

Dave_C

  • Trying to get rid of my belly... and failing!
Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #2 on: 21 July, 2017, 01:12:46 pm »
Camping, or bivi'ing in Scotland is fine (and legal) so long as you are not in anybody's garden, the land next to their own home.

In England, you have to hide away where you can't be seen. Between Pocklington and Thirsk is very rural, You should have no problem finding a quiet spot in a corner of a field/wood where no one should disturb you. If you are looking for hotels then as sizbut suggested, or better still look on Booking.com In the past I have looked for accommodation in a specific hotel, only to be told they were full. Booking.com had spaces, so I assume Booking.com have permanent reservations in most large hotels.
@DaveCrampton < wot a twit.
http://veloviewer.com/athlete/421683/

Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #3 on: 21 July, 2017, 03:29:13 pm »
This is near Thirsk, almost on the route and as it's new ,there should be space.
http://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/hotels/england/north-yorkshire/thirsk/thirsk.html

or you can go off route to York,where you will find several  similar hotels (York north or northwest is nearest the  A19 Thirsk road,but you will miss the Howardian Hills (That may not be a bad thing.)

Auntie Helen

  • 6 Wheels in Germany
Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #4 on: 21 July, 2017, 04:10:29 pm »
René is a good egg, he let me try out sitting in his Milan and I ended up buying one...
My blog on cycling in Germany and eating German cake – http://www.auntiehelen.co.uk


Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #5 on: 21 July, 2017, 05:12:28 pm »
you can go off route to York,where you will find several  similar hotels (York north or northwest is nearest the  A19 Thirsk road,but you will miss the Howardian Hills (That may not be a bad thing.)

You can not claim that you have done LEL if you miss the Howardian hills  ;D

To answer the OP question, there is a Travelodge in Edinburgh about 3 or 4 km after the controi. We slept in a small hotel near the Travelodge, I cannot recommend it since the manager was quite upset to see us coming to his hotel on a bicycle.

I think the most difficult aspect will be the food. The LEL route purposedly avoids main towns, so the food offer directly on the road is very limited. You may wish to look at https://www.tesco.com/store-locator/uk/ for supermarkets, but you will have to go off route quite often.


Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #6 on: 21 July, 2017, 05:15:36 pm »
Two hotel chains to look at are Premier Inn (www.premierinn.com) and TravelLodge (www.travelodge.co.uk). Usually cheap, open long hours...
Thanks I put the Two APPs and booking.com on my phone.

Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #7 on: 21 July, 2017, 05:18:51 pm »
Camping, or bivi'ing in Scotland is fine (and legal) so long as you are not in anybody's garden, the land next to their own home.
Thanks Dave! But I hope dont need to sleep in the forest...

Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #8 on: 21 July, 2017, 05:19:49 pm »
This is near Thirsk, almost on the route and as it's new ,there should be space.
http://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/hotels/england/north-yorkshire/thirsk/thirsk.html
Great , I Put this on my list!

Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #9 on: 21 July, 2017, 05:21:33 pm »
I think the most difficult aspect will be the food. The LEL route purposedly avoids main towns, so the food offer directly on the road is very limited. You may wish to look at https://www.tesco.com/store-locator/uk/ for supermarkets, but you will have to go off route quite often.
Yes Food can be challenging too!

Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #10 on: 21 July, 2017, 05:23:41 pm »
René is a good egg,
Ah the nicest woman from LEL2013 is here too!  :)

Auntie Helen

  • 6 Wheels in Germany
Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #11 on: 21 July, 2017, 05:26:39 pm »
René is a good egg,
Ah the nicest woman from LEL2013 is here too!  :)
that's going a bit far!

This is my main home, it's how I met Gabi and started the whole Velomobile journey four years ago...
My blog on cycling in Germany and eating German cake – http://www.auntiehelen.co.uk


Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #12 on: 23 July, 2017, 11:04:14 am »
Have you checked out Airbnb?  I've seen people renting out their spare room for under £20 on there and have stayed in a couple that we're great around £35 per night.

Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #13 on: 23 July, 2017, 03:29:30 pm »
Have you checked out Airbnb?  I've seen people renting out their spare room for under £20 on there and have stayed in a couple that we're great around £35 per night.

People who rent a room in their house may not be happy with  a guest who show up at 2am!

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
    • Didcot Audaxes
Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #14 on: 23 July, 2017, 04:11:58 pm »
Have you checked out Airbnb?  I've seen people renting out their spare room for under £20 on there and have stayed in a couple that we're great around £35 per night.

People who rent a room in their house may not be happy with  a guest who show up at 2am!
Or they might! Hotels often aren't. Worth asking.

I've used maybe 5, and two of those - one in Shropshire, one in Germany - were around 3am arrivals. We warned them in advance and got a warm welcome on the night :)

(I think some hosts get into it to meet weird people on crazy trips - stupid arrival times come with that!)
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

redfalo

  • known as Olaf in the real world
    • Cycling Intelligence
Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #15 on: 24 July, 2017, 11:20:43 am »
So I decided to do LEL on my own, with no help from the guys who organized this trip.
Same time, same rules (max 120h) and no car for backup.


Even if you don't use the controls, I actually think it's poor form to ride as a stowaway. In many ways, you will be part of the event and benefit from the truckload of work Danial and others have put in. Problematic issues, for instance, are:

- insurance. The orgs make sure that any rider has a liability insurance. The key aspect is that other riders, who may be taken out by another participant, can be sure that their damages will be covered. There is obviously no way of enforcing that on non-registered riders. And with riding in big groups, there is a higher risk of incidents.

- food. as others have pointed out, you'll struggle to find food in the remote areas up north. If you are struggling, you may need to use the help of controls, even if you currently don't intend to do so. Just from your very own perspective, that may not matter, you might think. but if a lot of non-registered riders came on the ride, this would surely turn into a problem

- atmosphere at the controls. I think it really changes the atmosphere if volunteers have to actively look out for non-registered riders who may sneek into the controls. again, you may currently not plan to do so. but imagine foul weather, a mechanical breakdown, or health issues - you very well still will be forced to use the infrastructure of an event you are not part of. and this would but volunteers in a bind. Should they send you away even if you are in distress? (surely not, but then you're really free-riding) The only way of making sure you won't is to do the ride on a different date when no one else is riding.

All in all, I have to say I find this plan pretty selfish. Many riders who did not get a place are volunteering this year and get a guaranteed place for 2021. I would recommend doing the same. Or go and ride a different event, or the route at a different time. Riding the same route on the same days as LEL is just disrespectful and against the spirit of Audax, as far as I'm concerned.
If you can't convince, confuse.

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

Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #16 on: 24 July, 2017, 01:15:41 pm »
Is ReneF suggesting he'll be riding at the same time as the event, or merely borrowing the route to ride at a different point? That's not clear to me.

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #17 on: 24 July, 2017, 01:20:59 pm »
Is it a drama either way? Public roads are open to all. During PBP99, I rode alongside and chatted with an expat Pom for many miles between a couple of controls. He just wanted to meet some of those folk willing to take on such a big challenge and hear what it was like from the inside.

A large part of the brevet is the socialising at controls and Rene is missing out on that. LEL has already made it clear that non-entrants don't get in.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #18 on: 24 July, 2017, 01:38:26 pm »
If you are struggling, you may need to use the help of controls, even if you currently don't intend to do so.

I'm sure anyone even contemplating this sort of ride will have many thousands of kilometres of unsupported riding under their belt.  Surely if they found themselves struggling they'd do what they normally do when they find themselves struggling when not part of an event:  Have a rest, HTFU, change objectives, bail out, etc.  If they aren't part of the event then the time limit doesn't apply anyway.

I expect in the extremely unlikely event of them literally collapsing with a medical emergency outside a control then the volunteers would be happy to help, just as they would for an old woman crossing the street who wasn't part of the event.  But if you end up having a miserable time 20km down the road from one, why would you seek out the control of an event you're not part of rather than say, a hotel, cafe, supermarket, railway station, bus shelter, bivvy bag, etc?

Your points about insurance and atmosphere are valid.  Insurance can be obtained by obtaining insurance, and it seems prudent to have that whenever riding a bike.  The best way to experience the atmosphere of the event if you can't enter it would be to volunteer.

Food?  Weather?  Well, you'd do whatever you'd normally do on an unsupported ride.  Nothing special about that.

Auntie Helen

  • 6 Wheels in Germany
Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #19 on: 24 July, 2017, 03:09:32 pm »
René rode LEL last time so I guess he knows what to expect with regard to his performance.
My blog on cycling in Germany and eating German cake – http://www.auntiehelen.co.uk


Brakeless

  • Brakeless
Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #20 on: 24 July, 2017, 03:58:16 pm »
If you are struggling, you may need to use the help of controls, even if you currently don't intend to do so.

I'm sure anyone even contemplating this sort of ride will have many thousands of kilometres of unsupported riding under their belt. 


For many riders it will be thier first event anywhere near this distance.

Wycombewheeler

  • PBP-2019 LEL-2022
Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #21 on: 24 July, 2017, 04:18:36 pm »
If you are struggling, you may need to use the help of controls, even if you currently don't intend to do so.

I'm sure anyone even contemplating this sort of ride will have many thousands of kilometres of unsupported riding under their belt. 


For many riders it will be thier first event anywhere near this distance.
For many people in the event yes, for anyone contemplating doing it without the support of the controls surely not.

Also if planning his own route the route could be tweaked as required for hotel stops.

Eddington  127miles, 170km

frillipippi

  • from Italy
Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #22 on: 24 July, 2017, 05:43:09 pm »
Surely Redfalo's point is very clear and a part of me fully agrees with him, yet I think the subject is more complex than that.
In the last years the organizers poured a great effort in promoting LEL with the goal of making a great event of it, and - last but not least - of selling it out quickly.
They've done so for very valid reasons, essentially in this way they were able to prepare the event for the target number of participants, with a well-defined budget, relying confidently on the idea that both the participants and the money would have been there at the right moment.
This made it possible for them to give the registered riders the best value for their money.
A side effect of the quick sell-out is that several, strongly committed people are out.
I imagine the majority of those who tried to register but found themselves out where not so committed, or even if they were, they sighed at first but then started searching a new goal for this summer and found something else to aim to.
Yet it's reasonable that, among so many people, several of them are so committed to LEL that they can neither give up the idea and choose another ride, nor reconvert themselves into volunteers.
I think that, as long as the number is small, this is to be accepted as an unavoidable side effect.
We registered riders should keep in mind that teasing the desire of many people that eventually found themselves out is part of the strategy that made it possible for us to participate at a fixed price to a really well organized event - I can't wait to ride and check the facts that will confirm my strong belief about the great organization...
What if LEL subscription form said "now you subscribe and commit to pay us an undefined fee; later on, when we know how many participants we've got, we shall tell you how much it is" ?
Also without being so brutal, any uncertainty regarding the number of participants and therefore the budget would have harmed the "value per cost" ratio.
I believe that, as long as the number of outsiders like René is neglectable compared to the number of paying participants, the phaenomenon has to be accepted as a direct consequence of us being able to pay the minimum possible fixed amount instead of a larger or variable one, for the value we'll receive.

Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #23 on: 27 July, 2017, 10:51:19 am »

- insurance. The orgs make sure that any rider has a liability insurance. ...

- food. as others have pointed out, you'll struggle to find food in the remote areas up north....

- atmosphere at the controls. I think it really changes the atmosphere if volunteers have to actively look out for non-registered riders who may sneek into the controls. ...
All in all, I have to say I find this plan pretty selfish. Many riders who did not get a place are volunteering this year and get a guaranteed place for 2021. I would recommend doing the same. Or go and ride a different event, or the route at a different time. Riding the same route on the same days as LEL is just disrespectful and against the spirit of Audax, as far as I'm concerned.

Hello Mr Redfalo,

to your topic:
Insurance: Very German way of thinking! A insurance didn't save my life when I am in need, it just pay you some money afterwards. I have an health insurance which pays hospital costs, so this is all I need.

Food: I got a long list of stores all over the way. Thanks to the nice person who mad this for me!!!! :thumbsup:

Atomosphere: I DONT want do visit the checkpoints, I want to do this selfsustained. I dont want to get something for which I dont have paid!
I dont want to steal food or a bed, that someone others needs.  I want to get the amtosphere on the route with many nice riders. It is a free country and free roads, why it is an disrespect when I ride on the same road?

And I am very annoyed how to try to subscribe for LEL:
The way with downbraking servers, sitting in the evening, in the night and in the morning in the front of the computer and getting nothing is a shame for the second biggest long distance event in Europe.
There are only a few places for non british people. And it seems that persons got some who wrote Script-Programs which type all data 100times faster than a human.
There were people who get a starting slot with the help of ten people who all try to enter the data on ten different computers.
Your are looking 4 years forward four such an event and your just kicked out by a not working computer and DNS-attacks. :hand:

My ride shows that some people dont want to be stopped by a big computer-problem.
To my Opinion at PBP they made the better system: The more you ride an audax the earlier you can subscribe.

And all in all there are some selfish things:
Done: PBP2011, LEL2013, BOB2014!
I had my starting slot for PBP 2015, but I cant ride it because of knee problems 2 month before, which didnt stop.
I had an knee surgery in early 2016! Everything went well, but I took some time to recover. So I had to skip BOB.
But I rode 11000km that year, LEL in mind the whole year.
I broke my ankle in early january 2017. Surgery again, all well, doctor gave OK for LEL .  But I was late in the year. I have 200, 300 and 400km audax but im lacking of the 600km.
So most official BRM with > 1000km are impossible.


Weatherforcast shows up some rainy days. Happy to meet all the bikers in their rainjackets! ;)



Re: Doing LEL on my own!
« Reply #24 on: 27 July, 2017, 11:54:02 am »
I'm not sure directing anger at the organisers and the riders who did get places does your cause any favours here.

As you have travel booked anyway, why not volunteer? You'll experience a lot more of the atmosphere, and you'll potentially have sort of guaranteed place in 2021.