Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => Audax => Topic started by: otterspocket on 01 August, 2013, 04:52:20 pm
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I have just spent Tuesday and Wednesday volunteering at the Thirsk control ,I had a great time with Lynn Hedleys team . Spent Tuesday on control and marshaling at the entrance ,had a hours nap then Wednesday night shift as sandman / help desk booking riders in and showing them to a bed and showers etc ,there were some really tired riders coming in through the night , but most looked pretty good by morning after a nights rest and a good feed ,and the food was excellent as I had my fair share of it.
Met bikey mickey and said hi also gave him the news that his friend Steve Poulton had dropped out, just missed saying hi to Wobbly seen a few other Yacf bikes but didn't speak to their owners, hope you all made it to the finish safely
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I, too, had a fabulous time helping at Market Rasen all week. We had a wonderful team headed by Damon Mason and Andy Allsopp and it was great to be part of the event. Total respect to all those on the ride - on the southbound leg the pain written on every face was very clear.
The volunteers quickly became a close-knit group and I was sorry to say goodbye this morning as the last few riders trickled through. The defining feature of Market Rasen, though, and the one I am sure many riders will remember, had to be our chef, Vince - a true one-off!
(http://media.tumblr.com/caa9fde792b0dcd902c2965e8e41fd8f/tumblr_inline_mqv6j8ohLE1qz4rgp.jpg)
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I spent most of my time doing mechanics duties at Brampton, see my blog post on "Common Mechanical Problems" (http://audaxing.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/common-mechanical-problems-on-london-edinburgh-london/) if you'd like to know how to avoid seeing a mechanic on a long distance ride
When I got to the control Sunday night, after a look around and a intro from the Controller Heather, I grated 10Kg of cheese in the kitchen and went to bed.
I was up again the next day at 6 for a 7am shift in the kitchen. This started with potato peeling and ended with a 2 1/2 hour stint of washing up
Then I had an hour of RnR before I was supposed to be helping to man the control desk. But I was pulled into the mechanics pool, and remained there for a frantic afternoon. At one point I replaced spokes in 5 wheels on different bikes one after the other. During this mania I was pulled off the mechanicals to talk in French to a rider whose GPS wasn't working quite as he would like. Unfortunately I was unable to provide a world class level of IT support, for which I apologise. I did have a break for dinner and then carried on in the evening. Things calmed down later and after cleaning the toilets I went to bed at 2am
On Tuesday I was up again at 6 and after breakfast mooched about a bit, I think there was a lull. I made some proper coffee (I'd brought my own with me) and shared it with Heine. I cleaned the toilets and then was sent to Carisle to get bike part spares and some general shopping. After I got back there was more bike fixing to do and I was working steadily all afternoon. There was a big demand for chain lubrication. At about 7pm I had a terrible headache (I never usually get headaches) and decided to go to bed for an hour to clear it. Then I realised that I'd not eaten much since the morning and I had a meal in the cafeteria. The headache didn't clear however so I went to bed. I slept through my alarm and woke up 2 hours later. I had missed a lot of bike fixing but now felt somewhat better. After a spot of coffee I was back on the case, finishing with a particularly awkward wheel which took an hour and a half to fit a new spoke and true. I covered the bag drop for someone who needed a break and then went to bed at 3am. The bike park was again full.
The next morning I was up at 7:30am. By this time many of the riders had left. Me and Heine had coffee again. The control closed for everyone at approximately 9:30am and then we were clearing up, moving the barriers for the car park, picking up litter, removing signs and boxing up all the control equipment. I loaded about half of the control stuff into my Berlingo and followed Heather to Preston, dropped the stuff off, had a cup of tea and then drove back to Devon.
It sounds like I was working hard but I really had an excellent time
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Methinks vorsprung is dehydrated and never referred to the Brampton Colour Chart.
Drink a pint of water!
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I have to say, alfapete, that a "true one off" wouldn't be my first description of the chef. Mine would be rather less charitable. Out of a thousand riders and probably a couple of hundred volunteers and staff encountered the single, solitary negative experience of the whole thing for me was my encounter with him. I thought he was Really Not A Very Nice Man at all. And that's the censored version.
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But the ratio of stars to idiots encountered speaks for itself. I'll be back, circumstances permitting!
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I always found the second way of getting exercise out of a bicycle to be significantly easier, but that just goes to prove that some people really do just ride them.
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My worst lack of experience was trying to sort a rear gear problem at midnight with 4 hours to the control closing.
I'd got a gear cable but have never used anything but down tube shifters and couldn't fathom this STI thingy.
I pulled Martin Sigrist out of the brew room and he sussed it, went back and emerged with a safety pin
to ease the old nipple out of the shifter!
We couldn't sort out the hit and miss shifting but sent Joan (V22) on her way in the hope that Brampton could
do some fine tuning. How did you go on?
Don.
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My worst lack of experience was trying to sort a rear gear problem at midnight with 4 hours to the control closing.
I'd got a gear cable but have never used anything but down tube shifters and couldn't fathom this STI thingy.
Ah, Jurek OTP is the expert on that procedure. The important bit is to stop trying to take them to bits to get the broken bit out *before* you lose track of all the pingfuckits. (DAHIKT)
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I left home at 2.30 on Sunday morning to cycle the 60 miles to Moffat. I got there too early after cycling thro' foot deep water near Biggar. I stripped naked in one of the bus shelters in Moffat main street and put on my only dry clothes. During the event greeted folk as they came out of the card stamping area and dealt with the shoes. We had up to 400 pairs at a time. (Eat your heart out Imelda). I gave Dave from Aberdeen a spare light I had and directed folk to food , toilets etc. Left on Tuesday to cycle home and caught a few riders going up the Beeftub. Caught Alastair from Dulwich Paragon and chatted to him to help him from going to sleep. We came across a
Taiwanese rider who had puncture and didnae seem to know how to change a tube so we sorted that out for him.
I had a great time as a volunteer and would gladly do it again. So many laughs and lots of brave people to meet. Great to see things from the other side and to be able to contribute in a small way to such a great event which embodies the ethos of real cameraderie in a world when so much is only of monetary value.
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I encouraged Marj to do a bit of volunteering at Moffat while I was doing the same.
Marj has just clarified with me that having done a volunteering stint this last week she will be gauranteed a ride in 2017.
:o
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I We coped but only just. Would I volunteer again or recommend it? Not yet. I hope that volunteers may get a chance to input the debrief.
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I enjoyed my stint at Moffat as much as the one I did at Thorne.
If I'm not able to ride the 2017 event I expect that I'll go for a volunteer's hat trick.
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Here's a blog post on my experience at Great Easton which was uniformly great!
http://www.auntiehelen.co.uk/volunteering-at-lel2013-audax/
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At one point I replaced spokes in 5 wheels on different bikes one after the other.
Sounds like you had more mechanicals there than what I had at Market Raisen, I only had to replace 3 or 4 spokes during the whole event. I sold about 25 inner tubes (mostly 700c and one 451) and 6 tyres (two 406 tyres and four 700c).
I had to turn a few riders away who were using Proprietary spokes as there is not much I could do with them. I did have two spare wheels which went in pritty short order. If I do it again I will buy more wheels.
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I have this evening had an email exchange with Von Broad of this parish, who was a volunteer at BC. Like Vorsprung, he spent most of his time in the "workshop". I had not intended that anyone would spend most of their time there, and was apologising that that was how it panned out. Garry was very philosophical about it (I'm sure he enjoys the tinkering), and told me that if he was repairing something significant, and another rider came in and asked him to adjust something, it was hard to say no. I don't think it right that participants in an audax (remember self-sufficiency?) should be asking someone to tweak wheel alignment or adjust gears.
Garry commented that he wasn't asked to do any work by any of the "known" audax participants. This might be a reflection of the lack of any qualification requirement, so riders new to audax just don't have the same ethos.
Garry's out for a beer at present. I suspect he may well contribute to this thread later.
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I was a volunteer with Von Broad at Mr. Dulate's Mille Cymru. I seem remember him not spending much time at all away from his truing stand, spokes in teeth, etc.
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While I was fitting a tyre from my drop bag to my bike in the stand at Thirsk, I trued a wheel and adjusted the front indexing for different riders.
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I was a volunteer with Von Broad at Mr. Dulate's Mille Cymru. I seem remember him not spending much time at all away from his truing stand, spokes in teeth, etc.
Well well;I didn't realise that guy was/is VB.
Another yacfer's name to which I can add a face :)
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I was a volunteer with Von Broad at Mr. Dulate's Mille Cymru. I seem remember him not spending much time at all away from his truing stand, spokes in teeth, etc.
Yep, he spent most of three night shifts fixing wheels then too.
The number of mechanicals we had at Brampton was staggering - both vorsprung and Ricchard did pretty much nothing else for 48hrs. And much of it (from where I was stationed on the front desk) seemed to be preventable stuff. Being on the front desk for much of the time I got the brunt of rider's questions and problems. As with the mechanicals there seemed to be a noticeable difference between randonneurs (of whatever nationality) and the rest, who often didn't seem properly prepared. There's definitely an issue in managing entrants expectations needs to be picked up on for future editions.
Brampton was pretty much flat out for 48 hours, with only a few hours on Tuesday morning between the last riders heading northwards and the southbound influx hitting us; and only 27 volunteers there in total over the three days (so somewhat less than that actually around at any one time). Hard work (although I found it easier than Thorne last time round) but I had a great time. Whether to ride or help again next time round will be a tough decision.
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My experience at Moffat matched my expectations.In no particular order....
I met new yacfers
I met new (to me) cyclists
I met yacfers I already know
I met people I didn't know
I saw lots of bikes & learnt lots about carrying kit & components
I had a laugh
I started excited & full of beans
I finished excited & cream-crackered
My faith in human nature has received a dose of positivity
My enthusiasm for all things cycling has received a boost
I am now able to put faces to more yacf names
I enjoyed myself
I never expected Marj (who has never been a night owl since the time of our RTA) to be up untill 0400 hrs putting blokes to bed.I know riders use painkillers to see them thru' but didn't imagine a volunteer would need to neck 'em.
One of the most amusing comments to me was Adamski's dad saying
" £**** is a lot of money for a bike with only one gear"
;D ;D
My only disappointment was discovering that a well known yacf rider turned out to be a miserable,self-centred grumpy bastard who came very close to receiving some advice about engaging in an alternative physical activity :(
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My only disappointment was discovering that a well known yacf rider turned out to be a miserable,self-centred grumpy bastard who came very close to receiving some advice about engaging in an alternative physical activity :(
I wasn't there!
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Marj has been telling me of some ideas she has for feeding the volunteers at the control she will be at in 2017 :o
what have I started ::-)
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While I was fitting a tyre from my drop bag to my bike in the stand at Thirsk, I trued a wheel and adjusted the front indexing for different riders.
Clever dick.
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The number of mechanicals we had at Brampton was staggering - both vorsprung and Ricchard did pretty much nothing else for 48hrs. And much of it (from where I was stationed on the front desk) seemed to be preventable stuff. Being on the front desk for much of the time I got the brunt of rider's questions and problems. As with the mechanicals there seemed to be a noticeable difference between randonneurs (of whatever nationality) and the rest, who often didn't seem properly prepared. There's definitely an issue in managing entrants expectations needs to be picked up on for future editions.
Interesting.
From the bike maintenance point of view, it sounds as though most controls experienced the same kind of work load.
I was very happy to be part of the team at Barnard Castle under Phil's stewardship, and don't have a problem in anyway with all my time [and some of Chris Crosslands too] being spent on bikes, but Phil did, and ultimately he maintained reservations about how this particular aspect of the control panned out. To begin with I was curious why he felt like that, but on reflection [and taking my ego charge that comes from the status of being Bicycle Repairman for 3 days out of the equation], I can see his point.
Why was there no mechanic with a bike stand, tools, pump etc waiting for you outside a cold bleak Tescos in Hollyhead at the turning point on a very wet and bleak Irish Mail last year and yet there was one at every control on LEL? Some may think that's a ridiculous comparison, Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. There's a difference in distance, scale, kudos etc but not in ethos. Does one ride have a greater degree than self-sufficiency than the other? Are we saying that the longer the distance the greater the degree of support is needed?
One of the appealing aspects of LEL is that it requires no qualification - something that is very enticing for those who want to plunge right in there and have a crack at something big. It also means the event is virtually guaranteed to fill up over night. That's a good thing. I means the crazy and the adventurous can step right up and give it a go. But it's double-edged. It also means that a person can participate in an event without any real empirical knowledge of how they might cope physically and mentally over a distance like that. Likewise, it also means [and more importantly, for the purposes of this particular aspect] a rider can enter a bike that may not be fit for purpose either. And they were in evidence.
If I was honest, and it doesn't sound like I was alone, there was a lot of fixing and tinkering that went on that was preventable. If they're properly set up to begin with indexed gears don't go badly out of alignment after 400km. Cables don't break because of rain, they break because they're old and haven't be changed for yonks. Tyres can get nasty gashes from glass and sharp debris and rims can fracture from hitting a pot hole. Nobody expects anybody to account for those kind of failures, but tyres also blow out because they're already worn before the ride starts and rims split because they're basically worn out and should have been changed before hand.
If not always by name, I can recognise quite a few of the experienced UK riders, whether they be fast or slow, male or female, and their absence from the bike stand was very noticeable indeed. Lessons learnt. Those kind of cyclists know that to ride a bike in good nick is to I suspect the same was true of other nationalities too.
For me personally, I actually really liked the way it all worked out. It's a good feeling to help people on their way. But this is also is double-edged. It's about reputation, expectations and boundaries. Do the organisers want to read posts on forums expressing the view that, 'Not only does LEL require no qualification but there will be a bike mechnic at every control that will sort your bike out free of charge!' That's fine if they do, but you need to provide provision for that, and it's a slippery slope and could easier erode rider responsibility to make sure everything's in order as much as is possible. 'No need to worry too much about that, the bike mechanic will sort it out at the next control'.
Not sure what the answer is. Maybe some kind of charging system, clearly communicated before registration gets under way, so all those looking to enter know the boundaries of what will be on offer at the controls.
Anyway, something to think about for next time.
Many congratulations to the organising team.
Interestingly enough, even as a volunteer, all I had to do was turn up and fit into a system that had already been put in place by those higher up in the organising chain already having contributing a great of work to get that far.
And chapeau to all the riders. Depending on where you were at any one time, it looked very very challenging indeed out there at times.
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I have to say, alfapete, that a "true one off" wouldn't be my first description of the chef. Mine would be rather less charitable. Out of a thousand riders and probably a couple of hundred volunteers and staff encountered the single, solitary negative experience of the whole thing for me was my encounter with him. I thought he was Really Not A Very Nice Man at all. And that's the censored version.
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ditto
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While I was fitting a tyre from my drop bag to my bike in the stand at Thirsk, I trued a wheel and adjusted the front indexing for different riders.
Clever dick.
My name isn't Richard.
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Alec?
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I feel a bit of a fraud - I did help out, but standing around in the sun chatting to fresh riders for a few hours at St Ives on Sunday doesn't really feel like much*. Still, I had a nice time.
* I did lug water around, point people in the right direction, help fix bikes and GPSs and I served lunch for 2 hours too, honest. O:-)
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Alec?
If only I were smart enough...
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While I was fitting a tyre from my drop bag to my bike in the stand at Thirsk, I trued a wheel and adjusted the front indexing for different riders.
Clever dick.
My name isn't Richard.
I'm hijacking an old joke - if you really don't know what I'm talking about, remind me to tell you the joke sometime ...
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I'm hijacking an old joke - if you really don't know what I'm talking about, remind me to tell you the joke sometime ...
Consider yourself reminded for next time we meet on the road.
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I really enjoyed the volunteering at Loughton, but my one regret was not meeting more of you - I was stuck in the back room (the left luggage one) with Martin, doing the electronic registration of riders/bag drops etc. It was pretty much full on all the time, so I only really got out intermittently to collect the signing-on forms. Managed to have a brief chat with Feline, simonp, Chuffy and STMS; for those I didn't manage to chat with, I was the short, grey haired, bespectacled, ancient-Harry Potter lookalike scuttling to the registration area & back across the dining hall with sheafs of paper.
Well done to all riders and volunteers, it was a pleasure to be part of it. Dare I ride it next time? Hmm, I'll be 62 by then........
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I might have made you tea WR! I did a couple of tea runs for the guys on the gates and for the back room boys :)
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Dare I ride it next time? Hmm, I'll be 62 by then........
I'll be 65 & not surrendering my ambition to ride it.
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Cheers CrinklyLion, 'twas much appreciated :thumbsup:
Jogler - l was sort of thinking out loud that I might have more spare time to train/prepare by then; it's most definitely on the radar. Providing I don't win a lot of money and run off with a glamour model before then, of course.
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My worst lack of experience was trying to sort a rear gear problem at midnight with 4 hours to the control closing.
I'd got a gear cable but have never used anything but down tube shifters and couldn't fathom this STI thingy.
I pulled Martin Sigrist out of the brew room and he sussed it, went back and emerged with a safety pin
to ease the old nipple out of the shifter!
We couldn't sort out the hit and miss shifting but sent Joan (V22) on her way in the hope that Brampton could
do some fine tuning. How did you go on?
Don.
Don did a great job. i was able to find most of my gears and get out of the valley without too much problem. The mechanic at Brampton was very happy with his work too.
Level of care at that control excellent all around - even after I tipped over an entire cup of coffee into a plastic chair; a cup of coffee that I had cooled down already with some orange squash. I did not cover myself with glory, but I did say please/thanks/sorry an awful lot.
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I think I may have mopped that chair!
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I've just stuck my report over on Ride Reports; it seemed like the most appropriate place.
https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=74726.0
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I spent most of my time doing mechanics duties at Brampton, see my blog post on "Common Mechanical Problems" (http://audaxing.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/common-mechanical-problems-on-london-edinburgh-london/) if you'd like to know how to avoid seeing a mechanic on a long distance ride.
I wasn't looking for you and your filthy high-five hand! How many tired riders did you trick into that?
Cables don't break because of rain, they break because they're old and haven't be changed for yonks.
Oh please explain to me how my shifter cables got stuck in 2009 after about 1250km when I had this bike for less than 6 months? No mechanic could help me back then, and I managed by shifting my Rohloff at the axle. (I agree with most of your ramblings though, but even if you've gotten a new bike in March and did an SR on it this is no guarantee against these kind of problems)
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Oh please explain to me how my shifter cables got stuck in 2009 after about 1250km when I had this bike for less than 6 months? No mechanic could help me back then, and I managed by shifting my Rohloff at the axle. (I agree with most of your ramblings though, but even if you've gotten a new bike in March and did an SR on it this is no guarantee against these kind of problems)
Guarantees? Blimey no, save our old trusted friends of death and taxes, as we all know, life offers little guarantee of anything. That established though, probably still worth riding with [what you know are] new[ish] cables before a 1400.
As for your Rohloff - 2009 you say - well, I wasn't there then, and it's a bit difficult to offer a solutioon in 2013, but the little I know about Rohloffs [which is not a little, but in fact absolutely nothing], chances are, regrettably, I couldn't have helped you at all. But equally, there's no guarantee of that either.
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Here is the small write up I put together for the weekly cyclists email that is sent out at work from our Glasgow office.
Well by the time you read this all of the 1000 riders on this year’s LEL (London – Edinburgh – London) should be on their way south again.
LEL is the blue ribbon UK Audax and runs every four years, last time ~600 riders started and the event has grown substantially to accommodate the growth in long distance cyclists. Many nations are represented from UK based riders, European riders (French, German, Spanish, Italian, Danish, Dutch, Finish, Belarusian …), Asian (Indian, Japanese, Chinese), Australian, American, Canadian and South African. Riding all types of bikes from normal road bikes, tourers and Moultons to the oddities of the Eliptigos, Recumbents, Velomobiles and trikes. There was even a Cargo Bike and one rider is riding a 1900’s two speed bike where you pedal forwards for one gear and backwards for the other!
Riders left Loughton in north east London in groups between 05:30 and 10:30 on Sunday morning, a large number chose to participate in a Prologue and started at 6:00 am from Buckingham Palace before riding out to Loughton for another breakfast and to then start at their allocated times.
For an indication of where to find the riders here are the control opening and closing times for a rider who started at 7am Sunday:
| Direction | Control | Distance | Opening Time | Closing Time |
| NORTH | Loughton | 0 | Sunday 07:00 | --- |
| St Ives | 99 | Sunday 10:19 | Sunday 15:11 |
| Kirton | 180 | Sunday 13:01 | Sunday 21:50 |
| Market Rasen | 248 | Sunday 15:18 | Monday 03:28 |
| Pocklington | 333 | Sunday 18:07 | Monday 10:26 |
| Thirsk | 398 | Sunday 20:17 | Monday 15:47 |
| Barnard Castle | 465 | Sunday 22:31 | Monday 21:17 |
| Brampton | 547 | Monday 01:15 | Tuesday 04:00 |
| Moffat | 622 | Monday 03:44 | Tuesday 10:08 |
| Edinburgh | 703 | Monday 06:26 | Tuesday 16:47 |
| SOUTH | Traquair | 745 | Monday 07:51 | Tuesday 20:17 |
| Eskdalemuir | 791 | Monday 09:22 | Wednesday 00:03 |
| Brampton | 849 | Monday 11:19 | Wednesday 04:50 |
| Barnard Castle | 933 | Monday 14:06 | Wednesday 11:42 |
| Thirsk | 1000 | Monday 16:19 | Wednesday 17:10 |
| Pocklington | 1065 | Monday 18:30 | Wednesday 22:34 |
| Market Rasen | 1150 | Monday 21:20 | Thursday 05:32 |
| Kirton | 1218 | Monday 23:37 | Thursday 11:10 |
| St Ives | 1299 | Tuesday 02:18 | Thursday 17:49 |
| Great Easton | 1373 | Tuesday 04:47 | Thursday 23:55 |
| Loughton | 1419 | Tuesday 06:18 | Friday 03:40 |
And My role, well I went to Loughton on Friday morning, pitched two marquees, and assisted in setting up the site ready for Registration. On Saturday all the riders came in between 9am and 5pm to register, collect their frame numbers and brevet cards and to drop off the luggage they wanted to send ahead. I was in the drop bag tent distributing the colour coded bags for the locations the riders had booked to send bags ahead to and receiving them back with their 2.5kg of changes of cloths, drinks powders, batteries etc. In all I think we took in about 1800 bags between the riders, some choosing to be fully self-sufficient and others only sending one bag up ahead. Then on Sunday it was up at 03:30 to open up so that we could provide breakfast to the earliest starters who arrived from 04:00 onwards. The it was gathering the riders into their start pens from about 15 minutes before their allocated start, Riders A left at 05:30, B at 06:00 and then at 15 minute intervals until riders X started at 10:30. In total I think we had about 70 people for the start control, to register, feed and look after the bike park. Subsequent controls will be feeding, stamping the Brevet Cards (proof of passage), providing sleep points and access to drop bags.
Finally the last riders must be back in Loughton by 07:10 to finish in time, otherwise they will have ridden all that distance and not get their badge.
I really enjoyed my time, particularly on Sunday when I was back at the bag drop tent and my main task was directing riders down to the start pen and reassuring them that we weren't stramping brevet cards at Loughton north bound, stamps would be applied when riders returned.