Author Topic: LeJoGLe Record attempt  (Read 8807 times)

Ray 6701

  • SO @ T
    • Tamworth cycling club
LeJoGLe Record attempt
« on: 03 April, 2013, 12:47:52 pm »
Chris "Hoppo" Hopkinson set off at 10am yesterday to attempt to break the current record of 5 days 21 hours and 8 mins. 

http://www.teamhoppo.co.uk

You can tweet him @Hoppo347 & if you can get out to see him on the road & give him some vocal encouragement I'm sure it would give him a bit of a boost  :thumbsup:
SR 2010/11/12/13/14/15
RRTY. PBP. LeJoG 1400. LEL.




essexian

Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #1 on: 03 April, 2013, 12:58:14 pm »
Making some good progress but to hit Stafford at 8.50am this morning was a mistake! 50 mins to do less than 7 miles according to his tracker due no doubt to the volume of traffic on the A34 coming into town. He then did the next 7 miles up to Stone in 20 mins which is more like it!

It would be quite upsetting if one towns over reliance on the motor car ruined such an excellent challenge.

Wishing him luck for the rest of the trip.  :thumbsup:

Karla

  • car(e) free
    • Lost Byway - around the world by bike
Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #2 on: 03 April, 2013, 01:01:58 pm »
As noted in A less leisurely LEJOG  :P

To be fair, I also duplicated a thread yesterday: the one about women cycling in Saudi Arabia.

He's now in Holmes Chapel, which I make as 341 miles in 27 hours: 12.63mph.  He'll do the two way trip in 5 days 13 hours,  if he keeps up the pace ... 

Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #3 on: 03 April, 2013, 01:43:37 pm »
I bet he's not enjoying this northeasterly!

Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #4 on: 03 April, 2013, 05:49:06 pm »
I bet he's not enjoying this northeasterly!

Apparently not. I just saw his team, they were parked up in a pull-in at the entrance to the tree-planting site I'm working at just off the A49. Hoppo is asleep until 6pm. That's about 12 miles South of Preston. He's behind his own schedule, but still on schedule for the record.
I was told that he hasn't been training on the road, and the most he's done is three hour sessions on the turbo. It was -5 C last night. He should be at Shap between 11 and 12. This is something of a try-out for RAAM.

Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #5 on: 03 April, 2013, 06:13:26 pm »
I'm sure he knows what he's doing, which seems to be killing two birds with one stone (A WR attempt and some serious training mileage) but I think I've read that most RAAM competitors rarely felt the need to do more than 100 mile 'intervals' when they train.
'Something....something.... Something about racing bicycles, but really a profound metaphor about life itself.'  Tim KrabbĂ©. Possibly

Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #6 on: 03 April, 2013, 06:39:29 pm »
Apparently not. I just saw his team, they were parked up in a pull-in at the entrance to the tree-planting site I'm working at just off the A49. Hoppo is asleep until 6pm. That's about 12 miles South of Preston. He's behind his own schedule, but still on schedule for the record.
I was told that he hasn't been training on the road, and the most he's done is three hour sessions on the turbo. It was -5 C last night. He should be at Shap between 11 and 12. This is something of a try-out for RAAM.

That might turn out to be a very good tactic if he can stay awake all through the night with no more than an hour or two of sleep. The wind will drop after about 6pm and by the time he gets to Preston the rush hour traffic will have probably eased off. I hit Preston in rush hour on my 1998 Grand Triangle and the traffic cost me a fair bit of time.
I wonder if they are thinking the same as me, to concentrate on the night riding going north for the weaker headwind, then concentrate more on the daytime going south for the stronger tailwind. It'd work well with sleeping patterns too.

marcusjb

  • Full of bon courage.
Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #7 on: 03 April, 2013, 07:05:42 pm »
The bad news is that the support vehicle has broken down it seems - on the A49 in Chorley. 
Right! What's next?

Ooooh. That sounds like a daft idea.  I am in!

Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #8 on: 03 April, 2013, 07:20:36 pm »
They said they were having trouble with the support car and I did wonder why the rider tracking on their website wasn't updated.
Just a setback I would think. Surely they can hire something if it comes to that?

Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #9 on: 04 April, 2013, 09:04:10 am »
It's starting to look very doubtfull to me.
Hoppo is just south of Carlisle, I thought he'd be past Edinburgh by now.
He stopped for a 3 hour sleep, which after his hour earlier might be sign that the next night will be very tough. If someone told me that he slpet for 3 hours and knowing that he crested Shap at around 1am, I thought he'd be north of Carlisle by now. It's a blast from the top of Shap all the way to Carlisle.
Split the 5d 21h in half and he should reach John O Groats at 8am tomorrow (Friday 5th) That would give him about 26 hours to do roughly 500km/300 miles over some pretty tough terrain with sleep debt and into a wiind. It can get especially exposed on the coast north of Inverness. I know I've had some battles with wind (of the weather variety for once  ;D) on my Triangle rides.
Even if he can manage that, I doubt the wind will be helpfull enough to give him the extra sleep time I think he'll need on the way back.

Of course, it'd be good if he proved me wrong and goes on to succeed. :)

Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #10 on: 04 April, 2013, 09:34:00 am »
I was surprised at the amount of sleep. I thought he'd make do on less.

Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #11 on: 04 April, 2013, 09:42:41 am »
I was surprised at the amount of sleep. I thought he'd make do on less.

Me too. I thought he'd snatch an hour or two for the first one or two nights then take more on the way back. He's either trying to preserve his ride back or having a hard time and I think it's the latter. Partly because I think that taking it easy in the daytime when the headwind is strong and then attacking the night when the headwind is weaker would make good sense. Partly because he seems to spend quite a bit more time stopped than he is asleep for, which to me indicates indecision. He's behind schedule and I expect they are trying to work out what to do, which can take time, especially when tired or there are several people with different ideas, or both.
It's not unlikely that he never got a great deal of sleep before the ride started, which wouldn't help.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #12 on: 04 April, 2013, 09:43:31 am »
Is the support vehicle sorted?
Getting there...

Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #13 on: 04 April, 2013, 09:54:24 am »
Yes.
I think the RAC came out in the end.
He was aiming for a 11-12pm summit of Shap, but made it at around 1 am.

I think he may have had to have stopped when the car broke down because it's a Guinness World Record attempt and I would think that he has to be observed at all times.

Karla

  • car(e) free
    • Lost Byway - around the world by bike
Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #14 on: 04 April, 2013, 10:46:01 am »
Two days (and 45 minutes) in and he's past Langholm, at what I calculate as just over 500 miles.  That leaves him over 1100 miles to go, in 3 days and 20 hours.  Those numbers don't look good to me.

I think it's possible that he'll have needed more sleep due to riding into a cold headwind all day; an additional hazard (on top of having less good training weather) of an early attempt.

TOBY

  • hello
Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #15 on: 04 April, 2013, 10:49:27 am »
Magic Spanner back to LE?

Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #16 on: 04 April, 2013, 10:51:05 am »
Magic Spanner?  ???

Karla

  • car(e) free
    • Lost Byway - around the world by bike
Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #17 on: 04 April, 2013, 10:57:52 am »
The magic spanner is where a mechanic leans out of a team car in a pro race, makes an unnecessary adjustment to a rider's bike and gives them a push along at the same time.

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #18 on: 04 April, 2013, 11:05:15 am »
The other option is the Sticky Bidon. The director sportif accelerates the car while slowly handing a bidon to a rider.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

zigzag

  • unfuckwithable
Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #19 on: 04 April, 2013, 11:33:42 am »
while headwinds are annoying, they shouldn't affect the speed massively. (on tuesday) i rode directly into northeasterly, then back, pushing it both ways. i was counting on a free ride back, but it wasn't as easy as i hoped it would be.

same stretch:
26.8kph (2h20) into the headwind
30.2kph (2h04) with a tailwind

i'm pretty doubtful about hoppo's record now when the legs are getting tired, but it will be a great ride nonetheless.

Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #20 on: 04 April, 2013, 11:52:44 am »
On the other hand, I was comfortable at 25mph in the fens on one of my winter 700km rides with the wind behind. I was down to 8mph going into that wind...

2mph for 48 hours is almost 100 miles. Even at near evens that's 5 hours to make up.

I've been slower with the tailwind back than I was with the headwind out, because the headwind out had taken so much out of me.

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
    • Didcot Audaxes
Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #21 on: 04 April, 2013, 12:00:00 pm »
I wonder if they are thinking the same as me, to concentrate on the night riding going north for the weaker headwind, then concentrate more on the daytime going south for the stronger tailwind. It'd work well with sleeping patterns too.
I have a theory that counters your theory! I think winds only pick up in daytime in summer - perhaps because the sun's heat drives more convection.

(No figures to back this up, but a quick look at yr.no for this week shows no calm nights.)
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

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #22 on: 04 April, 2013, 12:01:02 pm »
He's picked a horrible week for it.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
    • Didcot Audaxes
Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #23 on: 04 April, 2013, 12:03:59 pm »
I think he's a teacher - so lots of holiday, but not much option to move them around!
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

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: LeJoGLe Record attempt
« Reply #24 on: 04 April, 2013, 12:04:15 pm »
That was to give himself a readymade excuse for failing.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...