This will be my first 400 - looking fwd to it! The 9am calendar start means a morning arrivee so will probably aim to get head down at Barton Mills McDs for a bit before the hours until dawn.
Ece booked, now just to decide how much clothing I will need for the night section!! Looking forward to Saturday.
Ece booked, now just to decide how much clothing I will need for the night section!! Looking forward to Saturday.
The Brecks at night = COLD! Santon Downham meteorological station often records the lowest overnight temperature in lowland Britain. And you may not warm up much at McDonalds in Barton Mills ... then there's no chance of getting indoors when you control at Saffron Walden after that.
Ece booked, now just to decide how much clothing I will need for the night section!! Looking forward to Saturday.The Brecks at night = COLD!
Yes, The Brecks can be bloody cold - has anyone looked at the forecast, its going to be one of the warmest nights this year!
I didn't notice any mention of it in the e-mail and I haven't printed off the route sheet yet, but do we still need £1 in cash for the ferry.
Ta
Owen
Thanks :-)I knew I'd read it somewhere, but couldn't see it in the email either, so I looked at the notes.
I haven't printed that off yet either :facepalm: still plenty of time !!
HK and I will be there, probably on three wheels each. Not aiming to whistle round.
Are you in the 80 hr? If in the 90 hr, and you have time for a nights sleep on a 400, you’ve nothing to worry about in terms of PBP form.only ever on this 400. no other 400 allows sleep in my experience, a combination of the late start time and the quick quick section from 100km to 300km. I had les sleep o the gospel pass and far less sleep on the bryan chapman
Saw a couple of riders in the square at Saffron walden, and then past 4 bikes outside a cafe in Sible Hedingham(?), then I had a puncture and three of the four went straight past the turning I had taken and on into Great Maplestead, while the fourth trying to catch them up took my turning and also flew past me. The route I and rider 4 were on 0.7km between junctions, while the great maplestead route is 1.6km. After dealing with the puncture with unsatisfactory equipment (always check new stuff at home before setting out on a ride, my learning point for this weekend) I managed to get enough air into the front tyre to ride on it, but not enough to be completely happy. Sure I was one pothole away from a pinch flat I proceeded with caution, luckily the surfaces from here on were mostly good. Shortly after this point I found the 3 riders waiting for the 4th to catch up, I told them she was definitely ahead of me, and pressed on, she had obviously overtaken them on the 1km shorter route, but they were not convinced.
Came across the marshalls setting up for the 10k run and was glad i got through before the run arrived, and also glad I wasn't doing a 10k run in those hills in that heat. Finally caught up missing rider 4 just before Manningtree.
Going by strava flybys it seems that about 75% of the field visited Great Maplestead, and 25% took the shorter Toldish Hall road. Digging further into this, anyone who downloaded A&S full would be on the short track, while anyone using A&S to Arrivee, A&S part 2 or the paper route sheet would visit great maplestead. which explains why people were taking a different routes. Diversion was mentioned in the email, ironically I picked up my puncture just before turning in Toldish Hall Road, I didn't notice the surface being particularly bad.
That road was bloody awful back in March. Has it been repaired then?
That road was bloody awful back in March. Has it been repaired then?If you are asking about Toldish Hall Road, then no it hasn't been repaired. I went over it on the A&S400 routecheck in the dark just to be sure, before reporting to Huggy to divert everyone via Great Maplestead.
I’d definitely book accommodation for this one again as it makes life so much more straightforward – and in particular made the last 70km really enjoyable. Barton Mills would probably be better than Newmarket but either is way better than nowt.
I came across the police on the B1070 after sending you all on my way and prayed it wasn't involving any cyclists. A quick chat with one of the police confirmed it was car + car, phew.but stopping in Barton Mills means you can get breakfast at M&S, without retracing, and that would definitely be better than breakfast from costcutter at SW. I'll look out for fourwentways in future though.That road was bloody awful back in March. Has it been repaired then?If you are asking about Toldish Hall Road, then no it hasn't been repaired. I went over it on the A&S400 routecheck in the dark just to be sure, before reporting to Huggy to divert everyone via Great Maplestead.I’d definitely book accommodation for this one again as it makes life so much more straightforward – and in particular made the last 70km really enjoyable. Barton Mills would probably be better than Newmarket but either is way better than nowt.
If getting the train from Manningtree then accommodation makes even more sense because otherwise you may end up just waiting around at Manningtree for the first train. Stopping in Newmarket has the benefit of allowing you to pick up food from the M&S, which IMO is better than the McDonald's & garages at Barton Mills. One year I stopped at the Cambridge Fourwentways travelodge. It's off route but only adds a few km and can be better priced than Barton Mills or Newmarket.
FWIW,
1st riders arrived in Ixworth at approx 10.40 am and last rider approx 11.30am having started 30min behind the others.
I have never yet had the confidence to book an hotel on a 400 (or 600), this I must try next year. Newmarket would make sense and a comfortable second leg. I got back at around 0800, I should be able to have three hours sleep and still be 8n time. BUT, is not the pull to turn over in bed and not get up too strong? Is it easy to get out of a nice bed to get back on the bike when still tired? At least with Audax hotels, they are uncomfortable and usually not very warm so getting on the bike is a pleasure! Great ride and thanks to all for organisers…. And quals done!i'd want least 4 hours sleep before paying for a bed, so the question is whether your 8am finish was pushing through as quickly as possible, or if you deliberately stalled to ride less at night, or so you wouldn't arrive before 6am