The wheels nearly fell off the plan on the way back to the sleep stop though: it seemed to take for ever!. The rain didnt seem as bad as predicted and it wasnt too cold, but the speed was pedestrian. Feelings of inadequacy werent help by Hummers whizzing pass with a cheery 'Alright Chaps?'. I was riding with Wilbur and at one point just had to get him to pause while I hung my head over the bars for 2 minutes eyes-closed time. We got going again but about a minute later Wilbur was jerked awake as his wheels hit the gravel at the side of the road after going straight on at a bend whilst asleep.
We got back to Lilllishall by 4pm, having lost the gained time plus another 30 mins down on plan. I had a greater desire for sleep than food so pushed straight onto the sleep stop. That 7k seemed like 17!. We recalculated timings and asked for a 7pm wakeup. Saw MarcusJB just getting ready to go out again. I think I was asleep before I crawled under the blankets, but woke up at 6.30 worried I had missed my wake up call.
Interesting. Your timings and experience seem quite similar to mine - we must have met at various points along the way without realising.
After leaving Chester, I took a while to get going again, but I passed a few riders along the way - I'm guessing two of them would have been you and Wilbur. Then I had to stop for 15 minutes, using a phone box for shelter, to top up my Garmin, which I had foolishly neglected to do at Chester. That, added to spending an hour at Chester when I'd only intended to stop for 20 minutes, meant I was running a fair bit behind my schedule by that point. (Part of the reason for the longer stop at Chester is evident in ESL's film - I'd got changed into my overnight/wet weather gear and was ready to set off, but then had a quick power nap, apparently giving ESL an excuse to point his camera at me.)
Anyway, while I was stopped, all the riders I'd passed since leaving Chester overtook me again. Once I was confident my Garmin was juiced up enough to get me to Lilleshall, I set off again and was soon passed by a high-speed Hummers. I thought that would be the last I'd see of him, but then I got my second wind, and for the second half of the section, I was really motoring. Caught up with Hummers again on a hill, rode alongside him for a bit, then we caught up with Aidan (not OTP? I didn't get around to asking), who I'd been riding with on and off for most of the ride. He was on a no-sleep strategy, having ridden 80km to the start and intending to ride home again afterwards, but he was struggling to stay awake when we caught him again. With hindsight, I feel a bit bad for not slowing down and riding with him to make sure he was OK, but you know what it's like when you're "in the zone", and it only occurred to me later. (As it happened, he wisely gave up on the no-sleep strategy and he looked pretty chipper when I next saw him at Chalgrove, when he arrrived just as I was about to set off.)
Got to Lilleshall about 3.30, I think, and although I was intending to sleep there, I was feeling pretty good at the time and the lack of beds made me half consider pressing on to Hartlebury before sleeping. But setting out again after a quick plate of food and cup of tea, I suddenly started getting major attacks of the dozies and found the 7km to Sheriffhales a really hard slog, so decided to revert to the original plan and sleep there. Woke up soon after 6am and was on the road by 6.30, getting to Hartlebury by 9am, just as the light-but-persistent rain turned into a very heavy shower.
I have to agree with others about Hartlebury - the food was great at all the controls, but Hartlebury wins the prize. The lentil soup was just what I needed when I got there, and I followed that up with some of Wobbly's most excellent bread pudding. It was really hard to resist the temptation to sample a bit of everything on the table, it all looked so good, but I restricted myself to sticking a bit of flapjack and a couple of those raw chocolate brownies in my pocket for nibbling en route. Those raw chocolate brownies... omg... they were incredible. And not only did they taste amazing, they were like rocket fuel - I ate them about halfway along the next stage and they seemed to put a real zip in my legs. Bloody marvellous!
I dont think I will ride the next running of this event....but thats because I want to volunteer as a helper having appreciated the kindness shown to the riders at all controls.
If this is only going to be run in PBP years, that might be a problem for me, because I really want to do the Beast From The East again and that is only run in PBP years too. Maybe riding one and volunteering on the other is the best way to experience both in the same year (I did consider riding both this year but I'm glad I decided against as with the two rides being just a week apart, I would have found it impossible to complete both at current levels of fitness).