[HAMR] Tommy Godwin record

[marcusjb]

TG for reference, when in 2015 are you aiming to start?  I assume you are going to learn from Tommy's mistakes and not start on Jan 1st and go through 2 winters in effect?

[MikeH]

But there is something quite romantic about starting on the first day of the year.

[mattc]

TG for reference, when in 2015 are you aiming to start?  I assume you are going to learn from Tommy's mistakes and not start on Jan 1st and go through 2 winters in effect?

Makes no difference whatsoever!
(Unless he goes  for another record that takes >365 days)

It might be that having a rest between the winter rides helps. Maybe.

Same dilemma as RRTY. IMO that is probably easiest if you _finish_ in good conditions, and tackle the winter while still fresh. Oct start?

[delthebike]

Don't forget to add the household bits to the sponsor list! You'll need to keep things clean and dry them after washing.
Body washes, back scrubbers, nail brushes, and hair removal products, you'll probably want massages at some point.
Physio pre, during, and post ride series. Godwin had six months of it at the end of his series!
A get you home breakdown service.
Someone at home to keep things in order, laundry, cooking, shopping, cleaning, the household stuff.

Good luck mate. 

[SR Steve]

Do you have a spare room in your flat that you could rent out? If so, it could yield a fair income.

I bet your spare room is full of bikes though

[Basil]

TG for reference, when in 2015 are you aiming to start?  I assume you are going to learn from Tommy's mistakes and not start on Jan 1st and go through 2 winters in effect?

Might be that two half winters would be easier psychologically  than one long one.
The first would have the goodness of days slowly lengthening and promise of fairer weather gradually replacing the snow and ice.  By the time the second set in properly, the end goal might be only weeks away, which could give a lift.

[Karla]

TG for reference, when in 2015 are you aiming to start?  I assume you are going to learn from Tommy's mistakes and not start on Jan 1st and go through 2 winters in effect?

Makes no difference whatsoever!
(Unless he goes  for another record that takes >365 days)

It might be that having a rest between the winter rides helps. Maybe.

Same dilemma as RRTY. IMO that is probably easiest if you _finish_ in good conditions, and tackle the winter while still fresh. Oct start?

I got the impression TG was thinking of a Jan 1st start.  If he decides to go for the 100,000 mile record though, he might appreciate not having to ride the last ~25,000 miles in Jan/Feb so a delayed start might work better.

[rogerzilla]

Are you going to ride between forum members' houses or is it going to be the same 200 mile circuit every day?

[teethgrinder]

Would it be worth speaking to Audax U.K about sponsorship?
You're a well known and respected member who's actively helped people to get there SR's.
We know that there is a surplus of cash there.
Your endeavour would obviously raise the profile of long distance cycling too.
We all would love to see you do well with this, it would be a shame if the club that promotes long distance cycling in the U.K couldn't help.

Yes, I was thinking along those lines.

And me...

I like the idea that Citizenfish came up with, that the website is part of the AUK website, so anyone looking at the attempt would have to go onto AUK where AUK could tempt them with bike rides. Plus I'd like it to tie in with the new image launch by Daniel Webb and be wearing the new Jersey, or at least something with the AUK logo to promote AUK.
Also, I'd like to tweak the noses of sportives, the aim being that AUK can poach their riders.

I did ask Daniel Webb about being a big part of this on the MC1000 and he was very keen. However, he took the wise choice and decided that he just had too much else to do. That's probably why I haven't asked AUK in general.

So who do I ask in AUK?
I'll make a start on the new forum.

[teethgrinder]

For approaching a company for support, you need a marketing package. You need to sell yourself, the quality of the endeavour, the potential exposure and the promise of reflected glory. You need someone a bit silvertongued to pitch it and inspire confidence.

Probably what you need to do right now is draw up a full needs assessment down to the nth degree and then break everything down into five or six categories. That's about three days work there. Then you need a manager for each category to sit under a central manager/promoter. Those people aren't going to organise anything, they'll be organising teams. Volunters will be easy. Volunteer managers will be difficult.

Depending on when you plan to start, thet team needs to be appointed and set in place wthin the next month.

Yes, you've put what I think a lot better than I did.
I have a few people I will ask who have done similar things to this before, such as John Taylor who has been a part of a whole lot of RRA rides.

[teethgrinder]

CTT is sitting on a pile of cash too.

Can't hurt to ask.
I was thinking more of BC. Again it ties in with tweaking the nose of sportives. I think that BC have decided that they can't defeat them, so are trying to take control of them. I'd like to keep it as much a club cyclist effort as possible for the cycling community. Hopefully sportive riders will want to get involved and to do that they'd have to go via traditional club cyclists and have their eyes opened about road racing, TTing and Audax etc.

[teethgrinder]

For the bike(s), I'm thinking this could be a massive opportunity for a UK manufacturer to market themselves by providing you with the bikes...think Mike Cotty/Cannondale/Mavic type arrangement.  You've certainly got the huge list of previous achievements to support the cause, so I'd hope they'd be a manufacturer who'd help....as I said earlier, this will be something special, so deserves the support of the cycling industry!

I agree, especially as for a bike with disk brakes which are just starting to take off but can't be advertised by pro road racers (yet)

[andyoxon]

It's such an incredible enterprise; would be amazing.  I think it works out to an average of +331 km each day for 365 days.  Interesting discussion about when to start.  Early spring?  By November, a bit cold and adverse weather would be no problem...      But perhaps a Jan 1 start, and minimising the possible effects of one really bad Winter, with a Summer in between, is a good plan.  Pity these things can't be predicted.  I wonder how much of your 'maximum possible fitness level', you'd reckon to be on at the start...

[trumpet]

For the bike(s), I'm thinking this could be a massive opportunity for a UK manufacturer to market themselves by providing you with the bikes...think Mike Cotty/Cannondale/Mavic type arrangement.  You've certainly got the huge list of previous achievements to support the cause, so I'd hope they'd be a manufacturer who'd help....as I said earlier, this will be something special, so deserves the support of the cycling industry!

Genesis bikes may be worth contacting - they have supplied bikes to a number of people undertaking " Adventures" - Emily Chappel & Vin Cox to name just two. Also worth a try ( for publicity ) would be the BBC One Show - I'm pretty sure they had a feature on Tommy Godwin's record a while back, they've also featured *Sean Conway on the program who has cycled around the world & swam LEJOG. *Sean's Book features a chapter on sponsorship & fundraising - I'm happy to post it out to you if you want to read it.

[teethgrinder]

TG for reference, when in 2015 are you aiming to start?  I assume you are going to learn from Tommy's mistakes and not start on Jan 1st and go through 2 winters in effect?

Makes no difference whatsoever!
(Unless he goes  for another record that takes >365 days)

It might be that having a rest between the winter rides helps. Maybe.

Same dilemma as RRTY. IMO that is probably easiest if you _finish_ in good conditions, and tackle the winter while still fresh. Oct start?

1st Jan is the aim.

Tommy Godwin did say something along the lines of that being a mistake, but he did go on to do the 100,000 mile record as (which I may do if it goes well?) which meant he had to ride through two (very tough) winters.

On the other hand. I won't be capable of starting off riding at the daily average. I'll be aiming for something like 160mpd in January, to Tommy Godwins 140. What I thin happened to Tommy Godwin, and would happen to me, is that I'd get fitter as the weather improves and by mid summer I'll be at my best when I have the longest days and best weather. Then it'll be a decline into Autumn followed by an all or nothing last two months. That is more or less how I did my 2007 Audax season too. 10 months of build up then an all out effort in the last 2 months
IME Jan and Feb are the toughest two months of the year and I'd get them out the way while I'm at my lowest fitness and probably not spending as much time on the bike as I would in summer.

[teethgrinder]

Do you have a spare room in your flat that you could rent out? If so, it could yield a fair income.

I bet your spare room is full of bikes though

And the living room. The kitchen now has a bike set up on a turbo too. It'd take a few months to make my flat desirable to any potential lodgers.

[Hummers]

1st Jan is the aim.

Tommy Godwin did say something along the lines of that being a mistake, but he did go on to do the 100,000 mile record as (which I may do if it goes well?) which meant he had to ride through two (very tough) winters.

Well, if you didn't follow in his footsteps... 

I don't know if it has been covered yet but I'd be up to sponsor you.

H

[teethgrinder]

Are you going to ride between forum members' houses or is it going to be the same 200 mile circuit every day?

The best roads to use are a bit limited. I'll want to avoid traffic jams, traffic lights, busy town centres, narrow country lanes where I'd need to use the brakes down hills, tough and hilly terrain etc.
I'm planning on traveling around a bit to avoid bad weather and take advantage of, or mitigate against the wind as much as I can. (Go into the wind early in the morning when it is weak, turn around at around 10am when it strengthens, keep going until around 7pm, when it drops again.) Visiting people makes the best sense because it will vary the routes a bit and they'd be able to do the domestic stuff so I could just do the cycling, sleeping and eating. If I'm not cycling, sleeping or eating, then something has gone wrong.
I don't have a set distance to do every day, just a target average for the month (20 more than what Tommy did in that month) and will be going by hours not miles even though I'll be keeping an eye on the miles.
Pressing on through the night when tired would be as silly as stopping if I reached 200 miles in the mid afternoon and felt I could do at least another 100.
I'm planning to ride some TTs, PBP (and qualifiers) and maybe some other events. I won't do a lot of Audax (Audax events are mostly too slow because of the roads used and having to stop to stamp cards), probably just enough to do PBP if I can fit PBP in.

[Tewdric]

I'll certainly be chipping in.

Monmouthshire sofa bed available too with overnight bike service thrown in.

I'll contact Rob Penn too to see if he can persuade Sky that this would make a good documentary.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

I'm time poor so will struggle to help out with any of the practical matters but have some spare cash so I'll put a bid in to keep you in tyres.

Its a longshot but I will approach my employer about potential sponsorship and I guess there are a few others in this parish who at no cost to themselves could do the same.

Chapeau for even considering the attempt.

[Karla]

Here's a sponsorship offer for you: if you crash, get pneumonia or otherwise damage yourself, my employer will patch you up for free!

[teethgrinder]

Thanks for all the offers of beds, food and money and anything else so far.

Regarding money, what I'll do next is ask Audax UK. If they agree to fund it (which with enough sponsorship from companies and support from the cycling community, could work out at less than £5000, possibly half that, which I think would be an absolute bargain of an advert if this gets onto TV and whatever else.
So if you hold on to your cash until AUK say yes or no. If AUK say yes, then you'd be effectively donating to charity, which of course you can if you like.
An alternative could be that AUK agree to lend me any money needed and I pay them back. Then I'll come back here begging.

[teethgrinder]

Here's a sponsorship offer for you: if you crash, get pneumonia or otherwise damage yourself, my employer will patch you up for free!

That is good news!
I have heard that I need psychological help. Can we arrange for me to meet your employer?

[Basil]

Here's a sponsorship offer for you: if you crash, get pneumonia or otherwise damage yourself, my employer will patch you up for free!

That may depend on who wins the next election.

[Hummers]

There's the offer of a bed down in sleepy Portsmouth if you find yourself down this neck of the woods...

H