Anyone Following LEL?

[dirttorpedo]

My friend signed up for LEL this year so I've been following it. Unfortunately he dropped out fairly early due to the snafu with food and the poor weather. Amazing performances out there though - the first place rider has already finished. Did the whole thing with no sleep. WOW!

I saw a photo of one riders bike - a very rusty old steel Raleigh. While it didn't look very nice it seemed to be doing the job.

 

[Joe_Rides]

Re:

Haven't heard of it until reading your post, but just had a look on the website. I'd love to do something like that but don't think I'd be up to the task.

what happened with the food?

 

[dirttorpedo]

Re:

Haven't heard of it until reading your post, but just had a look on the website. I'd love to do something like that but don't think I'd be up to the task.

what happened with the food?

Apparently they budgeted enough food for 2 meals per cyclist per direction (i.e., north or south) and what actually happened is that riders going northbound ate 4 meals on average which meant that riders who started later found limited food options. My fiend didn't carry much supplemental food with him as he expected to be well fed at the controls. When that happened he bonked and apparently his stomach rebelled and he wasn't able to eat at all.

 

[Deleted member 24574]

Epic achievement. I fancy a go at it one day.

 

[Wheelnut]

Saw a whole load of LEL riders coming through Alston in the North Pennines earlier in the week, with quite a few staying in the town overnight.

The weather wasn't great with wind and rain so I felt for them. Some said they were finding it tough, others enjoying it. Guess it depends how fit you are.

Works out at about 165 miles a day, I think, which is tough going for one day, never mind five days!

Why is it that audax people use kilometres? It just isn't proper.

 

[dirttorpedo]

Re:

Saw a whole load of LEL riders coming through Alston in the North Pennines earlier in the week, with quite a few staying in the town overnight.

The weather wasn't great with wind and rain so I felt for them. Some said they were finding it tough, others enjoying it. Guess it depends how fit you are.

Works out at about 165 miles a day, I think, which is tough going for one day, never mind five days!

Why is it that audax people use kilometres? It just isn't proper.

I saw a lot of facebook posts about riding through Alston. Early estimates are a 34% DNF rate this year which is thought to reflect the really poor weather this year. apparently the winds along the Cambridgeshire fens was the final nail in the coffin of many hopefuls.

Its an amazing achievement. I would like to try Audax/Randonee riding when my kids get a bit older, but have trouble imagining completing something of this magnitude. The grit of some riders is truly amazing - some fellow from Ireland finished despite Shermers' Neck!

Kilometers? I thought you Brits were metric? Maybe its the influence of the French.

 

[Wheelnut]

Metric? Oh no...

We use miles, gallons, furlongs, pints, bushels, feet and inches. Or we should do, anyway, not like Johnny Foreigner, you know. That said, kg seems to have crept in, due to legislation from the EC, but I still measure weight in pounds, ounces and stones.

 

[dirttorpedo]

Re:

Metric? Oh no...

We use miles, gallons, furlongs, pints, bushels, feet and inches. Or we should do, anyway, not like Johnny Foreigner, you know. That said, kg seems to have crept in, due to legislation from the EC, but I still measure weight in pounds, ounces and stones.

Really? I didn't appreciate what a bunch of Luddites you lot were. Well, I guess you can rest easy that with Brexit you can quash the small intrusion of European measurement across the channel.

 

[bagpuss]

Re:

Heard that all bicycles sold in the UK following Brexit will have to be sold with either 27x1&1/4 or 26x1&1/4 wheels. The phasing out of 700c wheel size will be 2020 .

 

[Wheelnut]

Re: Re:

Metric? Oh no...

We use miles, gallons, furlongs, pints, bushels, feet and inches. Or we should do, anyway, not like Johnny Foreigner, you know. That said, kg seems to have crept in, due to legislation from the EC, but I still measure weight in pounds, ounces and stones.

Really? I didn't appreciate what a bunch of Luddites you lot were. Well, I guess you can rest easy that with Brexit you can quash the small intrusion of European measurement across the channel.

Luddite? No.
Traditionalist? Yes.
Anti European? No.
Against being ruled by Brussels? Yes.

But these are just my views. Each to his own, as they say, and each person's opinions should be respected, though not necessarily agreed with!

Better stop this now before we enter into a political Brexit debate, and this is not the place for it, so I will say no more.

Back to LEL...