For those not in the mood to follow every wheel rotation here's a summary:
London Edinburgh London 2005 1400km randonee is organized by Audax UK and
held every 4th year. There were 300 starters, 200 starting in London and
100 starting 300km North in Thorne. I started in Thorne on Sat July 23 at
8.30 am and finished on Wednesday at 10 am (98 hours, out of a maximum of
118 hours). I rode the first 400km quickly but slowed down considerably
around London, mainly because my knees were sore. I slept 2-3 hours every
night and ate almost exclusively at the controls. Food was very good at
nearly every control although very variable in price.
The course is quite hilly in the Northern half (from just before Hovingham
to Edinburgh) but is by no means flat in the Southern section. The hills
are either long or steep but never both and the terrain is not overly
challenging. The weather was dry, cool and breezy for the most part. I
was not rained on but did ride on wet roads. The ride was routed on
country lanes where possible and this provided pleasant riding with
excellent scenery, except for the very flat section either side of Lincoln.
Roads were rough for the most part and I was happy to be riding on 28mm
tires.
The non-executive version
I seem to have established a pattern of misfortune getting myself and my
bike to the start line of 1200s. This time my kids and I were delayed in
Newark for 24 hours after a delayed flight from Atlanta. Then the bags,
bike and all, were delayed 48 hours once we arrived in Manchester, and when
the bags finally showed up, all my bike tools had been stolen.
But let's skip forward to Saturday morning at 8.30am and a very low key
start to a long ride. Four groups of 25 riders left Thorne at 15 minute
intervals, heading North to Edinburgh. For those two hundred riders
starting off 300km to our South, the ride is simply up to Edinburgh and
back South to London. For the 100 Thorne starters we change direction
twice - 400km North to Edinburgh, 700km South to London, passing through
Thorne, before the last 300kn North again to finish in Thorne. The Southern
group was much more mixed, nearly all the continental riders, Japanese
riders and most of the North American riders were starting in London. By
comparison I was surrounded by lots of broad Northern accents sprinkled
with a few Scots, a few Southerners who had chosen the Thorne start, and
four Germans.
The ride regulations for LEL are very relaxed, there are no qualifying
rides, there is no bike inspection, no reflective vest requirement, and
helmets are optional. About the only rule is that riders must use a
non-blinking rear light and have a steady front light. I saw this rule
interpreted as a single low power LED headlamp.
The roads around Thorne are as flat as the first 100 miles of Goldrush,
i.e. very flat indeed, and I settled into a group of half a dozen for the
first leg up to Hovingham. This group included David Kirsop from Vancouver
Canada who I'd met at the hotel the night before. I saw David near London
so I assume he made it around.
The road started to become lumpier as we entered the Howardian hills and
passed through Castle Howard. While attempting to take a picture of some
riders entering the gates of the estate I drifted over to the verge of the
road. The sandy steep verge grabbed my wheel, held me for a second and
then down I went. It was an inconsequential fall, but I felt pretty
foolish for not paying attention. Apart from some skin off my elbow and
right knee there was no damage. After a couple of short but stiff climbs
we dropped down from the Howardian hills into the control at Hovingham.
Hovingham was doing a brisk trade in Cornish pasties and baked beans but I
was carrying my usual excessive amount of food so I filled my water bottles
and carried on.
I've already forgotten much about the leg to Eppelby other than I spent
some time riding around John Spooner, a Brit who has ridden every edition
of LEL. In Eppelby I stopped to eat and was discouraged to find that the
soup on offer was from a packet and contained lumps of dried soup mix. Not
an auspicious first tasting of control food.
The next leg from Eppelby to Alston crosses the Pennines through Teesdale.
There was a strong breeze blowing up the Dale and I cruised up to the
Youth Hostel (YH) at Langdon Beck without really noticing I was climbing.
I stopped here to get my card stamped but didn't dally to eat as the
tailwind was too good to miss out on. The climb continued to the top of
Yad Moss and steepened somewhat after Langdon Beck YH. I caught up with
Paul Hackin from Bolton and spent a few minutes tuning my ear to his Broad
Lancashire accent. I'm sure he was having the same problem with my accent,
but we enjoyed each other's company enough to stick together through to
Canobie. As we descended the West side of the Pennines we entered the
market town of Alston, the highest town in England I'm told, and also a
center for witchcraft and the occult. The steep cobbled street we
descended on entering the town held more fears. Okay when dry but
potentially lethal in the wet and dark, as the cobbles are at the bottom of
a long hill and there is no warning. I stopped at the Alston YH alternate
control (here or Langdon Beck) for water and Paul and I continued on in the
late afternoon. The sun was finally starting to peep out between clouds
after an overcast and cool day. After riding along a ridge for a while,
with great views of the Pennines to our east, we descended to Longtown,
North of Carlisle and the last flat seven mile bash along the busy A7
highway, made worse by the wind which was now in our faces.
In Canobie Paul headed for the showers and some sleep but I decided to
carry on. But first I had a good nosh. And thankfully the food was in a
different league to my first meal in Eppelby - lentil soup, fish pie and
fruit crumble - all homemade and excellent. This was one of my favourite
controls as the food was so good. There was a flat charge of 5 pounds for
the meal, drinks and as much "bonk food", as the Brits call it, as you
cared to carry. I left the control at dusk, feeling stuffed and with
stuffed pockets.
The ride continued North through Langholm where I dodged a kilted pub
crowd which was spilling out on to the streets, and then up the remote
valley of Eskdalemuir to a small control at Etrick. I'd hooked up with
Richard Mitchell, a retired doctor from Kendal (another Northern town), and
we stopped for tea and cookies before carrying on to Edinburgh. The next
leg was the highlight of the ride for me. The weather had been
progressively clearing as we rode North and for the next 70km we rode
through a cloudless and calm night over several climbs, with first a never
ending twilight and then an almost full moon helping us to see the shapes
of the hills around us. The climbing was very gentle for the most part and
we were riding well. At the top of the Moorfoot hills we caught a bunchlet
of riders and together we took the very long descent down to the turnaround
control in Dalkeith, arriving at 3 am.
A few hours sleep on a padded bench, two helpings of trifle for breakfast,
and it was time to climb back up the Moorfoot hills and head South for 700
km. I spent the day riding alone for the most part, taking pictures and
admiring the Scottish scenery. I was also reflecting on arriving in
Edinburgh after 400 km in 18.5 hours. So much for the "tough Northern
hills". Another rider had warned me of 2,500 meters of ascent for the 110
km between Canobie and Edinburgh. If that was true it was certainly the
kindest, gentlest 2500 meters I've ever ridden.
After Canobie (more excellent food) the road turns SE to Alston where I
stopped for some tea and cookies at the YH before tackling the cobbled
section out of Alston. This was best accomplished by avoiding the cobbles
altogether and taking to the sidewalk. I was joined by John Connaghan from
Edinburgh on the climb up Yad Moss, that persistent Easterly breeze now in
our faces. We swapped cameras and took each other's picture at the top.
It was cool and blustery under a grey sky. The long coast down Teesdale
was interrupted by a stop at Langdon Beck YH for my first helping of beans
on toast. The control was very quiet, there were only three other bikes
parked outside. Carrying on alone (John didn't stop) I made my way to
Eppelby by dusk. By now my knees were starting to bother me, in particular
my right knee was quite sore. I was tempted to stop at Eppelby but I
wasn't that sleepy. An easy solo ride to Hovingham seemed like a good
idea. It took me 5 hours to ride the 70km to Hovingham. Five hours that
included a thirty minute nap on somebody's front lawn, several stops to
relieve my knees and a couple of circuits of small villages dithering about
the correct route. The only highlights were glimpsing a badger and a
hedgehog in the hedgerows. At 3am, although there were a dozen bikes
parked outside, the control was like a morgue. But the food staff were
nice enough to rustle up a sandwich for me before I took a sleeping pad and
blanket for 3 hours sleep.
John came in while I was eating breakfast. He'd slept at Eppelby and then
managed an extra 35km riding to Hovingham. Clearly I wasn't the only one
having difficulty with the cue sheet on that section. John and I rode down
to Thorne uneventfully. The Howardian hills being a little less steep in
this direction. In Thorne it was time for a shower and change of clothes.
John and I hooked up with three others, including David Wilkie from Hull,
and we took off for Lincoln aided by a tail wind . This was a very flat
and rather dull section except for one steep hill. We rode into the city
of Lincoln during the rush hour, which turned out to be a foretaste of
things to come further South.
The food at the Lincoln YH control was being run by the hostel staff so
prices were not "nominal" as they had been elsewhere, e.g 1.50 pounds
sterling for a bowl of rice pudding. After a chicken salad sandwich and
said bowl of rice pudding, there was a collective decision to take
advantage of the real beds and take a one hour nap. I woke up feeling
rather groggy and sore. The five of us left together around 6pm. We rode
uneventfully to Thurlby, noticing that the flat Southern section was
anything but, and arrived around 10pm. After a mound of homemade curry,
and quite a long stop, David and I took off, leaving the others to enjoy
the candlelit ambience and homemade desserts. I'd thought about stopping
here but the sleeping area was in the main hall - no chance to sleep unless
exhausted. It looked like another late night on the road.
The route followed an arrow straight Roman road out of the control for 10
miles South before finding it's way over open and remote country (remote
for the South, you are never too far from a town) into the control at
Gamlingay. We made good enough time for a night time leg this far into the
ride and arrived at Gamlingay, once again, right at 3am. Clearly, as far as
sleep was concerned, this was a pattern I could repeat over and over. Even
though I was sleeping barely 3 hours a night I never needed to be woken up,
always waking naturally. After some pasta (30 pence for a plateful, this
was the other end of the price scale!) We were led by flashlight to air
mattresses lined up on the creaky Community hall stage. Three hours later,
after a big breakfast, we took off for Lee Valley and the turnaround
control at Lee Valley YH. This section and back again to Gamlingay was
mostly forgettable. As we rode the rush hour traffic volume rose and
subsided, and even though we were riding on the smallest lanes there was a
stream of traffic, driving in a hurry down lanes with blind curves and high
hedges. It wasn't much fun. About 20km North of the turnaround we came
across Astrid Muth, sitting on a village green, propped up against a mile
marker. I'd ridden with and around her near Edinburgh. She was not
particularly quick but was riding with little or no sleep so she was making
good time. We learnt at Lee Valley that she'd called the control on her
cell phone complaining that suddenly the cue sheet was "not working". Lack
of sleep had clearly caught up with her.
On the return to Gamlingay I told David to carry on ahead as my knees were
not happy and I needed some time off the bike. A front flat gave me one
more excuse to stop. It was after 3pm when I pedalled gingerly into
Gamlingay. Paul Hackin, on his way South, was sitting in the dining area
complaining about his knees. On his advice I stopped at a pharmacy and
bought some rub-on pain reliever. This took the edge off the discomfort as
I made my way to Thurlby, and about halfway I caught up with Richard
Mitchell and David Johnston. The three of us rode into Thurlby where we
sat about and giggled while stuffing curry into ourselves. David was
stopping for the night but Richard and I decided sleeping on real beds at
Lincoln YH was a more appealing idea so we carried on. The stretch
directly North of Thurlby is lumpy and complicated but we made it through
without too much route finding angst, took the big downhill to the
flatlands and rolled at speed, sore knees be damned, through the deserted
city streets of Lincoln. This was a popular overnight stop for the London
starters making their way South and at 3am all the beds were taken. We
were offered a couple of couches and had a decent 40 winks until 6am.
The sun finally decided to make a prolonged appearance on this last
morning and Richard and I took it very easy for the last 70km to the finish
at Thorne. We stopped at Rosie's cafe for a cup of coffee where we were
entertained by the very last group on the road heading South. This group
included a couple of large, voluble Willesden riders who'd taken a
slightly bewildered Japanese couple under their wing. They seemed
unconcerned that they'd left the Thorne control after it closed and were
taking their time tucking in to enormous greasy breakfasts of the sausage,
bacon tomato, fried egg, fried bread, baked beans variety. I was told in
Thorne that they usually make it around on the cusp of the time limit.
All in all this was an enjoyable, if low key, event. I've taken some
photos which I will try to share on the web when I have a chance (it may be
a while). Ian
Equipment
I was riding my Dave Quinn, steel 531 bike Audax bike, with 36 spoke
wheels and Mavic MA2 rims, Rivendell 28 mm tires (Rolly Polly front, Ruffy
Tuffy back), Brooks saddle, Carradice Nelson saddlebag. Lighting was a
Cateye Micro on a Willie Hunt regulator, supplemented with a Cateye EL500
LED and a Petzl Duo headlamp (highly recommended). I was carrying a wool
undershirt, tights, winter gloves, windvest, and rain jacket, and was glad
for the warm clothes on the first night riding to Edinburgh when I think
the temperature dropped into the 40's.