London Edinburgh London 2022

Discussion about audaxes & cyclosportives

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WorcsPhil
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London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by WorcsPhil » 04 Aug 2022 22:40

Sunday August 7th sees the start of the 1,500kms London Edinburgh London (LEL) Audax... There are SEVEN Beacon members on the start line, and for those of you who want to follow our progress, use the below link. There are three of us who have 5min GPS recorders, so they should provide pretty much real time info: The link does not go 'LIVE' until Sunday

Phil Richards - Rider no. J14
Carina McGovern - B1
Stuart White - who is sharing Tim Ashton's tracker, so use Rider No. A9

https://track.trail.live/event/london-e ... ondon-2022

The other 4 riders have trackers that activate only at the controls, so don't be scared that they don't move for hours, then suddenly shoot forward 100kms.

John Williams - J1
Andrew Wrightson - J12
Mick Stanford - J23
Karl Walton - J24

PaulB
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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by PaulB » 05 Aug 2022 08:44

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE

See ya up north at my secret control, extra cakes and food to be given to Beacon members
Thank You

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Philip Whiteman
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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by Philip Whiteman » 06 Aug 2022 09:03

PaulB wrote:
05 Aug 2022 08:44
GOOD LUCK EVERYONE

See ya up north at my secret control, extra cakes and food to be given to Beacon members
Good luck to you too. Have fun at your secret control. It takes an army to operate this event, without whom it would not happen.

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George
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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by George » 06 Aug 2022 09:54

Best of luck, everyone!

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Philip Whiteman
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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by Philip Whiteman » 08 Aug 2022 14:06

Phil, Carina and Mick are currently northbound in North Yorkshire/Co Durham. Stuart is northbound in the Cumbria. The others have dropped out or the control stop tracking is not working.

One rider is already heading southbound in the Scottish borders having covered the half the route in 26 hours at an average of 25.2kph non-stop :shock:

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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by laurence_cooley » 08 Aug 2022 17:26

I think it might be an issue with the trackers, because Andy wasn't showing up on the system even before he posted this: https://www.strava.com/activities/7600552163.

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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by neilo » 08 Aug 2022 17:46

Andy isn't using a tracker but I suspect he will be riding with Phil, John Williams has dropped out.

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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by Philip Whiteman » 08 Aug 2022 19:15

Phil Richards is currently tackling the big climbs over the Pennines at Nenthead. The weather is suggesting 17C, so ambient. Michalel and Carina has are in Barnard Castle with the Pennines yet to come.. Meanwhile, Stuart is on the massive Devil's Beef Tub climb out of Moffat in the Southern Uplands For Stuart, it will soon be an easy final haul to Dunfermline, before turning south and repeating the process via Eskdalemuir.

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Philip Whiteman
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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by Philip Whiteman » 08 Aug 2022 19:21

Phil Richards is currently tackling the big climbs over the Pennines at Nenthead. The weather is suggesting 17C, so ambient. Michael and Carina has are in Barnard Castle with the Pennines yet to come.. Meanwhile, Stuart is on the massive Devil's Beef Tub climb out of Moffat in the Southern Uplands

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Philip Whiteman
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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by Philip Whiteman » 10 Aug 2022 08:30

Phil is in Brampton; Mick is heading south through the borders. Others using trackers have disappeared off the radar.

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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by PaulB » 10 Aug 2022 09:46

Thanks Phil

Enjoying the updates
i am tracking the guys as well but keep up the good work
Thank You

Paul B

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Philip Whiteman
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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by Philip Whiteman » 10 Aug 2022 18:33

Mick Stanford is currently in Barnard's Castle on the southbound journey and is not moving. So we can assume he is getting R & R following the passage over the Pennines.

The last reports for Carina and Stuart were on Monday. On Strave, Stuart stated, "London to Edinburgh, but not back again. The heat and sleep deprivation finally caught up with us. Plent of lessons learned though." Andrew Wrightson stated that, "Well I made it to Edinburgh but at a cost". Where ever they finished, they packed after riding huge distances in difficult conditions.

Phil Richards will be aching as he crosses the Yorkshire Wolds from the Thirsk area to the next control at Hessle.

For Mike and Phil, tomorrow will see that start of the toughest leg for three reasons. The fens provide no shelter in the intense heat, the pedalling is relentless and they will be feeling exhausted. They may be three quarters of the way round but the last push to London will be never ending punishment.

UPDATE

Andy is helping out with the event in Edinburgh. Apparently the clothes were donated.

"Thanks all, iv had to abandon and on my way home I was taken out by another cyclist on a decent and ended up going over my handllebars at speed. I landed hard and went tumbling down the road,, going to be a long day at a&e having various xrays"


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Philip Whiteman
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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by Philip Whiteman » 12 Aug 2022 07:54

Phil's done it :)

And as a surprise, Karl is out there too riding under secrecy, actually no tracking. Mike is nearing the finish. Trust Woody to photo bomb


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George
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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by George » 12 Aug 2022 09:36

Many congratulations, Phil!

Glad to hear that Andy's not too badly hurt. Sounds like quite a few have had things hard for one reason or another. Well done all for getting as far as you did.

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Philip Whiteman
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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by Philip Whiteman » 12 Aug 2022 11:20

Mike Stanford has just finished too. <@>

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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by Philip Whiteman » 12 Aug 2022 20:50

And Karl Walton.

No more left to come now.

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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by PaulB » 14 Aug 2022 14:33

Absolute heroics from the Beacon members who took part and finished and some who didn't but can i draw your attention to 1 women who is still riding towards Edinburgh, her name is

Gareema Shanker
She is averaging 7,7 KPH
She is determined to finish
She has just passed Spalding

Check her progress here https://track.trail.live/event/london-e ... ondon-2022

Twiiter progress here https://twitter.com/667ed/status/155847 ... rhMxw&s=09

Unbelievable if she finishes and if anyone wants to do the math when she will finish let me know
Last edited by PaulB on 14 Aug 2022 14:35, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by PaulB » 14 Aug 2022 14:34

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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by PaulB » 14 Aug 2022 14:34

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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by PaulB » 14 Aug 2022 22:38

From Twitter Update

The Tracking site has probably switched off because the last control closed 2 days ago. At this precise moment (Sunday 2235) Gareema is on the way out of Cambridge
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Philip Whiteman
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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by Philip Whiteman » 15 Aug 2022 08:38

She has quite a fan club with cyclists joining her on route and people applauding from the road side. She is also being followed by a film crew according to a source on Face Ache.

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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by PaulB » 15 Aug 2022 15:35

She actually finished this morning, Monday 15th Aug around 10am i think, well done her
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Philip Whiteman
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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by Philip Whiteman » 16 Aug 2022 16:37

If anyone caught Covid 19 during the LEL, please refer that matter to Stephen Poulton.

Bloody well unbelievable that an event organiser, he would participate in an event knowing that he had tested positive for Covid 19. He was disqualified, placed in quarantine and then sent packing by the LEL Team.

https://forum.audax.uk/index.php?topic= ... 0#msg17620

WorcsPhil
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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by WorcsPhil » 24 Aug 2022 11:18

LEL: A Personal View

This is a long brain dump, so pour yourself a red bull, grab an energy bar and read on….

After hugely enjoying Paris Brest Paris in 2019, the other great monster Audax that cannot be ignored is our very own London Edinburgh London (LEL), which takes place every four years, with this 2022 edition postponed from pandemic-stricken 2021, so the last one being in 2017.
Beacon RCC had never had a finisher in this event, despite it starting in the early 1970’s, so it was just fabulous to get SEVEN Beacon members on the start line for this, plus the very wonderful Inderjit Singh well known in these parts.

So on Saturday August 6th, we all made our way to Debden School in the northern outskirts of London for registration, sign on and preparation. On my arrival, there were the other guys having a coffee in the canteen, namely Mick Stanford, Carina McGovern, John Williams and Andy Wrightson (Stuart White had registered much earlier in the day and hot-footed it down to central London for his early 5am start in the city centre)…but wait, where was Karl Walton? Apparently after a month of fighting injury he has announced on the day before that he wasn’t going to ride it as he just didn’t feel ready….but wait again! Two minutes later and in waltzed Karl, saying that after three pints the night before, he proclaimed… “Oh sod it, you only live once” so he changed his mind and drove down to give it a go!

....And so, after a pizza meal at Zizzi's, we retired for the night ready for the off.

Day One: Sunday 7th August

We were all off at 07:45 and we knew it was going to be a long hot day heading north, aiming for Hull that first evening, 303kms away… The first section at that time of the morning was fine, and the 100kms to St Ives near Cambridge went well and we were there at 11:30. At each of the 13 controls (hosted in school halls and canteens), there were volunteers, which goes nowhere to explain just how wonderful these people were….giving up days of their time just to help the riders, show them where to go, getting food and drink for you and attending to broken bikes and bodies, and it was great to see Fenella Brown at St Ives control welcoming us and chatting over how it’d gone, before cycling 200kms home the next day!
After leaving there, it got hotter and hotter and entering the Lincolnshire Wolds, more and more hilly. Many people suffered in the stifling heat and slight headwind which we had all day, but personally, I felt ok… just slowed it down a tad and tried not to overheat.
On these multi-day events, I’ve learnt that you are best to ride solo, ride at your pace and stop at the controls for as long or as short as you want, not dictated by others, so we began to split up…riding mostly with Andy on this first day who perhaps was a tad faster than me, but stopped for longer, we split at the next control of Boston in Lincolnshire…and I set off solo for the next 1,300kms

At the end of this first day, I went over the Humber Bridge at 9:30pm just as it was getting dark, so had a wonderful view of the pretty lights adorning the heavy industry lining the shore! Finally arriving at the Hessle control at 10pm… I had been pre-warned that Hessle is the most popular place to stay overnight, with the school hall prepared with 200 air mattresses, they still expected to be overwhelmed with 1,500 riders heading towards them…so months earlier, I had rather sneakily noticed that there was a Premier Inn just 400m from the school, so had booked a twin room there, and what a good idea that was… Andy joined me there for a good night’s sleep in a comfy bed (separate beds!), whilst others staying at the control were limited to 4 hours max on the mattresses, and people were sleeping in the canteen, on shelves, and under tables at the official control…Good call to book a hotel!

Day Two:

A ridiculously hilly day lay in wait, and I had hoped to get to Moffat control that evening, some 344kms away, but the heat and relentless hills of Day 2 meant that I called it a day at 10pm at Brampton after 275kms, just too tired to go on… but what a day! A fairly mundane section to Malton at the first control that I got to at 9am after a 05:30 start from our luxurious hotel, but then more and more hills across the Yorkshire Wolds (where there was a secret control and it was lovely to see Paul Balfe volunteering there…great to see you, Paul) and North Yorks National Park before arriving at Barnard Castle (480kms) at 3pm. It was great to see my friend volunteering here and we chatted for quite some time, before I set off on the hardest section to Brampton. Here we went over huge hills, some said the highest pass in England at 644m stopping regularly for cold drinks and photos, so much so it took some 5 hours to ride 50miles…hence my early night in Brampton. Now here, I was met by a smiling Si Woodward who had tracked me and knew I was approaching and he gave me a warm welcome which was wonderful as I felt at a low ebb as I arrived… Si was brilliant, not only did he volunteer at Brampton control for 3 days, he then got a train down to London to be a volunteer at the finish for 2 days, so I was met by him three times, and each time, it was great to see him and enjoy the warm welcome…thanks so much, Si

Day Three:

So, starting one control behind where I wanted to be, I worked out that I had to get to Eskdalemuir that evening (322kms away), but hang on, I had read that one of the controls didn’t have beds, and bugger me, it was Eskdalemuir…I’d have to chance it as I had no chance of getting back to the next southbound control (Brampton again), as I had a strategy of not cycling between midnight and 4am to avoid sleep deprivation. Crossing into Scotland by bike is always an amazing experience, blimey, I thought I’ve ridden from London to Scotland, meaning the inevitable photo at the border sign before the first control of the day in Moffat. Leaving there, saw a wonderful 10kms climb straight out of town on the famous Devil’s Beeftub road…this really was a beauty and shortly after that after a series of further climbs, Edinburgh and the Forth Road bridges came into view… skirting round the west of the city saw another great estuary bridge crossing and although this is LEL, it should really be LDL, as the turnaround point is Dunfermline a town in Fife 10kms north of Edinburgh…..gggrrrrr. Here I had my only mechanical of the ride as my bolt on my bottle cage worked itself loose and disappeared some 4kms from Dunfermline… I carried the cage into the mechanics gazebo and after a bit of rootling around, we decided the safest solution was to gaffer tape the cage back to the frame…and it worked a treat

Heading south now was a huge psychological boost and the route through the city centre of Edinburgh was soooo busy, but good to get a perspective of the city at festival time… but I have to say leaving Edinburgh back into the rural lanes and hills towards Innerleithen and Eskdalemuir was some of the prettiest scenery of the whole route. I arrived at Eskadalemuir at 10:30pm and after having wolfed down 3 bowls of soup and a jacket potato looked for anywhere to sleep… The only place was in the corridor by the entrance next to the controller stamping people’s cards as they arrived. Somehow I got a blanket and slept there for 4hours in a brightly lit corridor 2metres wide as a hundred cyclists clopped past in their cleats… it just goes to show that you can sleep anywhere when tired.

Day Four:

…and the second day wearing the same kit, having not washed, nor cleaned my teeth, nor used deodorant, nor shaved, and having piled suncream onto arms and legs that were already greasy from yesterday’s suncream, I admit that I probably didn’t look my best… but needs must and out into the cold morning air at 05:20 I went. Heading south now, I got to Brampton again and Si’s warm welcome, where I least had a change of kit…and then it took me 6hours over the north Pennine hills to ride the next 90kms back to Barnard Castle… leaving there in the early afternoon, the heat kicked in again after two days of lovely warm weather north of Barnard Castle, it was now evident that I had 1.5 days of riding in temperatures well above 30c. In this heat and back over the hills, it was 01:40 before I got back to Hessle after the second 320kms day on the trot.

Day Five:

Hopefully the last day. I simply had to finish before 3am as I needed to get home as we didn’t have a carer booked for Friday morning and I need to be home by 7am Friday morning!

I was dreading this day, as the temperature was forecast to be 34c from noon onwards, and I had 319kms to finish. I set of at 05:30 again and straight onto the Humber Bridge southbound in the cool morning mist. I needed to get to Boston some 110kms away before it got too hot, and was quite pleased as I got there just after 11am feeling good. Now I had a decision. Should I wait at the control till 5pm to avoid riding in the heat of the day or adopt my Plan B, which was just to ride 10-15miles to the next village, and stop and have cold drinks, ice creams and rest in the shade until I had cooled down…This had to be the way forward, so I ventured out into the furnace, with now four days worth of Factor 50 suncream on my arms, legs, neck and face. God, this section was hard…it was pan-flat across the Fens which helped, but there was no shade anywhere. Luckily for me, the villages were 10-15miles apart and all had the inevitable Spar/Nisa/Tesco Express and some had air conditioning units just inside the door that were like moths to a flame for passing LEL’ers. I admit now that I had FIVE magnums, 4 iced coffees, five cans of coke and four Calyppos in the 6.5 hours it took me to ride those 100kms back to St Ives, adding that to the 4 magnums the day before, I hereby proclaim myself as the British Magnum Eating Record Holder for 2022.

Boy, was I glad to get to St Ives in one piece…it was carnage out there with cyclists hiding in every bit of shade along the route and everyone piling into every shop there was. Speaking to one Spar owner in Whittlesey, they said they had loads of riders stopping there on the way up and they ran out of everything, so on being told all these cyclists would be returning on Thursday, she had stocked up on cold drinks and ice creams and probably made a fortune…and I hope she did, as I would have paid £20 for the last magnum!

After a recovery nap at St Ives I set off at 7pm where it was slightly cooler for the 110kms ride to the finish, riding along the excellent St Ives busway into Cambridge, through Cambridge itself (what a beautiful city!) and into the Essex countryside. Here at 21:30pm I passed Althorp Hall near Saffron Walden where they had a week of summer concerts and as I passed, the Thursday headliners, Simple Minds, were blasting out their hit ‘Alive and Kicking’ so I sang along at full volume as I passed this wonderful stately home.

…and so to the last 50kms, now in the dark again, I massively enjoyed this last bit. I knew I was going to finish and I became a little emotional and teary as the London lights came into view….and guess who was waiting for me at the finish as I rolled in at 12:30am on Friday morning…yes, it was Si Woodward again. It was so good to see him as I envisaged a quiet, dark finish with no-one to say well done…and I spend the next hour with him, having a 1am meal and a good chat before I showered and drove home at 3am, arriving home at 7am to perform my caring duties as promised.

Summary:

- God, this was a brilliant event, where the memories will live with me for ever.
- There are so many highs and lows on each day, but they all add up to what makes LEL an amazing adventure
- They often say that PBP is a party and LEL an adventure, and I totally agree with this. LEL sees no cheering crowds on the roadside or villages that you get on PBP, and you really are on your own.
- I finished the 1,540kms in 112 hours, and was so pleased that this chicken-legged, ginger twonk made it to the end.
- I freely admit that I was lucky in so many ways. I avoided heatstroke, had no injuries, had no saddle sores, didn’t have a mechanical, no **flat**s, and didn’t crash…and these things befell some of my fellow Beacon riders (Andy crashed, John got heatstroke). You can’t control these things, so you have to be lucky in some ways to complete this event.
- I had a strategy of trying to ride this in 5 equal 310kms days, and largely was lucky enough to do this, so I did sleep for at least 3 hours each night and this made a huge difference to me.

Thanks to all the fellow Beacon riders, who are all fab and will have their own stories to tell, and to the three volunteers I saw from Beacon who gave up days of their time to support and to those who sent messages of support whilst dot watching.

A bucket list ride.

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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by Andy W » 24 Aug 2022 15:41

Andy was taken out more like,
Great read Phil sums up the experience to a T, I think for those of us that didn't get to finish we will be going back in 3 years and experiencing the hole event

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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by PaulB » 24 Aug 2022 15:42

Brilliant read Phil and again, well done
Thank You

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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by Dave Cox » 24 Aug 2022 17:26

Great account of this adventure thanks Phil and well done

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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by Jumbo78 » 24 Aug 2022 17:41

Great read phil, LEL will be a experience I’ll never forget,
Great to represent it with such a great club and friends.

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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by Will.i.ams » 24 Aug 2022 20:06

Phil a wonderful account of your experience. When they open the history books, you will be there, the first to complete LEL but they will also talk about 3 Beacon finishers.
Some of us have unfinished business. We hope time is not our enemy.
Well done to you all.

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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by Mark_R » 24 Aug 2022 20:30

Chapeau Phil - what an adventure! I will from now on never buy the last Magnum in a shop…..

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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by Helen » 25 Aug 2022 07:19

Great read, thanks for sharing. :)

... Does everyone else not carry spare bolts? 🙈🤣

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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by neilo » 25 Aug 2022 07:52

A great read Phil!
I can't begin to imagine riding these distances per day averaging 3-4 hours sleep a night.
Chapeau to you sir and also to the other finishers as well.
Well done to all the Beacon helpers too!!

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Re: London Edinburgh London 2022

Post by Mariana278 » 19 Sep 2022 18:59

Well done Phil great read :)

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