LEL 2017 / London - Edinburgh - London Audax

Giving that you have a child and busy at work, I think the best suggestion would be finding a turbo trainer and give yourself a good regime.

The only turbos I like are the Volvo (or Garett) variety. I have already stolen @ad441 turbo trainer though, so I suppose I could use that...

It may not seemed much but having a consistent workout plan on top of the usual weekend ride, maybe with BCC, you should be able to feel even more confident.

Well I am one of the 400, I hope. I sent the e-mail.

I also don't have the benefit of a long commute at the moment and the Danish winter is not making it appealing to start riding 'for fun'. Need to get motivated soon.

Anyone picked thier start time yet?

Not yet, I need to give it some thought, though I'm thinking probably an afternoon start, and ride through the first night, have you selected yet?

Currently 3 PM, but I think I might go a little later - and bag drops at Brampton and Pocklington.

Not picked yet but thinking late afternoon. Barely been on that bike this year as had a chest infection, so currently feels a long way away

I initially picked 9am until I realised it was random. Currently thinking of 10:45 as it isn't maxed out yet.

Not keen on the idea of starting in the afternoon, but will consider it.

How quickly do the slots fill up? Hadn't even thought about this yet.

It's a lottery, you say what you want and if it's over subscribed which they are suggesting 9am will be then they randomly pick people to fill that slot and the rest get bumped to alternative slots

I and a friend are aiming for 6:45 start.

Nice and early be nice to eat up the miles.

I'm planing for a midday ish start I think, should mean I finish afternoon/early evening on the 3rd in good time for the pub.

Currently down for 11am start as (hopefully) means being able to get a proper night's sleep at home beforehand.

That's my thinking, more leisurely to get to the start rather than an early alarm and starting knackered.

I'm currently down for 12:15 - get plenty of sleep, have a decent brunch and potter down to the start, I guess.

Am thinking about getting a [edit] Velogical rim dynamo for my main light. Anyone used one before?

Do you mean a Velogical?

Yes. Fucking autocorrect.

Thinking of doing this as a DIY. What do people usually do on a route check ride? Was thinking if i did it i might be able to help organisers with some info. I won't be using a route sheet though.

Am thinking about getting a [edit] Velogical rim dynamo for my main light. Anyone used one before?

No but I had a good think about using one for the IPRW. I would have got one if they had been able to work with the Igaro. But they are just testing it now. Probably it will work with either the touring or standard models (not sport).
All the other charging options seemed inferior to the Igaro. They push you towards this Forumslader thing, but it is homemade and it is hard to work out what it is and how to go about buying it. You get the opposite of a hard sell - the guy just chats and brings out more options all the time, so you go round in circles! If it will work with the Igaro, it would be a good option.
But you shouldn't need a dynamo for LEL at all really.

I don't really know but I think they email to suggest alternative routes avoiding busy A-roads, or with helpful details like 'signpost missing', 'distance is 13km not 3km', or 'this road doesn't exist'

They are looking for people to check the route using the route sheet, the gpx, or both - as that's what people will be using on the day.

I route checked 1a North which meant I followed the route and emailed them a few comments about dodgy gpx track points and got a nice reply. No route sheet required.

I guess if I do it I will find flaws in their GPX. I could overlay my actual route with their one and spot any bits where it went awry. That might help them out.

But you shouldn't need a dynamo for LEL at all really.

Why not? I'm not only making the decision based on LEL, it seems like a useful thing overall. But for LEL I'm not particularly keen on my lights or GPS conking out in the middle of nowhere, nor on having to fight for a plug socket at one of the pitstops.