LEL 2017 / London - Edinburgh - London Audax

"PhD sleeping bag cover......"

1 Attachment

http://www.phdesigns.co.uk/drishell-sleeping-bag-cover

see above for why you shouldn't join a whatsapp group with @coldharbour.

Dont worry about Adrian, he's just sore because I'm so funny. As well as attractive and tall.

I'm trying to decide on something that I could use as emergency sleeping equipment after having the worst experience I've ever had on a bike stuck in Snowdon on bcm...

A LEL veteran I was chatting to on way back from Dunwich last week told me that doing the fens at night can be a good idea as headwinds are often less bad. Which is presumably generally on the return leg.

IMHO The Holland Fen is the worse part of the LEL.

What would you reccomend..

On the way there or back? Or both?

Worst experience on a bike I've had recently (though there have been quite a lot lately) was Romney Marsh heading out to Dungeness in midday sun on one of hottest days this year with a headwind. Admittedly after doing 200k+ from 2am the night before, but I'm very keen to avoid anything like that again.

is any lightweight bivvy bag going to be good enough if you're not carrying a sleeping bag as well though? (I don't know, no experience of bivvys). That Rab one Hippy posted does look decent if a bivvy alone is enough.
I'd think you're unlikely to end up in quite the same situation as on BCM - you would have slept at previous control before pushing on if doing it again, I'd hope that was a one-off mistake.

There are controls every 100k you should fine without a bivvy, I have an emergency one I sometimes carry in case something goes wrong, I've never used it so can't comment on how suitable it is.

https://rockrun.com/products/sol-emergency-bivvy?utm_source=Click&utm_medium=Channel&utm_campaign=Google_GB&ref=SFDR_55911844&variant=31456470728&gclid=Cj0KEQjwnazLBRDxrdGMx-Km4oQBEiQAQJ1q66AH_SDOstCh05Vnrh9Bk7RZDgV2pYMMIZL_Z3yD0W8aAhgo8P8HAQ

Don't think I'll take a bivvy either. more room for pasties

Ordered that emergency one. Trying to sleep under an emergency blanket in wales has really scarred me.

Stuck? What happened?

Oh, you could get a SOL. They do cheap, light emergency one and heavier but breathable one (and a lighter breathable one)

Bivvy can save your arse.

It's worth it for peace of mind, it's only the size of a can of coke.

Blankets are shit. Even basic bag covers are better.

The emergency ones are smaller

Bought the Sol one.

I was riding bcm with @ad441 and at about 350km in and 2am was too tired to ride on (hallucinating sheep, followed by trails of light). Decided to stop and sleep in a porch with a emergency blanket. Did I mention it had been raining? It had, loads. Anyway, just as I lie down on actual freezing flagstones it stops raining and the sky becomes totally clear. I doze for an hour under the blanket, then wake up and realize I'm freezing , hopefully to death. Get up, shivering horrendously but feeling really really hot, which can't be good so decide to ride really fast to warm up, within the first 10 pedal strokes my knee blows up. I then had to walk all the climbs back to the youth hostel. Took all night.

It was appaulling.

Treated myself to a new helmet for lel, matches my bike...

1 Attachment

It's a shame you didn't go through with your police 'rescue' plan

What was that again? Before or after the rubber chicken?

The waking up freezing thing is normal in the UK. Exploding knees not so much. Low gear high cadence to heat up shouldn't fuck knees. Do you have existing knee problem?

Is it like mine where I get myself arrested to stop freezing to death?

The elaborate one where you were going to start a fight with a passing police car, but not quite badly enough to result in anything worse than a night in the cells. I remember you'd worked it out in detail at the time.

Yeah I remember now, it was that long stretch of road and I could see the police car coming for ages. I'd fantasized about the delicious sodexo breakfast I'd get as well.

I didnt shift from high high, and couldn't make my hands work to move up the cassette. It was a lesson in bad planning....