LEL 2017 / London - Edinburgh - London Audax

Getting people to focus on DNF is a bit daft.
There are lots of auks who will put more effort into their bailout plan than other aspects of the event and make it a forgone conclusion.
And if you are not able to continue, you might well find you are not able to implement the bailout plan either!

I think getting people to at least consider what they'll do if they need to bail out isn't a bad thing. I presume people with no plan at all are more likely to create extra trouble for organisers.

At the moment though, I'm more concerned with how to get to rhe start for 11am start time from Brixton. I really don't want to ride. Has anyone worked out a good driving route to the start from South London taking into account all the ride london road closures? As far as I can see crossing at Dartford might be only option. Or there's public transport, but i don't want to get turned away due to having a bike at the last minute.

Telling people to bring some cash for a taxi to the train station and which train stations are easiest to get home from seemed like useful advice given half of the riders are from abroad.

Ride to Denmark Hill, take the overground to Dalston, ride 5 mins to Hackney Downs, get train to Chingford, ride 15 mins to Loughton. You can take a bike on all of that without reservations.

Edit - the line to Chingford doesn't re-open until 10:15 Sunday because of works. It's only a 20-minute journey, though, but might make it a bit tight - looks like the first train into Chingford arrives 10:49.

What about riding, and taking advantage of said road closures?

I'm stressed enough about even finishing, no desire to extend route any further.
Plus in my experience there are a lot of angry drivers around the edge of ride london road closures.

@h2o's public transport route sounds best option non getting a lift option so far.
Edit - until i read the edit...

My start is at 6:15am so no choice but to ride up.

In going to cross at Blackfriars bridge because London bridge is a deathtrap on Ride London days. Thousands of cyclists and hundreds of pissed off car drivers. Not fun.

It's only about an hour to ride from Dalston though. If I hear of anyone driving up in the morning from around my way I'll let you know.

Thanks - I can potentially get a lift though, at least if I can make it sound like a fun excursion for the children to see me off. It's just finding a driving route that doesn't involve a huge detour.

Last ride london i was attempting to drive back across london returning from National 400 audax. That wasn't fun - tired, no functioning air conditioning, road closures that good maps hadn't logged.

Take names and check results afterwards so you can ask any DNFs how they managed to get home without a plan to fail :)

Thousands of cyclists and hundreds of pissed off car drivers. Not fun.

But good odds :)

Going to ride up as well for 6.15 Gimme a shout if you want company

I'm going to ride up I think, it seems like the easiest option without complicated logistics

Sounds like a good idea.

My plan is to leave at about 4 to arrive 5:30 at a gentle pace with plenty of time to fix a puncture if required.

Should pass over blackfriars bridge at about 4:15. Happy to go earlier as it should be quite fun hanging out at the start.

Telling people to bring some cash for a taxi to the train station and which train stations are easiest to get home from seemed like useful advice given half of the riders are from abroad.

Makes perfect sense: obviously foreigners are too daft to bring money unless reminded :)
Of course they should be telling people to bring loads of cable ties, Andy Allsopp style

Some advise from old hands please.

I damaged my achilles tendon, or more specifically the fluid sacks around it doing dunwich and back 2 weeks ago. Universal advise was ice and lots of rest, which I did (even drove to work which is ridiculous considering I live 10 mins from workshop.) went for a test ride of fit adjustments today, a slow 125k ride, and after 1 hour off the bike my heel is swelling up and I can't push down on it again. What would anyone reccomend. I realise it is very late in the day...

Get back on the bike?

Sorry to hear that. I believe there is a nice 1000km from Maastricht at the end of August if you healed up.

I recommend volunteering if you can take the strain.

https://londonedinburghlondon.com/volunteer-me/

Volvo based mobile tig welder?

That or dressing up as a ghost and jumping out on riders at 3am somewhere around Wednesday or Thursday.

Definitely talk to Scheritt before making any decisions though. It's a difficult one. All my audax suffering tends to be cumulative contact point related issues, all of which tend to make things progressively more awful, but are not as dramatically ride ending as knee or ankle issues. Just don't do anything that would result in permanent damage.

I can do that as long as I don't stop (this started on the way to dunwich, so rode another 300k on it) but the next day I was unable to walk on it, and couldn't get my shoe on as it was so swollen, so it's unlikely I'll be able to do it after a kip at the control.

See a physio, sharpish.

But, whatever's wrong, it's unlikely to fully recover in under a week.

Will phone cp, and am speaking to Scherrit this evening.

I think you'll have to suck it up and accept that it's unlikely your foot will be in shape for this.

Rest up. I found eccentric heel drops (adding extra weight over time) did wonders for my Achilles Tendonitis.

Have you tried SPD sandles?

They look so hideously uncool no foot related issues will want anything to do with you.

I have mine with the aero speedplay and they are indeed perfect.