Ultracycling

http://www.sportsmedicalcertificates.com

Although I think it'll be easier training to be a GP myself than dealing with this shit in future.

£65 (sixty five) ??

I'd rather work 5 years to become a GP. (Jinx)

You asked for an alternative.

You want to ride across Belgium without paying 65 quid, just ride it.

65 squids buys you a lot of La Chouffe

I'll find another way and let YOU know.

I know of other ways... dark and nefarious ways... but they shall be taken to my (early) grave.

"We need a medical certificate to prove you can ride across our teeny tiny country"
"Here's my GPS track showing where I rode across a continent"

Thats why I'm not paying for it. I too have connections, dark nefarious...Belgian nurses n' that.

I get it though, insurance etc if only there was a certificate proving you wouldn't get rattled by a motor.

I'm dead on the inside but it's very hard to get that on paper from the NHS it seems.

I saw @CarlosBI new sleep deprivation rule. Hey Carlos, I'd love to discuss it.

While I think it's good to mandate sleep, good job. I do think the way you approach it is hard to implement as a rider and overcomplicates something simple.

All you needed to do is say 'riders must take one stop of 4h minimum per day'. But the way you've done it means I'd need to think and calculate and that makes life harder. If you want to keep rules to minimum then keep them super simple too.

Also I have zero idea what your 'formula' means from just looking at it.

*N period of 4h = |Total H/24| – 2
giving the option to take the rest whenever you want, or spend a few nights riding (2 nights).

I'd implore you to reconsider your approach and use something simpler.

I saw that the other day. Looks like it means you can ride through up to two nights, no? But need to stop for four hours on the others.

Good to tackle the issue but hard to implement in practice.

What happens if you need to move through night? eg I got woken by police in Romania.

Place at Balckhall used to give me one every trip.

Can’t confirm the price sadly. Very good though, basically “are you going to die” No “Great here’s paper”

My mate's GP refused to do one for a marathon he was doing. Said he could drop dead at any time.

That's true of all humans always though.

Presumably there was a reason for the "higher likelihood" of dropping dead?

I don't get them from GP now because cloggy blood apparently means I might die. Fucking come at me Death!

It is probably worth asking your GP. Different doctors at my surgery were happy to do it as they felt it was encouraging a healthy activity. There was a charge of I think £20. It is just a one line letter, cannot be that much extra hassle for them really. I've done it about five or six times and they haven't complained.

I can’t explain how little a fuck this place gave.

Nope, no health issues. Obviously just taking the true of all humans route.

I think I get what the formula means but it's not explained on the page meaning it's vague at best. E.g. could you stop twice for two hours within a 24 hour period and have that count as your sleep?

My experience with sleep deprivation isn't as much as some here, including you, but I have been surprised how little sleep you can get by on for several days and still make safe, rational decisions. Also how you can feel awful, stop for 10mins with your eyes closed and you're wide awake again. Doesn't always need to be a big block of sleep to keep you safe.

Difficult one to police, if interesting!

I have an appointment with a Belgian GP as I'm over there next week.

Might drop dead now for a laugh.

Spa?

Va va vroooooommmm.

Etape du Tour insisted on a medical certificate to ride a few mountains in a day. Rumour has it they were bombarded with thousands of fakes every year.

They'd be better off getting certificates indicating riders knew how to unclip from their pedals.

https://bikepacking.com/news/transiberica-sleep-deprivation-rule/

Rumour has it they were bombarded with thousands of fakes every year.

They probably won't care. Someone gives them a fake and tries to claim on their insurance and they can reject it. It's like lots of continental paperwork; there to tick a box not to DO anything.

When I did the Marmotte for the first time, the guy running the trip only told me I needed a GP certificate as we were arriving in Alpe d'Huez. Luckily I had a Nokia 9210 and created a fake letter which I then faxed to the fax machine in the place we were picking up the bedding and towels from.

The person on the registration desk barely glanced at it.