LEL 2017 / London - Edinburgh - London Audax

I live 100 miles in to the LEL route and fancy setting up with a folding chair and some signage to cheer people on. It was awesome experiencing some locals' support on Dunwich Dynamo, feel like I should feed those good vibes back (+look at shiny bikes). Any do's/dont's I should be aware of?

Bonus Q: Worth my while preparing some water or other provisions for weary audaxers? Perhaps more relevant on the return leg.

Should be fun on the way out. Doubt that many people will refrain from blasting past. Return leg could be a long but interesting stretch.

Thinking back to PBP and the numerous unofficial roadside support setups from the locals along the route the best things I've seen offered are:-

• somewhere to have a powernap (even if it's just an old mattress, camping bed/mat or even an old sofa)
  
• ability to charge something (phone/GPS/etc) for an hour or so whilst napping
  
• cake or sweets (e.g. jelly babies) for those who are near bonking
  
• water for bidon top ups (especially if hot)
  
• cups of coffee or tea
  
• AA batteries for sale (assuming you don't want to give them away)
  
  

Definitely took advantage of a few of these on PBP, didn't see anything similar on LEL'09.

A sign of "Only 785 miles to go!" on the way out may not be appreciated by all (such as the "Only 25.5 miles to go!" sign after half a mile of the Brighton Marathon). Otherwise just a big "HTFU" sign is all that will be required.

(Still gutted that I didn't visit the crepe/postcard stop[1] in La Tanniere on PBP. You stop for free food/crepes in exchange for a promise to send in a postcard after the ride. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of postcards on display from previous beneficiaries. )

I think this is a really nice idea - seeing as unlike PBP, most interaction with general public tends to be either bewilderment at it not being for charity, or abuse from passing cars, some actual encouragement is always good.
Water, tea, coffee (I'd have paid a fortune for a proper espresso while riding back from Dunwich on Sunday). Sell some ice creams? There's lots of food laid on at controls, but ice cream is always great on long rides.
It's going to be quite international, so the postcard idea is really nice if you can be bothered.
It does depend a lot on how close you are to a control - I can imagine if you're a few km away it's unlikely anyone will stop for long. Whereas if you're halfway between it would probably make you very popular.

Yes, do it!

@mustardbeak @fussballclub well who am I supposed to believe now! Although ~£120 will buy two cycling-specific dhb ones, and better yet I'll get to return the one that doesn't fit.

As I'm bang on halfway between two controls, looks like I'll be setting up out there with a camping stove, aeropress and battery/tent options.

My house isn't directly on the route but close enough - unsure whether to set up in the village or a bit further out to give people space. I'll figure it out. Thanks for the help!

I was going to do a last minute buy on a second/third pair of shorts. My current ones are bog standard Vaude ones (called Active i think) but they don't seem to be for sale on the big retailers and I'm not particularly wedded to them.

Any suggestions for a reasonably priced pair of shorts/bibshorts? Nothing fancy, but a pair that prioritises comfort over other bits and pieces.

I'm also thinking about getting another pair. They'd have to be

• comfortable
  
• black
  
• featuring a radio pocket (not using a radio but finding the pocket useful for other things)
  
• not rapha classic as it's what I'm using already
  

Not sure what your budget is, but assuming it's reasonably given your current ones are Rapha Classics how about a pair of Santini Edge 2.0 from Prendas?

...and in regards to a rain jacket, I thought I'd got a bargain when I recently managed to snaffle a Gore Oxygen Active Shell at £105.00 - they're now up on Wiggle at £99.99!

Ah, the santinis look nice, thanks!

Re the jacket I've gone ahead and ordered the dhb. Thanks for the link though, another option if the dhb doesn't quite cut it.

Ha, he's referring to me accidentally setting fire to a Rapha Gilet on a recent Audax, rather than the quality of the Rab waterproof.

I've done my final bike shakedown (literally - over some cobbles to see if anything comes loose).

How much riding are people doing in the final two weeks?

I'm going to be lucky to get 100 miles total - but most of it will be with 16kg of child+seat attached so at least my LEL bike is going to feel pretty light.

Nothing over 50 miles, a couple times a week after work. Can't wait for it to start now!

Just went round the Isle of Wight yesterday, at a relaxed pace :) Today was about drinking beer and eating fish'n chips and a mmmassive ice cream. Nothing more than commute now (and a bit of Herne Hill next Tuesday and the mid week evening ride on the Thursday leading to it. Maybe.)

Seem to have lost all enthusiasm for cycling... Which doesn't fill me with optimism for LEL. Will try and fit in a short shakedown ride at some point next week. Wondering what bare minmum I can do to not lose fitness is - I did nothing last week due to being tired from Dunwich and then getting ill later in week.

Stilling messing around with bikefit as 380k last weekend hurt.
Though I suppose it wasn't too bad for 280k or so. Have been thinking that atleast the daily schedule to just finish LEL isn't too bad.

It seems popular to start off with getting a load of distance done to get ahead of schedule, but wondering if it isn't better to ride 240k-ish on first day (I start at 11) and then just do 300 a day for rest of ride. Though I'm often bad at getting to sleep so this coild all go wrong.

I'm an 11am-er too, and got a (rough!) plan in mind of stopping for a 'proper' break at Louth, Brampton, Brampton, Louth and then wherever I feel exhausted enough on the final stretch - gives me days of 242km, 312km, 301km, 217km and a final run from setting off of 361km having set off in the early hours of Thursday.

If by some fluke there's a mahoosive tailwind on the way up or down or things just aren't going to plan I'll need to adjust accordingly...but that at least gives me a starting point and a reference to see if it's all going to pot!

Ankle still not capable of riding. Had hoped it would have been better by now. Will see how this week goes...

I am riding short, hilly and hard rides this week then having a week off to chill / prepare mentally. Not going to plan daily distances or anything like that. Just play it by ear. Would it be an idea to set up a WhatsApp group for LFGSS LEL'ers in the same vain as the riders from ere did for Dunwich. Go for a beer after or during if anyone's around.

That's a shitter. Hope you can ride - it's going to be mega

Do not join a whatsapp group with @coldharbour... you'll regret it.
(otherwise great idea)

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.

I've no idea at all how things are going to work out with sleep which makes it all a bit unpredictable. I've had one 600k audax I slept fine on, the rest I've lain down and then totally failed to be able to sleep at all. I'm assuming tiredness will take over sooner or later, but this has potential to wreck any schedule I make so I'm not going to get too hung up over which controls I stop at.
(also I picked really stupid bag drop locations in a hurry so won't be relying on sleeping at those).

Minor question I've been contemplating - what are people going to wear at controls when sleeping? I had assumed I'd just take some boxer shorts and leave more in drop bags. But then could be cold (and/or embarrassing) sitting around eating in those. Anyone have any suggestions for some ultra lightweight pyjama trousers?

Sleep in what you ride in, unless you're cheating with a bag drop in which case I'd probably ack some gold hot pants with UP FOR IT or KITTEN or similar printed across the arse.

Boxers or running shorts would be my actual choice.

Very light weight bivvie bag, what would you suggest @hippy?

Running shorts with mesh liner win. Failing that pussy galore gold hot pants

I used a PHD sleeping bag cover in TCR. Works well enough if it's warm.
I generally prefer to be fully covered (especially if bugs) so got a custom one made in the US.
The cheap and cheerful option I also tried was the Hunka which @arup seems to have run off with.
I use an ebay-sourced RAB Storm for the UK because it's also fully closeable and warmer than my bug-netted one but it's a bit heavier/bulkier. It has room in it for other stuff so if it was raining and I couldn't find cover I'd be ok.

I've got some suitable running shorts come to think of it. Though sort of think i'd like cotton when not riding.

Gold silk pyjamas would seem to be ultimate in lightweight/style/luxury.