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Rack back on, getting ready for London-Edinburgh-London. The aim is long distance comfort. not sleek minimalistic lines. Bullhorns and tri-bars rock.

http://www.greenbank.org/bikes/tempo/tempo7.jpg

The terminology is tricky and confusing.

Waypoints, viapoints, trackpoints and routepoints are all different things.

When you go for a ride it records a track consisting of trackpoints. If you log these to the SD card then you can log one per second and have an detailed log of where you've been.

Tracks can be uploaded too, and you can follow them, they're overlaid on the map pages or, in navigation mode, the arrow will just point to the next arrow. Correctly placed they'll guide you along roads and round junctions with no problems. Uploaded tracks are generally limited to 500 trackpoints. Tracks made up of more than this can either be downsampled to 500 points or split up into chunks or 500 points, you'll just have to manually move onto the next one when you get to the end of the current one.

Routing is trickier. The GPS uses its autorouting functionality to give you a route between the points you've provided, depending on the setup this may not be the exact route you want to take, so you've got to be careful to place them properly. Also, in certain modes, there's a limit to 50 points on a route.

I use routes, but I don't have maps so the GPS doesn't do any autorouting. This gives me a capacity of about 1000 routepoints with a max of 120 points in any route, and a maximum of 20 routes. This is enough to do something like LEJOG or London-Edinburgh-London.

User waypoints are another matter, as are via points. Have a look in the GPS subforum over at YACF for more info, also there are some GPS links off the Audax UK webpages.

But, GPS for long distance riding rocks. It doesn't guarantee that you won't get lost, you have to remember to look at it, but if you do then it's easy to see what to do to get back on track. You can also ditch the cycle computer as it'll give you a reasonably accurate riding time, distance, average speed and maximum speed.

+1 to the eTrex range like the Legend or Vista. Should be about 140 quid, more if you want maps (but you can download free ones from OpenStreetMap).

I use an even older bog standard yellow eTrex. No mapping at all, and therefore no auto-routing. Cost is about 100 quid for a unit, handlebar mount and cheapo cable from eBay rather than the Garmin branded one made of the finest milled unobtainium.

Routes are just a collection of routepoints place at each junction with the instruction in the routepoint name (L for left, R for right, SO straight on, E2 for 2nd exit at roundabout, FL for fork left, BR/KR for bear/keep right, etc). I draw them on bikely.com and download them onto the GPS. Doesn't take long, a 100km route takes about 10 minutes. My Dun Run route was this (yes, I know it wasn't the exact official route):-

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/320135

The eTrex range also take AA batteries, so you're not stuck with the relatively short battery life of an Edge or faffing with an external USB battery pack/charger.

The Edge range are lovely, but non-replacable batteries are a big no-no for us Audaxers. I need 20 hours and sometimes vastly more. I can get this with a few sets of rechargables. I'll be using my eTrex for the London-Edinburgh-London 1400km Audax this month and shouldn't have to look at a routesheet at all during the ride. Which is nice.

Lance Armstrong - didn't take performance enhancing drugs or just didn't get caught?

Yes. HTH.

I'll be there for sunrise next time!

You'll have an extra 22 minutes or so as it's later in the year next year (and therefore sunrise will be later. But more nightriding as it'll get darker earlier.

In any event, my knees felt like they'd done 108,000 pedal revolutions yesterday afternoon.

You could always do a 600km ride. My next ride will be 262,000 pedal revs of a 67" gear. 3 weeks to go...

Maths fail.

A 70" gear means you travel pi * 70" for each pedal revolution. (70" is the equivalent diameter of a penny farthing wheel).

108,000 pedal revolutions of a 70" gear is about 603km.

You want about 34,400 pedal revolutions for a 70" gear.

Stick this into google and it'll calculate it for you (adjust to suit distance and gear):-

185km / ( pi * 70 inches )

Yes yes yes yes yes yes.

£25 a head x 50 Forumengers (approx count this year) = £1250

I'm quite sure we beat that and lower the per head cost.

I did a quick pricing with Streetcar (hiring one VW Transporter van and one VW Touran MPV). 3 people in the van, 7 in the Touran. Bikes'n'shit in the van.

25 hour rental for both, with 250 miles worth of fuel (they charge per mile and rental is 8 quid per hour capped at 70 quid per 24 hours) comes to £245 total. So almost bang on £25 a head all in with 10 places sold. This assumes a 2.30pm van/car pickup, quickly load up stuff (booze, towels, bag drops, and driver's bikes), drive to Dunwich, dump van in car park, get bikes out and bimble over to the 5.38pm train from Darsham getting to Liverpool St for 7.45pm and up to the park for a swift pint. Do Dun Run and leave at about midday, vans/cars have to be back by 3.30pm. Does require 1 in 5 people remaining sober enough to drive though.

Almost certainly economies of scale (cheaper per head) with a bigger van and a minibus rental.

Speak for yourself.. I was born guru.

I certainly wasn't, but there's a big difference between novice and numpty.

Novices may not know to bring a headtorch or have another way of reading a routesheet in the dark whilst moving.

Numpties don't either, but something makes them ride in groups and come up to a junction and stop smack bang in the middle of the road without a signal or a shout and block the entire road.

The best numpty of the day/night was the guy who saw the grass outside the feed stop village hall was really busy so he decided to put his bike down on the road (well, it's nice and clear isn't it) and wander towards the queue for food. Someone got up and moved it at which point he got a bit shirty for someone touching his bike. "But you left it in the road". He stood there unthinking for a few seconds until a car went by, at which point it clicked and he moved it somewhere more sensible, mumbling a thank you.

Exhaustion (physical and mental) and sleep deprivation probably goes a long way to explaining how even sensible/experienced people become utter numpties when pushed. If you're not used to it then it can make you do some stupid things. As Oliver says, promoting this may not be in everyone's best interest.

Talentless may have been the wrong word but I was making a generalisation and, as I said before, I'm not trying to belitte the achievement of anyone who did it, only the things that some of the people did along the way.

i certainly don't think they deserve to be labeled as 'Talentless people'.

Heh. It was a throwaway comment copied from someone upthread but it does sum up some of my thoughts of the ride. I thought we were allowed/supposed/encouraged to be rude here, it's not Cyclechat FFS.

I'm not fast so I probably didn't ride with the same people you rode with who probably have more of a clue how to ride in groups on the road. General riding standards were on the poor side of good. Some group riding standards (from people who obviously don't often ride in a group, but did on this ride) were sometimes shocking.

(Don't get me wrong, I didn't have any problems with 99% of the experienced club cyclists riding in packs, you could hear the shouts/signals being passed down, and when I passed one group that stopped they were all over to the side of the road out of the way. My only complaint about them is that they sometimes pass other cyclists too close. They may be happy with bumping shoulders and handlebars but it can be very disconcerting for someone who isn't to be overtaken at 10mph more with inches to spare. I get this all the time in Richmond Park, a little wobble when they're a few yards behind my back wheel usually makes them give me more room.)

I'm no fan of group riding anyway, I tend to prefer riding alone, or at least off the back of a bunch, but at least I do simple things like look behind me before changing road position, signalling my intentions (not just my actions), or not screeching to a stop with no signal and standing 4-a-breast over the width of the road whilst checking a routesheet and a map.

And some people may be able to get by with wholly inadequate lighting but it makes it a nightmare for others. I had one guy who had a flickering candle for a front light sit right up my chuff for 15 minutes, I don't mind people wheelsucking me (they must be fucked if they're going slower than me, and they're more than welcome) but for a while he was overlapping my back wheel with not much spare space. One wobble from me to miss a pothole or wildlife and he'd be toast (possibly taking out me too). When I did pull out and drop back along side him to talk to him he stopped to replace the batteries in his light. He would have done it earlier but "couldn't be arsed".

Yes, well done to everyone who completed it, I wasn't trying to take away any of their glory, but let's not ignore the numptiness. Any bigger and I fear it'll start becoming like the nightmare that is London2Brighton. Just imagine every hill after Finchingfield being like Ditchling, awash with zombies with no spatial awareness.

Some people were in for a long night/day. The last people I saw on the road (who weren't just random people out cycling) were passing Wattisham Airfield at about 10.30am with about 65km to go.

+1

Don't understand people who can't read from/don't know how to use a cue sheet.

As someone above said, there are a very large number of talentless people out on a grand adventure. I spotted lots of people with routesheets in holders on the handlebars but no way of reading them in the dark. Night-ride-think fail (ok, so I may have been there myself years ago). They obviously weren't happy with holding it in front of their front light whilst on the move which meant stopping at every junction to faff around and look inept.

I use a Petzl Tikka head torch, which is also useful for night time repairs as it doesn't take up a hand pointing it in the right direction. I've also had to use it as an emergency front light when an old Cateye bounced out of its bracket made of cheese and shattered on the road.

The GPS, however, is far far far better than a cue sheet. No wondering if you're at the right junction or not, simply follow the arrow and watch the "distance to next point" count down to a few meters and the arrow swing over. I made it tricky coming back by not making a separate route, so some junctions weren't as obvious on the way back, plus I needed to reverse all of the instructions (L becomes R but, confusingly, Left-Immediate-Right stays the same) which was interesting, especially with a tired brain.

Explanation of transport problems and roundup from Barry here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/southwarkcyclists/message/7627

Ah, that was it--I half suspected that, as you'd said at Dunwich that you had a different GPS trail. You didn't go via Yoxford, did you?

My GPS route was based on this one: [ame]http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Dunwich-Dynamo-route-UK[/ame

[/ame]

GPS worked a treat. Shitloads of people had no idea where they were going and those that did have a routesheet ran in to the small problem of having no way to read it in the dark (get a Petzl headtorch). So many times we'd get passed by a group of 15 storming by, only to find them two minutes later standing at a junction with everyone pointing in different directions, we'd just zoom past making the correct turn. Eventually they just tagged onto the back of us and had to slow down to our pace.

Did you make all your bags yourself, Scott?

And I wonder whether, if the Dynamo keeps getting bigger, at some point one/some special train(s) might not be put on from Darsham--there seems to be ample capacity on that line on Sundays.

Someone on YACF who works on the railways did make some inquiries into chartering a cargo train on the Sizewell line back to London. Obviously didn't get far enough for this year, but could be a possibility for next year though.

If I do it again (and decide not to cylce back) I'd rent a van, put bike/booze/towels/food/stove/etc in it, drive it down to Dunwich Saturday morning, lock it up and cycle back to Darsham and get the train to London. Start the Dun Run as normal and have everything I need (including transport home) there when I got there.

Dorking, Hackney, Sudbury, Dunwich, Sudbury, Dunmow, Putney as DIY 400 riding the Dun Run.

Hopefully it will be validated as I never got an absolute OK on the control towns (due to my laziness). The time on the Dunwich cafe debit/credit card receipt being exactly 3 hours out isn't going to help.

Have put in entry for Ide Hill Grimpeur on the weekend before LEL. Was considering doing it on fixed (46x19 for 63" loveliness) but may chicken out and take the Wilier. More than likely I just won't be able to ride it.

That leaves LEL as the biggy. Only 3 weeks to go. Blimey!(Oh,this is LFGSS isn't it) Fuck!

I was riding with Daniel, whom I'd met on the Exmouth Exodus last month, and who's a strong rider training for LEL. We'd started out from Dunwich together with Greenbank and his mate Scott, but inexplicably lost them in the annoying gravelly lane just after/before (depending on whether you were going from or to Dunwich). Greenbank, what happened? We waited for you for a good while, but no news. Hope you were alright/didn't have a mechanical!

Sorry about that, we had a slightly different route in our GPSes (it differed from this years route in two places near the end) and we decided to stick with it rather than risk being taken off route and then dropped, sorry you waited for ages for us, we tried to shout to you to just carry on.

Can't have been far away from you, we bumped into someone else cycling back saying he'd been riding with you but couldn't keep up. We then saw Daniel pass through Great Dunmow as we were grabbing some food in a cafe. You're right that he looks like a strong rider, he'll enjoy LEL (as will I, but probably not with as much time in hand).

I got back about 45 minutes ago as I had to finish my ride in Putney (as planned for my DIY Audax ride). 434km in total; a shade under 27 hours from the start in Dorking and a ride up Box Hill on the way to Hackney. Need beer and to burn all of the clothes I was wearing.

Chamois cream is for the weak. Tell your arse to HTFU.

Right.

1. Sort out bike (need SON wheel on), sod changing gear, spin to win. 67"
   
2. Buy cheap cafe lock (been on my todo list for ages)
   
3. Plot route for GPS
   
4. Pack Carradice Barley (do not bring kitchen sink)
   
5. Maintain hydration (Avoid cans of lager in fridge all day)
   
6. Get 4.30pm train out to Dorking
   
7. Climb Box Hill, Epsom Downs and head up to Hackney
   
8. Ride to Dunwich.
   
9. Ride home to Putney.
   

Word.
400k is going to kill us.

You'll be fine. Just take it easy and break it down into chunks, don't think of the whole distance or it'll seem very daunting.

At the start just think about getting to Sudbury, from there just think about Dunwich. Same for the way back.

Bringing sunglasses and suncream is the best way to guarantee a downpour.

Worked for me on the Bryan Chapman: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b187/vicechair/BCM600%202009/P5150542.jpg (only 380km to go at that point).

The A10 is a shitty (if fast) way to end a ride, especially past Scherings on the way out of Harston just before the M11 roundabout.

Much better to turn right after Newton towards Little Shelford, Great Shelford and the cycle path to Addenbrookes off Granham's Road. It's the fastest way into the city by bike.

Not saying the other routes are wrong, but if I was got as far as Newton by whatever route then the last thing I'd want to do is a chunk of the A10 and through Trumpington.

Where are you going to/from for the whole journey; exact places make it much easier (although move it a street or two away from the real start/destination if you don't want to give away the exact locations...)

It's much easier to provide a route suggestion if we know everything, there might be a way to avoid the whole lot if you give us more info.

What im wondering is can go from putney under that little railway bridge, and take an immediate left on point pleasant to follow those back roads round to ultimately come out on Smugglers way, and by the roundabout, and so take the underpass to trinity road

I used to work right next to where you're talking about (in the big red brick buildings, now vacant, opposite the Queen Adelaide and HSS).

Yes, you can turn left onto Point Pleasant. You go'll go back under the Railway Bridge and take the first right past onto Osiers Road (if you go straight on there's an ace pub up on the right called The Cat's Back, say hello to Emile and Monica). Then, after the road bends round to the left turn right into the Enterprise Way industrial estate. Go straight on to the end of this and jink right then left and there's a cycle path over a little bridge over Bell Creek. You carry straight on and end up onto Smugglers Way and past the dump and the recycling centre on your left. Further on past B&Q on the right and the posh flats on the left, turn left just before MacD's (Marl Road) and then right just after MacD's (bus depot on left) and there's a way down into the underpass between MacD's and the roundabout itself.

If it were me going to Spencer Park I'd be tempted to stay on Putney Bridge Road, left onto Frogmore (it looks one way near the end but bikes are allowed to get through to Armoury Way), onto the cycle path alongside Armoury Way and either join the road at the end of Ram Street (if full of cars) or use the lights to cross onto Old York Road, turn right at the Alma (there's a small cycle lane that allows bikes to get from Old York Road onto Podmore Road right by the Alma). Cross Trinity Road at the traffic lights there and use the cycle paths to get onto Bartholomew Road (the back end of the East Hill Estate). Up the hill to East Hill, cross the 4 lanes when traffic is calm or use the zebra crossings at the junction with Marcilly Road and up onto Wandsworth Common Northside.

Again, it depends on the actual start/finish. There may be a way to completely avoid it (such as heading South early), going through King Georges Park onto Mapleton Road, into Borrodaile Road using the cycle path next to GJ's on Garrett Lane and onto All Farthing Lane that way. There's an underpass near the end there (about in line with Quarry Road if it ran all the way to Trinity Road) that'll get you under Trinity Road without having to mess with 4 lanes of angry motons.

Travelodge are happy with bikes in rooms too. I use them all the time before/after Audaxes (that's a long distance bike ride, not an obscure sex act).

I was going to say that there's a ford at Braughing. Was it the Axe & Compasses?