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Shit like that ^ is what makes TransAm so appealing.

Since seeing Inspired to Ride, I am now pretty much committed to an attempt at TransAm, so it fulfilled it's title promise as a film!

It won't be 2016, more 2017 or 18. Running a business means that some careful discussions with business partners needs to be had over the next year to arrange a sabbatical. Mrs. JB is behind the concept.

Whilst I have done some fairly long rides, it's now a question of finding out whether I can keep on going. I'm unlikely to be at the sharp end of things, but would certainly aim for sub 25 days I think.

I plan to go for a test ride next year - about a third of a TransAm to see how I fare.

Anyway, I will be following this and and the TransCon with far more attention this coming year. Bon courage to all who step forwards to give it a go!

http://aukweb.net/official/agm/

14th November in Peterborough.

It's usually a decent weekend. People often ride up on the Friday, dinner and drinking Friday. Social ride saturday morning (nothing massive distance). AGM (may or may not be interesting to people) and then dinner and awards before riding home Sunday. Plenty easy enough just to come up for the Saturday night on the train as well and train home Sunday morning.

It's more about catching up with mates and not being in a rush to carry on (when you cross paths with friends on Audax events and need to be through the control in 10 minutes etc.!).

Talk shit about the season past and what you've got planned for next season etc.

Well done!

If you were not going to be at the AGM/Awards dinner, I am sure one of the Willesden can arrange acceptance and delivery of your trophy - Paul is in Chiswick, Martin in Ealing (I can't remember where you are located!), but I am sure something is possible.

I am just trying to find a reference to the 50% rule. I am certain it still exists for the purposes of the distance (points) championships. It used to be in the handbook - but the handbook no longer exists.

I think it is about removing the chances of someone just bashing out loads of DIYs and raising suspicion that they are not actually doing them (i.e. there's no visibility).

It does of course mean that someone based in northern scotland is going to have a tough time getting to events and so on to mount a credible campaign.

Looking at Mike's 2014 results, it shows 333 points with 180 being in perms, which means that 'only' 306 points count for the actual championship.

Confused? Me too!

Basically Mike would ride 1 or 2 200km events every weekend through the winter months and then a 300 and a 200 event as spring comes, before doing a 600km event every weekend in summer. And then he would ride 2 or 3 200km DIYs during the week.

It is amazing in it's own way, his story is quite something too (mown down by a coach, huge brain injuries, smashed up hips and legs, in a wheelchair for months - his brain injuries mean he has all sorts of challenges and cycling a lot seems to keep them under control). He's a funny chap and rubs people up the wrong way sometimes - he lacks empathy or self control, so can sometimes come across as a total bragger, but he can't help it, his brain doesn't work like the rest of us! I've spent a couple of years thinking he was a bit of a tosser, but then I have ridden with him and chatted to him more over the last year or so, and he's a decent bloke. I spent some good times with him on PBP drinking coffee in the sunshine and watching the world go by.

Anyway - TransAm as a DIY would be the longest DIY by some margin. A chap called Marcus (good name) rode a 3500km DIY around the UK a few years ago.

As above - 333 by Mike Lane last year.

(again, sorry for talking rules and regulations) Remember the 50% rule - it's not as simple ;) as going out and riding a 33400km DIY (or multiple DIYs to that distance).

For championships, 50% of your points need to be scored in calendar events.

I am struggling to find the actual wording on the 50% rule! Maybe it disappeared without me noticing.

Yes you can, on the assumption that an amendment to the regs that has been unofficially adopted gets voted through at the AGM (sorry for being super nerdy and talking about rules!).

You used to be unable to ride a DIY using another 'organised event' as the basis for it, but there's a change in the wording that should get voted through that will allow this.

For sure you could.

I volunteered at the registration day in 2011 with my wife and it was great fun meeting and greeting riders from around the world, but it was also hard work!

I finished at some fairly early o'clock time in 2011, around 7 am I think. I wasn't in any fit state to really help much that day.

If I rode in 2017 and was a bit quicker and finished in 80-85 hours, rather than 95, then I could have a full night's sleep, possibly in a hotel and then be ready to help out the next day.

From what I understand, one of the areas where things could be improved is the finish for those riders at the very tail end of the field. Most of the volunteers had been there for days and were just tired and ready to go home and the reality is that those arriving at the very end of things are those that probably need the most help getting them fed etc. So, it sound like some 'new' volunteers arriving later on the final day and ready to work until the small hours would be helpful (I can not remember what final cut off is for the last riders - 2am ish? And this time there may be an even longer window as they are looking at start slots as late as 4pm?). If I'd been able to get 10-12 hours of rest, I would be up for helping out at the tail end.

Anyway - it's all a very long way away! Who knows. I don't have to really think about it until 2017, so I probably won't worry to much.

If I ride it, I will do it the other way around this time. If I ride a little quicker than last time and finish the night before rather than at 6 or 7 am, then a full night's sleep and ready to help when they seem to really need help (particularly really late into the final night when the tail enders are coming in). Not 100% on whether I will ride it yet.

No need for me - AUK member and volunteer last time.

And don't panic about LEL places if you don't get one in this first batch. Come January 2017, there will be plenty of places as @Greenbank says.

My guess would be that 25%-30% of the 300 registering today won't be on the start line. Very easy to commit nearly two years in advance, especially if you are still feeling good and strong from summer riding.

I suspect that unless things go truly crazy, everyone that really wants to ride will be able to get a place.

Trust me - if you can ride the GMT, you can ride LEL if you want to. If your head is up to it, GMT proves that your body probably is.

That's not to say something like LEL or PBP is straightforwards, but the time limits are generous and if you use them well and ensure you never get behind on your sleep, then you have a good chance of success.

I used to be diligent about ECE. I've ECE'd a 300km event up to a 600km in the past. I've done plenty of 50km to and from for an extra 100km. Some events I have done 100km there and then got the train back at the end of the day.

These days, I can't be bothered with the paperwork. I ride to and from as many events as possible (no car and it's more time in the saddle, which is always good), but don't worry about getting any points as they are not really my motivation these days.

Personally, I would say 300km is the breakthrough point. Get that sorted and everything else can fall into place. Even the longer stuff tends to work out at having to do 300-350km a day minimum, so once you're happy at the distance, you can then start to apply your strategy to pretty much anything.

Much of the above is why 400km is often seen as one of the harder distances - it's much further than you typically ride in one go on longer stuff (even a 600 tends to have a sleep stop at less than 400km). Well, that's until I noticed that a lot of experienced, and fast, riders actually stop and have a sleep on 400s! No point in rushing around and finishing in the middle of the night is there? Since then I have always had a short sleep on 400s and things have been much easier. Takes a little jump in your approach though, if you are speed motivated and like to try and 'beat' your last time or whatever.

There is always a nutter who will out-nutter anything and everything you can think of/do!

They weren't playing anything quite so rocking when I went past that house, but it looked like a pretty good party they had going on!

That was a tough day out!

Fantastic route though, lots of lovely lanes, pretty villages and 2 visits to the seaside (I only had 1 ice cream though, breaking my personal rule of any visit to the seaside needing an ice cream).

Bastard hard on fixed - especially as I was rather overconfident and ran 71" for the first 130km (what I ran for PBP without issue). I knew that was too big for me on that sort of terrain, but was too stupid to listen to myself and run lower from the start. Flipped to 67" at Seaford and life became a lot easier, but my legs were already shot, so it was a very hard 170km to the end, especially combined with having got up at 3:30 to ride over. Slowness meant it was too late for a train home, so another ride across town to home - never a fan of riding through london on a Saturday night, especially when tired.

Great day out though and massive thanks to AC Hackney, especially Ivan for organising and Tim and Adam for braving the wind to stamp cards at the seaside.

Lots of bits hurt today. But pleased to have done my first properly hilly longer ride on fixed.

Oh yes indeed.

Looking forward to it!

Other than the climb up Greenwich hill, a Brompton is ideal for the sightseer. Perfect London bike really. You won't be going very fast, I guarantee the sightseer will be the slowest 100km you will ever ride.

I know of other Brompton riders who will be on the ride.

I rode it on 20+ kg single speed sit up and beg japanese city bike last year.

Again, it will be your slowest 100km ever; 7-8 hours is about right, but you have 10 if needed.

Enjoy it!

MC100K has run 2010, 2014 and probably 2018 - I will ride it next time I have promised myself (2010 before my time, 2014 I was doing the ESCA 24)

I'm off to watch Inspired to Ride at LMnH on Thursday - it's going to make me go one of two ways with my thoughts on TransAm!

If LEL 2017 isn't your thing, there is Madrid Gijon Madrid in that August. It is certainly on my possible list.

There's always other stuff going on and I really am not one to ride the longer rides more than once. Even though last year's 1300 in Scotland was the best bike ride ever, I don't really want to ride the 1200km version next summer. I can only really get away with 1 1000km+ ride each year, so have to choose carefully.

Same with LEL really. Maybe something I will return to in X years.

2016, I will do a 1000km+ ride for sure, but it might not be an event - I fancy seeing what I can handle solo.

There's some more interesting things going on in 2017 that I will almost certainly be more motivated by.

http://www.marcusjb.com/blog/2013/08/04/london-edinburgh-london-1400km-audax-2013-northbound
http://www.marcusjb.com/blog/2013/08/10/london-edinburgh-london-1400km-audax-southbound

To whet your appetite.

The stuff about 4 days in the rain on rough roads etc. put me off LEL initially. PBP, in particular, is such an amazing experience that you wonder whether LEL has anything to offer.

I am very pleased to have ridden it in 2013 - it was a fantastic ride and much better than expected.

The route is great - especially up at the top end. The Fens are a bit shit, especially when your nose is into the wind - but they have their own character and riding towards those massive horizons is pretty cool in itself.

Very little roadside support, even in the control towns - no great surprise as virtually everyone you meet thinks you're either 'mad' or doing it for charity. None of the respect you get in France.

Controls are great (and soooo much better organised than PBP) and the whole ride feels like a series of 80km rides punctuated by going to a control run by some mates (the controls are all staffed by volunteers, many of them regular AUK riders).

Don't discount it - it's a great ride. Whether I will do it again for a while, who knows - there's too much other stuff going on and I'm not one for repeating rides (PBP aside!).

First collection of thoughts from me in some of the things I did in 2015 that I missed out on doing in 2011. Great ride and I can not wait until 2019 to do it again (but in a different way).

https://marcusjb.wordpress.com/2015/08/25/paris-brest-paris-2015-stuff-i-didnt-do-in-2011-that-i-am-glad-i-did/

That was fun!

Second PBP for me. Wanted to do things differently, so opted for fixed this time (71 inches).

First time, I had followed all the advice about not hanging about in controls and just keeping on tiding. Consequently, I got round in a fairly respectable 76 hours, but this time I was determined to enjoy all the roadside stuff and soak up more of the stuff that makes PBP special. My wife was coming out to see me at the finish, so I didn't want to finish in the middle of the night, so sort of aimed for 86 hours this time.

I have enough pace on the road to essentially mean I was able to dick about completely - I stopped at so many road side stalls and enjoyed chatting with many new friends.

Fixed was fine - I was able to leave the gears for dead on all the climbs and then wait for them to come by on the descents. My arse took a beating on the long descents, and I got less able to spin as the ride went on - I could still climb, but descending much faster than 40kph became impossible.

I had a hotel at loudeac - it was weird but good to step out of the chaos and noise for a few hours.

The French love le pignon fixe and I got many compliments on my strength (ha!) for riding one.

My own ride was largely uneventful mechanically and bodily - my gentle pace and lots of time off the bike made for easy times.

I finished in 87 or 88 hours, somewhere around there, doesn't really matter. The last 60km I spent shepherding a rider on a Brompton who was utterly broken and looked very tight on his cut off, was lacking sleep, power etc.

I was always worried that PBP 2 would not live up to my first. But, I had a far better time, met more people and soaked up more experiences than I ever hoped for.

Brilliant ride.