Alex last spotted at 09:09 at Barnard Castle, so safely over the border and through the night and a trifling 250-odd miles to go.
Awe.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Events, rides etc.
LEL 2013
(142 posts)-
Posted 11 years ago #
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Eskdalemuir, Brampton, Barnard Castle... The LEL is not exactly flat, is it? Alex is fair going some.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Seems like I spent an eternity in there and saw nobody I knew (outside of audax)... ah well!
Posted 11 years ago # -
Darkerside just arrived. Pic will follow!
Posted 11 years ago # -
Posted 11 years ago #
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Nicely posed.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Properly knackered, and I was only a control volunteer.
Darkerside in pretty good cheer, despite his earlier posts about preparedness.
Kudos to both him and Alex.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Very impressed with the way that uberuce machined his way through the night keeping the control running...
Posted 11 years ago # -
Alex was last spotted in Thirsk at 13:05. "Straight to London now" from his 10AM tweet. So less than 400k to go!
Next stop should be Pocklington.
Posted 11 years ago # -
He is smashing it
Posted 11 years ago # -
Market Rasen 20 minutes ago. 270-odd KM to go. I'm sure the crazy man will cycle on through the night to be in London in time for breakfast and a well deserved 72-hour kip!
Posted 11 years ago # -
LEL VESTED INTEREST UPDATES...
R21 and R22 Arrived Brampton at 20.59 and 20.55.A30 - Market Rassen at 21.11 (5.30 London start)
VELOMOBILE NEWS (just as I actually spoke to him)
D4 (Lee Perry Yanto Orange Quest Carbon XS Velomobile) - Kirkton 21.23 (6.30 London start)SELECTION OF NON-STANDARD MACHINES
LEL 2013 - Moultoneers don't fold under pressure! by LaidBackBikes, on Flickr
Brompton not used on a train for at least three days by LaidBackBikes, on Flickr
LEL 2013 Darkerside Metabike heading in by LaidBackBikes, on FlickrNot forgetting.... Bruce and Ulli (and others) had less sleep than Rob. I was feeling tired just thinking about it....
Bruce and Rob (Ulli at the counter) by LaidBackBikes, on FlickrPosted 11 years ago # -
"London in time for breakfast and a well deserved 72-hour kip!"
You mean he's not riding straight home...
Posted 11 years ago # -
@AlexDRobertson: .@cocteautriplets setting off at 1am ford final push. Still on track for sub 80hr !
Posted 11 years ago # -
LEL 2013 - Moultoneers don't fold under pressure
Yes but let us hope they don't collapse!
Posted 11 years ago # -
I couldn't see anythign unusual about this rider's hands. Kinda makes sense, though - you add a few hundred grammes if that, and get a twofold increase in surface area for resting hands.
Beautiful bespoke 953 steel trike. An odd mix of retro and futurism.
I guess the rider didn't trust LBS' along the way to stock spare wee wheels.
Apparently it takes more than 700k to make Darkerside glum.
The two riders here weren't massively tall, but look at the size of the frames!
It bunted. Lots.
Darkerside on his merry way to Laaahndon.
I think I got there at 4.30pm on Monday, admitted defeat at 2pm-ish on Tuesday and got less than 26 minutes sleep in the interim.
Pretty amazing experience, although not (in the strictest definition of the word) restful.
An interesting spectrum of rider, from young gaunt lizardy performance beast to improbably lean and leathery old veterans to shattered walking corpses that plainly wanted their Mum to persons of such undaunted jollity that you'd think they'd arisen from a sea of silk-clad floofy duvets in some Alpine spa.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Respect to them all. Looking at that picture of darkerside cheerfully waving as he sets off south, I couldn't help but think that if I had just cycled all the way from London back home to Edinburgh, the thought of doing it all again in reverse would crush me. Imagine your nice comfy bed waiting for you just a few miles away....Why is he not weeping?
Posted 11 years ago # -
Darkerside is at Barnard Castle 6.40
He had to sort lights. Luxos has had some problem. Did ask if it was all working ok yesterday and he was happy. This set up from Busch + Muller allows the dynamo to charge a lithium battery. The battery then can top up Garmin. Doing both lighting and USB charging is
maybe the problem.
Rear light runs from it as well. Of course he has backup lights. The thing is that on the suvival event that this is, everything becomes hard work. Simple dynamo lights are easy to sort but addition of a battery makes diagnosing more difficult.
He'll dig in and get back on road once rested I'm sure.Posted 11 years ago # -
There is NO (word unsuiable for this forum) WAY that I would do any distance on my Brompton, let alone LEL.
(Doing LEL itself goes on the "hmmm, well, maybe, but unlikely" pile. There are other things that I want to do more than that.)Posted 11 years ago # -
I thought Audaxers relished every km on a bike fimm! ;-)
It is way beyond anything I could imagine. Apart from the Brompton there are running bikes called Elliptigos!
For those that tweet send encouragement to @darkerside
This is survival on a bike and just because 1000 people are involved it is by no means a 'normal' audax (do they exist?)
Posted 11 years ago # -
Spotted a large number of LEL riders yesterday afternoon. I was riding the Saltire 200k perm, which has a control in Innerleithen. There is a section of the route which interests with the LEL route.
First sighting was rider X17 on Innerleithen High Street, then a 'bent (Darkerside? Looked like him, couldn't see the number) then LOADS of other riders! Quite a few had a double take at me because I was obviously riding an audax (beard, Carradice, steel bike, route sheet holder, Audax Ecosse jersey).
As I headed up Glentress en route to the A7 there was a steady stream of LEL riders coming the other way, a very international crowd by the looks of it. I gave each one a cheery greeting as I passed. Again a few were convinced I was also on LEL: one chap even quipped: "Are you going the wrong way?"
Posted 11 years ago # -
Oh looks as though the boy ARobComp will be in that there London soon. Into St Ives just before 8am...
Posted 11 years ago # -
UPDATE: It must have been Darkerside that I spotted in Innerleithen yesterday, as he checked into Traquair the same time as rider X17 (who was just a few yards ahead).
Posted 11 years ago # -
D4 Lee 'Yanto' Perry arrived in his Quest Carbon Velomobile at 10.20. That was quite a run.
He is a seasoned racer with the BHPC and has had his velomobile at over 60mph on occasions. From BHPC forum " total time of just under 75 hours for an average speed of about 19kph including stops"
http://forum.bhpc.org.uk/london-to-edinburgh-and-back-to-london_topic4870_page6.htmlA30 Alex is not far behind.... a fantastic performance too.
Well done to them but think of the others still out there.
LB LEL EXTRA
A28 Optima Baron ridden by German guy got in at 9.30 from 5.30 start. Of course lots of others in now... not sure if there is a summary anywhere to see how times compare.Posted 11 years ago # -
WELL DONE A30 ARobComp/ Alex!
http://www.londonedinburghlondon.com/lastseen?rider_no=A30&rider_name=&submit=Track+Rider
Arrived at 13.25. Fantastic effort.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Well Done!! to ARobComp and everybody else!!
Posted 11 years ago # -
Tweeted just now: "79 hours 50 minutes. 1430km total. Bike was amazing. Body hurts. London Edinburgh London 2013. That was (brutally) awesome."
Jeepers, that is impressive.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I've designed a cake in honour of event. In fridge at Pastures (made by Jane there). Will share with any volunteers (hangers on) with nice cup of tea. Or a beer maybe.
Will be stale by time they get back up here....
LEL 'the cake' by LaidBackBikes, on FlickrPosted 11 years ago # -
What a star, ARobComp! Fantastic effort.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Amazing effort and an inspiring achievement. Well done, Alex!
Posted 11 years ago #
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