Riders, Route and Timing

Zippy

Guest
Our rider is: Ela (Pumpy) :clap

Support riders are:

Jim (Burfcontrol)
Steve M (Beemer - tbc )
Steve H (Zippy)

(sorry if I've missed anyone - just shout !!)

I've tried to distill this info from the other thread: If anything isn't quite right here, please post and we'll correct it as we go. :thumb

Also, if you want to join in and keep Ela company, please feel free to post here and we'll add you to the list.


Steve
 
Just realised that the link above takes you to the original route (courtesy of Whatton and Bill GSer) posted earlier in the main thread.

For my dry run in March I asked for the MapSource file and was given the one of the "official" route". Funnily enough nobody told me that the itinerary had changed (although I asked explicitly... :rolleyes: ) and so there were plenty of frustration, U-turns and swearing that day - apart from being freezing cold...

However, the whole run took me five hours including a fuel, wee & sandwich stop, and as we have six hours allocated for the real thing I would be happy to try the scenic route on the 19th.

Then we can make a realistic estimate and tailor the route to our needs, combining stretches from both proposals and finding the best compromise between fast enough and not getting too bored... ;)

If there is anybody else around who wants to join Jim and me next Saturday on the recce run please let us know - just post here.

Cheers,

Ela
 
Ella
Sorry for not responding earlier - I'm having trouble getting regular internet access here. Still Ok for Saturday (assuming flights are not cancelled :( ). 10:00 at services is fine for me, let me know if you want to go later, I'll have a look Friday night - not got mapsource on my laptop - for a more interesting route so we don't get too bored!

Steve - you're doing a great job, shame you can't join us on Saturday.
 
Hi Jim,

Thanks for the confirmation that you are still up for the recce run (I've just cancelled the off-road day on the Surrey lanes with the Guildford posse on Saturday... :( ).

No need to look for another route - let's just ride the original one. I will plot the waypoints into MapSource during the week and can send you the file if you want.

CU on Saturday, 10.00 is still fine with me.

Beemer, hope you are coming to the East Midlands do though?
 
Hi Ela / Jim,

Just got back from hols!!!
Nice and relaxed (despite the M25's best attempts) - I'll see how long that lasts! :D

How'd the ride go?

Steve
 
Hi Steve - I got back about half an hour ago - expect Ela will be another hour or so. Ride went well, we took a couple of detours and generally enjoyed ourselves.

Time wise we completed about 3/4 of the route - didn't do the last 60 miles of the A27/M27 stretch from Brighton - instead popped in on my brother for a cup of coffee (after I got lost trying to find petrol station :eek: )
Checking my GPS when I got home, we covered just on 200 miles in 4hrs. So if we add on say 1hr 10mins for the last 60 mile stretch (being conservative it's open dual carriageway) that leaves us 50 mins for food fuel and 'freshening up' on the day. We also had to contend with heavy traffic 'cos the M2 was closed between J5&6 and we were diverted onto the A2. I guess this will reflect some of the traffic we'll encounter around rush hour on the day.
Down side is we can't get too creative with any scenic routes on the day, we did add on a loop to take in Beachy Head today, may need to skip that, let's see how we get on.

All in all a fun day, great to meet Ela - lovely lady, good company, very patient with my odd detour and a bloody good rider.

Ela - thanks for a fun day, remember I'll buy the food next time (and no bubble & squeak :D )
 
Jim,

Sounds like good fun. (Bubble and Squeak :eek: )

Whereabouts on route does it look likely for a tea and petrol stop?

We may be a little luckier with the traffic on the day given our projected start time - I guess 16:30-18:00 should see us past the M2/A2 and doing the coastal bit around East Kent - I guess?

Do you have a route list? Road numbers / turn list or similar I could use to mark up a map?

I've not yet managed to justify a GPS to add to the list of things on the GS (but working on it with SWMBO...:D )

Cheers
Steve
 
Steve - should have something for you tomorrow on the route list.
Starting at 15:00 after about 150 miles should put us around Bexhill/Eastbourne at about 18:00. I reckon this would be a good time & place for a break. We ran it a bit fine for fuel on Saturday :eek:

Cheers Jim :beer:

edit: Right, just had a chat with my sister in Bexhill. Her recommendation is the Esso station on the A259/A27 junction just outside Pevensey. It's on the route so I suggest we plan to stop there for a bite and fuel stop.
 
Burfcontrol said:
Steve - see if you can make sense of this, let me know if not and I'll try to sort something else for you. :bounce1

:beerjug: Jim

Jim,

Thanks for that - its perfect.
I'll have a look in more detail and plot it onto my GPS substitute :thumb

Cheers
Steve :beer:
 
Yippieee - got my PC back.

Ok, so the lazy Saturday was all my fault... :D

First obstacle was the language barrier - Jim and I were supposed to meet at Thurrock Services. Well, my bike always comes first so I thought this would mean the service station in order to fill up. Arrived at twenty to 10:00 and waited... and waited... and waited...

Twenty past 10:00 and no Jim in sight... Called him on his mobile and found out that he had been waiting 200 yards further up at the restaurants - that's priorities clarified then... :rolleyes: One point we better agree on with the Region 1 team before the 5th September.

Around 10:30 I finally had the pleasure to meet Jim in person:
90001738-M.jpg


Another photo and ten minutes later we actually got going:
90001739-M.jpg


Only to stop again at the next roundabout and help an old Swedish guy on his Vulcan to find his way to the A13... So I think the proper start time was rather 11:10?

After a very enjoyable ride through the residential areas of Sandwich, a closer inspection of the Pfizer estate and a detour to Deal I caused Jim to perform an emergency break in Folkestone next to a roadsign promising sandwiches and all-day breakfast: "Me hungry!".

Well, and if you have just met somebody you obviously want to get to know him a bit better - so we kept chatting for another hour (which was also my fault, as I kept saying: I know from my dry run in March that we can do the fast version of this route in five hours - so let's do the scenic one and see how far we get...).

Approaching Eastbourne we saw a lot of posters by the road advertising a special airshow that day "Airbourne" - and Beachy Head turned out to be the perfect view point...
90001743-M.jpg


Eastbourne in the distance (and my conventional SLR zoom is still better... :D )
90001740-M.jpg


Can we stay another ten minutes, please?
90001742-M.jpg


You know the rest of the story - pretending he was looking for a filling station Jim used the opportunity for another detour leading to Steyning where his brother and family live. All lovely people, I have to say, and the coffee and biscuits were rather nice.

By then we had been on (and off...) the road for eleven hours (at least me, starting at 8:20 from Oxford) and decided to call it a day. Said goodbye to Jim, pressed the "home" button and took the scenic route back north (which was a bit pointless due to rain and darkness). Arrived shortly after 22:00, being welcomed by a slightly worried Possu...

What a great day! We had so much fun, Jim is not a bad rider himself, and I am really looking forward to the "proper" run - even though we can't afford to slob about to the same extend... Ok, Jim?

Will check out your map-file tonight - just in case you have managed to smuggle in another of your odd detours... ;)

CU soon,

Ela :)
 
camera

HI ,
Great to see you had a wonderful day, :thumb as I said when I did you map take your camera, Its a great area to ride in. Good point about the meet on the 5th at Thurrock.see you on the day.
Bill :beerjug:
 
Hi Ela - good to have you/your PC back. :thumb

I just gave a simple word document to Steve with the key junctions and roads as he doesn't have GPS, here is the actual Mapsource file.

I left in the loop through Pevensey and Eastbourne but not all the way down to Beachy Head, took out the stretch we did through Folkestone and replaced it with the original leg on the A/M20, and I've included our loop into Deal for you.

Happy with whatever combination we choose on the day.

Can I suggest we meet up with the leg 1 riders at the cafe entrance/car park rather than the petrol station - we'll certainly need to be there well in advance and it's a better place for photo's/parking/generally hanging about.

It's gonna be a good day :hapybnce: :hapybnce: :wave :hapybnce:
 

Attachments

  • PWA route 2.gdb
    145.4 KB · Views: 162
Burfcontrol said:
Can I suggest we meet up with the leg 1 riders at the cafe entrance/car park rather than the petrol station - we'll certainly need to be there well in advance and it's a better place for photo's/parking/generally hanging about.


OK no problems... :)

We'll make sure we contact you well in advance so your ready and waiting for the change-over.
 
Hi Jim,

Thanks for the map - the route looks good and the fact that you left the little dotted white lines in the file made me giggle... :)

Meeting at the café rather than the petrol station is absolutely fine with me - I plan to leave Oxford around midday and arrive well in advance (just in case Karen is speeding all the way down from Kings Lynn and gets away with it... :D ).

I was just thinking what we could do to make the reason for our run more visible to the public. I will wear the pink bra obviously, but what about you and the other fellow riders? As I am going to buy a Pink Way T-Shirt for me anyway, I could order stickers for our team at the same time. (I also considered buying XXXL shirts for all of you to wear over your leathers but that would get a bit too expensive... :rolleyes: ).

Have a look and let me know.

Cheers - it's going to be a great day! :thumb

Ela
 
Ela - what a good idea. :thumb

I'll be ordering my t-shirt tomorrow, I'll order some stickers too, then Steve and I can 'sticker up' before we set off for Dartford.

I've had a good response from Heine Gericke in Maidstone, they've got some posters and are going to put a collection tin out in the shop for anyone who wants to donate. I still haven't made contact with their PR manager, hoping to talk to him this week.

Steve - good news - I'm gonna be in the country for the next week or 2 (God bless Russian customs officers :D ) so maybe we can meet up one evening - any time good for you? - Ah, just remembered, might be off to Assen at weekend, so early week would be better for me.

Cheers Jim
 
Ordered my T-shirt and a couple of stickers!

Looking forward to next week.

Steve
 
Hope to be there....

...the plan is to ride to work and leave Chelmsford at 13.30 at the latest to be at the services in good time for the 15.02 start of leg 2.

Not posted before due to general numpty activity in paying sponsorship :rolleyes:
 


Back
Top Bottom