# LEL 2017: alarms set for 15.55 and 23.55 today (15/9)



## jefmcg (14 Sep 2015)

If you want to ride London Edinburgh London in 2 years time, your best chance is to acquire a place tomorrow (assuming you aren't already a member of AUK or otherwise have a reserved space).

http://londonedinburghlondon.com/2015/09/news-about-tomorrows-deposit-sale/


> Tomorrow we’re selling 300 places for London Edinburgh London 2017, and you can secure yours for a £100 deposit.
> 
> We’ll release 100 tickets at 07:00 GMT, another 100 at 15:00 GMT, and the final batch at 23:00 GMT.


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## Simpleton (14 Sep 2015)

Can you resell the place on ebay?


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## DCLane (14 Sep 2015)

However, if you were an Audax UK member in early March you've 2 weeks advance entry in Jan 2017 before it opens to all and sundry.

I'll wait until then methinks ...


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## marcusjb (14 Sep 2015)

07:00 GMT = 08:00 BST


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## EltonFrog (15 Sep 2015)

It seems very expensive. What do you get for £320?

Edit: Not a lot it seems reading the site. Some food, somewhere to sleep, a shower, towels and mech support if you need it.

1500 riders @£320= £480,000, plus 100 quid if you want to register a support car, plus you can buy a jersey if you want one.


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## jefmcg (15 Sep 2015)

CarlP said:


> It seems very expensive. What do you get for £320?


Find me another cycle event offering anywhere near that at £64/day, that isn't an audax. WCW was cheaper, but run by the same team. The were able to entirely run it using volunteers. 

I did it 2 years and it was about 2/3 the cost at extremely good VFM. At that price they had to be reliant on volunteers too much, so are paying more people to do the unpleasant tasks (cleaning) and the highly skilled tasks (more cooks than last time).

I think people like the young man who replaced my rear gear cable at 3am in a tiny village in the Scottish borders even though he'd only worked with downtube shifters before will still be doing it for free. 

Anyway, not to worry if it's more than you want to pay, it will sell out again. 

And no, you can't ebay your spot, if you could it would all go to scalpers.


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## jefmcg (15 Sep 2015)

marcusjb said:


> 07:00 GMT = 08:00 BST


My bad. Did it too quickly.

Though getting up two hours early might have been a good idea. When the last of the first hundred were sold, seventy people were still entering their details


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## cyberknight (15 Sep 2015)

5.55 am ? Lie in


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## jefmcg (15 Sep 2015)

Updated thread title


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## Pale Rider (16 Sep 2015)

CarlP said:


> It seems very expensive. What do you get for £320?
> 
> Edit: Not a lot it seems reading the site. Some food, somewhere to sleep, a shower, towels and mech support if you need it.
> 
> 1500 riders @£320= £480,000, plus 100 quid if you want to register a support car, plus you can buy a jersey if you want one.



It looks good value when you realise how the riders do the event, which is riding for as long as they can with as short rest breaks as they can manage

Day and night cease to have much meaning on LEL because most riders only stop for a few hours at a time.

It is a great benefit to them to know all of the controls are open 24 hours a day, and they are guaranteed full service whenever they arrive.

No need to book, so they can make route progress decisions as they go along, stopping at the controls for as long or short time as they like.

Thy can eat and drink as much as they like, and some effort is made to tailor the food towards the needs of cyclists.

There is a bag drop system so the rider can organise access to clean kit.

Self-reliance is at the heart of audax, but the riders know the controls will assist in any reasonable way, and are certainly the place to head for if they get into difficulties, if they are able to head anywhere.

At Barnard Castle we had a few suffering from exhaustion, and two riders of which I am aware who had fallen and were very glad of the basic medical treatment we could offer - "wash the gravel out in the shower and we will slap a bandage on it".

If you make full use of the controls, it is possible to complete the ride without spending any additional money.

Some do that, and I believe most only spend a few pounds on treats - I heard ice creams mentioned quite a few times.

So, as @jefmcg says, about £64 a day is pretty good for being looked after by hosts who understand your needs as a long distance cyclist.


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## jefmcg (17 Sep 2015)

Just realised why this seems expensive. Similar rides are usually done for charity, and hide the cost by taking it out of donations. Eg http://www.macmillan.org.uk/get-inv...t-detail/1049/londontopariscyclechallenge2016 seems to only cost £150, but in fact another £608 comes out of the donations, so it's in fact 2.3 times more expensive.


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## DCLane (17 Sep 2015)

IMO it's very good value.

PBP cost £120 entry plus extras for things like a bed, shower, food, drinks, etc.

I only used the shower and bed once but ate at every control; £6-10 a time over the number of controls would be about £150.

I'm happy to pay the £320 entry fee.


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## Pikey (19 Sep 2015)

I was toying with getting up and entering as I bloody well want to get a place, but I'm an auk member. 

Was still gonna pay the deposit until Mrs P said that I would potentially be taking a place from someone else, not an auk member, when I could just wait for the auk reserved places later.

I think she was right, and I listened to her, not at all to use as leverage to get my new trike early for the event you understand....


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## Pikey (19 Sep 2015)

DCLane said:


> However, if you were an Audax UK member in early March you've 2 weeks advance entry in Jan 2017 before it opens to all and sundry.
> 
> I'll wait until then methinks ...



I just hope there are enough places for us auks and there aren't any server overloads for two weeks etc... Eeeek.


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## jefmcg (19 Sep 2015)

Pikey said:


> I just hope there are enough places for us auks and there aren't any server overloads for two weeks etc... Eeeek.



There will be. In 2013, they eventually offered places to everyone on the waiting list that was an AUK member when the entries went on sale, so they have a fair idea of how many AUK member will take it up. 4-600 apparently.

But they have already said that if all 6000 eligible AUKs want to ride, they will accommodate them.

https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=92921.msg1919591#msg1919591

Alwyn speaks with authority.


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## Pikey (19 Sep 2015)

jefmcg said:


> There will be. In 2013, they eventually offered places to everyone on the waiting list that was an AUK member when the entries went on sale, so they have a fair idea of how many AUK member will take it up. 4-600 apparently.
> 
> But they have already said that if all 6000 eligible AUKs want to ride, they will accommodate them.
> 
> ...





My mind is officially at rest.

I'd better get my backside into gear and buy my trike then!


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## PpPete (20 Sep 2015)

Pale Rider said:


> I
> If you make full use of the controls, it is possible to complete the ride without spending any additional money.
> Some do that, and I believe most only spend a few pounds on treats - I heard ice creams mentioned quite a few times.


Over the course of the 5 days of the 2013 edition I really pushed the boat out and managed to spend a whole £5 outside of the controls.
An ice-cream at Alston on the Monday afternoon after Yad Moss, another one, and a can of coke, on the Thursday afternoon (it was the hottest day of the year)


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## Pale Rider (20 Sep 2015)

PpPete said:


> Over the course of the 5 days of the 2013 edition I really pushed the boat out and managed to spend a whole £5 outside of the controls.
> An ice-cream at Alston on the Monday afternoon after Yad Moss, another one, and a can of coke, on the Thursday afternoon (it was the hottest day of the year)



Top man.

Purely hypothetically, if I completed LEL I'm sure my ice cream sense of entitlement number would be greater than two.


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## jefmcg (20 Sep 2015)

I had one ice cream I think, but the last day I spent up big on a slap up breakfast (as Pocklington had run out of hot food) when I was still pretending I could finish, and a piggy lunch in Market Rasen, while waiting for my train of shame after abandoning.







I don't expect either to happen next time, cause the team are well aware of the food running out problem, at that is one reason it's going to be a little more expensive; and I am am not abandoning next time. You can prise that bike out of my cold, dead hands otherwise I will be in London.


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## Simpleton (20 Sep 2015)

I'll be there. I'm looking forward to this ride and the organisation behind it.


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## Pale Rider (20 Sep 2015)

jefmcg said:


> You can prise that bike out of my cold, dead hands otherwise I will be in London.



A couple of the riders said to me they regarded LEL as more of a mental challenge than a physical one.

Clearly, you need to be physically able to complete any ride, but with that attitude, I have no doubt you will do it.


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