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01-03-13, 03:20 AM

#47

contango

2 Fat 2 Furious

Join Date: Nov 2010

Location: England

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Bikes: 2009 Specialized Rockhopper Comp Disc, 2009 Specialized Tricross Sport RIP

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Wogster

It can be done, maybe....

First you need to look at a route, is it possible without going on Motorways, a quick look at Google maps, makes it look possible, but Google maps is not known for it's accuracy outside the United States, it's better then Apple Maps, but that's not saying much.

Second, you need to look at your volunteers bicycles, anyone with a proper road bike (even an old one), has possibilities, anyone with a BSO, take a pass.

Third, you need to look at your volunteers physical condition, if they are in good shape, then they are possible, the 5 stone overweight, 50+ guy, uh, no.
Fourth, you need to look at your volunteers families, anyone with a child under the age of three, forget it.
Fifth, you need to look at your volunteers, job. If it's a guy who works regular hours, okay, if he works 60+ hours a week, he will not be able to make the time commitment.

Now take the guys you have left, drive the route, look for the steepest hill along the way, have them ride back about 10 miles, then U turn and ride back, so the last thing they get to is that hill. This is the last test, if anyone makes it, they have a chance.

Now they need a bike computer, they need to start at 10 miles per ride, riding 4 times a week, with one of the rides on the weekend. The weekend ride, gets 5 miles added on, every week, from now until August. They will then be able to handle 180 miles, easy.

You can certainly do it without using motorways and major A-roads. The route might be a bit round-the-houses but it can be done. I just ran a route through bikeroutetoaster.com (taking a guess as to precisely where in Eastbourne and precisely where in Bath) and it suggested a route of 143 miles (it would need a bit of tweaking as it used a short section of the A303, a road people from the south of England will know isn't a first choice of roads to ride). That said you raise an interesting issue that I didn't notice anyone else touching on, namely route sheets.

If you've got people who might get separated everyone needs a route sheet, everyone needs to keep up with where they are on the route sheet, and someone has to generate the route, verify the route (ideally riding it to check it for bike suitability) etc. Then you've got potential issues of whether to take a short route over a huge hill or a long route to go around it, just how fast/busy a road needs to be before it's deemed unsuitable for the group, etc. If you (the OP) proposes a route and the riders hate it you've got another way they can criticise you for how badly you managed the whole thing.

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