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Its the C5's 25th birthday next year - who's up for a L2B Run ?

Oh YES! Count me in Even tho I will have to pay
Oh No! I've done it already
Perhaps
No thanks !
Yes but only if it does not cost me anything.

Author Topic: London To Brighton 2010  (Read 14263 times)

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Offline Umpa

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London To Brighton 2010
« on: 05, August, 2009 - 10:56:15 »
At Amberly I spoke to a man (I forget his name sorry) who did the lands end john o groats on an eclectic bike.  He told me that they might be holding a London To Brighton run around September 2010.

As its the C5's 25th year - I figured it would be an awesome thing to do.  Its not the first time L2B has been done on a C5 - in fact our very own Karl (Booboo) has done it, but as its the 25th I was hoping that it would be done again.

Waddya say guys / Gal's - lets face it the next time a major birthday comes up we'll all be to old to take part - so its a once in a life time celebration !

There are many things to sort out - finance is one of them, it costs a fair bit to do an event like this so I doubt it will be a totally free event, just for a start there will be batteries - support vehicle /  fuel costs etc. Given that we have over a year to prepare (and start saving) - who will take up the challenge and set the C5 in a good heading for the next 25 years ?

Offline minidaz

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Re: London To Brighton 2010
« Reply #1 on: 05, August, 2009 - 11:15:36 »
As someone who quite fancies a long distance C5 trip, L2B sounds like a great idea, so i'll put my name down  ;D

You might find aswell that if it is for charity, then people are happier to spend a bit of money organising it  :)

Daz

Offline Umpa

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Re: London To Brighton 2010
« Reply #2 on: 05, August, 2009 - 11:22:08 »
I forgot to mention about charities, its early days yet but I was thinking that too.  It might be that we could all support one - or each our own.  My choice would be Diabetes UK.

Offline radiomarty

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Re: London To Brighton 2010
« Reply #3 on: 05, August, 2009 - 11:41:28 »
Add me to the list of unfit L2B wanna bees !!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm happy to support your charity Umpa - if we stick with one we will make a bigger impact for them.Regards the cost if poss can we get a rough idea from our L2B veteran (Karl) so I can start finding a sponsor.

Offline minidaz

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Re: London To Brighton 2010
« Reply #4 on: 05, August, 2009 - 12:57:35 »
I agree with Marty in sticking with just one main charity, rather than spreading it out per person.

Helps stop any confusion when contacting people for sponsership / donations etc. Also, the charity might be more happy to help promote the event either by advertising on their site, or donating material such as badges, balloons etc if they are the only one. 

I recently emailed Karl as i was after a bit of info regarding lejog and L2B.
I'm sure he wont mind  ;D , i've copied the reply i got ...L2B bit... below.

The May 2007 London-Brighton "c5alive" run was about 64 miles, and involved
seven c5's on the road looked after by a large support van carrying over 60
car batteries plus a spare C5,tools,snacks etc. We also had Ray (aka
"c515mph" on the forum) following in his estate car as a "fend off" vehicle
to stop traffic rear-ending the slow moving convoy of seven c5's. The
support van would meet us at pre-determined "rest stops" that were five
miles apart, where we could take a toilet break, swop batteries, grab a
drink etc. Stops were limited to 10mins if possible, once we set off the van
would wait a while before driving ahead to the next rest stop. Ray stayed
with the group of C5's with a couple of the spare batteries, and a few tools
in case of emergencies, in the back of his car.

The journey went well, with the first half (London-Crawley) only taking
about four hours. We had a c5 break down with a broken gearbox in Coulsdon,
but it was placed in the van and we carried on with the spare. The half way
rest stop at my place in Crawley took about 90mins because we had to repair
the damaged C5 in case it was needed later on (which it was...).

The second half of the journey, Crawley to Brighton, took forever and was
the most demanding part of the day. We were all tired and so were the
batteries. We basically ran out and ended up using half charged batteries.
It was the second half of the day that made me vow never to repeat the
experience. The physical effort of all that pedaling was also taking its
toll, and some of those hills never seemed to end ! Several C5's, mine
included, began to overheat and cut out.

Eventually we did crawl our way into Preston Park, Brighton - but it left me
completely exhausted. I was however also left with a huge sense of
achievement and still look back on the event with a large amount of pride.

Daz

Offline Umpa

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Re: London To Brighton 2010
« Reply #5 on: 05, August, 2009 - 13:19:37 »
Yeah it's not going to be easy, but we have enough time to get fit(er).

Karl

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Re: London To Brighton 2010
« Reply #6 on: 05, August, 2009 - 15:12:00 »
It isnt just fitness, you'll also need to prep your C5 - full service, new tyres,tubes & brake cables and ensure you have a cooling fan fitted. Plus at least 8 batteries for each c5. This is to try and reduce any potential breakdowns to the absolute minimum.


Not wanting to put too much of a dampner on this guys, but staging the last L2B cost me and Mark (previous owner c5alive) approx £1k  :o This was made up of catering costs on the day (plus previous night for those staying over at my place),van rental, diesel, servicing the c5's and purchasing essential additional batteries/accessories etc. Not to mention time/fuel for planning & checking the route, and my electricity bill for charging all those batteries...

I'm not saying dont do it, just look at all the aspects of what's involved before deciding.

Sponsorship was impossible to find even before the credit crunch, and media interest was also minimal.


Offline minidaz

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Re: London To Brighton 2010
« Reply #7 on: 05, August, 2009 - 15:34:48 »
We could always pedal the 64 miles to keep costs down  :D

Daz

Offline minidaz

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Re: London To Brighton 2010
« Reply #8 on: 05, August, 2009 - 15:52:09 »
Karl, when you did the run, what kind of roads were you driving on ?

Were you able to stick to cycle paths at all or was it mostly playing with the cars on the main roads ?


Offline Umpa

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Re: London To Brighton 2010
« Reply #9 on: 05, August, 2009 - 17:43:14 »
Yeah I figured it will be expensive, but we have the time to save. I don't want anyone out of pocket on this, it's going to have to be a team effort both financially as well as physically.

Well it's early days, and I'm not sure how to go about doing this, I am hoping Karl will do this and put his vast experiance in organising events in to play.

I just want to say - I don't want anyone to feel pressured in to doing the run. Like the tv advert says " you don't have to fly to be in thr RAF '

Karl

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Re: London To Brighton 2010
« Reply #10 on: 05, August, 2009 - 21:03:55 »
Karl, when you did the run, what kind of roads were you driving on ?

Were you able to stick to cycle paths at all or was it mostly playing with the cars on the main roads ?



The London-Crawley section of the run was easiest in that we used a mixture of the bus lanes,cycle paths and main roads.  Starting early on a Sunday morning helped, when London is at its quietest  :) But you do still have to contend with fast moving traffic in several places.

Crawley-Brighton section was the most scary ,with fast moving fairly narrow "B" roads - hence the absolute need for a "fend-off" vehicle.  Plus the hills are a lot worse, so the convoy of C5's slow right down.

Again, this isnt scare tactics, just want everyone to be fully aware of what they will be facing  :-\

 

Offline Retro Andy

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Re: London To Brighton 2010
« Reply #11 on: 05, August, 2009 - 21:22:01 »
This is a great idea, i can't say at this point if i would be able to attend if it went ahead, but i'm sure if it was for charity then it might bring the costs down maybe, people alway like to help out for a good course, what if Brooklands was involved ? I would like to do London to Brighton, so we will have to talk more at future meatings.

Retro Andy.

Offline minidaz

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Re: London To Brighton 2010
« Reply #12 on: 06, August, 2009 - 08:17:41 »
While googling i came accross this site :

http://www.freewebs.com/cycleroutes/

Just wondered how it compares to yours Karl ?

Daz

Karl

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Re: London To Brighton 2010
« Reply #13 on: 06, August, 2009 - 14:41:27 »
While googling i came accross this site :

http://www.freewebs.com/cycleroutes/

Just wondered how it compares to yours Karl ?

Daz

That route looks quite interesting, mine went the other side of the A23  - might take a drive along it and see what the hills are like...

Offline alan1310

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Re: London To Brighton 2010
« Reply #14 on: 10, August, 2009 - 14:43:04 »
does it have to be l2b i no its famous and all that but what about cambridge to hunstanton or something along those lines its around the same miles but all flat all on easy roads just an idea guys but will be up for it werever it is