Event Details
Club: | Lakeland Lanequests |
Event Name: | Lakeland Bike O - Spark Bridge |
Date: | 04/06/13 |
Format: | Bike O |
Mapping: | Ordnance Survey |
Time Limit: | 2 hours |
National League: | - |
League: | Lakeland Bike O 2013 (Round 1 of 6) |
Electronic Punch: | No |
Event Report
Tom Gibbs, winner of last year’s Lanequest series, has thrown down the gauntlet to his challengers by winning the opening event of the 2013 series. For Gibbs, this evening event was relatively short, he commented:
“I was surprised to do well last night, as I had done a 2 day, 5 stage Adventure Race at the weekend”.
120 competitors enjoyed ideal sunny conditions on dry roads for organiser Carol McNeil’s challenging course, starting and finishing at the Farmer’s Arms, Spark Bridge and taking in lanes between Pennington in the south-west and Colton in the north-east.
Gibbs was the only rider to visit all 30 controls just inside the two hours allowed, scoring 300 points. David Heffernan (280) was second and Bryan Singleton (274) third.
The women’s class saw a tie for first place between racing cyclist Anne Plant and orienteer Jo Cleary both with 226 points. Lisa Whetter (210) was third.
In the generation pairs, it was last year’s series winners in this class, Jack and James Smith (205) who led the way. Hannah Cleary-Hughes and Chris Stevens (170) were second, with Sharron & Briege Hutchinson (150) in third.
Rachel & Mike Toyn (224), riding tandem, were the best adult pair, ahead of
Andrew & Sarah Crozier (210) and Rebecca Delbridge & Hazel Robinson (200).
Alistair Bramwell had a front tyre blow-out (pothole?), descending at Mansriggs and fell heavily. People were with him pretty quickly and he is really grateful for their help and support. He was in hospital on Wednesday waiting to get a scan on his hip. His face is messed up but will heal and be fine, bruised left elbow, both knees and left hip.
Organiser Carol McNeil’s optimum route was:
4-8-7-6-12-11-10-9-13-3-2-14-15-18-17-19-30-29-28-27-26-25-23-22-24-16-20-21-5-1
“This was 32.6 miles and came out to 123 on the formula*
Dave had a different route which came out at 32.8 miles and 123.4 on the
Formula. I also had another route, which was also 33 miles.
It seemed to be spot on although I didn't expect anyone to get them all but
I did believe in the formula - which worked.
I didn't really want to leave such a long way between 23 and 22 but didn't
want to have a control in Ulverston itself (I did look) but I wanted a loop
wider than the Pennington - Rosside lanes. Also if I had put any more controls down there it would have disadvantaged the majority of low key riders who I was trying to look after”.
Winner Tom Gibbs:
“I decided to go South first as it seemed to be hard to drop individual checkpoints, whereas to the North looked easier to drop one or two if necessary. The route I took was:
5-16-21-20-24-22-29-27-26-28-25-23-30-19-17-18-15-14-2-1-3-13-9-10-11-12-6-7-8-4
Got 5 and 16 early and it seemed to link in to 24 and 22. Then I did the loop south of Ulverston through 29 to avoid traffic lights and the twisty roads around Pennington were more uphill in this direction. 23 back to 30 used a lot of roads that I do on my commute home from work!
With the top part, I had 40 mins from 1 to the finish so was confident that I could get them. The route I chose meant I could drop 8 right at the end and it would save me a few minutes, but in the end I had enough time to get it. I dropped my chain on the hill back up to the pub and was frantically trying to get it back on - luckily it didn't cost me!”
Runner-up David Heffernan:
“The course was spot on in my view. Controls all located accurately. Map the usual high standard. The distance was fine with the re-calibration of the formula* appearing to succeed in stopping riders scoring lots of bonus points. Tom finished in the final minute of his allotted two hours which is good.
I also was tight on time, getting over the line with 3s to spare by my reckoning. It really hurt me to do that too. The route had some challenging hills and my chosen route had Bessie Bank up to control 13 near the end of the ride when my legs were well gone. I'm not ashamed to admit that I got off my bike and pushed. I think I was just as fast and saved my legs!
So my route:
5 7 6 21 20 24 22 23 25 26 27 28 29 30 19 17 18 15 14 2 3 13 9 10 11 12 8 4
I always planned to miss 16. At the top of a big hill and very hard to connect up in a loop to anything else. I had number 1 as an option if time remained (it did not!) 23->25 was fun. I found the sneaky route through the housing estate. Being an Ulverston resident helped. I know folk that live on that road so that route jumped out at me.
I think other routes may have connected 6 and 7 with 12. Whilst you get a loop and remove out and back, I suspect it's shorter my way.
My route in reverse would make more sense because you leave the out and backs of 6 7 5 and 1 until the end and you can pick and choose according to the time remaining. But the problem with that is that you have to go up Airplane Hill past number 4. That's vile but I suppose you'd get it out of the way with fresh legs.
I hope the rest of the series is as good and has weather to match”.
Third-placed Bryan Singleton:
“First of all the weather was perfect after so many damp starts last year - well done Carol for booking that in advance! I thought the area was a fantastic mix of terrain with long, short climbs, some reasonably flat sections and the urban was a great test of navigation.
I chose to ride an MTB so was always going to struggle to collect all controls. I knew the NE of the map was tough so opted for an anti-clockwise loop taking in west controls towards Pennington and then through Ulverston and then use the remaining time in the NE. Not having a watch was interesting but a couple of fellow riders helped me out with time checks!
16 was a tough one and involved some considered choices, eventually I dropped to 21 first and then back up. Finishing with 5,7,6,12,4,8,9,13,3 and in.
Brilliant ride by Tom to get the extra controls - 10 and 11. Nice one Carol, great start.
Control order: 1-2-14-15-18-17-19-30-29-27-26-28-25-23-22-24-20-21-16-5-7-6-12-4-8-9-13-3”.
Adult pairs winner Rachel Toyn, who rode with Mike and gives an insight into competing on the tandem:
“Hurtling round tiny lanes on the back of the tandem at 'Mike (the pilot)'
speed does feel rather alarming at times, I find myself closing my eyes and
holding on tight. However I've also spent a lot of time as a passenger on
the back of a motorbike which helps with feeling OK about leaning for the
corners.
Regarding the downhill's it's just as well we have disc brakes which are
effective at stopping us quickly. As for going uphill the psychological
advantage of being on the back is that you can't see the hill rising up
before you, and its always possible to get up even the steepest sections, if
rather slowly. We have done a lot of touring with a heavy load so riding the
hills unladen seems OK.
As for our route choice - flattest is always best - so we headed on the
southern loop in an anticlockwise direction and all went well until we made
a navigation error in Ulverston which cost us quite some minutes as we
convinced ourselves "surely we will be able to cut through and join the road
we are meant to be on" (there was no cut through and we had to backtrack)
We had planned to visit 16 and then 5 on our way back through to the finish
but in the end as we still had half an hour left we decided to come through
21 and see what we could pick up on the North East section, only when we got there did we realise it was complicated with a maze of parallel roads, gates and steep hills. We managed 6,12,8,4 and then out and back to 3 before arriving back 3 minutes late. All in all a great event with all the right
ingredients - nice weather, the controls perfectly placed and some difficult
route decisions to make!”
Women’s joint first Jo Cleary:
“For me, an early decision was whether to attempt to first get over to the handful of controls to the north-east of the start / finish, around Colton and Oxen Park, which would involve quite a lot of very steep climbing, or to concentrate on the larger loop of controls to the south-west. I decided to go for the latter first, and do all of them, including those furthest out (beyond Ulverston), as they were on some of the (very few) flatter stretches of the whole course. If I had any time / energy left at the end I'd attempt to mop up a few in the hilliest north-east loop.
The order of my control collection was: 1, 3, 2, 14, 15, 18, 17, 19, 30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, 23, 22, 24, 20, 21, 16, 5, 7, 6.
I then made a bit of tactical error returning back to base via Penny Bridge and the A road, rather than the minor roads via Tottlebank. I wrongly assumed the former would be shorter and flatter. It wasn't”.
*The Formula: Lanequest distance/climb calculation
Background: The Lanequest scoring system (best 4 scores from 6 events) works best if each event is equally hard. By equally hard, I mean that the same competitor, performing at the same level, will score the same points on each event.
Starting from the 2011 series, a calculation has been used to work out how hard an event will be based on the length of the optimum route and the amount of climbing involved. This calculation has proven to be reliable over a number of events held in varying locations.
The calculation
The way to calculate the difficulty of an event is:
3 times the Distance + 0.017 times the amount of climbing
Or 3D + 0.017C (Distance must measured in Miles and Climb must be measured in feet.) The aim for 2013 and onwards until further notice is that the result of the calculation should be between 123 and 127.