Fool’s Gold – Report
My first attempt at this challenge, or indeed any gold level challenge, didn’t quite turn out as planned, but, barring any mishaps in scrutiny, should have at least got me my first BB1500.
I’d worked out my route using Autoroute and, in order to complete it within the 24 hours required by the challenge, I had to put the average speed sliders for each type of road (motorway, main road etc.) a little higher than usual…but I guess that’s why it’s a gold level challenge. If I started bang on 00:00, it had calculated that I would finish at 23:44. 16 minutes isn’t a lot of room for delays, but it is what it is.
One of the troubles I have is that, with a stock fuel tank, my range is about 180 miles and the corner locations of the route that I had to make sure I checked in at, means that I was refuelling in between some of them, before I really needed to, which all takes time. I had a total of 12 stops not including the start and finish…that’s around an hour of stopping time.
After saying goodbyes, it was round the corner to the local petrol station. I checked with the attendant before paying for my fuel, the till was showing 23:59, so I let the person behind me go first…who then took ages, so it was 00:02 by the time I got my recent…2 minutes gone already!
At this time of night, the run up the M90 to Perth was quiet, so I’d caught one of those minutes back by the time I arrived. I didn’t need fuel, so an ATM receipt to show the relevant details would do, and it was on to Hamilton southbound.
I’d managed to get 2 minutes ahead of schedule by the time I got there, so it was looking good. At least it was until I tried to go to the loo to find that truckers had taken all of them! No time to wait, so I’d just have to hold on until Scotch Corner.
It was a really cold night, so it wasn’t the most enjoyable journey I’ve ever had, but I got to Scotch Corner 9 minutes ahead of schedule, so it was still looking good…and luckily the loo was empty. Next stop was near Peterborough and somehow, I’d managed to fall 6 minutes behind time. It was probably down to the 50 mph limit roadwork sections that they stick on in the dead of night. Tempting as it was to ignore that speed limit, the law is the law…
Still within my margin for error thought 25% into the time, so I was happy enough. As I punched in my next location, Dover, the arrival time had my arriving about 20 minutes behind??? I couldn’t figure out why until I had a chance to look at the details in the comfort of my own home, but whilst the Autoroute journey took my around the M25 and across the Dartford crossing, my sat nav had decided to take me into London and through the Blackwall tunnel.
On top of that I was hitting the M11 at about 7am, just as commuters were heading into work so the pace had slowed right down. The end result was that, by the time I reached the petrol station in Dover, I was 37 minutes behind schedule. Chances are, I wouldn’t be able to get this time back, but I thought I’d keep trying and head for my next stop at Swindon and see what happened.
It was this section of the trip that finally put paid to my Gold attempt. The M25 car park was in full flow, and you can only filter so fast. On top of that, a white van had managed to spill its load of builder’s sand all over the 2nd and 3rd lanes so they were both shut whilst it was getting cleared. It could’ve been worse I suppose…he could dumped in right in front of me…not a good scenario!
So I got to Swindon over an hour behind schedule. It wasn’t exactly a short journey home, and I’d already done over 700 miles, so I thought, why not complete the planned route and pick up a “normal” BB1500 anyway. So I took a bit of time to have a proper lunch and set off to Swansea.
It was just as well I wasn’t still trying for Gold because, not only did the sat nav take a different route again (it took me up to Gloucester and along the A465, rather than along the M4 for some reason), they’re building a new road coming into Swansea and the rush hour traffic was horrendous.
The run to Clevedon and onto Plymouth was uneventful and from this point on it was North all the way. Weather forecast was for heavy rain in NW England/SW Scotland so I decided to take my time and hope that the worst of it would clear by the time I got there. Basically I stopped often, took a lot of rest breaks, keeping them short (10 minutes naps and the odd bit to eat) to save the hassle of getting receipts. It threw my time out of the window, but I now had another 12 hours to play with so it wasn’t an issue.
One thing I did notice was that I was starting to get really tired. It was a combination of having to work on the Friday and not getting a nap in when I got home, so basically I hadn’t slept since 6am on Friday morning and had been awake for 18 hours before starting, so I’d been awake for 38 hours by the time I reached Plymouth. On top of that, there’s wind getting into my helmet when I’m on the move, and it’s coming in around my eyes, which makes them even more tired. It was a long slog up through the drizzle from about Birmingham up. Dreich sums the weather up nicely.
But I wasn’t coming all this way for nothing, so almost exactly 32 hours after starting, (and 40 hours after my last sleep), I picked up a final receipt and headed back round the corner for a rest.
As usual with these things, I try and pick up some hints on what to do better next time, because there will be a next time. First of all, I really need to try and get some sleep before heading off. 40 hours is too long without sleep. Secondly, I need to make sure that my sat nav sticks to the route I plan on Autoroute. Finally, although the route is one that is “pre-verified” I need to find an alternative doesn’t put me along the M25 in morning rush hour. It might not be possible, as we are somewhat restricted in this country unless we want to go round in circles.
All in all, I enjoyed my first attempt and have enough to tweak to try and improve.
My first attempt at this challenge, or indeed any gold level challenge, didn’t quite turn out as planned, but, barring any mishaps in scrutiny, should have at least got me my first BB1500.
I’d worked out my route using Autoroute and, in order to complete it within the 24 hours required by the challenge, I had to put the average speed sliders for each type of road (motorway, main road etc.) a little higher than usual…but I guess that’s why it’s a gold level challenge. If I started bang on 00:00, it had calculated that I would finish at 23:44. 16 minutes isn’t a lot of room for delays, but it is what it is.
One of the troubles I have is that, with a stock fuel tank, my range is about 180 miles and the corner locations of the route that I had to make sure I checked in at, means that I was refuelling in between some of them, before I really needed to, which all takes time. I had a total of 12 stops not including the start and finish…that’s around an hour of stopping time.
After saying goodbyes, it was round the corner to the local petrol station. I checked with the attendant before paying for my fuel, the till was showing 23:59, so I let the person behind me go first…who then took ages, so it was 00:02 by the time I got my recent…2 minutes gone already!
At this time of night, the run up the M90 to Perth was quiet, so I’d caught one of those minutes back by the time I arrived. I didn’t need fuel, so an ATM receipt to show the relevant details would do, and it was on to Hamilton southbound.
I’d managed to get 2 minutes ahead of schedule by the time I got there, so it was looking good. At least it was until I tried to go to the loo to find that truckers had taken all of them! No time to wait, so I’d just have to hold on until Scotch Corner.
It was a really cold night, so it wasn’t the most enjoyable journey I’ve ever had, but I got to Scotch Corner 9 minutes ahead of schedule, so it was still looking good…and luckily the loo was empty. Next stop was near Peterborough and somehow, I’d managed to fall 6 minutes behind time. It was probably down to the 50 mph limit roadwork sections that they stick on in the dead of night. Tempting as it was to ignore that speed limit, the law is the law…
Still within my margin for error thought 25% into the time, so I was happy enough. As I punched in my next location, Dover, the arrival time had my arriving about 20 minutes behind??? I couldn’t figure out why until I had a chance to look at the details in the comfort of my own home, but whilst the Autoroute journey took my around the M25 and across the Dartford crossing, my sat nav had decided to take me into London and through the Blackwall tunnel.
On top of that I was hitting the M11 at about 7am, just as commuters were heading into work so the pace had slowed right down. The end result was that, by the time I reached the petrol station in Dover, I was 37 minutes behind schedule. Chances are, I wouldn’t be able to get this time back, but I thought I’d keep trying and head for my next stop at Swindon and see what happened.
It was this section of the trip that finally put paid to my Gold attempt. The M25 car park was in full flow, and you can only filter so fast. On top of that, a white van had managed to spill its load of builder’s sand all over the 2nd and 3rd lanes so they were both shut whilst it was getting cleared. It could’ve been worse I suppose…he could dumped in right in front of me…not a good scenario!
So I got to Swindon over an hour behind schedule. It wasn’t exactly a short journey home, and I’d already done over 700 miles, so I thought, why not complete the planned route and pick up a “normal” BB1500 anyway. So I took a bit of time to have a proper lunch and set off to Swansea.
It was just as well I wasn’t still trying for Gold because, not only did the sat nav take a different route again (it took me up to Gloucester and along the A465, rather than along the M4 for some reason), they’re building a new road coming into Swansea and the rush hour traffic was horrendous.
The run to Clevedon and onto Plymouth was uneventful and from this point on it was North all the way. Weather forecast was for heavy rain in NW England/SW Scotland so I decided to take my time and hope that the worst of it would clear by the time I got there. Basically I stopped often, took a lot of rest breaks, keeping them short (10 minutes naps and the odd bit to eat) to save the hassle of getting receipts. It threw my time out of the window, but I now had another 12 hours to play with so it wasn’t an issue.
One thing I did notice was that I was starting to get really tired. It was a combination of having to work on the Friday and not getting a nap in when I got home, so basically I hadn’t slept since 6am on Friday morning and had been awake for 18 hours before starting, so I’d been awake for 38 hours by the time I reached Plymouth. On top of that, there’s wind getting into my helmet when I’m on the move, and it’s coming in around my eyes, which makes them even more tired. It was a long slog up through the drizzle from about Birmingham up. Dreich sums the weather up nicely.
But I wasn’t coming all this way for nothing, so almost exactly 32 hours after starting, (and 40 hours after my last sleep), I picked up a final receipt and headed back round the corner for a rest.
As usual with these things, I try and pick up some hints on what to do better next time, because there will be a next time. First of all, I really need to try and get some sleep before heading off. 40 hours is too long without sleep. Secondly, I need to make sure that my sat nav sticks to the route I plan on Autoroute. Finally, although the route is one that is “pre-verified” I need to find an alternative doesn’t put me along the M25 in morning rush hour. It might not be possible, as we are somewhat restricted in this country unless we want to go round in circles.
All in all, I enjoyed my first attempt and have enough to tweak to try and improve.