Captain Sisko - RBLR 1,000miles in 24hrs

[Sullivj]

Hi Nick,

I noticed on your bike that you've done this at least at once before, and I see in another thread you're planning to do it again...Made me wonder if your name should actually be Captain 'Psycho'!

Seriously though - 1,000 miles in 24 hours is quite some achievement. Where do you ride to cover the miles?

[Capt Sisko]

This will be my third 1,000 (as also did a 500mile taster), so yeah maybe I should change my name but really, it's not that bad. If you can average 50mph for 20hrs, that's 1,000miles and that gives you 4 hours for fuel & food stops, stretch and nipping behind the hedge breaks! In practice to achieve that sort of speed / time you need to ride on a lot of the miles on motorways, dual carriageways & good A roads, and as the police used to say, you need to make progress; however if you arrive back too soon and you'll be disqualified as the organisers will know you've been speeding. The trick is to keep the pit stops efficient; fuel, a snack bar & water in, a pee out and keep the miles rolling. By later in the day you'll know how far/much time you've got left to go and hopefully you'll have time in hand for longer breaks.

For the RBLR, all routes start at Squires Cafe just off the A1(M) near Leeds and you've got a choice of a preset North or South 1,000mile loop which you can do either clockwise or anti-clockwise, plus a 500mile in 15hrs loop of northern England and the Scottish Borders. That's no mean achievement on it's own as it's more A road than motorway and some of the A roads are minor ones.

I'm doing North Anti-Clockwise this year. Basically we leave at 5.00am and head north to Berwick-upon-Tweed, Edinburgh and eventually all the way up the A9 to Wick. Turn around, head back south to Inverness, across to Fort William, down to Glasgow and due south down the M74 & M6 and over the M62 back to Squires. My planning & estimates of timing says I'll be back at about 2.00am.

I won't deny I'll ache during & afterwards, but the feeling of satisfaction & camaraderie is second to none. Typically we raise about £30,000 for the British Legion.

More info here:-
https://www.rblr1000.co.uk/

[Sullivj]

Thanks Nick. It's an impressive thing to do, although I'm not sure it's for me. I think my concentration could deteriorate over such a long period.

Good luck with your adventure. Let me know when your sponsorship link goes live and I'll contribute.

[scunny12]

Impressive feat, but not for me. I have the low seat, with fat chance padding and my backside is crying enough after 100 miles.

[Capt Sisko]

Well, that was bloody cold!

So, with the alarm having gone off at 3.45am, a shower, cuppa and sort of breakfast it was just a short ride to the start at Squires Cafe to get the mileage read and queue up with the rest of the mad fools. 5.00am on the dot we rolled out and 140 riders went off in different directions. Me, A1(M) and all points north. To be honest it wasn't a bad start. There'd been a shower recently and we caught the edge of one somewhere around Darlington or but otherwise it was cloudy but mostly dry. The motorway as you'd expect was pretty much empty at that time of the day. The first checkpoint was Berwick-upon-Tweed at 162 miles. Refuel, a drink of water & a snack bar and I was back on the road.

Somewhere halfway to Edinburgh we rode out of the cloud and into sunshine. That didn't last long did it. The Edinburgh checkpoint came & went and half way up the A9 I stopped to put on my full winter gloves, heated vest and a second buff to plug the draughts. Jeez was it getting cold (and at times wet). The heated grips were earning their keep today.

Onwards & upwards, refuel and Inverness, over the Black Isle and the up the A9 towards Wick. This is a fantastic road marred by the NC500 blight, motorhomes. They themselves aren't a great problem to get past as most trundle along, and well, I'm on a motorbike. The problem is the dozen or so cars queued up behind each one. THEN, once you've got past them, ten minutes up the road is another gaggle. Grrr. Oh, and did I mention the matrix signs were giving out warnings for high winds and by now the rain showers were quite heavy and some of them had hail stones in them? Honestly, I had to question whether is was still June.

Wick was the halfway point and I'd scheduled a decent break. No bloody way, it was freezing cold with a wind that went through, not around you. Heading south was a good idea. More A9 and motorhomes!

Inverness, Loch Ness passed quickly and a refuel at Fort William was a welcome break, well it would have been if there coffee machine was working. Tough, I needed to press on. Glencoe & Rannoch Moor are quite spectacular, even in the cold & rain but for the first time in a long time, albeit briefly, the temperature nearly, well almost, made it into double figures. The road was also mercifully free of motorhomes, they'd all now parked up for the night. That meant ever single car park, lay-by, pull in or bit of rough ground had someone in it who'd pulled over for the night. The people I felt pity for were those with roof top tents. Now a motorhome may be the bane of the highlands, but at least you've solid walls, soft furnishings and heater. A tent perched on the roof of a car, in the wet, on a day with warnings for strong winds, at 700 or 800ft. I bet they had a good nights sleep!

Onwards past Loch Lomond which despite being the A82 is a narrow twisty road and I guess would have been a nightmare on the Saturday morning, but at 7.30 in the evening was mercifully traffic free. Glasgow and the long drag down the M74 & M6. It went dark somewhere on the M6. Quiet motorways in the dark, oh how time flies.

Last check point at Rivington Services on the M61 and onwards over the Pennine on the M62. Just where is everyone going at half past midnight? After the quiet of the M6 through Cumbria and Lancashire just how busy the M62 was came as a bit of a shock.

0.55am and back to Squires. That's 1017 miles in near enough 20 hours and it was warmer at one o'clock in the morning in Yorkshire than it was at midday in Scotland! All I say is thank goodness for Gore-Tex, heated grips & vests and Pinlocks to stop things misting up.

I believe there were about 140 of us split between the six routes (I did North Anti-Clockwise) and whilst it's too early to say how much be raised for the Royal British Legion, last year was well over £30k. If you fancy a go, pencil in the weekend of June 7th next year.

[Sullivj]

Great write up Captain. Sounds like quite a day with the weather conspiring against you.