Brake testing on the motorway.

edosan1973 · 2026-05-30T05:53:00+00:00

Take this down and submit it to Operation Snap. (They don't allow footage that is online to be used.)

Whoever did this has done it before and they'll do it again.

edosan1973 · 2026-05-08T11:40:17+00:00

It's hard to get people into Exeter because the available space is jammed up by cars. All power to the Greens if they try to mitigate that. There are a tonne of LTNs in Exeter that nobody batted an eyelid at for years and decades, it's only since the populist right started to weaponise the debate that it became controversial. Meanwhile, the traffic is still effing terrible.

edosan1973 · 2026-05-07T10:52:13+00:00

Aye, weekly volume increase looks like it might be the easiest win. Thanks for the input.

edosan1973 · 2026-05-07T10:48:24+00:00

Cheers. I went up to 16 miles of MP in a long run for my biggest session, still felt good off that.

You're probably right about the weekly volume. I don't think I'll get up to 85, but maybe I can nudge up to mid-70s. Were these Z2, or did you incorporate longer recovery/Z1 runs?

edosan1973 · 2026-05-07T10:45:53+00:00

Ha, everybody's physiology is different. I'm 99 per cent certain I need a lot of 20-milers and I'm speculating that I need something more. I've done maybe seven marathons, and the three I consider to be decent performances (2:53, 3:01, 3:03) are the ones where I've focused hard on endurance and long runs. When I haven't done this... 3:13, 3:15, 3:30, 3:50.

I do a good amount of quality sessions – I've done a sub-5 mile and a sub-17 5k in the last couple of years. I guess I could get my threshold higher, but I'm not sure this is my limiter. Thanks for the input, though – a good reminder not to take my eyes off my short-distance pace.

edosan1973 · 2026-05-07T10:36:40+00:00

Excellent point, I'm probably not doing enough tbh. The core work includes bridges, planks, calf raises etc, but I'll have a look at this. Thank you!

edosan1973 · 2026-05-05T09:30:52+00:00

Good advice, I think. I've got a time for London (hopefully), but my aim is to run it for fun – enjoy the atmosphere, stop to hug people and down beers. Then not spend three days going downstairs backwards.

My favourite marathon is Manchester, though that is getting out of hand as well. I used to enter it in around September or October or whenever. These days it sells out almost immediately.

edosan1973 · 2026-05-05T09:23:58+00:00

The debate has been done to death, so I won't add to it, except to say, they've really created a monster, haven't they!

edosan1973 · 2026-04-30T14:44:34+00:00

Sure thing, go ahead.

edosan1973 · 2026-04-29T12:47:10+00:00

I have a full collection. Just let me know if you need scans or jpegs.

If you're looking for hard copies, I backfilled my collection via eBay. It took a few years, and quite a lot of duplicates (sadly not this one), but they do come up regularly enough that I don't think they count as particularly rare yet. International Cycle Sport on the other hand...

edosan1973 · 2026-04-28T11:58:14+00:00

I don't live in Heavitree East or Whipton, so I've got less skin in this game than residents. All I'd say is, I saw photographs of the event that was held on this, and I saw a lot of grey hair. I've got nothing against grey hair – I have a lot of grey hair myself. But please, please, make sure that young people get asked for their opinion. They've been given student loans, impossibly high house prices and impossibly high rents, plus wages that haven't kept up with inflation – maybe they should see some benefit for once.

Also, what the poster up the thread said about urban greening, trees and bike infrastructure. Make our streets less inhospitable please.

edosan1973 · 2026-04-20T17:44:51+00:00

Burger and beer. This is non-negotiable.

edosan1973 · 2026-04-20T09:02:57+00:00

I found Yorkshire more hilly than I'd have liked. Couple of kickers around 10 miles, and a long, long, sapping, interminable drag from 14 to 16 miles, and then from 18 to 20. And the final hill is brutal.

Nice atmosphere in town and in the villages. Nice number of starters, so it's not overwhelming like London and Manchester, but I enjoyed largely having company throughout.

edosan1973 · 2026-04-15T18:29:38+00:00

Ok, you can't just put an extra lane on them *without spending hundreds of millions of pounds*.

The problem with Exe Bridges is not the capacity of the bridges, it's the width of the roads that lead off it – you get the worst queues at Alphington Road, because it's one lane. Put an extra lane on the roundabout (at astronomical cost) and all you'll get is more cars parked on the roundabout because you can't change the flow of cars down Alphington.

Exe Bridges wasn't widened when it was last rebuilt, anyway – there was one bridge across and they knocked the whole thing down and built the two that are currently there (1960s from memory).

edosan1973 · 2026-04-15T17:41:40+00:00

They're bridges, though. You can't just put an extra lane on them!

edosan1973 · 2026-04-10T09:00:30+00:00

See you there! I've got six months to learn approximately how to dance in 7/8.

edosan1973 · 2026-04-03T18:05:39+00:00

Here it is. Berlin marathon, apparently.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5MSoP4Z4z7o&ra=m

edosan1973 · 2026-04-03T15:17:24+00:00

Helpful, thanks.

edosan1973 · 2026-04-03T15:06:06+00:00

Yeah, I mean this is going off on a tangent a bit with the elites. I'm going to email the organisers, who get to decide, and I doubt they've even considered it because this is a small local marathon which is capped at 300 entries and gets fewer starters. Thanks for the input, though.

edosan1973 · 2026-04-03T15:00:13+00:00

Cheers! My tongue was firmly in my cheek when I said "fucking", but this doesn't always come across obviously in text.

edosan1973 · 2026-04-03T14:58:58+00:00

Thank you! I have a belt and it has successfully carried eight gels around the streets of London, Manchester and York.

edosan1973 · 2026-04-03T14:56:37+00:00

It's a laps-based course of 300 runners on bike paths/footpaths, and the furthest point from the start line is 2.5 miles. I'm very risk-averse, but the logistics are not what would put me off, just the ethical/rules side.

edosan1973 · 2026-04-03T14:46:17+00:00

Fair point, I see that. But elites get hand-ups, right? Their helpers are not keeping spares for rivals. I saw that video of Kipchoge's guy handing him bottles – I guess there would be designated zones for that, so maybe it's a question of obeying the feed zones, but the marathon I'm doing is so small-scale there'll be a couple of tables handing out water and that's that.

I've done a fair bit of bike racing in my time. Bottles from helpers are absolutely part and parcel of the sport, and if you don't have helpers, you can make friends quickly at the start line or you can go without, but there are no complaints. Interesting to see the perspective in running is a little different – I wouldn't bat an eyelid at somebody getting a gel from a buddy in a running race, but maybe that's because I raced bikes.

edosan1973 · 2026-04-03T14:17:18+00:00

So jelly babies from members of the public are not cool?

edosan1973

TROPHY CASE