Macmillan Cancer Support

[DaveB]

OK, last round of spam for this, I promise.

As some of you already know I will be heading off to the highlands of Scotland with my two brothers this weekend to take part in the Etape Caledonia, in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support and in memory of our Dad who died of cancer in 2007.

The Etape is an 81 mile cycling challenge in the highlands around Pitlochry, including a climb up Schiehallon Mountain. Just to add to the challenge it's run over closed roads with a minimum average speed. If you go too slowly you get swept up by the recovery vehicle at the back of the field!

We've set up a JustGiving page for donations. You can give as much or as little as you want, the money goes directly to Macmillan and it automatically adds the tax relief on the donation so every pound donated is actually worth £1.28p to the charity.

So please take 5 minutes to visit the site, find out a bit more about why we are doing it and donate as much or as little as you want. We are aiming to raise at least £1000 between us and so far we have already raised over £800.


Huge thanks to all of you who have donated already, you've been extremely generous.

www.justgiving.com/etape-challenge

Thanks,

Dave.

PS Our start times for the event mean a 05:30 start on Sunday, in the coldest May weather for 10 years

Not that I'm going for the sympaty vote or anything.

[Churchill]

Good luck Dave!

I believe 'er indoors has done the necessary.

[OwlHoot]

Just to add to the challenge it's run over closed roads with a minimum average speed. If you go too slowly you get swept up by the recovery vehicle at the back of the field!

Crikey, that's a bit harsh.

Does this vehicle have a large cowcatcher, or do they find a set of prongs like a tractor are more of an incentive for stragglers to keep up?

[DaveB]

Crikey, that's a bit harsh.

Does this vehicle have a large cowcatcher, or do they find a set of prongs like a tractor are more of an incentive for stragglers to keep up?

It's done so that they can run it on closed roads. They do it as a rolling closure so not all the course is closed at the same time. If you're too slow the road you are on will re-open to traffic while you are still riding.

The recovery vehicle is optional, you can choose to continue and take your chances with the traffic, but you effectivly count as a DNF since they wont coun't you as completeing the course if you do and you won't get any further support from the feeding stations or support vehicles if you have a mechanical.


The average required is 14 mph, which doesnt sound like much but thats an average over 81 miles...

[TimberWolf]

14mph sounds like a respectable average speed given the terrain. 100km distance and 2km ascent according to the website. According to my quick calculations, the ascent will use up slightly more energy than the flat.

[DaveB]

Shameless self promotional bump.

[TimberWolf]

I was half expecting you to correct my 100km distance figure, which should have been 130km not 100km (81miles * ~8/5).

The reason I got it wrong is that rather than multiplying directly by 5/8, I noticed a quicker way. 8 is 2^3 and 5 is 10/2. Resulting in 2*2*2*2/10 which is quick to do mentally. And the reverse (5/8) = 4 divisions by 2 and a multiply by 10 (shift the decimal point right 1). But I must have done 3 divisions by 2 and have been distracted.

So as I think I'm likely make that mistake again, it's best to keep more in touch with the magnitude of the answer and see that it's 1.6x = 1.5x + 0.1x. Or just halve the number and add to the original to get close to the answer and then add 0.1x of the original number to it, both of which operations are quick to do mentality and with less possibility of error.

[DaveB]

I was half expecting you to correct my 100km distance figure, which should have been 130km not 100km (81miles * ~8/5).

The reason I got it wrong is that rather than multiplying directly by 5/8, I noticed a quicker way. 8 is 2^3 and 5 is 10/2. Resulting in 2*2*2*2/10 which is quick to do mentally. And the reverse (5/8) = 4 divisions by 2 and a multiply by 10 (shift the decimal point right 1). But I must have done 3 divisions by 2 and have been distracted.

So as I think I'm likely make that mistake again, it's best to keep more in touch with the magnitude of the answer and see that it's 1.6x = 1.5x + 0.1x. Or just halve the number and add to the original to get close to the answer and then add 0.1x of the original number to it, both of which operations are quick to do mentality and with less possibility of error.

Frankly at this point I'm more worried about doing it into the teeth of a blizzard than exactly how far it is

[TimberWolf]

Frankly at this point I'm more worried about doing it into the teeth of a blizzard than exactly how far it is

Yeah, I noticed on the weather forecast Scotland has been having some record cold nights and early morning temperatures

[FiveTimes]

Just another bump on this thread - Dave only needs a couple more sponsors to get to his target.