So we have heard from the cyclists on how their training is going. I thought I would give you an insight as what goes into the preparation for the support crew.
The first trip I did, I had no involvement in planning the routes or the accommodation bookings. I finally managed to get the routes about a week before and copied them onto a road atlas with a highlighter pen. I knew what towns we were stopping in, but I didn’t have addresses (other members of the crew did).
The second year Hannah produced a lovely book with the detailed directions and google maps, along with a highlighted road atlas and the list of campsites and their addresses. Absolutely brilliant if you had a navigator but I didn’t.
So last time I stepped up the preparation, more for me than anyone else. I knew I wasn’t going to have a full time navigator, so I wanted to know as much about our route as I could.
This is where Google Maps & Streetview are your friend. Since the cycling routes have been created electronically in Strava, they can also be imported into a Google Map. Its just then a process of dropping the little man every 10 miles or so along the route and seeing on Streeview if there is somewhere to stop for the support vehicles. This also has the added benefit of being able to confirm that our routes are on paved roads, rather than gravel tracks.
It was then a matter of listing all the potential stopping points, the nearest village name and the distance from the start. This gave me a cue card so I could navigate using the road signs or a standard Sat Nav using each of the villages as a waypoint. All printed on an A4 sheet so it would be quick and easy to read.
Based on the feedback from the cyclists on previous trips, it has been requested to try and not stop half way up or down a climb or decent. So I also noted where these waypoints were on the elevation profile.
What I ended up with was a “Day Card”
Each evening we would look at next day and make decisions on where the stops and meeting points with the support vehicles would be. These decisions were only made the day before to take into account how the riders were feeling and the weather conditions. (it is also rare that we manage to get the whole crew together before our trip starts) Since I had marked stops about every 10 miles we could also make changes during the day. The support crew could also use them as rendezvous points when they had to split up, (we referred to places by number rather than mispronounce the place names).
Each support vehicle got a copy and the cyclists each got a pocket size version with everyone’s mobile numbers on the back. This could also be used as a backup if their cycling Sat Nav failed. It also stopped some of the questions on how much further somewhere was.
This year it is proving slightly easier, as I have found that “Ride with GPS” cycle mapping website will let you go into Google Streetview straight from the app rather than switching between Strava and Google Maps. However I think this year we might need to plan some of our stops in advance this year to accommodate Flo’s refusal to go downhill.
~ Eloise
