2015 Zone 1 Challenge- 29th May 2015

All you need to know and discuss about the 2015 Zone 1 Challenge.
tufnellpark
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Re: 2015 Zone 1 Challenge- 29th May 2015

Post by tufnellpark »

Attending;
Orange One
GU
Mrredrunner100 +1
The Raven
leamfarrar
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DrainBrain

I hope to be joining you for the day. Looking forward to it.
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The Raven
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Re: 2015 Zone 1 Challenge- 29th May 2015

Post by The Raven »

Rain forcast for Friday, might be slippery!
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Re: 2015 Zone 1 Challenge- 29th May 2015

Post by Going Underground »

The Raven wrote:Rain forcast for Friday, might be slippery!

Should be fine, not like anyone will be running or rushing around :wink:
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Re: 2015 Zone 1 Challenge- 29th May 2015

Post by Nigel »

Unfortunately, I wont be attending on Friday. Having virtually retired from challenging, I had hoped to at least come along to see how you got on, but now that won't be possible either. Good luck to you all!
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RobbieM
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Re: 2015 Zone 1 Challenge- 29th May 2015

Post by RobbieM »

Well, looks like Guy Barry and myself will be doing the Victoria-Line challenge whilst everyone else is Z1-ing. I hope to be around for the starting station draw etc, then will meet GB at Pimlico. Then we trust we'll finish the challenge in time for the Leyton gathering.
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Re: 2015 Zone 1 Challenge- 29th May 2015

Post by GuyBarry »

I very much hope so! See you at Pimlico at 1.30pm. Looking forward to it though I'm totally unprepared...
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RobbieM
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Re: 2015 Zone 1 Challenge- 29th May 2015

Post by RobbieM »

GuyBarry wrote:I very much hope so! See you at Pimlico at 1.30pm. Looking forward to it though I'm totally unprepared...
That's more prepared than I am...
mrredrunner100
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Re: 2015 Zone 1 Challenge- 29th May 2015

Post by mrredrunner100 »

all my tickets are booked for the weekend! :D
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Re: 2015 Zone 1 Challenge- 29th May 2015

Post by nozzacook »

Alarm clock set for 3:45am I hope the coffee machine is working on the 5:05 tomorrow.
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Re: 2015 Zone 1 Challenge- 29th May 2015

Post by leamfarrar »

Sitting in the Novotel Paddington at the moment, about to get some breakfast. I'll meet those coming to the Z1 at around 12:10 at Liverpool Street :)
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Re: 2015 Zone 1 Challenge- 29th May 2015

Post by The Orange One »

I'll kick off the write ups, shall I? Here follows the adventures of Team Gone with the Wimbleware. I thought that up weeks ago, but the Wimbleware actually broke, which was handy.

After my project supervisor decided he'd end our session at 12:20 instead of 12 due to his penchant for tar and nicotine inhalation delaying the start, I got the news the starting station would be London Bridge and rushed down there. Pretty much all of us started on the Jubilee Line and doubled back at Southwark - anyone who did this can deduct 3 minutes 34 seconds off their time for the Top Times. All was well until Lambeth North, where the train decided it was going to sit there "until further notice". After waiting a few minutes, Tangy bailed, and the rest of us followed suit. I was the only one who actually knew the way to Waterloo station, but still had to get my bearings outside. I did, however, pick up a 341 bus, which was great! And a Zone 1 first, I believe. At Waterloo, I saw Andi arrive a minute after I did, having run the long way, but since his door was for Euston and mine was for Leicester Square I didn't go to speak to him.

A long series of mediocre changes followed. 6 minutes at Earl's Court and 3 at Paddington H&C were annoying, though I was happy to see a Bakerloo Line train arrive at Oxford Circus immediately so I could get the rest of the line completed. Also, if girl with glasses staring at me on Bakerloo Line is reading this, I was not the only crazy person on the tube today. Thanks for waving. I grabbed some more new tube maps at Euston Square, having given loads of them out to challengers at London Bridge - I know TfL are supposed to have an embargo, but almost all challengers at the Zone 1 today should have a copy by now. Having done some research a few weeks back at Euston station, I have now slashed the running time between Euston Square and Euston by slightly over a minute (not telling you my secret shortcut), and arrived at Euston quickly. Down to Leicester Square and 2 minutes for a Cockfosters. At Holborn though, I discovered something terrible - Andi and Stevo were on the train with me! As Andi is faster than me and we had the same route, I knew I'd have to keep up with him all the way.

Thankfully I did all the way, though he almost lost me at Aldgate East - but the Nicest Driver Of The Day let me on. And Stevo and Tangy too. On the way down to Sloane Square, a nice man and some nice women on the tube inquired about what I was doing; I explained, then along came Andi, Stevo and Tangy too. If you lot are reading this, remember St. James's Park! It exists. No chance to lose or be lost by the AST trio and we all finished at Vauxhall in what we thought was a reasonable time. Unfortunately, seconds after we completed, I discovered Peter Smyth was ahead of us. Goodbye Zone 1 Challenge Cup! Turned out Clive Burgess had beaten all of us as well. Congratulations! I blame Lambeth North. Stupid place of stupidity.

The biggest challenge of all was getting into South Kensington Station with the Zone 1 Challenge Cup to head up to the William IV. It took me about 5 minutes. Stupid station closed the South Ken Tunnel, a passageway large enough to contain everyone, so we all had to crawl through the ticket hall at 0.01mph.
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tufnellpark
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Re: 2015 Zone 1 Challenge- 29th May 2015

Post by tufnellpark »

My first Z1 Challenge and a most enjoyable day. Big thanks to Tangy; I know a lot of work went into organising the event. Pub in Leyton was a gem. Stunning Victorian interior with old brewery mirrors, local real ale and frequent bus service. It was also good to meet everybody.

Sounds as if I was lucky avoiding delays. Whilst nearly everyone started by doubling back from Southwark and got delayed at Lambeth North, I continued to Waterloo and then LSWR to Vauxhall. The only delay I had was at Sloane Square where I was blocked by slow moving passengers, just missed a train and had to wait 7 mins for the next one. I also avoided the Wimbledon meltdown. Otherwise it all went to plan, finishing in 02:55:42 at Borough.

Hopefully I'll be back next year to defend my trophy.
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RobbieM
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Re: 2015 Zone 1 Challenge- 29th May 2015

Post by RobbieM »

Really good to take part again without actually taking part! But 14 out of 64 stations is one better than I managed last year... :D .

At some point I'll try to write up the 'Not the Victoria Line' challenge attempt in a different thread. That turned out to be an excellent afternoon's running around with Guy Barry, even if somewhat different from your average challenge.

And what an excellent choice of pub, tangy. How convenient that it turned out to have a piano on the same day I'd brought a copy of my version of Guy's 'Underground Can Can'. We just had to perform it! Thankfully I didn't have to play it and sing it at the same time; it's exhausting! (My original solo performance from last November can be found here, complete with visuals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgpKom7k1g8).

Shame I only seem to meet up with you all once a year. Maybe one day I'll get organised and join everyone on an R15...
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leamfarrar
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Re: 2015 Zone 1 Challenge- 29th May 2015

Post by leamfarrar »

Nick and I, joined forces and did our Zone 1 Challenge together after the whole Lambeth North matter, so it was quite nice to go around the whole of Zone 1 and to do so for the first time, I look forward to next year, when I might have a better idea now of what to do. Nick and I came up with the name of Don't Forget Marylebone & Have We Been To Charing Cross Yet?, which you will find out why in the story below.

Like the majority of people, we headed towards Southwark and then doubled back to London Bridge, to head down to Northern Line towards Elephant & Castle. Things were fine until we hit Lambeth North when we were delayed, so most people got out and legged it towards Waterloo. I got lost at a set of traffic lights and met up with Nick, and we joined forces there and decided to run to Westminster, as we weren't sure where Waterloo's entrance was.

Arriving at Westminster, we headed to Sloane Square and then doubled back to Victoria, before taking Pimlico and Vauxhall. Our next trip was to head to Warren Street, where we made the change to the Northern Line again to be able to pick up TCR. We changed again at Leicester Square for the run up to Kings Cross St. Pancras, where we made the dash again to the Victoria Line (and my first error) to be able to get Euston. My error was that I ended up on the Northbound platform instead of the Southbound platform at Kings Cross St. Pancras. My head saw a train, so I ran for it.

The trip quickly to Euston and the reason we did the Victoria line was for a cross-platform change there for the run through to Bank. We took a bit of a break while we went through Angel and Old Street. Making it to Bank, we ran as quick as we could through to the Central Line for the long trip to Queensway. Nick reminded me on the long set of stairs at Queensway (I have a fear of heights, so don't ever ask me to get on or off at Angel). I made it through, with Nick supporting me the way up and we ran as quick as we could to Bayswater. Arriving in time for none other than a District train we headed through to Earl's Court and another Piccadilly train through to none other than Piccadilly Circus.

We reached Knightsbridge and got held there for a few minutes because of a train issue all the way up at Manor House. Nick started thinking of getting out at Hyde Park Corner and running to Green Park to go a different way for the set of stations we needed, but the train started moving so we stuck it out and went through to Piccadilly Circus for the change to the Bakerloo, which by now was running fine. We then picked up Charing Cross (and the first part of the team name). The reason for that part of the team name was that about three or four times during the challenge, I had asked Nick who was keeping a log of sorts of the route, had we actually visited Charing Cross.

We went through to Waterloo, and then doubled back to Embankment, where we dashed up the spiral stairs and then up another set of stairs to the District platforms, to find that a District train to Aldgate East was the next one. Some good luck for once. We jumped on and went to Aldgate East. Next tactical error coming up.

Reaching Aldgate East, the plan was to run to Aldgate, since the next service on the other platform was a District line and not a H&C. The error was that Nick got into the wrong carriage, and I followed and we ended up at the wrong end of Aldgate East station, so a run of the whole station and then the normal section (all above ground) was needing to be done. My legs were gone by now, but I pushed through.

Reaching Aldgate, we jumped onto a Semi-Fast Met line train that was due out in 1min. We sat there for what had to be another 3-4mins beyond that, so we are thinking that if a Circle appears, we are changing trains. It didn't, so we carried onto Great Portland Street, as was the plan. I checked at Liverpool Street and the next service was an Amersham service, so Nick did some thinking (and this is where the other part of the name comes from). Nick's thinking was not just about the plan, but also the number of stations. He kept saying that we had 9 stations left, I was saying 10; so we ran through each station and then BINGO! Nick forgot Marylebone in his calculations. We reached Great Portland Street and then we...

... ran to Regents Park!

My legs were truly gone by this time, but then we got onto a Bakerloo line train for the trip to Paddington (Bakerloo). A mad dash once again through to Paddington (H&C/Circle) and we had 3mins to rest before our last train to Edgware Road (District & Circle). It was a long day, but we made it through with a final time of 3hr 37min 55sec.
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Re: 2015 Zone 1 Challenge- 29th May 2015

Post by GuyBarry »

RobbieM wrote: At some point I'll try to write up the 'Not the Victoria Line' challenge attempt in a different thread. That turned out to be an excellent afternoon's running around with Guy Barry, even if somewhat different from your average challenge.
Thanks for coming with me - I couldn't have managed it without you! I'll attempt a write-up later today.
And what an excellent choice of pub, tangy.
Echoed - and the beer was wonderful (can you remember the name?). Really disappointed that I had to leave so soon.
How convenient that it turned out to have a piano on the same day I'd brought a copy of my version of Guy's 'Underground Can Can'. We just had to perform it! Thankfully I didn't have to play it and sing it at the same time; it's exhausting! (My original solo performance from last November can be found here, complete with visuals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgpKom7k1g8).
It was exhausting enough just singing it! Brilliant accompaniment and I'm amazed that you could do it from memory. Really lucky with the piano, as you say - I wonder what the rest of the customers thought of it? (I'm glad we didn't get thrown out!)
Shame I only seem to meet up with you all once a year. Maybe one day I'll get organised and join everyone on an R15...
I certainly plan to attend next year's Z1. Now I've got some idea of how tube challenging works I may well attempt the real thing next time. It'll probably take me all year to plan it though!
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