Zone 1 Run: 5th Attempt

Zone 1, Alphabet, All Lines - discuss them here
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CrunchySaviour
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Zone 1 Run: 5th Attempt

Post by CrunchySaviour »

THe date: 23/03/05.
The time: About 12pm.
The place: Zone 1.
The route: could it be 2 hours and 56 minutes?
The current record: 2:55:50, Steve Paull.

The time...

Wait for it....

2 hours............ fifty-two minutes and forty-seven seconds!
2:52:47!

The new record!!! (well, unofficially, but only because there isn't a Guinness one for this.)

Here's the analysis.

I'll admit that I started at Vauxhall. That's an easy and sensible place to start. I got ahead of schedule quickly and, at the 10th stop, I was already 5 minutes ahead of my 2:56 schedule. The first four changes were smooth, all at 1 minute wait or less, but the fifth was a 3 minute wait. Despite this, I was 7 minutes ahead at the 17th stop, and after the 20th stop the train decided to wait in the tunnel. "No! Don't go wrong now!" I thought, but it was alright; it only stopped for 30 seconds. The Aldgate/East run was good but I had to wait for 6 minutes for a train to leave at one of the stations, which was a pain in the arse.

Tube users will no doubt have been told at least five times today that there was a violent, bloody human/train conflict at Holborn at about 1pm or so, subsequently closing Holborn and the Central Line between Lancaster Gate and somewhere else or something.

Upon hearing this news, I thought, "Oh no. That means I can't stop at Holborn, so my attempt won't be valid!"

Then I realised I'd already stopped at Holborn earlier on, and all was OK.

I encountered a lift operator in one of the lifts - a first for me, especially on a challenge. She closed the doors before the rest of the throng of people from the train could barge their way down the corridor to the lift, and up we went.

"Excellent," I said, "I'm doing the Zone 1 stations today, you see."
She replied, "You've not got time on your hands, then?", and as the doors opened, she said "Go, go, go!" which was encouraging, and I ran away into the afternoon sun. In a lift, I also encountered an elderly lady, who warned me not to fall down the stairs, since I was out of breath, thereby having everyone else trip over me. Wise words.

The Picc train kept waiting at the stations, which worried me. It was unnecessary! Probably!

The Bayswater-Earls Court stretch was a pain. The first three (or something stupid like that) trains from Bayswater were Circle trains, so I was forced to take one of these to Gloucester Road and change (a smooth change to a waiting train) in order to get to Earls Court. Taking the bus from High Street Ken was not a gamble I was willing to take!

I wasted a whole 12 minutes waiting for a Hammersmith train. This is unacceptable.

The driver of the final train took great pleasure in waiting at every station o the way to the finish line, as he explained slowly and concisely that "the Central line... has... no... service.... between......" et cetera.

Well, that's it, so there's a new record for the Zone 1 Challenge. Thank you for your attention.

And Tubeguru, it's time to update the site!
~ Let loose the bands of war! DISINTEGRATOR.co.uk
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hwolge
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Post by hwolge »

Well done!

Just out of curiosity (without giving away your route):

* How many runs between stations did you do?
* And how many "normal" changes?

As you know from my site - we did just the Aldgate walk... I'm not saying it's better, just less physically demanding!

And we did 15 "normal" changes.

HÃ¥kan
:) Three times Zone 1 Challenge winner :)
:) Official record holder in the 2008 Guinness Book of Records, pg 199 :)
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CrunchySaviour
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Post by CrunchySaviour »

Thats a low number of changes for such a low number of runs and such a short time, Hakan!

I did:
12 normal changes
4 runs (only about 15 minutes' worth of non-normal-change running)

It would have been 11 normal changes if I'd got an Earls Court train from Bayswater in the first place. I was incredibly lucky to immediately (just!!) get a westbound train from Gloucester Road as a result.

I spent 29 minutes waiting for trains in total.


It is possible to do this in less than 2:50, and the record will slowly work its way to 2:45, where it will stay. I am quite sure of this!
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geofftech
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Post by geofftech »

CrunchySaviour .. i've only just noticed this!

You really should have mailed me @geofftech to let me know!!

I would have updated the <a href="http://www.geofftech.co.uk/tubechalleng ... /index.htm" target="_blank">Zone1 area on my site</a> immediately! I'm far more efficient than that <strike>Neil</strike> TubeGuru is! :lol:

So .. eMail me!

Ta,
Geoff.

(Oh, and.. excellent time BTW! well done)
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CrunchySaviour
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Post by CrunchySaviour »

Oops.... Sorry, Geoff, I just didn't want to brag about it!

Confusing Tubeguru with Neil? Is the cat out of the bag?! Emailing you now.
~ Let loose the bands of war! DISINTEGRATOR.co.uk
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