tubechallenge.com

As you may have read in the CiN thread I have had some troubles with my legs since getting run over 2 years ago. I have a pin down the centre of my thigh bone and then 2 screws in my knee and 2 screws in my hip to keep it in place. This weakness in my right leg cause me to overuse my left leg, which causes problems of its own. As was shown today I dont think I am capable of a traditional route and would need a custom route, ultilising short/medium walks and buses. Obviously I wont get a record, but I really want a 270 to my name, even if it is 19+ hours. I dont mind running if I see a train pulling in to the station (obviously) or short runs from bus stops to stations alsong as they are short. Any help would be greatly appricated.

A lot of connections can be made by bus instead of runs.

I would love to help. Work out a route and drop me an email with it - I'll let you know of any distance issues and help you get round them.

Depending upon when you aim to try it, I may even come out with you.

Cheers, Im going to get planning a route shortly. Possibly with a Chesham start and Amersham finish depending on the Chiltern time table!

Pretty much every connection can be done by bus if you want eg 384 High Barnet - Cockfosters, 93 Morden - Wimbledon, U1 Uxbridge - West Ruislip. It may be a bit slower but if you are not trying to break the record that doesn't matter too much.

Happy to support you on the day Myles, assuming dates fit with other stuff. I'd be happy to chat through a route too, although there's probably plenty of people with better knowledge of routes than me on here though!

Doesn't the 500 nearly go from Epping to Upminster?

Just had a phone call from Andi, he has very knidly planned a route for me and another tube challenger. An Upminster-Chesham route with no runs and very generous waks/interchanges. Would just ike to point out that since meeting Andi all he has been is helpful to me, just for the record.

Are you not capable of devising your own route then?

I could modify my first horrible draft for you but will be a squeeze to make final trains!

Sam wrote:Are you not capable of devising your own route then?

It seems that people have got more subtle these days in getting other people to do all the hard work for them.

Starkey7 wrote:Doesn't the 500 nearly go from Epping to Upminster?

Loving this post Starkey, simply because the above is over 3 years out of date! Arriva Harlow route 500 DID indeed run between Harlow and Romford via Epping but was withdrawn in July 2008 when the section between Ongar and Romford was removed.

Earlier this year Arriva gave up (totally) the remaining section of route 500 between Harlow and Ongar via Epping (and the similar 501, running to Brentwood), so the 500 number no longer exists in this part of the world! Various independant companies have since taken over/created new routes but are not a patch on the hourly frequency provided by the 500 into Romford.

However there never has been a bus route directly from Epping to Upminster.

Sam wrote:Are you not capable of devising your own route then?

As a matter of principle, I think everyone should devise as much of their own routes as possible, without relying on others for help. However, I think there would be a number of positives to having one "public domain" route, so to speak, which is not at all competitive and does not contain anybody's closely-guarded secrets, but which will give a high chance of a completion and which does not involve any intensive or unnecessary runs.

I bet most of us have had a friend or relative say to us, at some point, "I'd love to do that [the Tube Challenge] one day". Just off the top of my head, I can think of at least two friends, one acquaintance and one family member who have expressed an interest in it before. The family member was my father, who joined me for the 2010 Christmas Park Challenge, as some of you may remember. He was completely amazed at how much running was involved, and couldn't keep up with me a lot of the time. He's in his fifties and isn't in great shape. I think that day pretty much killed off his interest in doing any further challenging, which is a real shame, as his knowledge of London and interest in the Tube are both very impressive.

If we, as a forum, worked together to find a route which is as gentle as possible, it would remove one of the biggest obstacles that prevents people like my dad from challenging. Sure, anyone could put together such a route on their own, but no single person has the combined knowledge and experience of our community, and not many people would be willing to single-handedly put in much time and effort for a route which will never give a shot at the record. An openly-available and easy route could become a common choice of route for charity attempts, and if it leads to more of them, that would be a happy bonus.

Wouldn't it be nice to work together on a project like that? It would certainly make a change from the bickering that happens all too frequently here. I don't know what I could personally contribute, having lived overseas for the last three years, but I'd try to come up with something. Everyone else could add as much or as little as they like, with no obligations. Perhaps I'm being a bit naïve about all of this, but the idea got me excited.

I do like that idea. I guess that there are a couple of such routes already in the public domain; Geoff's initial routes of Chesham - Morden and Heathrow - Amersham.

MylesHSG wrote:Just had a phone call from Andi, he has very knidly planned a route for me and another tube challenger. An Upminster-Chesham route with no runs and very generous waks/interchanges. Would just ike to point out that since meeting Andi all he has been is helpful to me, just for the record.

Just out of interest, what is the proposed completion time? If its less than 19 hours it will give me a target to aim for with my own route.

I'm happy to publish whatever I come up with, even though due to my outstanding lack of local knowledge (part of the reason I want to do it I guess) it will not be very good.

I think this would be a great idea. I have done this for charity three times, mostly planning my own route which is very time consuming. Geoff gave me plenty of tips, but like most people, I think, was cautious about giving too much away in case I was a potential record breaker. My aim, however was not speed, but attempting to find a route which would get as close to guaranteeing a completion as is possible. And without too many runs(or in my case walks!). I think it would be good to encourage as many people as possible to have a go, especially if they are fund raising. The record time has now reached a level where your average man (or woman, Sam) has no hope of breaking the record anyway.