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Is this an issue during challenge attempts?

I'll be attempting my first FNC soon (later this month?) and from past accounts (incl. Geoff's Youtube videos) it looks pretty intense throughout with not much room for boredom. Between changing door positions, worrying about the next interchange and meeting up with support runners, are there ever long periods of time where you wish you'd brought a book?

Perhaps that time is better used for napping. What are your experiences?

It's been a while since I did an FNC, but there wasn't much dwell time. You're constantly preparing for the next change, checking times, or rewriting routes. The only dead time I remember was a long stretch of the Central line, and there were enough papers on the train to distract.

Agreed, not much time to feel bored, unless you are on one line end to end. Finishing on the Piccadilly all the way from Cockfosters can be gruelling as you are knackered and bored! As James says, the Metro is usually sufficient. You don't need the extra weight of a book.

I seem to remember Geoff stating on one of his FNC videos that it was a helpful he had something to do, I.e. collecting his evidence for Guinness

This is one reason why I'm doing a logbook for mine, so I don't get bored and it will help the concentration at 10-11 o'clock at night

I didn't get bored when doing the FNC. Day passed very quickly.

It was only the last 2 hours when doing the north west section with longer turnaround/waiting times and much quieter trains that I could have done with some company.

I can't recall ever being bored during any of the dozen or so FNC attempts that I made. However all of these were as part of a team or at least two people, so there was always plenty of chat.

Don't think there is time for boredom! You're always doing something!

Soup Dragon wrote: ↑23 Aug 2022, 12:53 I can't recall ever being bored during any of the dozen or so FNC attempts that I made. However all of these were as part of a team or at least two people, so there was always plenty of chat.

I do it by myself, 3 attempts so far, and it can get a bit taxing by the afternoon if you haven't said a word to anyone all day. People who are naturally chatty to strangers wouldn't have this problem of course.

It wasn't so much boredom but when you get on a long haul towards the end of the day (District Line from Upminster, for example) you enter a malaise rather than boredom.

Whilst I haven't actually done a FNC, I have done several recce/practice runs to test routes and haven't got bored on them.

That said, I haven't done the north west or Heathrow sections of the route on most of those runs, tending to start at Paddington around 8am and seeing how far I get.