Challenge day Fri 1st June - Alphabet / Eve Z1

[ping pon]

Not so cheap anymore, Dr Who is now full fare and of course they always want feeding on the day

Or you could always lie and claim that Jamie is under 16.
I can still remember buying a 50 pence 'Red Bus Rover' when I was around 18 years old

and if you got found out he was 16 you would get fined

[jonny]

doesn't stop some people...

[Going Underground]

OK just over 1 day to go now so time for a quick "bump"

We will meet any challengers doing the Alphabet at 1100hrs at Argyll Street outside Oxford Circus Tube and any joining us for the evening we will meet at the ticket barriers at Farringdon at 1845hrs

[tubelover1706]

I am new to the tube challenging thing...is there any way I could join on someone elses team for the Alphabet challenge tomorrow or do I have to do it myself?

[Going Underground]

I am new to the tube challenging thing...is there any way I could join on someone elses team for the Alphabet challenge tomorrow or do I have to do it myself?

If you can get to the meeting point in time I am sure that you should be able to team up...

[icbinb]

Unfortunately i can't make it tomorrow as i cannot get the time off work.
Hopefully i will see you all next time.

[jonny]

I am new to the tube challenging thing...is there any way I could join on someone elses team for the Alphabet challenge tomorrow or do I have to do it myself?

I too am looking for a team partner, so we can team up.

I have a basic circular route which might work in about 5h30m for the fun of it, but if you've got a better one i dont mind using it. I doubt we'll be setting any records or whatever with my route tomorrow, unless we get drawn something like 'I' as a starting letter, which would be a godsend.

EDIT: just noticed 'I' isn't a possible starting letter. Meh.

[Going Underground]

I am new to the tube challenging thing...is there any way I could join on someone elses team for the Alphabet challenge tomorrow or do I have to do it myself?

I too am looking for a team partner, so we can team up.

I have a basic circular route which might work in about 5h30m for the fun of it, but if you've got a better one i dont mind using it. I doubt we'll be setting any records or whatever with my route tomorrow, unless we get drawn something like 'I' as a starting letter, which would be a godsend.

EDIT: just noticed 'I' isn't a possible starting letter. Meh.

Jonny

Could you team up with Marco then and also I think there will be only 2 x teams so I have decided that we will all start at letter "A". Therefore if someone does manage to get a record time it will be acceptable, as for times to register you have to start at A and finish at W..

See you guys shortly

[Going Underground]

The crowd of 4 gathered at Argyll Street and debated if we should attempt the alphabet challenge together in an effort to beat the record or split into teams..
Jonny who very kindly came down from Rugby for the day had a route starting at Angel, with Paddington and a Regents Park pass through...

Dr Who, ping pon and Going Underground had an Aldgate starting route with Piccadilly Circus and Russell Square..
The other stations were the same.......

We set off and we spotted jonny coming down on a southbound Jubilee line train just outside Finchley Road. We were on a southbound met train that we had picked up at Wembley Park, having decided to stay on the northbound Jubilee after visiting Dollis Hill...

We didn't see Jonny cross the platform at Finchley Road, but met him on the double back at Farringdon..
The 2 teams stayed together all the way up to Ickenham and back where we compared times and jonny was around a minute behind us...

We went our separate ways at Oxford Circus and our team reached Queensway where our one and only bad connection of the day happened, a seven minute wait for eastbound central line....
A further 3 - 4 minutes past and we thought that jonny must have got ahead of us but then we spotted him arriving on the platform having run from Bayswater...
We thought it would be great fun to hide around the corner like kids, so we did

The 2 teams didn't meet up again until after the event where the times were;

2nd jonny; 5hrs 25mins 38secs
1st Dr Who, ping pon, G.U. 5hrs 01mins 22secs...


jonny was hoping to stay for the evening Z1 but was denied However in view of the events that were about to follow it was probably just as well.....

It was a challenge in itself trying to get to Farringdon with thouands of people trying to get to Wembley for the Brazil game....

We were about 15mins let and eventually met up with Soup Dragon and K9.....
We split into 2 teams; Soupie and Dr Who
K9, ping pon and G.U.

Both teams changes at Moorgate and we said goodbye to Soupie and The Dr at Kings Cross....

5 superb changes saw us onto the Bakerloo line at Paddington well ahead of schedule.... Then we stop and sit at Edgware Road, after a couple of minutes the driver mumbles something inchoerent, another couple of minutes pass and he mumbles something again...Eventually after
5 - 6 minutes have passed we managed to hear that we will be held for a couple of minutes due to problems ahead. More time passes and this message is repeated... After 15 mins we get the news that a train has broken down and at Regents Park and the delay is going to be considerable......

It takes a couple of minutes to plan a new route and off we go back to Paddington......
We carry on trouble free for the next hour and a quarter with our spirits raised again trying to avoid the Bakerloo for as long as possible.....
We go through NHG, Bayswater and arrive at Paddington for the second time and hooray the Bakerloo Line is all fixed
Arriving at E & C we cannot believe the board is showing next Northern Line service in 14 minutes
Do we quit now or carry on.....
Deciding to carry on the train finally arrives after 20mins..

We finish at Knightsbridge in a time of 3hrs 45mins 14 secs.... Not bad considering we lost 35 mins and had to double back and do Egware Road, Paddington, Bayswater and NHG twice.........

I am sure that the photos will be published soon as we later found out that Soup Dragon and Dr Who (who were behind us on stations visited 13 to 20) were on the train ahead that had broken down just outside Regents Park.....

They spent 50mins in the tunnel, had no way of getting off or changing route so did not complete.......

All in all a most enjoybale and somehwat random day.......

[Soup Dragon]

I am sure that the photos will be published soon as we later found out that Soup Dragon and Dr Who (who were behind us on stations visited 13 to 20) were on the train ahead that had broken down just outside Regents Park.....

They spent 50mins in the tunnel, had no way of getting off or changing route so did not complete.......

All in all a most enjoybale and somehwat random day.......

As if by magic here are the pictures. Despite being stuck in a tunnel for 50 minutes it was an enjoyable evening and I got to ride the DLR for the first time.

http://pic5.piczo.com/tubedragon/?g=40540276

[jonny]

And here is a quick report of my alphabet challenge:

OK, I arrived at Euston on time, bought my travelcard, got down to Oxford Circus for about 20 to 11. I spent the next 20 minutes searching for the Argyll Street exit, of which there appeared to be more than one. At exactly 11am I emerged from the exit and found Jamie, Kevin & Phil. tubelover failed to turn up so I decided to go alone.

As GU has already mentioned, I started at Angel instead of Aldgate, and we eventually met up "waiting" (more like running onto the platform from the opposite ends and bumping into each other as our train arrives into the platform) at our 'F' station. Went up to Ickenham on a direct Uxbridge train through sheer luck.

Came back down again. I cheated and followed the Browns to their pre-researched carriage positions (:P) which I hadn't bothered with. I decided not to cheat further and change my route to use their "P" station instead of my own (although I did realise that theirs would have been better for me). A 10 minute wait for a train to Bayswater ensued and I ran down the steps at Queensway when I (finally) got there. 4 minutes on the board for the next eastbound train and I felt sure that I was probably about 15 minutes behind them now. Little did I know at this point that I was just a few feet from them due to their childish behaviour .

Anyway, onto a packed Central Line train, and I decided to change my route slightly to double back from my 'O' station to Baker Street (through the currently closed 'R' station that I chose to use) rather than going to Baker Street from Bond Street. This was a bad idea as I spent about 2 minutes trying to get down to the front of the platform towards the Bakerloo line.

Anyway. Perfect connection at Baker Street to come back Southbound. The Brown's had used a different 'R' station, but I think by the time I got to Bank on my way to a 'U' station I was probably about 1 or 2 trains behind les Bruns.

Slow as ever back into town from the 'U' station. Finished with 5:25:38 on the clock.