The Overland Underground Challenge

[Norm]

Hi all,

I remember having a conversation with someone after the Tube Relief event about trying to do the all stations challenge but by road. Now I'm back in London (after 2.5yrs in sunny Scotland) I fancy giving it a go.

Does anyone know if it's ever been done?

Cheers,
Norm.

[Soup Dragon]

Hi Norm, welcome back to the forum after a couple of years break in (sunny ) Scotland.

I know that this challenge has been discussed several times within the forum but I don't think that anyone has ever gone out and done it yet. One of the questions posed in the past was what would actually constitute a visit by road? How close do you have to be to a station to say you have visited it? Personally I would say you have to actually go inside the station.

[Going Underground]

I do believe that our very own Tubeguru and Geoff discussed this at length last year, I cant recall if any rules were actually agreed

[Norm]

Afternoon,

Thanks Soup Dragon - the "sunny" was somewhat tongue in cheek

On the challenge: I don't think you should have to go physically into the station - that would involve untold (and probably unmanageable) amounts of parking, locking up of bike (I'd do it on a motorbike) etc etc.

Also, what would constitute "inside"? If you stipulate the ticket office then you have to get there on the correct side for the outer stations which is an extra challenge (or run down loads of steps in full leathers! - I'm looking at you majority-of-zone-1-stations...)

Of course, the station would also have to be open to get inside them in the first place - I haven't put much planning in yet, I can't decide if it would be faster or slower than doing it underground - I suspect it will be slower, and highly dependant on the time of day you attempt it. Doing zone 1/2 at any time other than overnight or very early morning would put you massively at the mercy of traffic (all part of the challenge I guess

My vague plan was to use the same rules as the underground challenge, but adapt them to suit overground. Maybe physically touching the station entrance would be enough? (Though now I've just started wondering how many station entrances are inside other buildings and only accessible when the outer building is open..)

I'm very much in the "I've been fancying it for a couple of years, wonder if I should give it a shot" phase. I've also just realised that by publishing the times at each station you're incriminating yourself if any of the average speeds turn out to be a bit naughty

Going Underground, thanks, maybe Tubeguru or Geoff may notice the thread and give us the results of their prior conversations?

Cheers,
Norm.

[editorsfoot]

Using the handy search function the thread you are looking for should be here

http://www.tubechallenge.com/forum/view ... y&start=15

[Norm]

Hi,

Those rules look fairly sensible, apart from I wouldn't be trying it by car - I think you'd have to be nuts to try it in a car! But one bike all day is fine. I'd ride myself and get a pillion (or someone else on a bike) to take photos.

I agree with the definition of a visit being a photo with the challenger(s) and a Roundel showing the name - sounds sensible. I'd almost definitely do a slice of this over night in order to keep out of the way of traffic...

Time to get a big wall map (there's probably a PhD somewhere in here for working out the fastest route)!

Cheers,
Norm.

[hwolge]

Time to get a big wall map (there's probably a PhD somewhere in here for working out the fastest route)!

Not quite! I, well, my computer, did however work out the best overground route for all the "bottle stations". This was intended for running and came out at around 20 miles (if memory serves me)...

Good Luck!

[jamesthegill]

What bike would you use?

(Not that it has any bearing, I'm just curious as a rider myself )

[Norm]

Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K5 in black.

Slightly overspecced for the trip, but it's the only bike I've got

Norm.