Before spending a pleasant weekend with friends (not a bike in sight) near Hay-on-Wye, I was drawn to an old dusty map - Radnor Autumn '94!!
Excellent. I'll write you a personal edition, with a blow by blow (cadencia) account of all 25 Polari. zzzzzzZZZZZZZ. For the sum of �5000. BTW Howard, how the devil are you? Are you not due for a comeback? Maybe we should go out and repeat the Bollands route of that weekend, but maybe over 4 days!
I wouldn't read it, I'm more than slightly naffed off
As I recall, that was the event where Roger broke a previous polaris approved agreement, without saying a word to me.
Ah that was some venue Baskerville Hall.
There is plenty of material for a weighty tome on Polaris cock ups. Additional features include:
optimistic
The checkpoint at 'Stream crossing' was one
I think it was NYM, mind you that description might apply in more than one case
Slow results eh, you should have tried triping in 500 teams worth of Checkpoints and times over 2 days for 10 years, I was more than pleased when we swapped to electronic timimg.
Judging by the way this thread has wandered, I guess no-one has the Bollands' route.
What are all these funny numbers?
I haven't the faintest idea, what do you think jerry?
Search me
Ah! They must be the controls the Bollands visited. Thanks!
It seems an attack of mild paranoia has broken out.
Just testing (oops sorry Jon - seems like a change of topic here).
'The prisoner'
Thats funny, my number's changed!
And why is Howard only one digit removed? Are we related?
So does....
...this number....
...always stay...
....the same - apparently, yes.
What number am I now?
Hah! Cracked it! Just copy & paste your numbers minus the dots into streetmap.co.uk, choose grid refs - and that's where your next control is!! My first control is on the A233 near Hawley's Corner - now where the hell is that?
Big Bro is watching you
A dark cloud passed in front of my eyes. How did the Bolland brothers do it? Does anyone have their route details for the Saturday & Sunday?
In fact isn't it about time someone wrote a book about the history of Polaris, the people, the crack, the riding, the routes, how the winners did - or didn't do it - and not forgetting the mud the pain the agony!! Come on Gary T, you are the literary expert, an opportunity for you perhaps?? My cheque is waiting!
By Gary T on Wednesday, December 4, 2002 - 12:10 am:
I believe that the Polaris Challenge is a featured chapter in a book soon. Mike Davis is involved, and I've supplied a few quotes. There may be room for a heavier tome, but who would read the thing, apart from me, you and Jeremy Atkinson?
By jerry on Wednesday, December 4, 2002 - 06:48 pm:
By jerry on Wednesday, December 4, 2002 - 07:02 pm:
The result was that though I'd specified a multi tap bowser, he in his wisdom didn't; so several hundred people ended up queing for hours in horrible windswept conditions for one tap.
I also seem to remember it took several months of phone calls to extract a promised waterproof jacket from him for myself, and I didn't get the jacket he'd promised the farmer till 1999.
By GrahamL on Thursday, December 5, 2002 - 11:09 am:
I have often thought that it would make a good book to have a big route for each event around all of the CP's possibly based upon the winners but I have never got round to more than dreaming.
Perhaps I should put pen to paper whilst out here in Dubai but the golf, hashing and drinking gets in the way and there is the small thing of building an aluminium smelter to do as well.
By jon on Thursday, December 5, 2002 - 11:23 am:
Only 1 tap at Salisbury, resulting in a 70 minute queue for water.
Slow results everywhere until SportIdent.
Prizes being awarded to the wrong people - (a multiple occurence).
Rule changes post event.
Late provision of major prizes.
Reduction of advertised prize money after the event.
BUT I am not complaining. It's not all plain sailing being an event organiser. Polaris have given lots of cyclists some great weekends and motivated them to train through the winter. As Polaris learn from their errors the event will become more polished and professional for the greater enjoyment of all of us.
I look forward to a flawless series of events for 2003.
By john h on Thursday, December 5, 2002 - 07:36 pm:
By Jon B on Thursday, December 5, 2002 - 10:10 pm:
of my favourites. Can't remember which event
it was - one of the summer ones. But a whole
bunch of us spent ages walking up and down
a stream with about twenty crossing points in
a hundred yard stretch and strangely failed to
find the post that had been banged into the
ground ten foot back from the stream to below
the level of the surrounding heather. Where
was that John?
By jerry ( - 195.92.168.172) on Friday, December 6, 2002 - 09:05 pm:
By Graham L ( - 195.229.241.212) on Saturday, December 7, 2002 - 05:28 am:
Jon it was summer 1999 (Cropton forest)and the CP was in Northdale,it was moved by an irate gamekeeper.
By Howard Gromit Williams ( - 195.92.194.13) on Saturday, December 7, 2002 - 07:03 pm:
Yes I'm fine thanks Gary, but no comeback planned for the near future!
"Polaris: a pedal-by-pedal account"; not a best-seller then? Pity when it has so many parallels with "Lord of the Rings". The Quest, the epic scenery, the characters - Tolkein was a mountain biker! (Would he have gone north - or west first - from Clyro hill????)
By jerry ( - 195.92.194.12) on Saturday, December 7, 2002 - 10:49 pm:
By 195.92.194.12 ( - 195.92.194.12) on Saturday, December 7, 2002 - 10:53 pm:
By jerry ( - 195.92.194.12) on Saturday, December 7, 2002 - 10:54 pm:
By Howard Gromit Williams ( - 195.92.194.13) on Sunday, December 8, 2002 - 03:08 pm:
Now where's "195"?????? Errrr?????
By Oops sorry wrong number ( - 80.242.39.44) on Monday, December 9, 2002 - 09:55 am:
By I am not a number, I am a free man ( - 192.102.214.6) on Monday, December 9, 2002 - 04:11 pm:
By 195.92.194.12 ( - 195.92.194.18) on Monday, December 9, 2002 - 07:13 pm:
Come to think of it, the replies he got didn't make any sense either
By 195.92.194.18 ( - 195.92.194.18) on Monday, December 9, 2002 - 07:17 pm:
Now why would that be?
By 195.92.194.18 ( - 195.92.194.18) on Monday, December 9, 2002 - 07:19 pm:
By Puzzled ( - 161.74.55.24) on Tuesday, December 10, 2002 - 01:46 pm:
By Still puzzled ( - 161.74.55.24) on Tuesday, December 10, 2002 - 01:47 pm:
By not so puzzled ( - 161.74.55.24) on Tuesday, December 10, 2002 - 01:47 pm:
By not puzzled any more ( - 161.74.55.24) on Tuesday, December 10, 2002 - 01:48 pm:
Must be spying on us.
By 192.92.194.12? ( - 195.92.194.14) on Tuesday, December 10, 2002 - 10:03 pm:
Really Graham what is the point if our numbers don't stay the same from day to day?
By Howard Gromit Williams ( - 195.92.194.17) on Tuesday, December 10, 2002 - 10:24 pm:
Perpetual Polaris!! Then go and visit someone else's.
But? Is it 7 hours the first day; 5 the next? And where's the camp-site??
I'm on my way.............
By james ( - 62.252.160.4) on Wednesday, December 11, 2002 - 11:09 am:
The numbers are the internet address of your computer. Your internet service provider has a bank of them and everytime you logon it allocates you a spare one.
A computer expert would have to correct me on this, but as I understand polaris or any other website you log-on to can do little with this information, although I think the more technical sites can discern which country your Internet Service Provider is.
So Howard is almost right - its polaris on a big scale - be warned entering this event could be more expensive than going to IOM.