With all the talk of RTL I was feeling a bit left out and was thinking about doing a qualifying ride just for the hell of it, even though I can't do the actual event.
I was reading up on the qualifying and playing with the 'calculator' (http://www.unitours.org/Unitours/tours/MUT/Rating.aspx) and realised that one of my normal commuting routes is enough to qualify as long as it's raining and windy for one of the days (which it usually is) and it's dark on the way home (which it is at this time of year). It scores just over 150 points a day. Assuming you're allowed an 8-hour rest in the middle of each day's ride (doesn't say anything against that on the RTL site!)
So it seems I'm already a qualified lobster without even trying 🙂
I've looked at that a few times. As long as you pick poor conditions (cold, wet, windy, dark and muddy), it is actually pretty easy to qualify. The subjective values really multiply up the total rating.
Even without going up or down any hills, you can get the first days ride done in just 18 miles!
It makes my 144 mile qualifying run look totally over the top now :-(
I've looked at that a few times. As long as you pick poor conditions (cold, wet, windy, dark and muddy), it is actually pretty easy to qualify.
Yup, and it helps that my route is about half off-road and roughly 1000ft of climbing 🙂 (I didn't use the "extreme cold" option though because I assume the -5C I rode in a few weeks ago [which I thought was 'kin cold] would count as pretty warm to Americans who are used to -30!)
Ridiculous really - it bares absolutely no resemblance to road racing... should be a MM qualifying ride rather than RTL!
