A year ago today, British ultracyclist Mike Hall was killed while riding in the Indian Pacific Wheel Race in Australia. This week it was announced that places for This Is Not A Tour – an event devised by some of his friends in the UK Audax community – are being taken up rapidly and that only a few spaces remaining at certain distances.
This Is Not A Tour will take place on June 2 and 3 in Mid-Wales, where Hall lived with his partner, Anna. It was drawn up after consultation with his family and seeks to encapsulate his spirit.
The website states: "The spirit of self-sufficiency should be embraced. There will be no route arrows, no feed stations, no manned controls, no bag drops, no roaming mechanic, no sag wagon and no on-route cafe/shop information.
"There will be an event HQ, gpx tracks and the information provided on this website, but once you leave HQ, you’re on your own folks.”
This is Not A Tour comprises more than a dozen rides of distances between 100 and 600 kilometres. However, entrance has already closed on the fast 400km route and the event is nearly at capacity on the 600km and the slow 400km. Entrance to those rides will therefore close on April 14.
After that date, you will still be able to enter the shorter rides on both Saturday and Sunday. “If you still want to put in some significant mileage over the weekend, why not enter a 300km on Saturday and a 200km on Sunday,” suggest the organisers.
They’ll continue to monitor entrance numbers on the shorter rides, but such is the interest it seems like they too may have to close early.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.