The event

For the past year I’ve been training for London Edinburgh London, a 1,600km Audax which goes from nearly London to nearly Edinburgh, and back to nearly London. Its an event which only happens every 4 years due to the massive amount of organisation required, and the huge number of people taking part, this year I’ve heard that it was over 2,500.

For London Edinburgh London there are numerous controls along the route, all of which have food available, most with basic mechanical assistance available, and some with dormitories for riders to get some sleep.

The prep

My training consisted of:

  1. re-roofing the shed
  2. insulating the shed
  3. boarding out the shed with chipboard
  4. buying a dedicated bike storage shed, so the bikes stored in the shed could be moved out
  5. moving the indoor training bike into the shed
  6. trying to squeeze as much training into the remaining 8 weeks before the event.

Why so much shed? The indoor trainer was in the room right next to James’s room and when I finish work and want to start training is roughly when he wants to have a nap, and the indoor trainer would wake him up. So I needed a new location for indoor training which happened to be outdoors in the shed.

Once the shed was set up I focused on a Zwift training plan which aimed to increase my FTP, which involved about 4 HIIT sessions a week, each of about 1 hour duration. I felt this gave me a good balance of training and spending time with James.

The equipment

Before the event I decided to get a bike fit, from an actual person instead of an online thing, there were several minor adjustments to be made. My saddle moved forwards a little, my cleats were moved into a better position. I was recommended a narrower saddle, padded gloves, and bar tape with more padding, all of which I got. The only other change I decided to make to my bike was to use a waxed chain, the main reason for that was to make the bike easier to clean.

For bags, I took my 2 Alpkit handlebar pouches, and my Carradice, which fitted everything in perfectly.

For equipment I took:

I took the bivvy bag in case I needed to spend a night outside, like on the audax last year. The sleeping bag would also be useful in that situation, but I had also heard that a sleeping bag might be more comfortable than the blankets provided at controls. The swimming trunks were a last minute pack, when I realised I would appreciate having something to sleep in which was not my bibs, my options were limited, and the trunks were the smallest and lightest thing I could find.

I had 2 drop bags, one going to Richmond, and the second to Innerleithen

My drop bags were very light compared to the drop bags others were taking, some had even chosen to have a third drop bag.

I had opted to hire a power-bank, which I could use, and then swap for a fully charged power-bank at a control.

The plan

The event is over 128 hours and I wanted a good 6 hours sleep each day, I find that I don’t operate particularly well when sleep deprived. That left me with 104 hours, and riding at 20km/h which I was confident I could do, that would leave me with 24 hours of wiggle room / faff time. This would be time eating, getting my brevet stamped and just resting.

The start time of the riders was staggered through out the day, this keeps the riders safe, and prevents all the riders arriving at the controls at the same time. However the finish time is always the same, so a later start also means less time to finish the event. My start time was 2:30pm, the official start of the ride was 4:00am so I was already down 8.5 hours. My faff time was now down to just 15.5 hours, which still sounded good to me.

The ideal plan would have me stopping at Hessle the first night, then onto Brampton, Innerleithen, and Hessle again, that’s roughly 300km between each control. But to get to Hessle would take at least 15 hours, and with a 14:30 start time I would optimistically be getting to Hessle on the first night at 5am, which is not ideal. I could push though the night, or I could sleep at an earlier stop, Louth, or Boston. Boston was the first possible sleep stop and was 193km in, at 10 hour travel time meaning I would get there at gone midnight. I could catch up any time on the last day, use some of that faff time perhaps.

I had set up my Garmin GPS to sound alerts if I was trying too hard, basically if my watts or heart rate went above zone 2, I’ve found this has helped in the past to ensure that I’m not going to hard. My Garmin also has a stamina setting which displays my potential distance, stamina, and fatigue which is also very useful to keep an eye on.

The reality

I travelled to the start at Writtle on the day before the event start so I could register, collect my rider pack, and organise my drop bags. I was surprised by the organisation, there was an army of volunteers offering help, there was food and drink vans, stands selling waterproof clothes, bike equipment etc.

I registered, sorted my drop bags, had a pizza, and headed to the hotel for the night. The hotel was overflowing with cyclists, they had offered to store the bikes in a separate room which was already full by the time I got there, but this didn’t concern me because I wanted the bike in the room with me.

It was not the best night sleep I’ve ever had, partly due to nerves, and partly due to hearing the cyclists leaving who were starting earlier in the morning.

I decided to get to the start at about 10, mainly because I was getting a little bored of sitting in my room watching TV.

The atmosphere at the start was full of excitement and happiness, any nerves I had quickly evaporated under it. The volunteers who may have been going since 4am were waving and cheering everyone off. And I sat and watched as most of the waves set off, joining in the clapping and cheering with them.

When it was my turn to set off, I lined up at the start and we were given one last reminder to ride on the left side of the road, and to look to the right before pulling out at junctions and then we were off.

Down the short drive, under the Arrivee banner, already set up for the return, and onto the road.

I knew I needed to ride my own ride, and not try too hard to keep with the bunch, but I also knew that staying with a bunch would make the ride substantially easier. Enthusiasm and fresh legs encouraged me to keep with the group for the first half hour, with my Garmin bleeping away every 5 minutes as I went over my zone 2 goals.

I came to my senses, slowed down, and watched the group ride off.

Not long after it started raining, sometimes quite hard, but I had checked the forecast and I knew it was only going to be showers, and decided against putting on any waterproofs, a decision which saw me pass a good number of the group which had dropped me, as they donned their waterproofs. 30 minutes later it had stopped raining, 10 minutes after that I had dried out.

I was making good time, a steady 22.5km/h, which was above what I needed, helped by the terrain which is flatter than my usually hilly cycling routes.

The first 100km to Northstowe were relatively uneventful, I only stopped twice. I rode on and off with a small bunch of maybe 5 riders. And only had one silly moment when I tried to draft off a car which took my estimated distance on my Garmin down to 6km, but I was able to recover and get it back to 190km.

Northstowe was an interesting control, a very new school/college, in a very new town. I spent maybe an hour there, getting my brevet stamped, some food, and the first of many apple crumbles.

Then back out onto the road again. It was getting late, but it didn’t feel that way to me. I had another 5 hours of riding before I got to Boston.

I was now in the flatlands, with very little elevation change I was making good progress. However I was starting to realise that the lack of up hill means there is also no down hill on which to take a break from peddling, and the continuous action was starting to wear on my legs.

I had also realised that all my training had focused on the peddling and none at all on the eating, I had many gels available to eat, my one good things, potato cakes, and peperami. But none of it was appealing to me at the time.

At about 20km from Boston I passed a small group of cyclists who had called into a chippy, but I carried on. About 10km later, I was getting really sore and tired, and decided to take a 10 minute break lying on a bench.

I rolled into the Boston control at 00:30 got my Brevet stamped, and decided to spend the night. I had some food, and went to the dormitory. It was full. Luckily I had my sleeping bag, and I was provided with a blanket so I found a nice dark corner in a different hall and slept. Others were doing the same. It was now 1:30 am, I must have faffed a lot.

I planned to wake at 7:30 giving myself a good 6 hours sleep.

At 5:30 the fire alarm went off.

Once the fire alarm was sorted out I went for some more food, and an earlier than planned start to day two.

The new goal for today was Malton or, if I could, maybe Richmond.

Out of Boston the road was both flat and very straight, this would have been a good time to use the clip on TT bars but I’d not practised with them, and found they were too low to spend much time in.

The Lincolnshire Wolds presented a welcome change in elevation, although at this point the legs were less appreciative, and I was also struggling to eat again.

As I got closer to Louth the weather also started to turn wetter, this time I did decide to don my waterproofs. It seemed like the closer I got to the control the harder it rained. I was waved into the control by the ever happy volunteers, and was directed to get my brevet stamped, my battery swapped, then some food, and the all important apple crumble.

It was at Louth that I first heard about the announcement made on facebook (and only facebook ☹️) that the organisers were monitoring the weather, with the potential of calling for a delay due to storm Floris. I waited until 10:30 / I was too busy eating until 10:30 when I thought a new announcement would be made but nothing came. I was keen to reach the Humber Bridge because for me it was a major landmark, and it’d be cool to cycle over, so I prepared to set off.

I took the opportunity to top up my chain with some oil based lube, I’m quite sure my wax would have washed off by now.

Within 5 minutes of leaving Louth the torrential rain had stopped. The route was a little hilly again as it went through more of the Lincolnshire Wolds, I tried to keep a steady pace, but found myself needing to stop a little too frequently for my liking.

Not long after 11:30 I heard the news that a 4 hour pause had been announced due to the storm, everyone was to be held at the control they are currently at, or the next one they reach. For me that meant Hessle, and I was still a good distance away from there.

I went over a few hills and through some villages, and finally the Humber Bridge came into view, and the weather was looking good, it was actually sunny. As I started across I had a fantastic tail wind pushing me along, but about a quarter of the way I could see some rain approaching from the left. As I was approaching the middle of the bridge I could see a cyclist on a shopper bike leaning at about 70 degrees into the wind and a runner stopping to sit down.

Then the wind and the rain hit me, I couldn’t keep the bike in a straight line, and even upright was becoming challenging, I had no choice but to get off and push. The wind blew the glasses off my face, and fully to the other side of the bridge before hitting one of the cables, breaking them apart before dumping them into the Humber.

It felt like a 10 minute walk across the bridge with the rain being driven so fast it hurt, yet before I reached the other side, it had already stopped raining, and was sunny again. But I was still soaked through.

I arrived into the Hessle control not long after, and just one hour before the end of the pause. I was quite happy to have an enforced hour long break, using the time to have some food with two helpings of apple crumble.

Everyone gathered for a further announcement at 15:30, the end of the pause, another 4 hour pause was announced. It was bad over the hills with people being rescued by volunteers because of the weather. I had problems on the bridge, and the winds were only stronger further north, so I fully understood the need for a pause to keep everyone safe. I took the opportunity to have some more apple crumble, and check the news. The official government advice was to not travel if possible, it didn’t sound good.

I would have time to pop into Hessle town centre to a bike shop to pickup a new pair of sunglasses, I asked the controllers before leaving just to make sure I would not be disqualified and was given the OK. So a half hour trip and I was back with some snazzy new glasses, but they were not photochromic so would only do for day riding.

After a shower, an hour long nap on an actual airbed this time, and more apple crumble, it was coming up on the end of the pause again, and we were expecting another announcement. It was what no one wanted to hear, but which I was suspecting, LEL was cancelled for this year. It was too unsafe over the hills, and to continue delaying it would only cause problems for participants and volunteers who didn’t have an extra day available. I imagine there would also have been problems with arranging hire of the control venues for longer, keeping the food, and a million other small problems which all add up.

Everyone was welcome to stay the night before heading back south in the morning, the controls would be open and available for use, but only for people who waited until morning.

I saw that it would be very easy for me to get home from Hessle, just three trains to get across the Pennines and home. It was a plan for the morning, I would then head south later in the week to pick up my drop bags, without a bike.

The Retro

Looking back at my numbers on Strava, I was never going to make it all the way to Edinburgh and back, on the bike I thought I was doing well, I was seeing an average speed of 22.5km/h on the first day, but that was moving speed, my average over elapsed time was 19km/h which would have been too slow, and I feel like I was only going to slow down further over the next few days.

I fully enjoyed it and am looking forward to taking part in the 2029 edition, with a little more training.

Things which went well

Sleeping bag, this was very comfy and far nicer than the blankets provided.

Hydration pack, I was carrying a total of 3.5 litres of water but I went though it.

Sandals not flip-flops, flip-flops don’t really work with socks, so sandals without that bit between the toes make life easy and comfy

Packable rucksack, useful for putting everything in before going into controls when staying overnight

Headphones (shokz), and listening to audio books, kept me entertained on long boring bits

Things which could have been better

Food whilst on the bike, I need to do more training on eating whilst cycling, not being able to cycle well because I’m hungry, but not being able to eat, is not a good combo

Alpkit bar pouches/feed bags, they are big and can carry a lot but I’ve been let down by their lack of waterproofness

Training, focusing on HIIT training did help a lot, but I don’t think it should have been a full replacement for long hours in the saddle.

Things to consider

I didn’t need the bivvy bag, it was only intended as a worst case option, could I leave it out?

I didn’t have much in my drop bags, could I do it without any drop bags, and just carry everything with me?