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Go for it.
Similarly, I've an ultra running background, the key skill is the same- keep moving. -
I've never ridden an audax so all of this might be a bit noob, but how hard is an event like LEL?
Not really (in the context of what you've done), it's just 4 or 5 long days but of much lower intensity riding. A lot of it is the mental side of waking up on days 2, 3 and 4 and realising that you're going to be cycling all day again.
300-320km a day, so 14-15 hours riding (10-12 hours for the faster lot), a couple of hours of eating and then whatever is left as rest/sleep.
I was doing ~120km a week (mostly commuting) in prep for LEL'09, but I also did 5000km of Audaxes (including the 1400km of LEL) that year so every 2nd or 3rd weekend was a 200km ride with a few 300/400/600 rides thrown in.
For PBP'11 I did the bare minimum to qualify (200, 300, 400, 600) and probably not much more than 80km a week.
If you can complete a 600km Audax (of which there are plenty to try between now and July 2017) comfortably then you'd be fine with something like LEL. The other one would be to do back to back 300km rides.
Currently I'd like to do a marathon in October, a 50mile ultra in April, and then ideally LEL in July. Sound do-able? I'm just feeling nervous.
Yep, doable. Sounds roughly what I intend to do (although a shorter ultra maybe) and I'm probably going to take 15 hours for IM Wales in September.
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What hurt at 200k mark?
Resolve it
Ride 300k
What hurts?
Resolve it
Ride 400k, what hurts?
Resolve it.
Ride 600k...Repeat until maximum distance you're satisfied with is achieved. If you've done ultra-running then it should be relatively easy, you'll just find different parts of you hurt and you'll need to deal with those. Toenails tend not to fall off in cycling events, for example, but your gooch might not speak to you for a while.
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I've never ridden an audax so all of this might be a bit noob, but how hard is an event like LEL? Or more specifically, what sort of mileages are typical riders riding to prepare for such an event?
Following this thread as well as the PBP/TransAm/TransCon threads has really piqued my interest for long, multi day events and I can't get the idea of riding LEL out of my mind but I'm worried about preparation etc. I'm not new to endurance stuff (I've done plenty of 9-24hr type events e.g. ironman, ultra marathons etc.) but 5days feels like a big step up. Currently my longest ride is only a touch over 200km, although I want to do a Godwin (/Abraham/Searvogel) later this summer.
Currently I'd like to do a marathon in October, a 50mile ultra in April, and then ideally LEL in July. Sound do-able? I'm just feeling nervous.