• Plan a proper lunch stop somewhere. Constantly eating sweets and sugary stuff can backfire and while it's important to keep your energy levels up, oversugaring can leave you feeling pretty ropey when it gets cold. Something hearty with high GI and carbs is a good idea (hence why audaxers often favour beans on toast, particularly in winter). For the lunch stop, somewhere indoors and warm where you've going to be for about half an hour is best. Don't forget to drop layers as soon as you can in the lunch stop to get any built up sweat evaporated. When you get going again, you won't want that getting cold as soon as you go outdoors. Riding exposed to the cold for a long time takes it's toll a lot more than you might expect but the creep is gradual and you can easily get into a poor headstate before you realise what is going on. Psychology can be a complete ride killer so recognising when you might be about to hit a downward spiral is pretty helpful. If you find the ride is taking longer than expected, go with it rather than push yourself to get back on schedule.
    If you aren't planning it already, probably best to look at options to bail out into Swindon, at least there you can get the train up to Stroud if needs be.
    Finally, don't delay a break if you think you might need one. Thinking that it'll be worth going through one place in favour of getting a bit further on can scupper a ride. THat one is from very bitter experience.

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