LEL 2013 / London - Edinburgh - London Audax

Again?

Yes, again. By this year, I do mean next year (2013!)

Im up for it! Last year we did jogle in 6 days so would be good to beat that! Would be good to get some long weekend rides in before hand though as it sounds quite tough going.

so is it basically non stop, the average day is going to be 174 miles!

This looks bloody awful. And yet strangely alluring. I imagine it would be far worse than you expect?

This sound excitingly hard, must get in.

This looks bloody awful. And yet strangely alluring. I imagine it would be far worse than you expect?

I think my main advantage was not training nearly enough.

That way I had no idea how bad it could be and once I did, I was well into it.

Of course, it was enjoyable but I think that was more from a sense of achievement perspective rather than riding for three days through a a storm....

just out of interest jonnyhotdog when you say not neraly enough training, what do you mean?

This is fucking mental.

I was considering another marathon for 2013 but this sounds a bajillion times harder and more interesting.

If you want to do it, you'll need to be on the ball on 5th Jan (when entry opens): places will go quickly. Judging by their Facebook page there is plenty of overseas interest.

Are you allocated people to ride with or do you need your own group?

It's an audax. You ride alone or with similarly paced people.

You can start with a group of people if you like - I think they'll give groups of friends the same start time.

just out of interest jonnyhotdog when you say not neraly enough training, what do you mean?

I work on ships so I only got off one the day before LEL so my opportunities for getting out and doing long rides were very limited for the three months previous.

I think the longest ride I did in preparation was about 90 miles.

90mi --> 1400k.

Ouch.

I probably only cried for about 1250k of it....

It *was *a little bit of a shock to the system to be honest but once you get going it's not too bad - the stiffness after resting was the biggest problem but about 20-30 minutes of cycling soon sorted that out.

I just went at a fairly steady pace and it was all good. - completed it in just under 100 hrs.

I feel like I need a relative idea of how fit you are. You seem to be playing this down a fair bit!

I would say my fitness is fairly average.

It was very difficult and I was (and still am) overweight for a cyclist but the main thing is that it's possible - mental strength is definitely tested as much as physical strength and endurance. The main thing is just to keep plodding on.

We'd need to average 175 miles a day, l'll put my name down tonight, least I can use my new randonneur bike for that ride.

I work on ships so I only got off one the day before LEL so my opportunities for getting out and doing long rides were very limited for the three months previous.

Could you not have a turbo trainer in the ship?

Could you not have a turbo trainer in the ship?

Yes and that's generally what I do but I don't have the free time available to spend any more than 45 minutes to an hour exercising.

This has really been on my mind for a few days now. I'm doing my first marathon in mid-March so I'll be in good shape, but won't have much chance to get miles in on the bike until then. Do you think that I could come back from the marathon, have a week's rest and still manage to get ready in time? That'd leave me four months...

I'm apprehensive about it. I've signed up for 120 mile sportives without a second's thought, but this feels genuinely scary. It'd be an amazing achievement to look back on though.

Sparky, I'm definitely doing it, would be great to have other fellow minded idiot to attempt this on.

Sparky, I'm definitely doing it, would be great to have other fellow minded idiot to attempt this on.

I just called the missus to chat about it, and she said she'd be willing to give me a summer weekend pass for training - as long as I went on a lazy break somewhere with her straight after the ride. I'm leaning towards doing it.

Would I be alright doing it on the road bike, Ed? I'm sort of subconsciously churning over the logistics now: how would I power a Garmin for five days? How do I power a mobile phone for five days (Twitter and pictures, plus in case of emergency)? What clothing would I need?

It's doable but I don't think marathon training is good preparation for this at all. Not to mention the likelihood of your body being trashed post-Mara (assuming you're not a regular marathoner).

You're going to want to do a couple of shorter audax to get familiar with route sheet reading - don't count on the Garmin for 5 days..

I'd have from March 17 to late July to get bike-fit after the marathon. Not that long, but it's certainly not like I'd be hopping straight on the bike after crossing the finish line.

Garmin is more for posterity/Strava, really. No way I'm doing 900 miles and not being able to bore people with the link forever more...

Would I be alright doing it on the road bike, Ed? I'm sort of subconsciously churning over the logistics now: how would I power a Garmin for five days? How do I power a mobile phone for five days (Twitter and pictures, plus in case of emergency)? What clothing would I need?

Get a Garmin with AA battery.

Get a front wheel with dynamo to power the phone (for some reason I can't use the garmin while charging from the dynamo).

If you been touring, it's the same shit except ride all day.

#neverbeenonanaudaxthatsmorethan300km

I'd have from March 17 to late July to get bike-fit after the marathon. Not that long, but it's certainly not like I'd be hopping straight on the bike after crossing the finish line.

Garmin is more for posterity/Strava, really. No way I'm doing 900 miles and not being able to bore people with the link forever more...

Ah, I read that as weeks rest, as in only a week between events.
If you prepare well for the marathon and don't injure yourself you should be in good stead to transfer to the bike. I ran a half with little training and was in physio for months afterwards so be careful of doing dumb shit in the run.
You could use a normal Garmin etrex that takes AA batteries and swap them or you could use an external Garmin battery pack and Edge 800 like I did for the 24hr. Charging this might be an issue but there are alternatives and it depends if you want to carry a charger/how often you will have decent stoppage time to charge.