This is the fifth in my series of posts about my preparation for the 1530km London Edinburgh London audax event in August 2025. Read part one here (my road to LEL), part 2 here (lessons from the 400k London Wales London audax), part 3 here (even harder lessons from the Bryan Chapman Memorial 600k audax), and part 4 here (volunteers put together the LEL rider starter packs).

It’s starting to feel very real. On Sunday morning, 3 August 2025, I will join over 2,000 cyclists in the quest to ride London Edinburgh London, one of the world’s greatest amateur cycling events. My training is complete, and my bike serviced. Now, I’m going through my final preparations and kit choices. There’s been some chatter on the LEL Facebook page about kit lists, so I thought I’d share some of my kit choices and packing tips. The chances are that you are taking much less than I am, but as a first time LEL rider I’m playing it safe.

I’ll start by confessing that I’m torn between carrying things like a down jacket that will help me cope if we get wild weather in Scotland (as in 2009 and 2017) and keeping my on-bike weight down. I may compromise by having it in a drop bag, ready to carry if it looks necessary.

My other aim is to try to organise my kit in a way that saves time at controls while minimising the chance of losing things. On my recent tour of France (which involved a different destination every night) I used packing cubes, which made it very easy to find things in a suitcase. I’ll obviously not be carrying suitcases on LEL, but will use small bags within my saddle bag. This is how it will work:

Sleepover kit

This is taking into a control where I plan to sleep for a couple of hours. It will sit at the bottom of my saddle bag. It includes a sleeping bag liner, inflatable pillow, eye mask, ear plugs (mine plus the ones included in each rider’s registration pack), plus loose shorts to sleep in to give my body a rest from cycling shorts.

Toiletries

I’ve created a separate bag for toiletries, again for those locations where I plan to wash and sleep. I’m sure many will regard the idea of taking deodorant on LEL as about as useful as fitting an ashtray to their handlebars. But as I’m likely to be going well over 24 hours without a shower, I like the option of masking the pong. I also intend to shave at least a few times – even if I’ve ridden through most of the night, it will make the morning feel like a fresh, new day. I may also have some wipes to reduce the chances of saddle sores.

Bag to carry stuff into controls

Don’t faff! This was one of the key tips from my first LEL training blogpost. It’s far easier to gain time at controls, rather than on the road, unless you are a very strong cyclist who barely stops. Speed is of the essence at controls. To borrow a quote from that earlier post:

‘As one LEL volunteer noted, they can tell as soon as a rider gets off the bike at a control whether they are a ‘go-er’ or a ‘faffer’. The go-er will have a technique to get through quickly: they take everything they need from the bike, get their brevet card stamped, fill up water bottles, go to the toilet – and eat if needed.’ 

It struck me that I could save time by having a bag to carry all the things I will need at a control. When I arrive, I’ll pop in my water bottles (for refilling), brevet card for stamping and flip flops to change into. (You’re not allowed to wear cleated shoes in the controls – a subject of much discussion on the LEL Facebook page…) Once in the control building I may carry my cycling shoes in it to ensure no one else mistakes them for their own footwear. (This does happen.) I’ll also bung in a power pack if I intend to charge any devices while I’m eating.

First aid kit

This small bag contains plasters (normal and blister variety), paracetamol, Rennies (for indigestion), Imodium in case of diarrhoea, hayfever tablets, sore throat lozenges, and Fucidin cream for saddle sores. (I’ll also carry mini pots of Sudocrem for this cyclist’s affliction, as well as sachets of chamois cream.) Completing the kit are miniature tubes of cold sore cream and lip balm.

‘Shadow’ drop bags

At registration on Saturday, we’ll hand over all the items we want to include in the drop bags, which the LEL team then transport to the chosen location. I decided that registration would be much smoother if I set up a ‘shadow’ bag for each of my drop bags, so I can just decant the contents into the official LEL bag. Above is my Richmond shadow bag and contents. (I’m chuffed that the colour matches the real one.) My current plan is to have two clean pairs of shorts here, one for the outward journey and one for the return. (We call at Richmond in both directions, unlike the Scottish controls.)

You’ll see that the Richmond bag has the most content. This is because it contains extra foul weather kit, such as heavy winter gloves. It and Louth also have stuff for the north and south legs, unlike Dalkeith (the Edinburgh turning point), visited just once. I’ll may have too many pairs of shorts overall, but that might make the inevitable saddle sores less painful.

One late addition: a pair of overshoes in the Richmond bag. For years, I could only find one of the pair, but found the missing one today, just in time. I’m not completely convinced of the benefits of overshoes, given most water seems to come up from the road rather than down from the sky, but see this as insurance against a biblical storm on the road over the Pennines or in Scotland. Assuming we get warning of it before I leave Richmond!

Downtube storage

I’m lucky that my Specialized Diverge includes a storage compartment in the downtube. I use it for the things I don’t need to get to regularly, although accessing it is quick. (You unclick the cover that holds a bottle cage, and slide out the storage bag.) It will contain a spare tube, mini-pump, tyre patches and levers, tubeless plugs, spare derailleur hanger, chain link and spokes, plus valve core tool. I’ll also keep spare SRAM batteries as I’ll need at least two battery changes over 1,500km. I’ll pop a SRAM charger in one of my drop bags, if not on the bike.

Top tube and frame bags

For 400km and longer rides, I fit a long Apidura top tube bag, and on 600km and longer events i use a custom frame bag from Restrap. (I found that with a 54cm frame this was essential to add worthwhile storage and still have room for water bottles.) I wrote about this excellent bag in my post about lessons from the Bryan Chapman Memorial 600k here.

I use the top tube bag for electronics – phone, power packs, essential charging cables – and anything else that I’ll need on the go, such as snacks. The Restrap frame bag has pockets on either side, with the biggest compartment on the drive side. This is where I’ll keep my first aid kit, spare GoPro batteries and cafe lock. I’ll keep ‘might need’ items such as a spare Garmin with the routes loaded in the smaller compartment. The aim is to avoid going into the saddle bag if I can avoid it.

Almost ready – in mind and logistics

I confess that I’ve been on edge this week. Despite having a comprehensive to-do list, I didn’t feel like I had everything under control. But today I finally achieved a state of contentment with my preparations. Having the bike ready, and my shadow drop bags packed definitely helped. I’m sure there’ll be a few final panics, and I may reassess some of my kit choices. But I’m looking forward to a day trip to Writtle on Friday to get the key to my room and see where everything is before arriving for real on Saturday. A big thank you again to all the organisers and volunteers who make this amazing event possible.

And finally – beware of sunburn when it’s cloudy!

Most LEL riders are nervously scanning the weather apps for next week. I’ve been avoiding doing so – weather in Great Britain is notoriously unpredictable, and I’d rather wait until nearer the start. We can assume almost every type of weather, although a heatwave is looking unlikely now – and you can leave the snow tyres at home…

One word of warning. It’s easy to get sunburned in Britain when it’s cloudy, especially when you are outdoors all day. So don’t assume you can skip the sunscreen just because you’re not cycling under blue skies.

PS: thanks to Liam FitzPatrick for featuring me in the LEL News series on LEL’ers!