This is the second in a series of posts about my training and preparation for the 1530km London Edinburgh London audax event in August 2025. The series was inspired by LEL supremo Danial Webb asking if anyone was planning to post about their training and preparation for the event. Read part one here.

(London Edinburgh London is a cycle ride across Great Britain between the English and Scottish capitals. Held every four years, it is the premier British audax – a long-distance, non-competitive cycle ride. You have a maximum of 128 hours to ride to Edinburgh and back to London.)

London Wales London 2025

I wrote a lengthy post a year ago about completing the annual London Wales London audax from Chalfont St Peter near London to Chepstow in Wales and back via the original Severn Bridge. If you’re interested in a detailed account of riding LWL, head there as this will be a much shorter account. Instead I’ll focus on how I plan to learn from this year’s LWL experience to help my preparations for London Edinburgh London in August. (Both what worked well and what didn’t.) I’ll look at organisational lessons – yes, including charging devices – and personal ones, such as keeping healthy and maintaining morale through the inevitable lows.

I never thought we’d have a second year of fine weather for LWL, but conditions were similar to last year, with the exception of a light but noticeable headwind on the outward leg across the Cotswolds. We were lucky to miss the 28C temperatures two days before – as well as the far colder weather that arrived within 12 hours of the finish. Organiser Liam FitzPatrick is obviously on very good terms with the weather gods…