My LEL story
The London Edinburgh London event, or LEL for short, is a world famous long distance cycling event organised by Audax UK. At 1540km and 14500m of climb, it is longer and more difficult than the famous 1200km long Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP), the oldest cycle race in the world. It is normally held every four years, but because of the pandemic, the 2021 edition was delayed to 2022. It attracts thousands of cyclists from around the world. I tried LEL in 2017 but had to retire through injury – my achilles swelled up – after 824km done. After successfully completing PBP in 2019 and feeling in good shape at the start of 2022, I decided to give LEL one more try. I am 68 and cannot expect to be capable of doing it in future years. I trained mainly by doing the audax super-randonneur series: 200km, 300km, 400km and 600km rides through April to July. I used a Cannondale Topstone Carbon 105 gravel bike with 38mm Panaracer Gravel King tyres. With the rear suspension on the bike and running the tyr...