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 tyres at 60psi, I got a very smooth ride. With all the bike bags attached, it was not very light, but with some clip-on bars I could get it up to a good speed on the flat. It had low gears (46/30-11/34), ideal for crawling up the many 10% plus gradients that existed on the route. There is a Son dynamo on the front wheel that charged stuff during the day and powered the 800 lumen Exposure light at night. I also had a Lezyne 1500XL light that I used when it became very dark. The good lights and sturdy bike allowed me to descend with confidence in the dark without worrying about potholes (much!).

I started from Debden at 0800 on Sunday August 7^th and finished there on Friday August 12^th at 0929, a total time of 121 hours and 29 minutes, within the 128 hour and 20 minute time limit. It was 5 days of ride, eat, sleep repeat. There were about 1500 starters and about 900 finishers. Fortunately, the weather was good, with no rain and light winds. It was hot , but lots of sun cream and drink helped me deal with that.

I had a plan for the ride based upon the parameters of averaging 20kph, three 5 hour stops at Malton in Yorkshire (twice) and Dunfermline to eat, and sleep and 40 minute stops at the 18 controls. That resulted in a time of just over 100 hours. This worked for day 1, but when I got to Brampton near midnight on day 2 after a lot of climbing, I realised I needed to change to a five day plan with four stops for rest, adding several hours to the schedule. I also found I needed to rest more at the controls and mid-stage as every part of my body that touched the bike began to hurt. So even though I kept to my target moving average of 20 kph, an extra 20 hours of rest was needed to complete the event. The numbers are in the table below.

 

Day	Stage	Elapsed Time	Moving Time	Distance	Climb (ft)
Sun, 07/08/2022	LEL day 1, heading north	19:18:32	15:41:34	230.75	8,379
Mon, 08/08/2022	LEL day 2, the hilly bit going north	13:46:15	10:50:49	124.29	9,101
Tue, 09/08/2022	LEL day 3, Scotland in a day	24:50:58	18:06:14	233.17	12,405
Wed, 10/08/2022	LEL day 4, the hilly bit going south	13:44:20	10:32:04	125.02	8,606
Thu, 11/08/2022	LEL day 5, going south	28:03:55	18:46:21	241.80	8,665
		99:44:00	73:57:02	955.03	47156.00

 

Total time	121:29:00
Rest time	21:45:00
Rest per stage	5:26:15
Speed when moving	12.91	mph
Speed when moving	20.65	kph

People on the ride did not speak much. They had either run out of things to talk about or wanted to conserve their energy, or both. Everyone was focussed on finishing.

When I rode Paris-Brest-Paris there was wonderful support from people all the way along the route. Everyone knew what was going on and were out in the droves to watch and cheer the cyclists on. Public awareness of LEL in the UK is much lower. There were a few of people spectating. Some people asked me what it was all about and then would looked amazed when I explained what the riders were trying to do.

For me, it was unforgettable experience, going through the full spectrum of highs and lows both mentally, physically and geographically. There were a couple of people born in 1954 and nobody older, which made me one of the oldest riders in the event. I kept telling myself that age is no excuse. Just keep going. I can’t describe the deep sense of satisfaction that I got at the finish.

A week before the start, I decided to use the event to raise some money for Dyscover charity which is helping my brother-in-law Robert Hayes recover from a major stroke. He used to like being out and about on a bike, but now he can’t. I am very lucky. 

The bike fully loaded. The rear pack has my cold weather gear. In Scotland the temperature dipped down to a few degrees at night. I had enough kit to ensure I was never cold. The bag below the top tube carried mechanical kit, first aid kit, and biscuits and gels for the day’s ride. It is essential to keep eating during a long ride like this and avoid the “bonk” – the combination of hunger and demotivation that makes you want to stop and give up. The little bag on the top tube carried my phone and batteries. The dynamo charged the phone during the day. With the batteries I did not have to waste time at controls charging stuff. The handlebars have clip-on extension bars, so I could use the TT position to go fast and get out of the wind during the flatter parts of the event, such as in the fens. The fat smooth tyres running at low pressure were a good decision! I only got one puncture. 

The brevet card with all the stamps at the controls

Lunch at a control somewhere

Most people on the LEL ride audax bikes but some use other machines like this Velomobile, It's a recumbent bike with a faring. The rider (or pilot?) goes like a rocket downhill but struggles on the steeper gradients. I think this was the only one that finished, in about the same time as me. There were also Bromptons, single speeds, fixes, a trike and an Elliptigo, ridden by the 24 hour world record holder. I tried to speak to him as I went past, but he said he could not talk. I guessed he was not fit enough!

At the Forth Bridge. Job half done!

Crossing the Pennines. This hill was the steepest part of the ride. For the first time after, 1100km, I had to get off and push the bike, like the person in the picture. 

 With Billy Finnane – we helped each other get through the last day. My neck muscles were giving up and his satnav had stopped working!