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Last minute.com

Just before I started the Amesbury Amble, I managed to get a very, very last minute place on the London-Wales-London (LWL) audax, which takes place on the first May bank holiday weekend. It seems that spending an inordinate amount of time on twitter can have its uses! I had looked at entering this a while ago but it was full, then unexpectedly 2 places became available as  some people had dropped out. Bingo! It doesn’t actually start in London and it only just about scrapes into Wales, but it’s still a full 400km audax, which will mean me being on the bike for the best part of 24 hours.

I’m really looking forward to it, but it’s going to throw up a few more challenges for me.

Night Riding and navigation- While I’ve commuted home in the dark hundreds of times, actually cycling through the night and having to navigate at the same time could be pretty tricky. It seems that I’m going to have to find a way of lighting up my Garmin so I can read it whenever I want. I have a light that attaches to my helmet that might work, but I will have to test it and see how long the battery lasts. Riding while fatigued in the dark will be an interesting one. Looking back at the Amesbury Amble, I feel confident that I could do the extra 100km without needing a nap or extended rest. Best laid plans and all that, but I think that will be fine and it seems a lot of people just ride through, unless they are riding at the lower speed range for an audax.

Nutrition and hydration- I’m going to need to be more self sufficient during the night when shops are shut, which will mean carrying more food and water with me. I think it will be prudent to have two bottles on the bike and I’m going to get a small handlebar bag for food that I can reach quickly, if I need it. I can now comfortably ride 4 hours with very little food but I don’t want to bonk with no shops open, along hill to climb and a good few hours until breakfast.

Lighting- Not surprisingly, the cheap lights that I bought for the 300 were not particularly reliable, and as I will be riding through the night I am going to need a higher quality, and therefore expensive front light. So back to the drawing board with this.

Route planning- The organiser has provided a GPX file for the whole route but I need to learn how to divide it up between the controls, without me having to draw out the whole thing.  I could do that, but it’ll take me ages.