The first of our preparation rides was an overnight trip from Guildford to Canterbury, and then Canterbury to Brighton, before a train back to London. We rode about 170km in freezing rain on the first day before a sleeping in a hostel in Canterbury, then a 140km ride along the southern coast to Brighton in pure sunshine, in complete contrast to the first day’s rain. I remember stopping after 40km on the first day in a cafe to try and warm up, and being completely disheartened, as we had discussed attempting to ride 300km per day in the TAW, and we were wrecked after 40km… I hadn’t ridden a Brompton over such distances, and it was proving to be less efficient than I expected and there was some discomfort. What made it worse was that we had a warm hostel to aim for with a hot shower, during the TAW, we’d most likely have a bog to sleep in.
It was a successful trip for a number of reasons, it was the first time I tested aero bars on the Brompton. On long endurance rides, having multiple positions for your upper body is really important to in order to avoid getting uncomfortable from numb hands (more on that later…) or sore muscles, and there is a significant aerodynamic advantage from being in aero bars. We weren’t cycling at warp speeds, but over a distances of an ultra-endurance event, it adds up to a lot of saved energy. We also tested carrying a saddle bag with our gear in it to see how it made the bike handle, as a swaying bag on your saddle can really be annoying when trying to climb out of the saddle. It worked fine on the Brompton, so helped to provide info on how we would be carrying our gear for the TAW.
Day 1 Strava Link: https://www.strava.com/activities/2089981011
Day 2 Strava Link: https://www.strava.com/activities/2092138537
