1. Don’t do three qualifying series. One is enough and do plenty of quick, nonstop 200s as well.
2. Consider not riding Mersey 24 Hour TT. I love the event and did a PB this year so I’m glad I rode it, but I don’t think I had recovered by PBP or it could just be that I didn’t do enough between the Mersey and the PBP. I had weekend off cycling then a 200km on each of the next two weekends.
3. At least take your best, newest tent if you’re going to camp, not that leaky old one, or preferably blow the expense and book a wood cabin. I ended up sleeping in my car this year, luckily it’s a big estate.
4. Carry some savoury snacks as well as bars and gels. I carried 24 x 40g SIS energy bars, about 12 energy gels and 18 caffeine gels. I couldn’t eat enough bars to keep pace with the energy I was using climbing and pushing the headwind.
5. Don’t push the nonstop strategy too far. I was sleepy by 10pm on the Monday night and started having caffeine gels but with little effect. I struggled on slowly in the cold, only saved by soup, cake and coffee kindly given by French families living along the route. When I eventually stopped for a micro sleep I felt so much better and almost doubled my speed for a long time afterwards.
6. Don’t wait until Tinteniac on the way back for your first sit down meal. I did this to make the most of the daylight on the Tuesday, but should have stopped sooner. It was Carhaix on the way back in 2015 which resulted in less starvation.
7. Sleep more and earlier in the night. I rode through a second night but not very well. I was slow and had to stop at bars for soup and coffee and to rest my eyes and legs. I only slept for half an hour at Le Ribay and lay down for another rest on the way to Dreux. I had four hours sleep in 2015.
8. Put more effort in towards the end. This was tricky for me as I didn’t have the diversion route in my Garmin so didn’t know how far the finish was. I also stopped for a meal at Dreux as I thought the meal at the end might be rubbish. In 2015 there was no veggie option but this time it featured a nice chick pea curry. I just trundled in to the finish but should have put more effort in to those last few km.
9. Do some proper training including shorter, faster rides. I hardly did any short rides this year but plenty of distance - about 7900km in just 32 rides before going to PBP. I could just about manage a 29 something for a 10 mile TT if I actually did one, but with the right training I could probably knock 2 or 3 minutes off and I think this might also raise my long distance cruising speed.