Some thing I thought of at the start of the attempt was that most of us know a 20-50 mile looped section near to us that is 'fast'. Many of us also know 4 or 5 of these that we would use to go 'fast' depending on the wind and weather. I have a normal 'fast; 40 mile route that is great, but it no longer becomes 'fast' with certain wind directions as the really long exposed sections would become a slog instead of being 25-30mph with very little effort
I have been surprised that Steve hasn't used many fast loops and has instead gone with 'point to point' or 'out and backs'. When he has used roads near me (quite often) I have been impressed that he has used a number of the 'fast roads' to pass through (which shows how much road knowledge he has stored up top) but he has then strayed out of the area onto roads that I think are a real slog to get towards his end destination.... and after looking back at the stats for those days his pace has plummeted after he left the area.
I would like to see his team ask local riders to suggest some 5-30 mile loops that are fast in certain wind directions.
I am not an experienced rider but I could easily give 3 local loops, each favoring a different prevailing wind, that are much faster than what Steve rides when he comes to my area. Some of you lot must have an absolute encyclopedic knowledge of your local area. The trick would be to look at which way the wind was from Milton Keynes...then use that as a tail wind to head towards a recommended loop that also favored that wind direction ...that way he gets a boost there, then gets a favored wind on the loop. Then maybe ask for a car transfer home too.
If there was a database of maybe 10-20 routes built up that are within 20-30 miles of Steves home then he could trial them and chose each day based on the wind direction, then head to that loop and get some cheap, fast miles in. Once a network of these loops was built the money in the bank could be used to have food provided for Steve in that area and maybe find a local sports physio to provide some massage at the start and finish?
Maybe this has been looked into and ruled out or its just not how Steve wants to go. For me that's the only way I could see someone in this country sustaining a crack at this effort and keeping the average speed up.