I have ridden a few of these 24 hour TT events in recent years - 7 in 5 years, in fact... although that pales into insignificance soemwhat vs George Berwick, Lynne Biddulph, Steve Abraham et al.
I would highly recommend, in fact I do regularly recommend, riding the Mersey 24 to anyone. I don't think that I have met anyone who has ever regretted it and the atmosphere before, during and after the event is first rate. Lots of people seem to swear that they'll never do it again before immediately planning how they can go just a little bit further next time.
- For me, nutrition is the key to the whole event. See Michael Hutchinson's article in Cycling Weekly about long distance TTs being an uncomfortable eating competition. There was more than a little truth in that. Find drinks, food and gels that don't irritate your tummy. Start eating and drinking an hour before the race and don't stop until an hour after.
- Smile and enjoy it, say hi to all the other riders and feed off their energy. I have had lots of great conversations and cheers from people out on the road and many people you'll see over and over during the race. I have certainly made a good few friends for life through this event.
- Minimise your stops. There really is no need to stop, apart from perhaps to put lights on or take them off... but even that is debatable. I wish I had concentrated on this more when I rode my first one in 2015 when I stopped for about 20 minutes, I guess because I just thought that that was what people did. In 2019, I managed to stop for about 2 mins 15 and about 45 sec of that was because I had a stuck zip on my top.
If you do have any questions that I might be able to answer, about the Mersey, or the US 24, or long distance TTs in general then just ask and I will try my best