The Training

Most of my training has been commuting every day to South Kensington from near Biggin Hill in Kent, usually with LEJOG team mate John. It's a 40-mile round trip and takes in some beautiful parts of London ...

Westminster: that's me that is ...

 ... and a few not so beautiful ones:

Lewisham

Long summer days this year meant early morning rides around Kent before heading into London. Some days covered over 80 miles with the return journey in the evening, meaning my wife has hardly spoken to me for months but has had to sit through the evening news with me next to her, my head tilted back, mouth open, dribbling and snoring over Huw Edwards, if you know what I mean.

My favourite weekend ride is Brighton and back which I have only done twice so it might just be a novelty. It's 106 miles and takes in the dreaded Ditchling Beacon. If you live south of the Thames and ride a bike, you are not officially a cyclist until you have done the Beacon. Leaving home at 6 on a Sunday morning gets me to a greasy spoon under the colonnade on the beachfront for breakfast with the drunks heading home from the night before. I look a bit of a plank sitting next to them in my lycra so it's a good incentive to get back on the bike and come home.

Cyclists are obsessive, worse than runners. Some are inclined to do mad things. I am glad that I have just about prepared myself for LEJOG without doing anything silly like riding 114 miles to Southend and back at midnight in the pouring rain like John.