The unexpected adventure on the Fifth Continent 300km Audax

I woke up excited and slightly nervous. Months of training had led to this — my last serious endurance ride before Paris-Brest-Paris. Standard pre-ride breakfast: two fried eggs on a bagel with porridge and coffee. I was ready.

Navigation chaos, and an unexpected silver lining

The first 25 minutes were a breeze — crisp air, feeling strong. Then my Garmin took me off route, adding 20km and causing me to miss the first checkpoint by 10 minutes.

Frustrating at first. But then I found myself on the Forest Way — a 10-mile gravel path from East Grinstead to Groombridge, traffic-free and beautiful. Getting lost turned into one of the highlights of the day.

After the detour, I was geographically confused with no phone signal. A cafe stop, a Greek salad sandwich, and a map check later, I'd worked out I was about 8km off course. Back on track.

The coast, Dungeness, and keeping the energy up

The route to the coast took me through Rye, down to Camber Sands, then along to Dungeness — a strange, otherworldly flat landscape of little huts and wind. Fascinating.

In New Romney I grabbed a sandwich and flavoured milk from a supermarket. Still feeling good. Then, about 45 minutes from the next checkpoint, I started running out of energy. I hadn't eaten enough at the previous two stops — a mistake I've made before and keep needing to relearn. My fat oxidation has improved on previous rides, but I still need to eat more than I think I need to.

The worst stage — and a 12-inch pizza

At the next checkpoint, there was a pizza van parked beside the village shop. I ordered a veggie pizza and ate the whole thing quickly. Then got moving.

The next stage was the worst of the ride. Wet, lumpy terrain and stomach cramps from the pizza. After a while the cramps passed and I was able to push on again.

A toastie and coffee at Pease Pottage Services saw me through to the final stretch back to south-west London — mostly nondescript suburban streets, navigated in a focused blur.

The finish and what it meant

I crossed the finish line happy. Not as fast as I'd hoped, but I felt strong overall, coped with horrible weather, and got to the end. This was my last big ride before PBP. I was ready.

Key lessons taken into Paris-Brest-Paris:

• Eat more than you think you need, more often than feels necessary. Waiting for hunger is already too late in a long event.
• Navigation redundancy matters. A backup route option saved a bad situation from becoming a DNF.
• Merino base layers are worth it. Stayed warm even when completely soaked for hours.
• Fat oxidation is improving. I went further between fuelling stops than I could a year ago — the Zone 2 training is working.