As all the best management training books tell us: “failure to prepare, prepare for failure.”

You must have a strategy, even if it’s only in your mind.

You’re not going to be able to ride 30 laps back to back without a break, but with break times adding length to the whole attempt, it is crucial that you stay on top of these and fuel properly and efficiently.

For example plan to stop for a 10 minute refreshment break after X laps or after X hours and see how you feel and adapt if necessary on the day.

The key is to keep the plan fluid. In the heat of battle, situations change and you need to adapt to whatever happens on the day

Here’s what worked for us:

Do it on heart rate not power

Go at your pace

Ignore your partner’s pace and don’t be afraid to call them out to slow down. Kingy gets twitchy legs as soon as he’s overtaken, be it by another bike, a car, a bus or a scooter. He also has an impressively low heart rate – consistently 10 – 15 beats lower than mine – so I find myself often reining him in to slow down and get back in my heart rate zone

Do not go out too fast

Do not allow yourself to go into the red

Go slow to complete

You have never done a ride like this before and it is not a race

Go slow

When you think you’re going slow, slow down some more

Treat it like a series of weekend rides clumped together and so stretch every 2 hours and eat little at a time but often

Factor in that laps 0 – 3,000m will be exponentially faster and easier

Do not rest for too long

Fluids: take them onboard

Identify a fueling strategy and stick to it

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