London–Edinburgh–London: Follow My Attempt to Complete the Brevet Trilogy

by Felix Wong | 29 Jul 2025

Twenty-two years after riding Paris–Brest–Paris and 14 years after Boston–Montreal–Boston, I will bike London–Edinburgh–London (LEL), one of the world’s three most famous ultra-distance brevets, starting on August 3rd. Despite not being a race, it is bound to be a great adventure and challenge—particularly because of its 950-mile distance and 5.3-day time limit.

Follow me on Garmin LiveTrack

The event is now over, but this section has been retained for posterity.

Prospective dot-watchers can follow me by clicking on the Garmin LiveTrack image below.

Note: Garmin LiveTrack uses my phone and cellular networks. I will not be carrying a satellite tracking device like I was during the Tour Divide or Trans Am Bike Race. So it’s possible my “dot” won’t move at times because my iPhone isn’t in range of cell phone towers (likely to be the case in the mountains near Scotland).

While there will likely be other participating ultracyclists within a 10-kilometer radius at all times, the LiveTrack page will show only my position and not theirs.

The Route

Click on the interactive route below to see the course and elevation profile.

Total distance: 1518 km (944 miles). It was longer until last-minute route changes.
Total climbing: 11556 m (37903 feet)

The Bike

I will be riding a Litespeed Archon C2 that I built back in 2011. With an aerodynamic frame, 15-pound weight, and SRAM Red/Force drivetrain, it was a bona fide super bike back in its day and ahead of its time. It would only be a decade later that Tour de France cyclists would be commonly riding aero bikes (outside of time trials) and tubeless tires, something I had already switched to back in 2014.

The bike is now long on tooth and eventually I’ll be buying or building a modern bicycle with disc brakes, deep-section carbon wheels, wider tire clearance, electronic shifting, and fully internal cable routing. So this may be the final ultra-distance adventure for the (2010-era) “Super Bike” that has served me well all these years.

In preparation for LEL, I have swapped the aluminum 40-cm handlebars with a 36-cm carbon-fiber one. I’ve also replaced all brake pads, a shift cable, and a worn-out rear tubeless tire with a wider one. For gear storage, I will be using a top tube “bento box,” a bikepacking bag attached to the seatpost that I used during the Trans Am Bike Race, and jersey pockets.

Goals and Plan

In descending order of importance, these are my goals for this ride:

1. Complete the ride with no accidents and no injuries—including all of the ones I have already experienced in the past.
2. Get a minimum of six hours of sleep everyday instead of catnapping in fields and under trees like during Paris–Brest–Paris.
3. Ride at least three double centuries, which I will define as “at least 195 miles during a 24-hour period.”
4. Complete the whole ride in under 110 hours. (Official time limit is 128 hours.)

It goes without saying that I also want to enjoy the journey! But I have no doubt that will happen if all, or even only some, of the goals above are accomplished.

My general strategy will be to ride steadily, keep stops to a minimum, wrap up the day’s riding by nightfall, and recommence riding by daybreak. This not only would allow me to get adequate sleep, but also avoid the coldest and darkest hours.

A limiting factor will be the places to sleep. There are checkpoints with indoor air mattresses that I will be relying on. However, some of these places are far apart. There will be decisions I will make on the fly: do I stay at a certain checkpoint for the night, or do I continue riding for (potentially) four or five more hours and sleep at the next one? Such decisions could be particularly vexing if I arrive at, say, 7:30 p.m.—a time that is usually too early to go to sleep, but continuing on could mean having to bike several hours in the dark and cold.

Daily Recaps

At the end of each day, I will try to post a short recap in this section (assuming adequate cellular coverage). Failing that, I will not post any updates until after completing the event, and looking at my progress on Garmin LiveTrack will be the best way to surmise how I am doing.

Day 1 (Sunday, August 3)

Start time: 1:45 p.m. The start time was way later than what I wanted, but was provided by the luck of the draw.

Distance ridden: 195 km

London–Edinburgh–London started with rain almost as soon as I began riding, but it cleared after half an hour and the temperatures were good. It stayed windy most of the day, though it was more background noise than a real hindrance.

Legs felt strong throughout; only discomfort was some saddle soreness—used Chamois Butt’r, so we’ll see how that holds up.

Reached Boston around 10:20 PM, about an hour after dark, and will sleep here tonight.

The wildest coincidence happened just as I sat down outside: the guy next to me looked over and said, “Hi Felix.” It was Bharat from India, who drove a van for my all-blind stoker RAAM team in 2018. He’s riding LEL too! I had no idea. He said he’d seen me earlier but hadn’t had a chance to say hi. Small world.

Day 2 (Monday, August 4)

Late edit: Due to Storm Floris, all the following plans may be delayed by up to 15 hours. I believe I have sufficient cold and wet weather gear, but will err on the side of caution even if that means remaining in shelter and sitting a good part of the storm out. I will be relying heavily on intel from volunteers at checkpoints.

Possible endpoint: Mickleton (KM 496) or Alston (KM 534).

Update 3:00p: Got to Malton after biking 185 km, but cyclists haven’t been allowed to leave the control here since 11a due to Storm Floris. It’s been very rainy and very windy up to now, but feeling good. Eating some real (cafeteria) food instead of bars and candy while I wait. Also lubed the chain for the second time today.

Update 3:30p: No one will be allowed to leave until 7:30p at the earliest. But at least the clock for the time limit is stopped!

Update 7:35p: London–Edinburgh–London has been canceled!

The reason for this is due to the ongoing Storm Floris, but also for logistical reasons. Most (nearly all) of the 1500 cyclists are now all at the Malton or next control instead of being staggered apart like we were the last two days. (That’s the reason I had to start at 1:45p yesterday.) The organizers and volunteers won’t be able to support everyone and ensure their safety if so many cyclists are converging on the northern controls all at once.

Therefore, everyone is being redirected back towards London. We can start (although not all at once) tomorrow morning.

Essentially, the ride is now London–Malton–London.

As I have ridden 381 km to get here, I will have to ride that much to get back. Right now, I am not very tired but will plan on doing it in two days instead of one, mostly for safety and comfort. So I will arrive back on Wednesday.

Kudos and appreciation goes to the organizers for being decisive and for trying to keep everyone safe, and all the volunteers for their support!

Note: the official statement read at 7:35p is here. While it politely avoided using the word canceled, it was clarified in a follow-up question that that’s essentially what happened. More precisely, the event was curtailed.

Day 3 (Tuesday, August 5)

Started riding back towards London at 6:00 a.m. (6:30 after buying food at a grocery store in Malton). Legs started out feeling good; good thing because all the steep climbs were at the beginning of the day.

It rained a little bit, but again I managed to stay warm. The wind was blowing very hard from the west all day until the late evening, but it was mostly a crosswind or sometimes even a tailwind.

I decided that I wanted to ride at least a double century today, which meant riding to the Henham checkpoint. I’d have the option of sleeping there or carrying on to the finish.

My left ankle felt tweaked or sprained, which prevented me from pedaling continuously since the mid-afternoon. So it was pedal, coast, pedal, coast the rest of the way.

But I felt good enough that when I reached Henham at 1:15 a.m., I decided to carry on to the finish in Writtle as it was only 43 km away. That way I’d be able to sleep in a real bed at university lodging in Chelmsford (4 km from Writtle).

A nice thing about riding at night was there were no cars, and I could use the full width of the narrow roads. Also, there was no wind.

When I got to the finish at Writtle at 3:45 a.m., it felt a little odd since nobody was there, just a note saying that check-in would open at 7:30 a.m. So I celebrated silently to myself, happy to ride 393 km in a day.

Now I sleep before returning to Writtle to check-in. But the ride is done.

Thanks to everyone who followed this journey, which was a good one despite the circumstances.

Final Recap

I posted a final recapitulation of the ride a few days after the event here.