This is the fourth in my series of posts about my preparation for the 1530km London Edinburgh London audax event in August 2025. In this edition, I experience life as a volunteer – and love it! The series was inspired by LEL supremo Danial Webb asking if anyone was planning to post about their training and preparation for the event. Read part one here (my road to LEL), part 2 here (lessons from London Wales London) and part 3 here (even harder lessons from the Bryan Chapman Memorial 600k audax).

The LEL volunteers at Flaunden. Photo: Tim Decker

An event like London Edinburgh London doesn’t happen by magic. It takes countless hours of hard work and problem solving over four years by organiser Danial Webb, route director Andy Berne, start and finish control boss Tim Decker and many others, supported by an army of volunteers during the event.

I’m riding LEL this year, but this weekend got an unforgettable glimpse of the dedication of the organisers and volunteers. Liam Fitzpatrick, who runs the 400k London Wales London audax, put out a call for volunteers to help put together the rider registration packs. As this was happening at Flaunden, Herts, just seven miles from where I live, I couldn’t say no. It was a chance to give something back, as well as learn more about an event I’ve come to love, despite not (yet) having experienced it!

Flaunden awaits an army of volunteers

Flaunden village hall was a hive of activity when I arrived just after 9am on a grey Sunday morning. Danial, Liam and Tim had done a lot of preparatory work the day before. Around 35 people had volunteered to help, including making teas, coffees and lunch for those putting the packs together.

Danial explains the process of creating the registration packs

When you pick up your rider registration pack on Saturday 2 August, you won’t give a moment’s thought to how it was put together. And why would you? You’re probably feeling equally excited and nervous about taking part in one of the world’s greatest amateur cycling events. Yet in Flaunden’s village hall around 30 people assembled over 48,000* individual items, many of which varied by rider, into 2,409 rider registration bags. (* Based on the conservative assumption that most riders had bought at least one item of merchandise, typically a jersey. Some bought so many extras that they needed two bags!)

The drop bags from Louth (right) to Innerleithen (right). Photo: Tim Decker

Each rider could choose two bag drop locations: one in England (Louth, Hessle, Malton, Richmond or Brampton), and one in Scotland (Moffat, Dalkeith or Innerleithen). These bags are intended for items such as spare shorts that riders don’t want to carry on their bikes. Each location has its own named, coloured bag, which are all really high quality. The LEL team transport the bags to the named venues ready for the rider to access during the ride.

‘That’s one for Brampton’ – photo: Liam Fitzpatrick

Riders could pay for a further two bag drops, as well as event merchandise such as LEL jerseys, caps and teeshirts. The volunteers had to make sure each rider’s pack included these extras. (A small number of riders chose not to have any bag drops.) The rider jerseys came in multiple sizes as well as male and female versions. Attention to detail was essential in assembling the packs.

The production line in action

During the morning, I was on pack assembly duties. We had a checklist to tick off as we went round the hall, putting the various items in the bag, such as registration form, brevet card (which records a rider’s progress), frame card with the rider number and vouchers for a meal at the start and a water bottle. I found my anticipation of taking part in LEL growing as I popped the brevet cards into the rider bags. As the day progressed, people suggested improvements to speed things up, such as having the drop bags already folded, and adding the checklist and registration form to the bags before the assemblers collected them. Henry Ford would have been impressed by our assembly line innovations…

Lunch, courtesy of Liam and team. Photo: Liam Fitzpatrick

What really struck me was the dedication of all the volunteers taking part. Apart from a short break for a delicious lunch provided by Liam and helpers, they barely paused during the eight hours it took to assemble and pack all the rider bags. They snatched drinks as they worked.

Alwyn: unexpected canine in bagging area…

I was delighted to see that Danial had brought his dog, Alwyn (otherwise known as Swish) to help supervise proceedings. (My wife Karen always likes to see a dog in my cycling blogposts and videos…)

Just after 6pm, the volunteers completed the final rider pack and placed it in a large IKEA bag for transport to the start registration at Writtle, Chelmsford, on Saturday 2 August. The mammoth task was done. Danial told us that in the past today’s task was done the day before LEL registration. The stress must have been off the scale!

Above: Alwyn ready to transport the completed bags… Photos: John Wheatley

Most of the volunteers after the job was done. Photo: Tim Decker

Reflections on my day as a London Edinburgh London volunteer

Compared with other volunteers, let alone the likes of Danial Webb, Andy Berne, Tim Decker and Liam Fitzpatrick, my day as a volunteer was a very minor contribution to the success of London Edinburgh London 2025. Yet I came away with glimpse of a unique community. Events like LEL couldn’t happen without its volunteers. I experienced true camaraderie and dedication, and the satisfaction of playing a small part in something very special. I will definitely volunteer in a bigger way for the next edition of LEL in 2029.

As a rider, you have to dig deep into your reserves of energy and resolve to complete an audax like LEL. Yet the volunteers experience something very similar. They work long hours, helping riders with mechanicals and mental challenges – perhaps in the middle of a wild storm in the Scottish borders, when they themselves are at a low ebb. For the organisers, especially Danial and Andy, LEL 2025 is the culmination of four years’ work, learning lessons from the previous edition (such as cutting out the loop over the Firth of Forth north of Edinburgh, which was a bridge too far for some riders). That work included painstaking liaison with councils in England and Scotland to try to avoid any road closures along the route, such as that which blocked the road at Yad Moss in Cumbria for most riders in 2022. Danial told me that some councils have been wonderfully helpful, while others haven’t engaged at all. The final route looks stunning.

Finally, my day as a volunteer really brought home what an international event LEL is. It was a joy to see the names of riders from so many countries as we created the rider packs: Japan, India, Germany, France, Malaysia, Singapore, the United States, Canada and many others. At a time when news reports give the impression of a world divided, I found this truly inspiring. I can’t wait to meet this united nations of cyclists in August!

My final LEL tips

I learned a few important lessons during my final big training exercise for LEL, cycling across France from the English Channel to the Mediterranean. (You can read about that adventure starting here.) Here are those final tips. My earlier posts about preparing for LEL start here.

Thank and respect the volunteers

As a rider, the volunteers who support you at controls and behind the scenes will play a huge part in your enjoyment and success at LEL 2025. However tired or frustrated you may be, always be kind to those who serve your food or try to help with mechanical problems. If a control has run out of something, take it in your stride and don’t be mean to the volunteers who may be as tired as you are.

Avoid foot pain in the heat

There’s a strong possibility you may be riding in temperatures over 30C during LEL, judging from the heatwaves already experienced in parts of Britain this summer. If so, I’ll be learning from my painful experience cycling in 30C plus weather in France last month.

I suffered considerable pain in my feet, which was very unusual for me. I blamed the cleats on my newish shoes, despite having already cycled some 500 pain-free miles in them, and adjusted the cleat position. That made no difference. I was told by a fellow rider that the problem was most likely caused by my feet swelling; loosening my cycling shoes solved the problem. I’d chosen the shoes (Fizik Terra Atlas) for their looser fit, so it didn’t occur to me to loosen them. I’ll follow this tip if LEL coincides with another hot spell. But I’ll also be ready for the possibility of temperatures barely above freezing at night in Scotland and northern England…

Eat and drink plenty

This is a timeless tip, yet it’s surprising how many times I have to relearn it. My failure to complete the Bryan Chapman Memorial 600k audax was in large part down to not eating enough. Vegetarian quiche and bara brith may be delicious but they didn’t sustain me over a very hilly endurance bike ride. Similarly, my only really weak session cycling across France came on a day when I didn’t have snacks provided mid afternoon, when I’d burned all the calories from lunch.

LEL is a very different audax experience from the Bryan Chapman, which has a very small number of controls with food. I will take full advantage of the food on offer between London (Writtle) and Edinburgh (Dalkeith) and back. It’s good to know that there are a host of pop up cafes where you can buy food to supplement that provided free at controls. You may be tempted to press on, but don’t do so at the expense of suffering the bonk, that curiously named cycling condition where you run out of fuel. Unlike a car, humans take time for refuelling to show any benefits – which is why the golden rule is to eat before you feel hungry. It’s not unusual not to feel like eating when it’s really hot, but that can really affect performance on an endurance ride.

Good luck!

Good luck to everyone riding and volunteering during London Edinburgh London 2025. I will have a flutter of butterflies in the 24 hours before my 10.45 start time on Sunday 3 August, but I’m sure these will fly away once I start the long ride north. I just need to make sure I follow my pre-LEL checklist as thoroughly as we treated Danial’s checklists for the rider packs at Flaunden…

UPDATE

London Edinburgh London 2025 will be forever remembered as London Floris London, as a summer storm forced the organisers to curtail the ride on the second day. Organisers, volunteers and riders alike rose magnificently to the challenge, which was a triumph for the spirit of LEL. Read about my experience here.

You can also watch my video about riding this unique edition of LEL.