Gearing Up For A Giant Challenge - Riding the Trafalgar Way fromFalmouth to London

I thought last weekend's ride was big, it was certainly my longest ride to date. This weekend things are about to get a whole lot bigger though...

I've been invited to 'Ride The Trafalgar Way' this Saturday; a route that follows the historic path a horse messenger rode non-stop in 1805 to announce the death of Admiral Lord Nelson. The route traverses the country from west to east; from Pendennis Point in Falmouth to Admiralty House in London.

The distance is 500 kilometers (310 miles). My hope is to complete the ride in around 24 hours. Non-stop.

To say that I'm a little nervous would be fair, this will be by far the longest that I have ever ridden in one go, and the latter part of it will be in the dark.

However, I'll be fully supported by the RTTW (Ride The Trafalgar Way) team, and will have a support car, camper van and some very experienced personnel on hand to help me through.

I'm not doing it alone either; at the same time as I hope to ride the route in its entirety, there will be a team of other journalists and keen riders doing a relay team along the same route. Hopefully, I can sit happily in the group for at least part of the time.

The event is to commemorate the anniversary of the Trafalgar Way, but it is also the launch of a new sportive that will open next year and follow a similar team-relay format to that which my fellow riders will be undertaking. It looks like it is going to be a great event!

It's certainly going to be an incredible ride, and a serious chance to do some kit testing and physical testing. I have a number of outfits that I plan to take to deal with varying weather conditions, and I have some specialist kit that I've bought for the ride as well (I'll blog on that at a later date).

I'm really looking forward to it. I'm a sucker for a good challenge, and this will certainly be a very significant challenge.

Wish me luck, and keep an eye out on the Life In The Saddle Facebook page and my Twitter feed for updates throughout the event!

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