When I checked my iPhone on Monday morning after just two hours of sleep, I thought the weather app had frozen. The wind maps for both Monday and Tuesday seemed identical: a solid mass of red and amber indicating gusts of up to 80kph. Hours later I understood the truth — the app was fine, the forecast just didn’t change materially. Storm Floris was stuck over northern Britain, making Yad Moss and southern Scotland impassable.

When London Edinburgh London 2025 was cancelled, I was both gutted — months of preparation lost — and relieved that the decision to ride into dangerous winds was taken out of my hands.

Bizarrely, what followed over the next two days turned out to be one of the best cycling experiences in a very long time. I followed the LEL route back south, covering a total of 1030km since my start in Writtle on Sunday morning. Relieved of any time pressure, I got completely into my stride and was “in the zone” for days. 

The camaraderie between riders seemed even better than normally, the kindness and support from volunteers was ever more special. Everyone seemed to be smiling in the face of adversity. Days after making it back to Writtle, I was still glowing. 

London Edinburgh London 2025 must have been the best ‘cancelled’ ride in the history of cycling. Quickly relabeled “London Floris London”, it was a mass application of the principle that “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” The vast majority of riders shortened their ride and had a jolly good time riding south and stopping at the more southern controls. The volunteers played a blinder anyway. 

The cancellation was of course frustrating. I had spent more than seven months preparing for these five days of cycling, using a week of holiday and spending hundreds if not thousands of euros on travel, food, kit and accommodation during preparation as well as the actual event. In the weeks before the start, I could hardly think of anything else. And over the first one and a half days and 517km, my ride had gone much better than I had dared to hope. 

Continue reading “Why LEL 2025 was the best ‘cancelled’ Audax in the history of cycling” →