I decided that I needed a 100 miler to complete for 2017 so I stumbled upon this event and decided the 117 mile route was for me.

Starting at the velo park within the Olympic stadium, its easy to get to if you stay locally in a hotel but I am not sure about parking there and if that’s an option or not.

You are given an allotted start time but have the option to drop back to ride with friends which is what I did. You roll up to the start, listen to the briefing then you are on your way

It takes a good 20 miles to get out of London properly and I was not a fan of riding on these roads, even at 08:00am traffic was heavy and impatient, even with us sticking to the bike lanes!

The feed stations however were amazing, each of them was well stocked with SIS gels and bars, crisps, oranges, jaffa cakes and other sweet treats. But the best thing was the cold mini jacket potatoes which were just amazing and made a change from all the sweet stuff.

The route its self was not too taxing, no real big climbs but a lot of long slow roads where you struggled to get up to much speed. The views along the way weren’t as good as hoped, some nice villages but nothing to blow you away

Riding back into London was even worse than riding out, and this was on a Sunday afternoon, not something I wish to experience again in a hurry!

There was cheese and wine at the end, but unfortunately having taken a tumble with 2 miles to go, I didn’t get to sample as I was being patched up! But I did enjoy the Erdinger alcohol-free beer which always goes down well. A lovely medal at the end as well.

I enjoyed part of the ride but I am not sure I’ll be back again