"Practice makes perfect." Doing a practice event is key to helping you prepare for long ultra distance cycling events.

What is a practice event?

A practice event is a cycling event which is representative but not equal to your goal event. Representative means that the distance and time in the saddle is enough for you to get some idea of how you might do in your main event without the ensuing exhaustion and time off needed from the actual event. You want 'an idea' of how you will do, but you don't want to do the whole thing or you will be too tired to train and/or do the real event.

What makes a good practice event?

Time on the actual course is ideal, but if you can't do that, planning a route which mimics key aspects of the course including:

• Elevation over the same distance
• Back to back hard days for a multi day event
• The timings required
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How long should it be?

Practice events need to be representative enough without being totally exhausting. For long multi day events doing a practice event of 2 to 3 days is usually sufficient; it gives you the opportunity to learn:

• How much sleep you may need
• How to deal with mechanicals
• What to eat and drink
• How to handle back to back riding days

If you are new to ultra cycling you might need to build up to the practice event slowly. Audax clubs have some great awards that help you do just that. Audax UK for example has the Brevet Series and The Randonneur Series each with various options to help you build from where you are to a higher level via a series of events.

What else should I be practising?

It's not just about the riding, there are lots of other aspects to ultra cycling events that you will need to be able to handle. Other things to include in your practise event are:

• Carrying all the gear you will use (and testing new kit)
• Dealing with problems (mechanicals, getting lost etc).
• Practising buying, eating and drinking the food and drink that will be available to you
• Sleep/rest management

When is a good time to do a practice event?

Whilst your practice event shouldn't totally exhaust you it will still be a challenge so you will need to do it with enough time before your main event to recover and address any issues that come up.

If you aren't sure of how quickly you recover from big rides, a minimum would be 6 weeks out from your main event. However, you might prefer to plan more than one practice event if you are new to this type of cycling so that you can have another go and correct any disasters before your key event. This can be a good way to build up gradually as you build your endurance fitness.

Thinking ahead to London Edinburgh London 2025 one of your practice events might be the main goal for this year. In this case you could afford for it to be slightly longer as you know you can take some time off and get back to training and preparation for next year.