we did the ride Saturday. A few points / tips - the most important one - we rode from Liverpool to Leeds, for a couple of reasons ; firstly we live within 10 miles of the Leeds end, so we thought it would be a good idea to know the home straight, but also because generally the wind would be in our favour at this time of year (west to east). But, rather annoyingly, the wind was in the opposite direction (east to west), so straight into our faces, with gusts of upto 25mph. We'd seen the forecast, so knew to expect it, but with hindsight (and what I advise to you), we should have changed the route back and rode to Liverpool. The wind played a major part in the ride ; for around 60 - 70% of the ride, we found ourselves continuously pressing, with no respite. Had we taken the opposite route, it would have been much much easier. I reckon when we were into the wind, it was costing us 2mph, and probably cost us 2 hours in total, and made the ride a lot harder than it needed to be.
Other stuff - we set off at 5.40, from the original start point of the canal, in Canning Place, in the centre of Liverpool, then traced the path that the canal would have run, before picking it up at the current start point. The Liverpool stretch is dirty, the canal is a rubbish tip, not pretty at all, but once you've covered 15 - 20 miles, its clear again. The ride in general, was ok, we were reasonably well prepared, and knew what to expect. We didn't have a support vehicle, but had arranged for someone to meet us at the half way point (Church), with hot food, clean clothes, a bit of maintainance gear. At this point, one of our team of 3 quit ; he had been struggling since about 40 miles, so knew he wasn't going to make it home. Other than this stop, the only real break we had was at Gargrave (after about 90 miles). We were getting cold, so stopped off for some very sweet tea and 10 minutes sat in the sunshine at the Anchor Inn. Other than this, we tried to ride for an hour at a time, then took a 5 minute break. The path is generally good, there are stretches of upto 5 miles at a time, where its paved / tarmac'd, the rest was hard dirt, and as the weather had been dry, it was compact, easy enough to ride, but occasionally it was quite rutted, so you had to keep focused. The only mechanical problem we had, was a broken chain on about 70 miles ; we removed a link, and within 15 minute, back on track. The ride took us just short of 16 hours, I think riding time was about 13.5. Where the track was good, we were pushing for between 11 - 13mph, where it was bad, worst case we were down to about 7mph. Once we had passed 70 - 80 mph, exhaustion set in, and it was just a battle of endurance, with will-power taking over. It is physically / mentally very demanding. Ankles, wrists, hips, shoulders and arms felt like lead by 90, with 40 miles still to go (our total mileage was about 130). Energy - other than hot soup / sandwiches at the half way point, we relied on mars bars, marathons (snickers), dried fruit and nuts, which were fine, instant energy (you will need lots). Fluids, generally just water, there are villages en route where you can fill up, and also canal boat filling stations where you can top up. Toilets - none of the british waterways were open, so had to rely on bushes. Maintenance - we carried a small tool kit, which enabled us to rejoin the chain, then just spare tubes / patches which weren't needed, because no punctures ! we had slime tubes, so use these, the thought of having to repair / replace a tube when you can hardly lift your arm above head height does not bear thinking about.
This is a seriously tough ride, you really need to be mentally prepared aswell as physically. If you have any doubts about your ability, you will not finish. Once past 90, it's a pure mental battle to the end. We finished at 9.20pm, the last stretch of 10 miles through home territory were ok, we'd expected it to be the hardest bit, we ached like you will not believe, it was getting to dusk, we were cold and it was starting raining - but the stretch to Leeds was ok, good paths and not a lot of pedestrians.
Good luck - be prepared for a long hard day, check the weather, reverse your route if you have to !
Next year - coast to coast.