Ian McBride reveals the fueling strategy, training regime, and bike setup that helped him outpace Storm Floris during the 2025 London-Edinburgh-London (LEL) ultra-cycling event. Amid oppressive winds that halted the northward journey of over 2,000 riders, Ian stood alone: the only participant to reach Dalkeith near Edinburgh, riding through the storm’s fiercest onset before the Scottish northbound leg was officially cancelled.
At the Hawick control I’m a volunteer, and Ian he shares his insights and key tips for endurance, gear setup, and mental grit. A remarkable tale of perseverance and preparedness.
Thanks for permission to use photos from:
Standing behind bike with medal – by Fergus Coyle
Rounding the corner on bike – by Andy Cox
Thumbs up in sun glasses – by Aenea Petrie
16 Comments
What an athlete. Very insightful video
Great insight. Well done on getting the insight
Wow!
Fantastic insight and great to hear the spirit of Audax in the top rider – not typical in my experience- Great questions too!
I thought Audax wasn't focussed on fastest times? When I rode audax, 20+ years ago, they had a maximum speed limit to make sure you didnt race!
Very interesting to hear this from Ian. I was lucky enough to chat with him as he passed through Middleton in Teesdale on his way South on Tuesday. He was happy to stop and chat for a bit about his bike and luggage! Great achievement in awful conditions.
Well done getting him to stop and chat!
Well done for asking such insightful questions and thank you Ian for being so gracious for answering them.
I cant believe you guys threw all those questions at the poor guy 😂 . Hes doing double the speed of the 100hr people, so saves on sleep as well. Real discipline bravo.
Fascinating. This all seems completely opposite to the info I hear from coaches – who use the motto "always keep eating". I like that motto but this is the second very good rider I've seen who is not following that. I suspect if you can get the training and adaptation right, you can not just survive but thrive on 1.5 gels an hour – 50g carbs let's say? – wouldn't work for long races but a couple of days it seems to
Incredible and inspirational!
Great video really enjoyed – well done
Well done!
Going low-carb is certainly something anyone doing these ultra-endurance or audax rides should consider. Ive been keto for nearly two years now consuming less than 50g of carbohydrate per day. I'm actually riding further and faster than I have ever done in nearly 40 years of cycling (70 in a few weeks). I did a 101 mile sportive yesterday at an average speed of just over 29 kph on just a two egg omelette in the early morning, a small oat bar with a coffee at a halfway stop and a few dextrose tablets late in the ride. I wasn't bonking at that point, I just took them just in case.
In the past on a ride like that I would have routinely been consuming 60g carbs per hour and at a slower pace to boot. The advantages of low-carb are multiple because you are fuelling your effort on plentiful supplies of body fat and not having to carry and/or consume so much bulky carbs which incidentally are not good for health anyway.
Should enter some races and TTs
With the greatest of respect to Ian, he takes the shine off rest of us LEL 2025 riders…….