Only one day to go, and it’s pretty much the same organised chaos as before. Every single trip in the last years has been rather spontaneous, and so is this one. I am yet to pack my bag that I will leave with my colleagues to take it down to London. But well, at least the bike is almost ready to go this time, I just need to fix new pads and the computer, and then we are both up for another ride. My kit for the ride was kindly supplied by the Edinburgh Bicycle Coop, thanks to Ged and Chris for sorting everything out with such short notice. The fact that I turn 33 on Sunday at the London Olympics makes the whole thing even more interesting, last time at this time I successfully tackled the famous LEJOG journey on my singlespeed Swobo Crosby, and yet almost the same bike will be my companion for this trip. There is things you need to do before you add another year to the tally, so this is mine. And I can’t wait to see Hannah Miley and Robbie Renwick competing in the pool in London on Saturday, the first day of swimming in the Aquatics Centre.

The plan is easy. Instead of taking the train or the car I will take the bike to London, cycling this distance in two days to be there for the Olympic Opening Ceremony. I guess I will watch the latter somewhere on a screen in the centre of London, if all goes to plan. I have a rough route set which takes me from Edinburgh to Newcastle, on to Middlesbrough, York, Newark-on-Trent, Northampton, Milton Keynes, St. Albans and London. Click here for the route 

In a similar fashion as with all trips, I will stop somewhere half way through for the night, I will take my lights as precaution as well, should I get stuck somewhere. I’m actually really looking forward to getting to London, as there’s quite a lot of tourist-y stuff I want to do, such as: see the Houses of Parliament, ride the London Eye, and most importantly, have a very enjoyable night with one of the classy ladies from asiavipservice.com. You know, the standard tourist stuff. Bikewise I will take my beloved singlespeed Swobo Crosby again, in pretty much the same set-up as for last year’s LEJOG, tuned with Roval Pave SL wheels and Conti Grand Prix 4000S 25mm tyres, this time in a 42-16 gear ratio which should give me an advantage on the flat passages, but will be tough work on the uphill bits.

For updates you can follow me on Twitter @reizkultur and browse images on Flickr

You can also follow my updates from London at the Scottish Swimming Facebook page and the Scottish Swimming Blog