To recce or not to recce, that is the question. Purists of the 100, don’t recce the route. However, the organisers don’t restrict it, and in fact actively encourage it by making the latest route description available months in advance to allow people to familiarise themselves with the course, probably under the guise of safety.

For me I want to be able to enjoy (?) the event and give myself the best possible chance of completing the route in the best possible time. I still have nightmares about getting lost in the final few miles of the Houseman 100 in 2011 or when it was pouring with rain in Abinger Hammer at 1am on the 2012 Games 100 and I had to shelter in a phone box to piece my paper route description together. A 100 is tough enough without making it any harder. And I do like to target a pub late on the Saturday evening for a pint of shandy.

Recceing the route beforehand sounds easy, but the planning can be quite complicated especially when doing it alone. Being a circular(ish) route identifying ‘A to B’ sections to suit time available and public transport options, especially when the route passes through sleepy Suffolk villages with only a few buses a day (at best), can be tricky. I always travel in the direction of the route and try to avoid retracing my steps to maximise the recceing time. Sometimes it’s necessary to drop a bike at the end so that I can cycle back to my car at the start.

And then which sections should you recce ? Given that I will be starting with others, and I will be fresh and reasonably alert, I don’t usually recce the first 25 miles (= 6 hours).  At this stage I will probably be catching up earlier starters so there will be people in the distance I can target. But when the daylight fades @ 10pm the combination of darkness and tiredness makes navigation much trickier and going wrong can be very frustrating. And then once the new day has dawned it is easy to lose concentration. So based on the route, public transport options and my availability / fitness, I have chosen to recce the following as consecutive days, amounting to 68.5 miles:  

• Day 1 – Brandeston to Stratford St Andrew 18 miles (25.5 to 43.5 miles)
• Day 2 – Aldeburgh to Woodbridge 35.5 miles (58.5 to 94 miles)
• Day 3 – Stratford St Andrew to Aldeburgh 15 miles (43.5 to 58.5 miles)

So, with 19 days until the event, it will be great to explore the route, see the night time section during daylight and complete my training, which has been really enjoyable taking in Tanners (20 miles), Punchbowl (20 miles), Charnwood Marathon (27 miles), Coventry Way (40 miles), Marlborough Downs Challenge (33 miles) together with 190 miles from the Thames Barrier to the Severn Estuary.