I’ll definitely go tubeless with the tyres, and get them Conti Terra Speeds you recommended!
I think I’ll be wearing my usual asos cycling kit I wear which fits snug. As for the Gravel bike itself, I haven’t sorted that yet (all my training to start with will be on my road bike) I’ve had a look at that “Ridley Kanzo Fast” it’s a bit out of my price range I’m looking to spend around £2500 give or take probably £3000 max. its just seeing where has one in stock because most places are sold out at the minute.
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If you’ve ridden a century, you’ll be able to do 200. The training / fitness needed is basically the same. The biggest differences on the day will be pacing, nutrition/hydration, and bike comfort.
On pacing, start out very conservatively. Sounds like you know this from your own past experience.
On nutrition/hydration, I think some of the posts above are giving bad advice about limiting your eating, and/or limiting carbs. Unless you have specifically trained your body to rely on fats (most people haven’t), eat a lot while your are riding. You’ll also need to drink a lot. On my last MTB century (not a race), I had a mix of jam sandwiches, cliff bars, Twix bars, ritz crackers, pringles, and gels. Bring what’s ever food works for you - that you’ll actually eat, and agrees with your system. This may be the most important thing you’ll need to figure out during your training.
For comfort, put wide tires on your bike.
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Absolutely! Fuelled my youthful wanderings on Ambrosia Creamed Rice and Soreen Malt Loaf!
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Thank you very much on the advice!
definitely going to pace it conservatively like you said, debating still wether the lack of powermeter will be an issue but I doubt it because I could just go off HR and relative effort. Baring in mind the TR sessions I’ll do indoors on my Wahoo Kickr and leave the majority of the long Z2 rides outdoors going off HR.
I’ll have to try them cliff bars out in training, I’ve heard good things about them
There’s a bunch of flavors. Try them out to decide what you like. I’m partial to the chocolate brownie and cool mint chocolate chip.
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Yeah I think I’ll be fine without one for the ride, considering they aren’t cheap and I’ve still got to fork out the money for a Carbon gravel bike when I can get hold of one. I’ve used HR for years now from running and I used it for my century last year. Just I know the TR team love to bang on about the beauty of power meters haha, I’ll get one eventually when the bank account recovers
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Since you have already done a 100 mile ride, you should be good. But I think you should incorporate one long ride every 2-3 weeks, and give yourself enough recovery. For example, 3 weeks out, aim for a 150 mile ride. Do a 100 mile ride 5 or 6 weeks out. Use these rides to work out your nutrition etc. You can do it without these rides, but doing them will make the 200 mile more comfortable. These rides take a lot out of you so you might want to limit interval rides on these weeks to one interval session during the week following the long ride.
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Personally I don’t think you need an expensive carbon gravel bike for this ride. Of course, if the ride is your excuse to buy one, go ahead! 
I have not ridden the whole TPT, only the western bit up to about Stockport. But I’ve always ridden it on my roadbike (though with 35mm tyres). I’ve heard the bit in the pennines is a bit rougher.
(I do race cross, so I have an off-road bike, but I don’t really think it’s needed on this trail.)
The problem with ‘gravel’ trails in the UK is that you never know what you’ll get - it could be a quiet tarmacked country lane, a gravel footpath, or an enduro-worthy rocky chute. And the weather makes quite a difference - if it has been wet for a while, everything turns into deep mud. (On the other hand, if its very nice and dry, it will be full of walkers and families out on bikes).
I also think you don’t really need neither a power meter nor a HR monitor - you need to go at a comfortable pace all day, and you should know how that feels by the time you do your ride anyway.
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Thanks for the great advice! I’ll definitely factor in that longer weekend training rides will most likely disrupt the next week of training so I’ll just alter the followings weeks training.
I’ve spoken to a guy called Simon Auty who has completed the TPT full route, and from what he told me, terrain wise it’s not too crazy and mostly gravel track.
Carbon fibre gravel bike wise, I just wanted the best possible, lightest bike for the challenge and so I’ve set myself up with a decent quality gravel bike that’s future proof. Looking to spend max £3000
I’ll be having a window of days I’d like to complete it late June around summer solstice, hopefully get a good summer so the trails not a mud bath and as much daylight hours as possible will be great.
Points taken regarding power meter/ HR monitor. I agree I’ll need to just have a comfortable pace all day.
Thanks for the advice matey
Yeah I’m definitely open to options Gravel bike wise. Not 100% set on any bike in particular just want a
- Lightweight
- Comfortable
- 2by drive train
- Decent drive train. probably GRX or the shimano equivalent
one of my work mates has said good things about Planet X, I’ll definitely have a gander at what they offer, also heard good things about Ribble.
Going to have a good look around and see what’s out there.
Cheers mate 
11 days on, how’s your training gone so far?
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I’ve set up the training plan and I’m due to start it the 15th of March, I’m doing a bit of a mad challenge tomorrow starting 4am.
Where I run
4 miles
every 4 hours
for 48 hours
if you’ve heard of David Goggins it’s his challenge and it’s starting tomorrow.
Hence why I’ve not started the cycling training yet haha. The challenge will end Monday at 4am. Then I’ll rest up, I’m off work so I’ll get some proper rest then starting the 15th I’ll start the training. Looking forward to it!
I have bought four bikes from Planet X, all have been great. They used to have crazy cheap offers, but even now at normal prices, they are really good value. With your budget, you have some to spare for a top quality set of wheels too.
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Any idea on why they’re much cheaper than the usual, Giant, Specialized, Canyon etc…
Having a look at them now and they seem very good value for money
Own branded and not much marketing. With the big brands, you pay brand name premiums. Plus I think they are relatively large and produce bigger quantities of frames than other small brands like Ribble or Dolan (also worth checking out).
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David has just copied a very old challenge from the 19th century. But made it easier.
See Robert Barclay Allardice - Wikipedia
And his 1000 hour walk. There a fuller article on that I’ve read but don’t have it bookmarked.
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Think this might be the article I was thinking of.
Well well… you have (about) the same goal as I have (360KM).
Trainingwise, I do MV sweet spot base > MV sustained power build over and over. In addition to that, I do a lot of 100km-160km zone 2 rides to get that neuromuscular endurance. My FTP currently is around 240.
There’s a lot more to endurance than only FTP. In terms of training, it’s more important you can sustain a certain wattage for very hours on end. This also means checking your bike fit: how are your knees? Your back? Neck shoulders? Are you overreaching to your bars?
Also, it’s mental. If you are hours in, how do you manage to continue? A common strategy that I also use is to break it up into “stages”. For instance, tomorrow I am going for 180km and I split it up in 2hour blocks with 20m breaks in between.
Furthermore, nutrition and drinking! Most important. Perhaps get a frame bag or something and bring enough food. For me, I need on average about 40g carbs per hour for zone 2. This is also personal. And also train to eat ON the bike DURING the ride. Find an optimum between eating and gastrointestinal distress.
For the rest, I guess just riding those long Z2 rides to get comfortable to be hours on the bike on end. I don’t know if you have a specific time target, but 261 watts FTP should be more than enough. When I go for my 360km, I aspire to your FTP. I have one build left, after which I estimate my FTP to be around 250-255 (still noob gain territory, been doing TR / structured training for over a year now).
Also, I have been reading up on the internet. And it has been suggested to carb load and drink a lot of extra fluids the day before by some. I have tried this out, but personally I did not notice a difference in performance for a century. Perhaps it’s different when doing more than a century.
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I’ve seen a nice Ribble one that seems in my price budget, will still have a ring around though and see what’s out there. No spontaneous bike purchases yet, no rush…
Ill be doing the majority of my training inside on my kickr with my current road bike, hopefully the geometry won’t be drastically different so I can just transition to the gravel bike seamlessly.