Cycling the River Thames Easter 2012

[StevenP95]

Hello,
Next Easter I am planning on cycling the entire River Thames on country roads (and cycle routes through London). I was just looking for advice. It is about 250 miles we reckon (Me and a friend) and we are thinking over 5 days - Yes, very slow! But I want to visit famil nearby etc. I haven't got much experience on a bike in terms of long distance cycling - I can cycle here and there but never really cycled a long way :L
I am quite fit and play cricket and do athletics etc.. So am generally athletic. Is this good enough and when should we start practicing on cylce bikes?

Also one other question.. I think I know the answer to. I used a program to plot a bike route and afterwards it said I have a "Grade 5 Climb" on the route.. I looked on the site (MapMyRide) and it said Grade 5 = 2-3% Climb over 500 metres long. Am I right in thinking that a 3% Grade slope is near to nothing. Basically a small ramp gradient..?? I might be wrong so I will ask..

Thanks everyone for your help

 

[vspa]

yes 3% over 500 meters is not a big deal, however when touring with a loaded bike a succesion of such small climbs and/or false flats become quite annoying and slow you down considerably. 50 miles per day is ok, not too short not too long. I was checking out Google Earth and saw the Thames River course, as many rivers are, quite twisting all the time. This could mean that there is not a complete route to follow the river along all the way, i don't have experience with MapMyRide though, it may be the correct tool so you don't waste too much time in finding your way during the trip, specially those sections where the river might be out of sight.