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As I am going for the "all London" , The starting place for me is to do the 400 runs contained in the "Blue book". These are standard routes that you have to learn and are designed to enable you to learn the streets of London, And as you progress you have to learn "points" along the way. These are buildings or points of interest along the route e.g. The Cenotaph.
I have just started the maps, it was a good feeling to finish the runs, although it now feels like there is a deadline looming and I know I do not know the Blue Book enough yet. It has taken me 75 weeks to complete the runs which was a bit of a surprise as this only average's out to just over 5 runs a week - looks like I am going to have to work a lot harder. Dean Warrington at Wizann wrote that you should try for 4 runs a day, so even though I am out 2-3 times a week I am behind already-about 25 weeks( I want to try and complete the Blue book within the first year ), One mistake I made was that at the PCO chat they advised that you have to know the run in both directions, this I took quite literally and was doing the run in both directions for the first couple of weeks, using the message board at Wizann I was told this was not necessary as by building up the runs you get to learn the one ways etc and therefore learn the reverses.
The other problem (apart from the rain) is the "numb bum." After being on the bike for a few hours at every traffic light I had to stand up, just to get the blood flowing again, I must admit things have started to improve in that area. I have also noted that it seems that it is always the "suits" in the big cars on the mobile phone that seem to have the knack of trying to knock you off the bike, Hazard of the job I suppose.
Having the big map has been very useful, as at this stage and being unfamiliar with London, I can plan out how to link the finish of one run to the start of the next, and doing this means that if the start of the next run is not that close, I look for a run that is nearer and then do the run I missed next time.
I have started to call over as I drive the run, repeating over and over, one line then two, three etc and have found this a good way of learning and remembering the run, as I go to the next run I have been calling the complete run, until I start the next, once the second run is complete, call both runs as you go to the next.
Even though I have only been at it for four months, all my spare time seems to be consumed with the runs, either calling them, updating my points list or preparing the next runs, it seems as if its is at least a couple of hours a day 5-6 days a week the calling has started to improve, only 2-3+ years to go!!!!!!!!!
Decide who's system you are going to use, there are 3-4 different systems, the most common two being Wizann the other Knowledge point, I must admit that on the old system there have been some complaints that the knowledge point run books are sometimes out of date and my callover partners books are proof of this, where he has to re-write partial sections sometimes of a run, the best thing is to go around and talk to people who are using the different systems and see what you feel comfortable with