How hard is it?

[MrFixed]

How hard is the whole journey? I really fancy doing it, fixed gear starting from JOG. I was thinking with all the traffic lights it wouldn't be constantly riding, there'd be tiny breaks here and there.

 

[ColinJ]

Is JOGLE well-known for its frequent traffic-light breaks?

I would imagine that you could do whole days without even seeing a traffic light ...

Why not just stop for a rest whenever you want one!

 

[MrFixed]

I thought there would be. I have no idea what the route is like, that's why I've asked how hard it actually is.

I've not done any research yet. I just thought I'd just ask.

 

[ColinJ]

There isn't just one route - you'd have to choose which route to take.

If you do the shortest possible route it, it uses a lot of busy roads and avoids some nice places. That would be about 875 miles. On the other hand, if you chose to go to those nice places, you could end up doing way more than that. I worked out where I would like to go, and it came to more like 2,000 miles and had lots of big hills!

The other thing is how long you decide to spend doing it. If you wanted to do it in a week then even the shortest route would mean doing about 125 miles a day. If you wanted to stick to (say) 60 miles a day, then that shortest route would take over 2 weeks without any rest days.

 

[steveindenmark]

I think it may be better if you do at least some research and then come back and ask your questions.

 

[sultzer]

i did john o groats to mull of galloway last year , aprox 680 miles , did that in 7 days unsupported , difficult in places but plenty of breaks , wrong turns , maize of signposts etc .
doing the JOGLE next year though , as i amdoing scottish coast to coast this year

 

[Catweasel]

Back when I was in my last year of secondary school some mates and I did LEJOG - 1 of the guys (well, boy I guess) only went as far as Ludlow as he figured it'd be too hard for him but he deeply regretted it - at the pace we set, using the route we took, it was pretty easy - our longest day was 70 miles, we had a few 2 or 3 day breaks built in, we stayed in youth hostels and avoided A roads whenever possible.

But, assuming you take a similar route to the one I did, you're gonna spend a fair amount of time walking if you're gonna do it on a fixie - some of those hills - steeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep! And the really steep ones have annoying crossroads at the bottom so you can't freewheel up the next one - nooooooooo - they make you stop at the bottom...look both ways...grrr

Still, fantastic fun and the feeling you get once you cycle into ...well, for us it was John O'Groats - is truly unforgettable.

 

[sultzer]

just done it may this year , hard kind of , but worth it , yes when you finish it ahead of time . do it again , no bloody way