LEJOG advice

[Greedo]

Hi folks,

Just thought I'd drop in and say hello. Isn't the internet wonderful. A place full of like minded people to chat to.

I'm looking for a bit of advice.

I've not cycled for a number of years due to setting up my own business, buying and doing up a house and just generally not having the time.

Things have changed and now have the luxury of having most mornings free now.

The last bike I had was a Trek road bike and I gave it to a mate who since has wrecked the thing.

I'm now in a position to take up cycling again and am looking to challenge myself with the LEJOG with a mate doing it with me and another supporting us in a van.

Couple of questions I would be looking for the answer to is:-

Should I buy a tourer or road bike?
What kind of training should I do and how long in advance should I?
When is the best time of the year to do it?
Has anyone else done it and how was your experience?

Thank you in advance for any input and I promise my future posts won't be as long

Cheers
Greedo

 

[Kirstie]

1. Decide on what route you want to do, how many miles each day, how long in the saddle you are prepared to spend.
2. Base your training on that so you are comfortable with riding a certain number of hours per day, over varied terrain, and will be able to get up the next day and do it all over again, and they day after that, and the day after that etc etc
3. Ride a road bike if you have a support vehicle.

 

[vernon]

Couple of questions I would be looking for the answer to is:-

Should I buy a tourer or road bike?
What kind of training should I do and how long in advance should I?
When is the best time of the year to do it?
Has anyone else done it and how was your experience?

Thank you in advance for any input and I promise my future posts won't be as long

Cheers
Greedo

I've done it both ways and cycle camped with a Dawes Galaxy tourer. Did it mid August both times. One was ride was warm to hot. One ride was warm to cold. With the current unpredictability of the weather, witness the past three weeks, August might not be a good time to do the ride any more

If you are supported then a road bike or Audax/fast tourer makes sense.

Training varies. For my first completion I'd preceded the ride by several months of riding my bike for around 10 miles every other day and doing a 30 - 40 mile weekend ride then I did four consecutive Audax rides, one per weekend before having a fornight's holiday in Cornwall then off on the ride. Some folk just get on a bike and do it. Some will train for a year - unnecessarily in my opinion. You might want to get hold of a copy of The Long Distance Riders' Handbook by Simon Doughty it has training plans in it.

I did the ride alone and enjoyed the experience. There were plenty of interactions with locals and fellow cyclists and amazing acts of kindness.

I was given a slate in a pub when I turned up with no money having lost my wallet. They fed me and let me drink until 03:00. My wife drove over with cash the next morning. The landlord wiped the slate clean for a tenner!

I had my rear drop out brazed up by Bill Nickson when it broke in Chorley. I was given a lift to Bill Nickson's house by a bloke who lived in Preston and rode with me to Monmouth several days earlier before disappearing into the distance as he was a much faster rider.

A caravanner insisted that I drank half of the alcohol in his caravan while he drank the other half - it took four hours of serious guzzling to accomplish the task. I had a late start the morning after

A camp site owner ferried me to a bike shop to pick up a replacement wheel when my rear wheel began to fail near Dumfries.

Many interesting conversations and spontaneous gifts of food/drink or king sized portions for standard prices.....

Have a google for LEJOG na dfind the web site that has waitrose in the address for lots of LEJOG tales/logs.

You might also want to use the LEJOG forum on the ctc web site.

Hope that helps.

 

[Kirstie]

Have a google for LEJOG na dfind the web site that has waitrose in the address for lots of LEJOG tales/logs.

You mean this one? http://www.users.waitrose.com/~ianclare/links.htm

I 'trained' by doing an imperial century at least once a fortnight from March - July for mine. But then I've been cycling for years and years and so had built up the miles gradually. I'm used to riding 75 miles regularly, so it was a smallish step up to the century. I'd chosen the longer route east of the pennines, and only had two weeks to do it, which meant a 75 miles/day average on a loaded tourer (rear panniers only). On a tourer, where you average 10-11mph, this equates to between 7 and 8 hours of riding per day. On a road bike in 7 - 8 hours you can easily clock up 100 miles. That's how I worked out what I needed to do. You might want to be less systematic than that though (I am very anal about these things).

We also met some really nice, kind and generous people on our lejog. We completed it last saturday and the weather was absolutely pants apart from in scotland.

 

[Yellow Fang]

I would say a tourer is better than a road bike. You want to be as comfortable as possible and have some low gears. You probably won't be going very fast most of the time. You could split the diff and go for a cyclosportif or audax bike, depending on how much stuff you're planning to carry, if you have a support car, and what you're planning to do with it in the future.

I went in June, which turned out to be a good idea. There's more accommodation available before the school holidays. The weather was nicer. The evenings were longer, especially in Scotland. NE Scotland has a reputation for being a bit grim in crap weather, but it's beautiful when it's sunny.

I'm not sure how much training you really need to do. I just did a few long rides.

 

[ronstrutt]

If you're going to be supported then a light tourer is probably your best bet - more comfort over longer distances and a better range of gears for those occasions when your legs feel worn out.

You can train as much as you like. I've heard of a few people who've done a LEJoG having never cycled more than 10 miles in one go, but I wouldn't recommend it. I've now done four End to Ends (one LEJOG, two JOGLEs, and one D2D) and done a varied amount of training for each of these, ranging from very little indeed to regular 100plus-mile rides. The latter made for an easier ride but the former isn't out of the question.

As for weather and timing, the last two Mays have been the best of all the summer months, but that's no guarantee that the same will apply next year. In fact, it almost certainly won't, because that's when I'm planning my fifth End to End.

You may find that my website www.ruralrides.net has a few useful tips and hints.

 

[Kirstie]

I'm planning my fifth End to End.

Why would anyone want to do this ride more than once? Please explain this one to me! (I'm at the 'never again' stage)

 

[Greedo]

Cheers for the advice guys. Much appreciated!

 

[ronstrutt]

Why would anyone want to do this ride more than once? Please explain this one to me! (I'm at the 'never again' stage)

Just wait - the 'never again' stage will fade and you'll start thinking...

 

[vernon]

Just wait - the 'never again' stage will fade and you'll start thinking...

No it doesn't

I'm happy having ridden it once in each direction. There's not a lot of incentive to repeat the rides. There's plenty of the UK left for me to explore on my bike.

 

[saddlesoar]

I've never done LeJog but I happen to have just produced a route map for it at work. If you're interested Greedo (or anyone) I could somehow get it to you in PDF format. It will be large file. It might give you an idea of which way to go and has overnight stays marked on it which would suggest the amount of miles covered each day. I think this route allows twelve days.

Apparently the most difficult part is Dartmoor. The Scottish part of the route goes along the amazingly scenic west coast. I guess this avoids the highlands.

The ride I produced the map for is happening next week. Seems as good a time as any!

Good Luck anyway!

 

[vernon]

I've never done LeJog but I happen to have just produced a route map for it at work. If you're interested Greedo (or anyone) I could somehow get it to you in PDF format. It will be large file. It might give you an idea of which way to go and has overnight stays marked on it which would suggest the amount of miles covered each day. I think this route allows twelve days.

Apparently the most difficult part is Dartmoor. The Scottish part of the route goes along the amazingly scenic west coast. I guess this avoids the highlands.

The ride I produced the map for is happening next week. Seems as good a time as any!

Good Luck anyway!

There's no definitive route and my advice to the original poster is to read as many different accounts and examine as many different routes before plotting a route of his/her own.

For instance, there's a strong anti Dartmoor sentiment expressed by a chap that's ridden the route several times and who lives in Cornwall and knows the area well. Equally the same chap prefers the A9 over the A82 to convey cyclist up through Scotland. Other riders differ in their opinions and chosen routes.

A tip though - avoid as many places places ending in ford or bridge as possible when planning a route as they always involve crossing a river valley. The descents are enjoyable but the climbs out of them can be unpleasant.

 

[ronstrutt]

There's plenty of the UK left for me to explore on my bike.

But with a bit of ingenuity you can work most of them into an End to End! That's why I keep on doing them, because there are still fresh places to explore and routes to follow.

 

[vernon]

But with a bit of ingenuity you can work most of them into an End to End! That's why I keep on doing them, because there are still fresh places to explore and routes to follow.

There's plenty of fresh places to explore - true enough. Sadly, Land's End and John O'Groats can hardly be described as fresh places even on their first encounters .

 

[steveindenmark]

I have not done it yet but I think you can fill many, many hours deciding which bike. Things have moved on so fast in the last couple of years. The choice of bikes is staggering. There are now CX bikes and adventure bikes, road bikes which take 25/28c tyres. I would not choose a bike specifically for this ride, but one that you will use afterwards. Whatever it is, get it early so you can get it comfortable for you. This can take weeks or even months if you need to change things on it.