London to manchester

[craven2354]

Hello

I'm thinking of setting myself to cycle from London to manchester in one day I believe it will be about 185miles

I am in the very early stages of the idea and am just wondering if it is possible

I know I will need to train for it and was even thinking of doing it in two days first to see if I would be able to handle it

What do you think I would need for such a feat?

Would I need panniers or would I be able to stop for everything I need? Would I need a garmin 800 or similar mapped GPS device?

 

[martint235]

As if by magic, here's the route I took in June.

I don't think you need panniers but my advice would be to stop everywhere that you can see food available or at least don't think "Oh it'll be ok there'll be another place soon". I ran out of food and water at least twice. Really, really eat a lot between Burton and Ashbourne, you will need it!

I left London at midnight cos the A5 is ok during the night. I'm not sure it's bad during the day but at night it's relatively pleasant if a bit boring. I got to my destination which was 230 miles at about 5pm but as I've mentioned I ran out of food and water which really slowed me down.

If you need any other advice feel free to PM me.

 

[craven2354]

As if by magic, here's the route I took in June.

I don't think you need panniers but my advice would be to stop everywhere that you can see food available or at least don't think "Oh it'll be ok there'll be another place soon". I ran out of food and water at least twice. Really, really eat a lot between Burton and Ashbourne, you will need it!

I left London at midnight cos the A5 is ok during the night. I'm not sure it's bad during the day but at night it's relatively pleasant if a bit boring. I got to my destination which was 230 miles at about 5pm but as I've mentioned I ran out of food and water which really slowed me down.

If you need any other advice feel free to PM me.

did you just get the train down and wait for midnight? or did you have a hotel to get some sleep during the day?

also what kind of training did you do?

and would you recommend using a garmin 800

 

[martint235]

did you just get the train down and wait for midnight? or did you have a hotel to get some sleep during the day?

also what kind of training did you do?

and would you recommend using a garmin 800

I live in SE London but I'm from Lancashire where my parents still live so it was billed as a Home to Home ride. I did try to nap during the day but as usual that didn't really work out. I managed to stay awake until 8pm at my parents.

As for training, I regularly do rides of 100+ miles. I won't lie to you. If you do a ride like this in one day, it will take it out of you (and the people I met on the FNRttC from Manchester two days after this ride will testify that I wasn't brimming with energy) but... the sense of achievement makes it all worth while. You'll have done something that not many other people have done.

I would strongly suggest doing a 100 mile ride at night at some point. If you ride London to Manchester on June 21st you can probably do it all in daylight but the chances are you're going to be riding at night and you need to do enough of it to be comfortable doing it on your own. The A5 is rarely the middle of nowhere but some bits of it are unlit and a fair way from a town. If you can get to a Friday Night Ride to the Coast (lots run out of London but see the website for a full list including those away from London.)

As for the Garmin 800, I use a Garmin Etrex for one reason only and that is that it takes standard AA batteries. I do use rechargeable batteries but should they die, I just need to find a garage or small shop and I'm ok. I'm not sure of the battery life of an 800 but wouldn't want to depend on one too far away from a plug socket.

That said, this isn't a particularly difficult route to memorise or at least not until you're at the North end of the Peak District and then to be honest you'd struggle to miss Manchester.

When are you thinking of doing it? Is it for a particularly reason or just to do it?

I'm probably going to do it again next year and probably ride back down as part of my training for LEL but it's not definite yet.

 

[craven2354]

I live in Manchester and was planning to train it Down the day before do abit of sight seeing then have some sleep and set off about 2am

Want to do it for the satisfaction of being able to say I've done it
I've done 110 miles at night before when I did the Manchester to Blackpool last month which leaves at 12am

I'm thinking one day next year when the weather will be good and the days long

 

[middleagecyclist]

I live in Manchester and was planning to train it Down the day before do abit of sight seeing then have some sleep and set off about 2am

Want to do it for the satisfaction of being able to say I've done it
I've done 110 miles at night before when I did the Manchester to Blackpool last month which leaves at 12am

I'm thinking one day next year when the weather will be good and the days long

I'd be up for joining you if you want company. I'd make it a DIY 300 km audax and use as training for the LEL so April to early July would be good. Let me know if you are interested and we can sort out potential dates.

 

[400bhp]

This is on my to do list as well. Probably cycling back from a meeting I have.

I wouldn't take the A5 though, more back roads. I did draw up a route at one point.

 

[craven2354]

Sorry to go off topic but what's the differnce between the garmin Etrex 30 and the garmin 800?

 

[martint235]

I live in Manchester and was planning to train it Down the day before do abit of sight seeing then have some sleep and set off about 2am

Want to do it for the satisfaction of being able to say I've done it
I've done 110 miles at night before when I did the Manchester to Blackpool last month which leaves at 12am

I'm thinking one day next year when the weather will be good and the days long

Sorry to go off topic but what's the differnce between the garmin Etrex 30 and the garmin 800?

I'd ( and this is my personal preference rather than advice) would be tempted to do it the other. Ride to London, sleep, sightsee, train home. By getting the train to London, to me, you're adding a level of complication before you start a tough ride. As I say this is just me and I'm paranoid particularly where expecting trains to work on time etc is concerned.

I did the ride at the beginning of June. It rained most of the way up. The subsequent FNRttC from Manchester to Morecambe has apparently gone down as one of the wettest ever. I'd make sure you're comfortable riding in the rain because you may have to.

The A5 really isn't all that bad, in fact in the middle of the night I'd say it's good. My only real issue with it was at one point my GPS beeped "Turn right in 15 miles" at me. 15 miles??? Without having to do anything but pedal??

The Garmin Etrex 30 is what has replaced the Etrex Vista (I have the Legend, now the Etrex 20) and the main difference is the ability to take AA batteries. There are other small differences in operation but the core (can you map a ride, get it to beep at you etc) are the same. Take a lot of time to decide though, don't take my word for it. You may prefer the 800 as it's cycle specific.

Oh and without wanting to overcomplicate the calendars, I'm happy to tag along too. However this may remove some of the magic of doing it alone. It was seriously fun (well after the pain had gone away!)

 

[craven2354]

It was more as I didn't want to have to carry clothes down with me if I went from London I could take clothes down then pack them up and send them back home which would save me carrying them around

 

[martint235]

It was more as I didn't want to have to carry clothes down with me if I went from London I could take clothes down then pack them up and send them back home which would save me carrying them around

Fair point. I carried shorts, light trainers, couple of t shirts in a carradice but to me it was a. Doing it and b. Proving it was a viable way of getting to my parents

 

[middleagecyclist]

Sorry to go off topic but what's the differnce between the garmin Etrex 30 and the garmin 800?

I've got the 705. I'm researching the best GPS for long rides as present and whether my unit will cut the mustard. The main differences between the Etrex series and the 705/800 as far as I can see are:

• Etrex has replaceable batteries rather than rechargeable integrated cells
• The 705/800 have road maps and turn by turn navigation in the unit where the Etrex gives more of a line to follow

Using the GPS to work the route out is not recommended. If you have no way to charge the 705/800 en route then on a long ride you are going to run out of juice after 15 hrs or so. The Etrex can get round this.

Interested to hear comparisons from those more experienced.

 

[martint235]

Etrex also gives turn by turn navigation if you want it. I had mine set to beep at every junction between London and Nelson. All garmins as far as I know suffer from a limited number of way points but there are ways round this

 

[middleagecyclist]

Etrex also gives turn by turn navigation if you want it. I had mine set to beep at every junction between London and Nelson. All garmins as far as I know suffer from a limited number of way points but there are ways round this

Is this courtesy of an uploaded route or worked out in unit?

 

[martint235]

It can do both. London to Nelson was mainly uploaded until I managed to screw things up somewhere SE of Manchester. I then keyed in my parents address and told it to navigate. It didn't take me the way I'd planned but it got me there