Newcastle to London Cycle

[Jamie Lee Harrison]

Hi Everyone, I've just joined Cycle Chat.

In August 2012 I will be cycling to London from Newcastle to support Macmillan Cancer Support, but also to lose weight. I am not a regular cyclist (or at least until i began training weeks ago) and I plan on doing the cycle in 6 days, along with another friend.

We have all the necessary precautions in place i.e, support car, spare, tools etc.

Basically I am just wanting some advice about our route and timescale. We have tailored the route so that we are able to stay at relatives houses and keep our accommodation costs as low as possible. Here is our route:

Day 1 - Gateshead - Thirsk
Day 2 - Thirsk - Doncaster
Day 3 - Doncaster - Lincoln
Day 4 - Lincoln - Peterborough
Day 5 - Peterborough - Stevenage
Day 6 - Stevenage - London

I will be cycling this on a very good spec mountain bike which I am comfortable cycling on. Would anybody recommend putting some different tyres on? such as these... http://www.wiggle.co.uk/continental-comfortcontact-reflex-mtb-tyre-and-tube-set/#more

Any other advice you have would be fantastic.

Thank you, Jamie Harrison

 

[SquareDaff]

I can probably advise on the latter part of Day 2 and all of Day 3 as I'm a Lincolnshire lad who now lives in Leeds and works in Doncaster!!

 

[Jamie Lee Harrison]

Thanks any advice would be great, I'm actually from Newcastle but living in Leeds at the moment!

 

[SquareDaff]

Do you have a route in mind?

 

[Jamie Lee Harrison]

So far I only have the 1st day thoroughly planned (road by road) , and for the other days I only have the start and end points.

Day one - Angel of the north - Thirsk (Via birtley, chester le street, darlington)
Day 2 - Thirsk - Doncaster
Day 3 - Doncaster - Lincoln
Day 4 - Lincoln - Peterborough
Day 5 - Peterborough - Stevenage
Day 6 - Stevenage - London

 

[SquareDaff]

Then I suppose the 1st question is to you want some views or are you after as direct a route as possible? Also, how confident a rider are you? WIll you be OK on busier roads or are you after a quiter "B" road route. Then, is your support car planning on travelling with you, or are you arrnaging meeting places every x miles?

 

[Jamie Lee Harrison]

In terms of what type of roads, we are not too bothered. Being a driver and also commuting by bike I am used to busy roads and not too fussed about views. My support car is going to be meeting us at points along the way, hopefully every hour or so.

With approx one 35 mile ride per week training and hopefully more once I've finished uni next week, Do you think 6 days is realistic?

 

[SquareDaff]

I can only comment from my experiences - but I'd avoid roads like the A19 and A15 like the plague. On the latter there're just too many idiots driving too quickly on a road with blind spots due to the undulations!

Doncaster to Lincoln - I'd be tempted to do the A638 to Bawtry, then the A631 to Gainsborough, the A156 to Saxilby, then the A57 into Lincoln itself. That's about a 40 mile stint and "mostly" flat terrain.

On average it's 60 miles per day. I suspect you'll have done slightly more than 60 on days 1 and 2 so you should be "halfway" at the end of Day 3. In terms of time and distance it's certainly doable. My only concern is that if you're only doing 35 miles once per week you'll find days 4,5,6 very hard going when you've doubled your distances for 3 consequitive days. I'd be VERY tempted to do 35 milers at least 3 times per week to see how your body will cope.

Having said that you will probably manage - it's just a case of how much pain you want to go through or whether you want to enjoy it?

 

[Jamie Lee Harrison]

Thanks! I will most definitely not be riding on the A19 ha! I think I will plan the doncaster to lincoln around your advice, so thanks for that.
I will be moving back to Newcastle in two weeks time which means I will have more time to cycle. So i will hopefully be cycling more than 35 miles per week as well as my regular gym trips.

I expect to go through a lot of pain, as long as I get to London in 6 days, it will be worth it. I appreciate you taking your time to write to me.

 

[SquareDaff]

No problems.