The Fridays Tour

[ceepeebee]

if any first-leggers still haven't organised return travel, I just got a first class seat out of Grantham (to KingsX in just an hour and a half) with bike space for just 22 quid, which seems like a decent deal.

 

[rvw]

Hey chaps, just saw this article: Samsung Hope Relay.

The gist of is that the folks at Samsung committing to donate £1* to a charity such as Kids Company and International Inspiration for each mile the users of their tracking app cycles for each day in the period of 16-24th June. Familiar dates to all of you I expect

*The small print states users are limited to accumulating donations for a maximum mileage of 26miles per day and £667,000 in total for the whole programme.

That's less than half the expected daily mileage and if multiplied by say a couple of dozen keen cyclists armed with smartphones - LonJog could make a sizeable dent in Samsung's £667k. The dates seem too much of a coincidence not to take advantage of it, and we're on holiday after all. Those are my two cents Look forward to riding with you all soon!

Without a smartphone, I can't help out with this - but I'm trying to get sponsorship for replacement equipment for University College London Hospital's radio studio - the current stuff is 19 years old, which is just a tad out of date... so I have a donation page set up at www.justgiving.com/LonJogforCitybeat, if anyone feels generous!

 

[dellzeqq]

Did anything happen on the LonJog shirt front? I'm kit shopping this weekend and will order one fewer shirt if a LonJog one is still on the cards.

no go, I'm afraid. Not a lot of interest.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

If that's not a training tip, Greg, it's too much information

We were told at least twice by Scots B&B Landladies that "och no, no beans with a full Scottish, beans are English!"

 

[StuartG]

The real crisis is my reliance on Mars Bars to get me through the night. But when it comes to the afternoon after and I'm still short of Bingham, depleted and with weather like this - they will be puddles. Unless someone is coming armed with one of those didi-dynamo-powered-fridges on their racks backs ...

I'm moving into terrified territory. Yep I can do 75 miles. But doing it day after my first 120? And then another 75 the day after and on to eternity/JoG?

I'm putting out a contract on Louise for conning me into this malarkey. Trying to keep up with someone who does hills without a chain and still comes in early ... clearly not of this planet!

 

[GrumpyGregry]

For me the key will be endlessly repeating the mantra "No. Ride at your own pace you slow fat ugly b@str@rd" and not giving into the temptation to stick on a stronger rider's wheel, or mash the big ring in some ultimately futile gesture of misplaced uphill machismo. (Though it was rather good fun being the strongest rider, for once, on my mini-tour.)

20kph moving avg, or thereabouts, is my goal, and lots of breaks on the longer/tougher days.

 

[srw]

20kph moving avg, or thereabouts, is my goal, and lots of breaks on the longer/tougher days.

Sounds good to me, and if I've read Simon right, that's his style. Like StuartG, 120 miles is on the other side of a psychological barrier. I'm quite used to doing 100km and then some, but my (our) longest ride to date has been 87 miles. That third (first) digit is a tough nut to crack mentally.

 

[ceepeebee]

Sounds good to me, and if I've read Simon right, that's his style. Like StuartG, 120 miles is on the other side of a psychological barrier. I'm quite used to doing 100km and then some, but my (our) longest ride to date has been 87 miles. That third (first) digit is a tough nut to crack mentally.

same here - I'm going to come v v close next weekend what with home - hpc - whitstable - canterbury - home.

But it looks like we'll hit the ton (not counting getting to hpc) somewhere around Rutland water.

 

[srw]

But it looks like we'll hit the ton (not counting getting to hpc) somewhere around Rutland water.

So who's going to be doing the official count? And what's the ritual going to be?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Sounds good to me, and if I've read Simon right, that's his style. Like StuartG, 120 miles is on the other side of a psychological barrier. I'm quite used to doing 100km and then some, but my (our) longest ride to date has been 87 miles. That third (first) digit is a tough nut to crack mentally.

It's all in the mind if you're a regular cyclist, I feel. 100 is, after all, just another number with no intrinsic significance. Feels much like 90 feels a lot like 117. For me my mental cheats are:-

Do it all in kilometres.
Break each day down into 20km segments on hard days, two hour segments on easy days.
Focus only on the challenges/joys of the current segment
Rely on the fact that one can always ride another 20km, after a break, at the end of a day's ride, lack of sleep apart, provided one can regulate and determine one's own pace on the road, and one can string a number of these 20km break-ride segments together to grind out the last part a long day.
Ride with others with the same game plan/like minds, especially during the second half of the day.
Avoid faster folk and fascists at all times. They destroy one's inner calm.

I think.

 

[rb58]

Of course the upcoming Whitstable Edition offers a perfect SMRbtL training opportunity nicely simulating LonJOG leg one. Sufficiently rehydrated and lubricated before leaving Whitstable of course.

I'm treating the whole thing as a holiday, not a mission. 'Relax' is the mantra. I'm slightly more concerned about the effect of being sat on a saddle for all that time, than the number of miles. Conversation in good company will I'm sure cause the miles to slip by unnoticed.

 

[dellzeqq]

same here - I'm going to come v v close next weekend what with home - hpc - whitstable - canterbury - home.

But it looks like we'll hit the ton (not counting getting to hpc) somewhere around Rutland water.

the ton is up at a place called Wymondham.

The good news is this. Wellingborough (65) to Kettering (73) is not going to be dull and Kettering to Oakham (93miles) is going to be tough - but, from Oakham on we will be on the kind of roads that just invite a slow pace. There are no nasty hills, just gentle rises. And then....about eight miles from the end you get a view of what the next 160 miles is going to be like. So, all the while that you're swearing at the terrain around Uppingham you'll know that the next day, Sunday, is a much easier proposition.

 

[Tim Hall]

if any first-leggers still haven't organised return travel, I just got a first class seat out of Grantham (to KingsX in just an hour and a half) with bike space for just 22 quid, which seems like a decent deal.

Is that an Advanced ticket? Tied to a particular train? Nottingham to St Pancras looks like twelve quid in steerage on the East Midlands website.

What time are we expected to get to Bingham?

 

[dellzeqq]

Bingham at about two (but I will have a better idea in a couple of days)

I would book for a four o'clock train to be on the safe side - but why not wait until I report back?

 

[dellzeqq]

I'm treating the whole thing as a holiday, not a mission. .

thankyou. The more times that is said the happier I'll be. Some people will find it tough, but if the rest of us relax a bit we can help them out.