Is it Cheating

[softlips]

I was meant to do it with the Wimps a few years ago but had to back out. Fat forward to this year and I started at LE but a graze on my thigh became infected and I was hospitalised for a week on IV antibiotics in Carlisle. They then transferred me to my local hospital. I never want to do it in two halves but needs must. I'll do the other half next year.

[jrs665]

I was unable to complete my Lejog attempt with the Wimps about 5years ago when i fell off my bike near Bristol and broke several ribs.
It occurred to me that I have ridden to home from Whitehaven and from home to Inverness
If I can persuade my family that this 76year old man recovering from Prostate Cancer and a heart attack ,that ,with a couple of months rest between ,I could ride from Bristol to Whitehaven and from Inverness to John O Groats would I at last be able to say I Have Ridden LEJOG ?

It is up to you how you want to do it, the only person you need to convince is yourself as a personal achievement.

[The Grange Gardener]

I did JOG to Bristol in May and completed Bristol to LE in July as a result of holiday commitments ! No its not cheating - it's never too old to be bold!
Well done

[The Grange Gardener]

I'm going to go the other way and say yes, it is cheating.

I'm fine with doing LEJOG (or any tour for that matter) by any route you want but to my mind a tour is one journey. If you ride from London to Croydon, then get the train home and 2 weeks later you get the train to Croydon and ride to Brighton, you've not done London to Brighton, you've done two separate point-to-point day rides.

I mean, if you sign up to a 300km Audax and ride half of it before getting the train home, then pop back a couple of weeks later once you're feeling better and ride the other half, you're not getting that 300km Audax completion badge - you've not ridden 300km, you've done 2 day rides of 150km each.

Admittedly this is probably more important if you're doing the ride for charity and raising money because I think many charities and most donors would be a bit put out to discover that you'd done a load of day rides over the course of a year (for example) - part of what people sponsor you for is because it's supposed to be something a bit more than "a normal ride".

You are sadly mistaken - who needs a badge to say you've completed a tour ? GIve the guy his due - he's not doing it for charity and it's obviously been a big challenge for him. No it's not cheating!

[The Grange Gardener]

I did JOG to Bristol in May and completed Bristol to LE in July as a result of holiday commitments ! No its not cheating - it's never too old to be bold!
Well done

[pjclinch]

You are sadly mistaken - who needs a badge to say you've completed a tour ? GIve the guy his due - he's not doing it for charity and it's obviously been a big challenge for him. No it's not cheating!

There are some people who like the Official Bit of Paper, and for anyone that is such a person then doing it a different way would be cheating, because if you're getting an Official Bit of Paper you have to play by the rules underpinning that.

But if you're not bothered about the Official Bit of Paper then the rules are very much up to yourself, and as long as you play by those rules it's not cheating. This leaves the question of is it okay to make your own rules? Absolutely it is.

(I note that even the "official" rules for "Everesting" don't involve riding up Mount Everest, so we probably don't need to get too hung up on names)

Pete.

[MrsHJ]

There was a nice article in the guardian today about the south west coast path and how many people complete it over a series of years. The point is that they’ve visited every stretch of the route by the end (assuming they wanted « completion » as their achievement). I think that’s similar to a LEJOG- I’d wanted to have completed the entire route so I could see the gradual changes from one end of the country to the other.

[Herts Audax]

For me I’d consider it incomplete, as the challenge of things like JEJOG is doing it in one continuous tour, with no lengthly gaps. Really the question for you, is why do you want to say you “done” LEJOG, and does it feel complete for you?

The cheating bit is whether you try and pretend you did it as a single trip, or when asked or prompted tell the truth of the two halves separated by a couple of months recouperation.

[puffin]

Time before last my bike broke in Devon, I got the train home as covid meant none of the shops there could fix it, so got it fixed local to home, then 12 days later went back and finished. So, can i count it? If I do next summer will be my 13th. Which spooks me. So, depending on my degree of superstition at any given time, I may want to and may not want to count it.

[horizon]

A small number of people have actually been prosecuted for not having done LEJOG in one go, so I think the OP is right to be somewhat concerned about cheating.

AIUI, the LEJOG Authority turns a blind eye to a break of a few days (or even weeks?) between sections but seem to come down heavily when, say, half is done the following year and not fully declared. Many people have had their cycle touring licence rescinded or at the very least incurred a small fine.

However that is not actually the worst of it. Local papers love this type of story and many cyclists have had their name splashed across the front page with headlines like "Cheating cyclist claims LEJOG that he didn't do!" with a suitable accompanying photograph of the said cyclist wearing sunglasses and sitting in a deck chair on the beach somewhere warm and sunny.

I've also heard of cyclists who have been ostracised by friends and family (many of whom couldn't even cycle to the end of their street if they tried) when they found out that the much-prized LEJOG had actually been done in halves. Mind you, this wasn't as bad in their view as the man who claimed to have climbed Everest but had actually done it in two halves (he got half way up the first time and then went back a year later to complete the second half to the top).

No, I would say that LEJOG is LEJOG and should be done in one go. If you cheat, then that is a risk you have to be prepared to take: of being found out and indeed the stresses that go with that (imagine sitting in a remote cafe somewhere in Scotland and constantly wondering if the shady-looking character at the opposite table isn't actually tracking your progress - was it he that you saw in that cafe in Carlisle, and Bodmin and, and?). Honesty in my book is always the best policy.

[puffin]

A small number of people have actually been prosecuted for not having done LEJOG in one go, so I think the OP is right to be somewhat concerned about cheating.

AIUI, the LEJOG Authority turns a blind eye to a break of a few days (or even weeks?) between sections but seem to come down heavily when, say, half is done the following year and not fully declared. Many people have had their cycle touring licence rescinded or at the very least incurred a small fine.

However that is not actually the worst of it. Local papers love this type of story and many cyclists have had their name splashed across the front page with headlines like "Cheating cyclist claims LEJOG that he didn't do!" with a suitable accompanying photograph of the said cyclist wearing sunglasses and sitting in a deck chair on the beach somewhere warm and sunny.

I've also heard of cyclists who have been ostracised by friends and family (many of whom couldn't even cycle to the end of their street if they tried) when they found out that the much-prized LEJOG had actually been done in halves. Mind you, this wasn't as bad in their view as the man who claimed to have climbed Everest but had actually done it in two halves (he got half way up the first time and then went back a year later to complete the second half to the top).

No, I would say that LEJOG is LEJOG and should be done in one go. If you cheat, then that is a risk you have to be prepared to take: of being found out and indeed the stresses that go with that (imagine sitting in a remote cafe somewhere in Scotland and constantly wondering if the shady-looking character at the opposite table isn't actually tracking your progress - was it he that you saw in that cafe in Carlisle, and Bodmin and, and?). Honesty in my book is always the best policy.

Phew! I didn't know this. Thanks for the heads up. Close shave.

[ferrit worrier]

A small number of people have actually been prosecuted for not having done LEJOG in one go, so I think the OP is right to be somewhat concerned about cheating.

AIUI, the LEJOG Authority turns a blind eye to a break of a few days (or even weeks?) between sections but seem to come down heavily when, say, half is done the following year and not fully declared. Many people have had their cycle touring licence rescinded or at the very least incurred a small fine.

However that is not actually the worst of it. Local papers love this type of story and many cyclists have had their name splashed across the front page with headlines like "Cheating cyclist claims LEJOG that he didn't do!" with a suitable accompanying photograph of the said cyclist wearing sunglasses and sitting in a deck chair on the beach somewhere warm and sunny.

I've also heard of cyclists who have been ostracised by friends and family (many of whom couldn't even cycle to the end of their street if they tried) when they found out that the much-prized LEJOG had actually been done in halves. Mind you, this wasn't as bad in their view as the man who claimed to have climbed Everest but had actually done it in two halves (he got half way up the first time and then went back a year later to complete the second half to the top).

No, I would say that LEJOG is LEJOG and should be done in one go. If you cheat, then that is a risk you have to be prepared to take: of being found out and indeed the stresses that go with that (imagine sitting in a remote cafe somewhere in Scotland and constantly wondering if the shady-looking character at the opposite table isn't actually tracking your progress - was it he that you saw in that cafe in Carlisle, and Bodmin and, and?). Honesty in my book is always the best policy.

perhaps some of our learned brethren could check in Stones justices manual to see how the law is applied

[ferrit worrier]

back to the original post, Its your ride, how you do it, which way you go, how long you take is entirely up to you, there is no time limit, there is no specified route.
The important thing is you enjoy it!!!

[peterhopkins]

I used to run a cycling club at the school where I taught, & in 1971 led a party of lads from Land's End to Loughborough. The following year my wife & I set off north from Loughborough, touring on spec (YHs, B&Bs, pubs, whatever came up) with a view to qualifying for the Cape Wrath Fellowship. The ferryman at Durness had just retired, so we couldn't cross the Kyle to reach Cape Wrath, & so we cycled east across to JoG as a sort of consolation prize. However, I never considered that I had "done" LeJog bcause it was done in 2 separate chunks in 2 different years.
I set off again to do it 'properly' when I retired in 1997, but I was knocked off my bike in Yorkshire & finished up in Doncaster RI with 3 broken ribs & a partially collapsed lung - so I still lament that I've never really "done" it!

[mattsccm]

Just a thought. This isn't a competition so there cannot be cheating. Equally, unless the above mentioned association is a governing body then it cannot be considered official or any other such thing. They can call themselves what they like.