Cycling UK Forum

Just did this as a 2 day bikepacking ride a few weeks ago ( and then back to Avebury on bridle ways) . Great ride but definitely mtb territory. Rutted tracks and muddy in spots. Have a great time!

I've got a Dawes SuperGalaxy and love it a lot. It might be seen as an old fashioned choice but it got me from A to B on the JOGLE and I've done a few sportives on it too (racks n all). I don't go fast. I just keep going! I've never really had a go on a light racing bike so I'm interested to know how much harder I'm working on the Dawes. I wouldn't be averse to getting a lighweight road bike but I would still keep the Dawes for winter riding and tours. And then another bike ...and then another one...
A friend and I are doing the C2C that week in August too so look out for a fellow Galaxy rider.

Thanks for the advice. To clarify - for this trip it is in a group with a support vehicle so I will not be carrying very much at all. It is good to hear from from those of you who have cycled in this terrain that the Dawes could be up for the job as it means I can defer buying a MTB until there are some bargains around! Also - as I am going in August time is a bit tight to be getting used to a new bike.
The spec of the Super Galaxy is as follows:
Rims: WTB Dual Duty XC 700c with CNC sidewall
Spokes: Driver side 14G stainless, non drive side 15G stainless
Tyres: Schwalbe Marathon, Kevlar guard 700x32c
Gear ratios: 48/36/26 and the nine speeds rear cog is 11-32
Does all that sound ok or do you recommend any adjustments? I can certainly take spare tyre/inner tubes. Any point in taking spare spokes?
I guess my main concern is that I don't find braking particularly sharp on the Dawes when it is gravelly conditions...

Hi - I currently have a Dawes SuperGalaxy for touring purposes but am going on a trip to the Himalayas to ride the Manali - Leh route. The advice is that my current bike would probably be ok but that the wheels might not be strong enough for the unsurfaced sections of the route and that front suspension might be welcome at times. I am prepared to get a hard tail MTB if this would be more suitable (I would definitely use it to start doing some off road stuff - but nothing very technical - subsequent to this trip) but is this the way to go? Does anyone have any specific recommedations for a mtb (around £700 budget) that would be suitable for touring this terrain but also good for uk trail riding? What type of tyres would you fit given that a lot of the surface is paved and I don't want it to be any more hard going than it needs to be at that altitude?!

Many thanks.

Having done JOGLE earlier this year I have been bitten by the bug and want to do a foreign foray this summer. Some folks recommended the Haute route des Pyrenees and I've managed to get hold of the Georges Veron book detailing the route. I have questions, however!
1. I have to go end of July/ start of August - any comments on how busy, how temperamental the weather is etc? I know it is the mountains and it will be cooler at times but is it just going to rain the whole time?! (Michael Fish need not respond).
2. I was planning to camp - the Veron book says most people don't due to the challenge of the cols and and the carrying of extra weight. Bearing in mind, I'm not intending to break any records, is camping a good idea? There seems to be camping municipals regularly en route. Do they tend to be ok for space in the height of summer?
3. How hard? How lovely? Not finding much on it in googleworld.
4. I have about 2-3 weeks. Any suggestions for an extension to this trip? I was thinking maybe to have a cycle around a bit of Brittany before heading down to Hendaye on the train.
Thanks. Claire

Finished my JOGLE on Sunday and what a great experience it was. Someone on this board advised to 'stop worrying and just do it'... and having done it, I totally concur. There were a few stiff winds to contend with in Scotland - particularly bad when I took the B road option at Loch Ness (gorgeous minus the wind!) and then again over Rannoch Moor (grrr - timber lorries) - but then it all went great, aided by the fantastic weather over the last couple of weeks. Loved the route down through Strathnaver to Altnaharra (highly recommended) and the outstanding welcome at the B&B there (met with the most delicicious cup of tea and interesting chat about the area). I had a few minor encounters with the A9 in the Inverness area and hated it above anything else on the whole trip. The A82 was, on the whole, fine. The Loch Lomond cycle path and then the Clyde cycle path helped mitigate the worst of the A82 to Glasgow. The traffic wasn't particularly heavy at this time of the year but I can imagine it would be a bit worse in the summer. Shap was surprisingly unintimdating from the northern approach and the advice I got from this forum about A6 alternatives to Preston (via cycle route, Garstang etc) was great. Getting through Preston and the NW conurbation was completely unproblematic - Warrington goes on a bit but it really isn't that bad. Shropshire, Wye, Mendips etc - a complete revelation. Yes, lots of nasty hills in places following B and minor roads but completely worthwhile to see this lovely part of the country. (the flies were hideous though - what's with that?). I was dreading Devon and Cornwall but I guess the fitness had kicked in by this part and I even ENJOYED the hills!! I did the last stretch on the coastal road from St Ives to Land's End on a stunningly sunny afternoon and had to fight back a tear with 1 mile to go that it was all over...
I was straight back to work on Tuesday after getting back from Cornwall and it seems very strange to think that I did it and that is it. I'm in desperate need of a new cycling project now.
A couple of post challenge thoughts
- it is a totally do-able. I trained from January but only really getting out at the weekend. I was not really a regular cyclist before this. I think determination plus a reasonable level of fitness is good enough for a 2 week tour( different if you are going for speedy records of course)
- if possible, do take B/minor road alternatives. I had planned some parts on A roads but quickly adapted my route as I didn't like cycling on them .... Either because they were busy or just a bit less scenic. If the weather had been bad I wouldn't perhaps have done this as much.
- the Garmin Edge was very useful - particularly in places like Glasgow and Preston. It made navigating pretty painless and saved lots of time. I did bring paper mapping just to get the bigger picture or to help if I decided to change my route.
- lots of great en route cycle shops who were happy to use their track pumps to keep my tyres well inflated (Magic Cycles - Bowling - nr Glasgow - thanks)
- Doing it alone was fine - I enjoyed the extra challenge of having to sort out everything myself - but I also loved cycling with friends on a couple of days. Mixing it up is ideal.
- I had no idea how hungry I would be all the time! You really can eat on this tour!
- I've had enough of being up close and personal with wildlife roadkill..
- If you're in two minds about doing this ...do it.
Claire

Hi Vicky - cycled Shap today and it is the first day of my trip that I am not tired in the evening. Admittedly I did it from North to South but I was surprised how fine it was. It did look a good bit steeper from the other side but totally manageable if you just keep plodding on. Traffic fine. And the downhill is sweeeeeeet. I've updated my blog of the JOGLE so far at www.diggersjogle.weebly.com. There have been a few lows -mostly due to the wind and rain in Scotland - but the overall experience is great ..so far!!
Claire

I changed to firefox browser on recommendation and the situation has improved...not perfect, but better.
I'm not finding editing what I've already done that easy either - the impression that you can just drag and drop doesn't seem to be happening too well for me ...and that is going to be a royal pain if I can't sort it.
For some reason I decided BRT was going to be best for my purposes..but I can't remember why now!!

I've finally got to grips (ish) with my Garmin Edge and so want to put on my day routes for JOGLE, the idea being that this will be my main navigating tool. However, bikeroutetoaster is giving me some issues. It keeps coming up with the message 'retrieving route information' with a circle going round in a search motion...but that circle just keeps going. I've tried refreshing and deleting cookies but to no avail. Has anyone any ideas? Is this just BRT or something that I have enabled or blocked on my PC? I got as far as saving a course the other day - first one saved fine (althought it wouldn't load today) and the second one just had that circle spinning round and round.
Similarly with Garmin Connect, when I tried to upload a route from the GPS unit, the retrieving information bit just went on forever and I had to give up. I did the check page for communication plug in etc and that seemed fine.
I'm not on wireless, it is a new laptop so not clogged up with stuff, using newest update of internet explorer if that information helps.
really appreciative of some suggestions as I start JOGLE next week and I have a lot of routes to input
claire

Your blog is great. I'm setting off next weekend to start my JOGLE. Reassuring that you've done it and enjoyed it this early on in the year. Congratulations ...I hope I make it!

Thanks for all the advice - I phoned Scotrail this evening and ...lo and behold...there is a bike space available now. Big relief!
If at first you don't succeed.....(and I'll remember that on the hills..)

Thanks knowledgeable ones ...knew I could rely on you.

- will definitely check out the restorative water of crask - might need it at the end of day 1

- yes, it is a Garmin Edge! it keeps telling me my maps are now unlocked and then i open mapsource and it tells me they are locked. Garmin helpdesk told me to do something but it still hasn't worked...grrrr.

- Mick F - will be arriving Land's End on Easter Sunday so cycling Devon/Cornwall 2 days prior to that


Biggest concern: SNOW in Scotland. Please just stop now. We're done with winter.


http://diggersjogle.weebly.com/

I posted on here a couple of months ago when I was at the start of planning for my April end to end. I would love to say it has been a slick planning process but alas and alack ...it has been painfully slow and I'm exhausted (training, sponsorship, bucketloads of work). I'm pretty happy with the cycling I've done (no longer an audax novice and even been up to the Cairngorms for a Scotland taster) but that has left little time for pouring over maps and finding out how to make my brand new GPS work (can't even get my mapping DVD to unlock... . I've changed from LEJOG to JOGLE (because I can get a lift back from Land's End) and only tonight do I think I have settled on my route. I've been confused by the myriad of suggestions and how to fit those into the correct mileage and also fit in with definite places I have to stay. I'm doing this solo and unsupported so I want to stay in YHAs wherever possible as it will hopefully be a bit more sociable. Here is what I'm thinking (based closely on CTC route):

Day 1 John O'Groats to Land's End

ha, ha...

Day 1 John O'Groats to Altnaharaa/ Crask Inn via Strathnaver (views on Altnaharra vs Crask?)
Day 2 Loch Ness
Day 3 Glen Coe (B road along Loch Ness)
Day 4 Loch Lomond (ideally would get to Glasgow as have place to stay there but think that might be too much of a stretch?)
Day 5 Larkhall (assuming don't get to Glasgow night before)
Day 6 Nr Carlisle (possible place to stay - but otherwise any suggestions?)
Day 7 Kendal (or thereabouts - open to suggestions)
Day 8 Preston (got place to stay)
Day 9 Chester (definite stopover - parental home comforts provided!)
Day 10 Ludlow (as opposed to Clun?)
Day 11 Welsh Bicknor
Day 12 Street (friend riding to Street with me and has planned the route)
Day 13 Crediton ish....(suggestions) - this bit is following the Mick F suggestion, avoiding Dartmoor
Day 14 Lostwithiel ...(or thereabouts)
Day 15 Land's End

I wouldn't mind trying to fit this into 14 days so that I have a day's contingency. At the very least, I would like to arrive Land's End fairly early on the last day. Does anyone see any scope for that knowing the terrain? I wouldn't want to do much more than 80 miles a day I'm thinking.

Also...i'm feeling a bit concerned about some posts I've seen on here about bike reservations needed from Inverness to Thurso. When I booked my (hugely expensive) sleeper ticket I got a bike reservation to Inverness but it wasn't possible for the next leg. The Scot rail guy insisted I'd be ok and that I shouldn't worry (he was a cyclist himself etc.) ...however, this isn't the impression I'm getting on the forum. But maybe you only post if you have a tale of woe! Given its April, will I be ok??? Will literally cry if I'm confronted with the cold wall of officialdom ('more than my job's worth...')

Thanks to you experts in advance.
Claire

We are living in parallel universes! I've just come back from the Peaks this weekend where I was doing some JOGLE training - 5 weeks to go (slightly nauseous at the thought of everything yet to be done ... and then I think 'I've got my bike, a map and a fair bit of determination' and figure it'll be okay. I was staying near Flash - the highest village in the UK, apparently, and I cycled up around the Roaches (nice cafe - I can tell I'm getting into this cycling business when my frame of reference becomes the best cafes and the best cake!). It was beautiful scenery but the weather was pretty dire and the hills were hilly to say the least. It gave me confidence that I could get up them ok but I did question whether I could do a long route of sustained hills. My already rubbish knees didn't enjoy it a whole lot but a few ibuprofen put paid to that. Have a good time!

Hi - I got a £29 single ticket from Birmingham to Penzance for Saturday 9th April with cycle reservations. I now don't need it as I'm doing JOGLE instead. If anyone (on the off chance) happens to be starting LEJOG that weekend and wants it for a tiny donation to the charity for which I'm fundraising, then please let me know and I'll be happy to pass it on.