Cycling UK Forum

Just bear in mind that planning a turn-by-turn route on ridewithgps will lead to problems if you miss a turn or are forced to take a diversion or you want to visit a place off route. Most GPS units will attempt to re-calculate the route. You can turn this feature off or set it to "request approval" from you before it does but it's still a pain and if you confuse the unit too much it just recalculates a direct route to the appointed finish position which will lead to you faithfully following it as it does it's own thing. Im guessing that's how that picture on page 1 was taken!

I'm much more a fan of "approximate" directions or telling the gps to navigate to you [x] which you know is en route to y and so on so it doesn't just direct you straight to [y] via the nearest bridleway/dual carriageway.

It also allows you a bit of freedom to go off and explore, to find a nice cafe or see some sights or something that are just off route. I did it with ditilleries in Scotland. Brown tourist sign to the next distillery, yep, I'll pop down there!
There's a reason my route planning in Scotland is no more thorough than "head vaguely north"!

Timeout wrote:Yes, you're right. I read t somewhere on the site that you had to take your own luggage. That's better but ideally I'd like less days due to taking time off work etc I'll keep looking. If they did the tour going from top to bottom in 9 days, that would be brill, unfortunately 15 days is the only one on offer this year.

Deloitte Ride Across Britain...
(Yes, I'm aware of the reaction that this will get from some others on here!) Except that it's a LEJOG this year. They have done it as JOGLE but it's always worked better as LEJOG.

http://www.rideacrossbritain.com/

No, they're just Rough Stuff Fellowship riders enjoying a spot of sightseeing.



You do need to check Garmin routing, my Edge Touring has options where it can choose to use or not use "unpaved roads" and "narrrow tracks". There are occasions where it will somehow default back to previous settings. Normally if you use it on a pre-programmed route it's fine but problems arise when the unit itself tries to recalculate a route (eg if you miss a turn or a forced to take a diversion due to a closed road). It will calculate based on either minimal time (which usually throws you onto busier roads) or minimal distance (which, if it's allowed to use tracks will often just pick any random bridleway on the grounds that it's a straight line on the gorund from A to B).

It's a bit like a car sat nav which insists that you can drive this lorry down that tiny country lane...

denniswpearce wrote:I think I just have to persevere and put up with the pain. No pain, no gain.

Personally I go with "no pain - no pain!"
You need to stop riding completely and allow yourself to heal. Riding on an injury (which is effectively what it is) is not going to heal it, it's going to make it worse and if you get infected "down there" it will be thoroughly unpleasant in more ways than just sitting on a saddle! A good antiseptic cream will help it heal more quickly.

denniswpearce wrote:Anyway, I believe I am getting there but my main issue at my age is saddle soreness. As we get older we lose muscle mass and the bones in my rear end, which are close to the surface and thus no padding. I wear two sets of lycra padded shorts to create more cushioning.

I would suggest that the 2 pairs of shorts is likely to be part of the problem. All that extra padding and compression is actually very bad. It creates an extremely hot microclimate, leads to more sweating, more chafing as the shorts rub against each other and less breathability for the skin.

It's more likely that your position on the bike needs sorting (especially if you're very upright and putting a lot of weight through the saddle) and/or the saddle is at the wrong angle or wrong height.

As soon as you finish a ride, get the shorts off, have a good shower, wash thoroughly and dry off properly. Make sure the shorts get the same treatment too. It minimises the risk of any infection. The worst thing that people can do after a long day riding is to sit around wearing the same sweaty cycling shorts for ages afterwards. I've seen people finish a day, then head straight to the bar and start 'rehydrating', uploading Strava, talking about their day...and before you know it they've been sat there stewing away in their sweaty lycra for another 3hrs.

Most people find it's not miles of training that are the issue, it's time in the saddle and the hours spent in that position.

I'd say that your options are to beg/borrow/buy/steal a Garmin (other GPS manufacturers are available...) and then learn to use it effectively in the next couple of weeks (which might be asking a lot, some of them do have some foibles and it can take a while to learn them to their capabilities).

Plan the route now and just write out a route card for each day. Best bet is a sheet similar to the ones audax use, you can make your own by folding a sheet of A4 into quarters. That keeps everything compact and means you just refold it when you need to see the next bit. Also means you can add in things like stops for sightseeing, food, overnight stay etc with any pertinent details like contact info.

Buy a road atlas and cut out the pages you need. Again, lightweight, cheap and you won't need any more detail than what's on a good atlas anyway (although try and avoid any with pointless speed camera symbols etc). Once you're off each page, just bin it.

Or change your plans and join a guided LEJOG which cuts out the need for any route finding!

At JOG, if you go down to the slipway, there's a signpost mounted to the harbour wall there (and you get to dip your feet in the sea too).

Both LE and JOG have big signposts, one arm of which can be customised to show your name or the date or whatever - that's essentially what you're paying for. At LE, the signpost is roped off during the day and then taken away at night but you can still get shots with it in the background, just not next to it.
JOG I don't know if they take it away, I've only ever been there during the day.

LE and JOG are both run by the same people though.

LE is a bit trickier dipping your feet in the sea since you're at the top of a bloody big cliff!
Both areas are pretty much tourist central. Nice enough but a bit twee. If you want peace and quiet go to Dunnet Head (northernmost point of mainland UK).

I'd go with DaveLewis's suggestion ^^ - there's a whole raft of info out there saying about power, heart rates, hills, gears and all the electronic gimmickery that goes with that. Most of it is simply overkill. Ride your bike. You'll ride your way into it - by Day 7 - 8 even the least fit cyclists are quite capable of cracking out 100 miles in a day.

To be honest, the riding is the easy bit; the complexities come around with things like what to carry each day, packing, pitching / depitching tent (obviously ignore that bit if you're in a B&B!), food and so on. The riding will be the least of your problems! Just ensure the bike is in good working order and you've done at least some riding even if it's not "training".

Good luck!

I think part of the appeal of a fully paid, all-inclusive event is the lack of any further costs.
Early on in the ride a couple of years ago, one guy broke his bike. Pretty catastrophic failure, unrideable.

Within 15 minutes, a Halfords car was with him, down came an immaculate Boardman road bike from the roof and the rider was on his way again, he completed the full event. Although he did have to give the bike back once he got to JOG!

Compare that to a non-supported effort (solo, club ride, whatever it may be) when you've spent all that time and money planning everything in advance, booking and paying for your accommodation up the country and suddenly being faced with an incident like that where you end up either cancelling altogether, probably not getting much refund from your pre-booked accommodation, potentially having to spend several hundred ££ on getting the bike to a safe place, getting it repaired or just throwing it onto a train home. In essence, that £1600 buys you insurance, it buys you a safety net and that, to many people is priceless.

This sort of got covered in the "where have all the E2E'ers gone?" thread which was asking about why people do it solo, do it in organised groups etc.

TheRedEyeJedi wrote:I noticed one of the big organized tours is offering 9 days, supported trip, with camping at night for £1600 ...that doesn't include transport to and from the end /start and it struck me that it is a lot of money for camping. Im not knocking it as I can see the appeal for some of just turning up and riding but I thought it might be a good idea to show some costing for an alternative self planned effort.

To be fair to the Ride Across Britain, it includes all food & drink - breakfast, evening meal (which is all exceptional, genuinely excellent quality, loads of choice, big helpings), all ride food at feed stations (usually a step up from the average Sportive but still basic sustenance), full route signage, full mechanical support, broom wagon, post-ride massage and the camping is fully supported too so the tent is ready for you when you arrive at base camp and is taken down for you once you've left.

To call it "£1600 for camping" is sort of missing the point. Once you're on the ride you really don't need to do anything other than eat, drink, ride and sleep nor do you need to spend any money which some people like for the sheer simplicity of it all.

millimole wrote:My son & D-I-L are thinking of doing JOGLE or LEJOG possibly next year, and trying to talk me into it. For some reason I can't get enthused.
I might be persuaded to consider (just for a moment) a corner-to-corner, Dover to Cape Wrath - slightly more 'different' and less transport challenges at the southern end but it would probably need to go through That London.

Somewhere on a couple of other threads on this board, there are various references and comments on "opposite diagonal". Beachy Head or Dover up to Cape Wrath.
Bear in mind that the ferry across to CW is a bit flaky at the best of times and only runs May - September. It will be cancelled in bad weather or if the military happen to be using the numerous firing and bombing ranges on the Cape.

You can bypass London though, I worked out a nice route from Beachy Head up through West Sussex, Surrey Hills, Windsor Great Park, Henley-on Thames. Going from Dover is worse, it's just solid with port traffic and lorries and it's harder to find a way through.

Nice route, I like the different ones. That said, I'd still avoid the A9 from Inverness to Perth, it's a horrible road. As you're taking the scenic route, go across from Inverness to Dalcross, Cawdor, Littlemill then south to Grantown-on-Spey, SE to Tomintoul, Bridge of Gairn then to Braemar, Spittal of Glenshee, Blairgowrie, Perth. Much nicer route.

Kendal was another popular point, I used to work in a bike shop there and we'd quite regularly get laden tourers coming in with broken bikes. Spokes usually. The bike would have made it to Kendal and then given up the unequal struggle, maybe at the mere thought of going over Shap.

Agree with MickF and Rich_Clements, crossing the Mersey is extremely limited unless you swing much further inland and skirt the western side of Manchester.

Ron wrote:Regarding "official" records of the trip, CTC used to issue a certificate if you provided proof of having completed the journey.
I submitted my tour diary which listed daily mileages, the main places I'd passed through, along with over night accommodation receipts, this was deemed sufficient proof of completion. That was some 19 years ago, possibly things have changed.

Possibly people just aren't that bothered any more given the numerous other methods of recording a ride. Strava, social media, blogs, websites, Instagram...
Having a name in a book that will only ever be looked at by other people also adding their name to it is possibly a bit anachronistic these days.

Although it would be interesting to see the sheer variety of routes used with some sort of mapping overlay. If you could record all the LEJOG / JOGLE rides in a one year period and stick it on a Strava heatmap it would be fascinating and possibly very useful to find the "hotspots" if you were looking to set up a hostelry business!

Vorpal wrote:Some people are inexperienced and honestly aren't sure what to take on a short tour, let alone a long one. Posts like this certainly won't encourage them to ask.

Some people enjoy the planning, others don't. Some people have loads of time to do the planning, others get limited holiday time, work 50 + hours per week and try to keep up with children outside of working hours.

Give them some credit for getting out on their bikes, instead of insulting them for asking questions.

I agree - it can be a bit frustrating sometimes hearing some of the questions (especially for the umpteenth time) - you should see the Deloitte RAB forum at the moment!
But equally, this is what happens when someone walks into a bike shop to buy a new bike and the knowledgeable staff take time and pride in passing on their experience, their advice. That should be the same of this forum - rather than sneering at a newcomer the more experienced rider should be able to take pride in saying "I've done this" and helping others achieve their goal.

Maybe the internet has been a double edged sword. Before it you just got on with the ride not knowing any better, now you can see all the possible dangers or can't consider a life away from wifi! Elements of what Ron said above ^^ where your own fears/worries about the ride is added to by seeing others fears and worries about the ride!