Cycling UK Forum

Mick makes a good point. You really are in the lap of the weather gods. I had a backup 7-day plan which I would have put into operation if the weather had been really bad. As it was I was going into a moderate to strong headwind for most of the time - if that had developed into gale force winds with heavy rain even six days would have been a real struggle.

Here's a link to my recent 6-day solo unsupported LEJoG - http://6-daylejog.blogspot.com/ (not yet completely finished). You may get some ideas there.

On reflection I could have done it in 5 days but that would have been at the very limit. People doing it in 6 days and under are usually supported I think.

If you have a high level of fitness then you are half way there. What you need now is to train specific muscle groups and practice sitting on a saddle for 10 - 12 hours at a time. Good luck and feel free to ask me for any further info.

On my LEJoG a month ago I had headwinds (i.e. NE) the whole way. I suspect this was the same wind that blew Mick south!

Don't base your decision on the prevailing wind theory.

Mick, I'm following your blog as you post with great interest. Well written, may I say!

Do you mind me asking how you made up the pictures of the route stages? I'm trying to do something similar for my LEJoG report and am struggling.

Keep on blogging! I'm waiting for the next episode.

Gumtree is indeed rife with criminal bike sales. Just take a look at it sometime - people selling high-end machines who obviously don't have a clue about bikes (i.e. the descriptions are ludicrous).

A friend went to see one. Rang a mobile number and arranged to meet by Old St tube. There was a highly organised gang waiting to mug him for the cash they suspected he'd have on him. He managed to get away but was pretty shaken up.

This regularly happens with Gumtree car sales also, apparently. As this is acknowledged by the police and Gumtree itself, surely they should either refuse advertisers who only register with a mobile number (these guys have 20 PAYG untraceable phones each!) or consider closing the site down. As far as I'm concerned it is responsible for encouraging criminal activity.

Lawrie9 wrote:The fitness you have now will have been built up over the months and years.
Its like an athlete that does all the strength and stamina work throughout the winter months will be reaping the benefits come the summer. If you just keep things ticking along at this time you year you will be fine owing to all those long winter windswept miles you have in the bank. Over training is much more of a problem if anything. How often have we seen our star athletes on the sidelines through injury because they wanted to do one extra session.

It's a complicated old business, training. Whilst you're right about winter training being the basis for any endurance activity, a lay-off of even a few weeks in the late summer or autumn can cause a fairly drastic reduction in performance, which would have to be regained the next winter just to get back to square one, as it were.

Much better if you can to try and have a "maintenance" training programme to sustain all the hard-won fitness. Not to say you shouldn't have a rest period - a two week complete break from all strenuous activity should be fine, and will help the body recover, but any longer and you are sliding back down the fitness ladder, I'm afraid!

I'm in the same position Mick, having recently completed my LEJoG after several months of training and reaching a fair level of fitness. I don't want it all to ebb away, so Ill be doing the following:

At least 2 gym sessions per week, each comprising 1 hour on the cycle trainer doing power intervals (with the aim of reaching an FT of 300w) and one hour of fixed weights.

At least 1 long road ride per week, either a Sunday club run or on my own.

Doing as many audaxes and sportives as possible.

I'm signed up for the London-Edinburgh-London next year and that gives me a target to aim for, which I think is important.

cranky1 wrote:I have posted a new thread regarding the A30 and hope that you would be supportive of this although you would probably have missed the worst of the traffic I can tell you that by 2 pm it was bloody awfull.

Hi cranky, and congratulations. Glad you got the stuff at Leominster - I'd sent a drop-bag there but realised I had too much drink powder. Regarding the A30, the decision to try it was made as I was talking to you over our eve-of departure meal. I'd seen the scale of the hills and valleys from the train going down that day and was fairly worried. Realising that I'd be leaving at 4am on a Sunday led to the last minute change of plan to try the A30, and under those circumstances it turned out to be fine. I'm sure that at other times it can be hellish.

I'm still in Scotland having a holiday and the internet is hard to come by where I am. Thanks for all the kind words and well done to anyone who completes this ledgendary trip, no matter what the time. For me the 6-day thing was purely to try and see if I could do it unsupported in that time. I'd done a fair ammount of training over a 4-month period and this proved to be sufficient. My left knee (which is normally the "good" one) has only started to hurt a bit since I stopped cycling!

Just a quick post from Scotland to say that I successfully completed the 6-day solo unsupported LEJoG on Friday. Had a headwind on days 1,2 and 6 (the worst) and a sidewind for the rest - no prediminant SW winds for me! On A roads for most of the way, including the A30 on day 1 to just above Liskeard (but this was done between 4-8 am on a Sunday morning!).

The Garmin Vista HCx behaved itself and the only mistakes I made were when I followed street signs rather than the GPS. The body and bike stood up well - just one puncture when a wood screw somehow made its way through one sidewall and out the other! Thanks to the bike shop in Pitlochry who donated some gells with caffeine when I was falling asleep on the A9.

Total time was about 63 hours, average speed about 13.75 and wierdly the total distance was only 854 - perhaps my computer isn't callibrated correctly. I'll be able to cross check this data when I download the tracklogs from the GPS when I get home.

Met a few other end2enders on the way, notably a copuple of Edinburgh Uni students on a tandem. We travelled parts of the last leg together and shared a meal in JoG on when we arrived - it was good to have someone to share the sense of achievement with, and to compare notes.

I'll post a full ride report when I get a chance. Thanks to all on this forum who gave advice, and Mick - yes, I went through Okehampton instead of Dartmoor (well, it was raining and a NE wind!).

thirdcrank wrote: Rice pudding is an ideal sort of energy food for cycling except it is a bit inconvenient.

A word for Muller Rice. Available in most places. Just take a plastic tea-spoon. This is the basis of my breakfast when touring, and another mid-day.

Mick F wrote:Don't talk to me about Edinburgh!

The traffic is MAD in the city, and to get out to the Forth Road Bridge, you have to follow a cycle track through to Dalmeny, they won't let cycles on the A90.

I had a rotten time of it. The track was difficult to follow. I ended up in a field on my way north, and coming south I got lost in an industrial estate!

Good luck!

I've been in that field also so should hopefully know to avoid it this time!

Mick F wrote:Good luck Toontra!

(I'm off to Edinburgh on Saturday, I'll still be in Scotland as you come up!)

Thanks Mick. The route you helped with is now in my GPS ready to go! I'll think of you as I pass through Edinburgh on Thursday. Don't want to tempt fate but both times I've cycled through there it's been raining.

That sounds about right. For my LEJoG (6 x 150 miles per day) I've been doing at least 1 x 100 per week with another 100, 70 or 2 x 50's for the past 2 months, including a couple of back-to-back 100's. Also 2 or 3 power interval training sessions on the cycle trainer in the gym per week (these have really paid off for hill climbing and speed).

Had my last training day today. A couple of days rest and then set off on Sunday.

meic wrote:I read two crimes

1) Stopping in an ASL box

I've never seen police tackling someone for stopping in an ASL area. I've actually twice complained to police in a queue of traffic when I've been dangerously cut up by motorists in the ASL area. Both times they could have had words with the driver without causing undue delay to the traffic - both times they ignored me with a shrug.

tobyj wrote:42 mph from University of Bath to Bath city centre down North road. My new trek is happy and stable at this speed, my old steel MTB would get close to oscillating badly..

Watch out for the brats at King Edwards School (speaking as an ex-pupil!).