May / June 2017

[Heltor Chasca]

Hi NewbieCyclist! There's some great advice on here, and from someone who is very overweight (me!) then yes it's definitely possible to do this trip. I did the ride this year (LEJoG rather than JoGLE) and took it slowly (29 days of cycling) but had a brilliant time. 50-70 miles a day will take some training but it's definitely do-able, and a training trip is a great idea too. You'll love it!

Since finishing I've created a website for anyone else thinking of doing the challenge which might help you, this is at https://www.cyclelejog.com. It's got my thoughts there on kit, training, route planning, and lots of other stuff, although as I said there's some great advice on this thread already. Have fun!!

Andy: A great website. Thank you for sharing.

[Retour64]

I would say on the case of water quantity, you should find out what sort of person you are when it comes to water requirements in your training beforehand and plan accordingly. Everyone is different. Whether it was 10 miles or 100 miles I came home looking the same because I am the sort of person who sweats. Whether I was 88kg or 99kg I perspired just the same do if I don't plan where water is coming from on a long ride the trip just degenerates into a hunt for water (it grieves me to pay money for water at 50p when it comes out of the tap in equal amounts for a penny). My brother, on the other hand has a completely different metabolism. I know it is summer when he takes his coat off. He could probably survive by licking the condensation that collects on his bike.

Water consumption is a very personal thing. If you need the water drink it! It is not a competition. If you are like me, never miss an opportunity to top up your bottles.

Even when my trailer suffered from shimmy because it was light on the nose weight my first thought was to add ballast, in the form if a five litre water container.

Good luck on your trips and gather memories when your are young to keep you warm as you become old. I am envious, I am not a great lover of big brands but as I get older Nike's 'Just do it' is the best advice ever.

[TrevA]

We found 2 750ml bottles enough. Fill em up in the morning, top them up at Elevenses or lunch and we found we could manage most days. If you stop at a cafe then they are usually happy to fill your bottles for free if you've bought a drink and/ or food. Most days we would buy sandwiches and have a picnic at lunchtime, stopping somewhere nice if the weather was ok, but a few times we stopped at a rural bus stop for our lunch, especially if it was raining.

I also sweat a lot, but I didn't need to drink more than 3-4 litres of water a day. I often made up any shortfall with beer in the evening!

Touring the country by bike is a great opportunity to sample different regional real ales. My favourite was the Skye brewery Red Cuillin we had in Bonar Bridge.

[Kapalasa]

Although I have never done JOGLE, I hope it's alright if I comment as I'm enjoying the thread, and am particularly interested in the differing thoughts on hydration. I've only ever bicycle toured here in Southern Africa, often in very hot conditions. I always drink a 750ml water before I set off, and carry 3 x 750ml bottles of water on my bike. The reason I do that is not the fear of running out of water, but so at the end of the day I know how much I've drank. If you are riding (not racing) at a touring pace, it is very difficult to dehydrate if you listen to your body. I do +/-1,000mile tours, over 3-4 weeks, on a second hand, hard tail mtb. As a previous poster says, "just do it" and don't over complicate things. Please let us know how you get on, good luck, and ENJOY