4 Day LeJoG?

[mnichols]

Hi,
How long not how far as its time and effort, are your training rides ?, I am just curios, my training rides are normally 2.5 hrs.
Sometimes 4 hrs and occasionally 5 hrs, any thing up to 4 hrs I don't consume food on the ride.

I do lots of different types of rides, sometimes I ride with the club and they seem more interested in speed than anything else, they tend to do about 40 to 70 miles at between 18 and 20mph. I tend to go on these for the social aspect rather than the training. It's miles on a bike, and speed is useful but I don't find this kind of training very helpful for touring or long distance rides. If this is a weekend ride, I would tend to turn off towards the end of the ride and spin out to 100 miles at a more leisurely pace.

I do quite a lot of hill training, mostly because I enjoy it, where I live is hilly and you get a lot of bang for your buck. These tend to be about 2 hours, and occasionally up to 4 hours. I don't take a computer with me. Where I live (Bath) enables me to just go up a hill, come down and straight up another.

I do long distance rides, which I build up from spring until early summer, starting at about 100 miles and up to 200 miles. I know your question was about time rather than distance, but I don't tend to measure my rides this way

In Spring, I throw in a few Sportive Type rides: Tour of Pembrokeshire, Dragon, Mendip Madness, etc. Mostly not when the event is on - just with a copy of the route.

In deep winter I do more gym work, spin classes and turbo. I try to build strength and power in the winter and then build distance up from Spring.

At this time of year, the touring tends to keep me fit and I can just enjoy my cycling with no real goal. Did an End to End of Spain in July, LeJoG in August and I'm off to Hebrides the day after tomorrow.





I build up my

Some of my rides are very structured with goals - usually distance, and some are completely free form

[mnichols]

In answer to the 'how long is 4 days questions': Interestingly this becomes more relevant as the number of days get shorter. If you finish on the 4th day is the actually 3 day n hours? It's not a question that is as relevant if you are doing it in 14 days

The simplest answer would be to take the route provided by MickF and use a random Monday start date as an example:

Monday: LE to Bristol
Tuesday: Bristol to Lancaster
Wednesday: Lancaster to Pitlochry
Thursday: Pitlochry to JOG

In other words I would start early on the Monday and finish at sometime on Thursday

[toontra]

Damn this board! I was just browsing & came across this thread and it's got me thinking. I've missed not having a tough challenge in the last couple of years and a 4-day would certainly be that. I'd use the route from my 5-day in 2014 and use Mick's suggested stopover points. I've already marked possible accommodation on the map (and that's usually a sign that things may get serious!).

It would be all about the weather. Rather than book everything well in advance as I normally do, I could give myself a window of a few weeks around mid-summer and decide a week in advance depending on the short-term forecast. It would be all about the weather. A nice warm south-westerly and it could even be a pleasant ride!

[Mick F]

Hey!
Good luck, but rather you than me!

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
Yes book two weeks and put yourself on 1-2 days notice, study the forecast like a hawk.
That's my plan if I can shake off the yoke of changing meds, muscle aches, swollen ankles, constipation, the list goes on, serves me right for stopping one med and taking another next day, and then theres the flu jab, last year it affected me for six weeks.
Camping light behind bushes means I will be in saddle whilst you lot are still waiting for breakfast
End of may and early june I think, will brave the cold and miss all that cloud.

Might sound a bit wrong but I have noticed that I always plan a long ride in Devon on Friday and maybe finish Saturday, traffic is always light.
Last time I went Tuesday and all my worst road experiences came in one day that I have not seen in a year.

Good luck.

P.S. Will have to tap some experienced riders for routes, fastest and shortest, hills are not a problem.

[mnichols]

Damn this board! I was just browsing & came across this thread and it's got me thinking. I've missed not having a tough challenge in the last couple of years and a 4-day would certainly be that. I'd use the route from my 5-day in 2014 and use Mick's suggested stopover points. I've already marked possible accommodation on the map (and that's usually a sign that things may get serious!).

It would be all about the weather. Rather than book everything well in advance as I normally do, I could give myself a window of a few weeks around mid-summer and decide a week in advance depending on the short-term forecast. It would be all about the weather. A nice warm south-westerly and it could even be a pleasant ride!

Good luck. Having failed to talk any of my friends into doing it I've booked the Himalayas now instead - decided to take on the world's highest road rather than a forth LeJoG. Also, hope to finish off the British coast in my spare weekends (I think I've done about 70% of it), and possibly an end to end of the Dolomites if I've any holiday left come September. I've done LeJog in 2017 and 2016, so I'll take 2018 off and maybe do it again in a couple of years