Cycling UK Forum

I understand this a formidable ride I have zero experience in distance rides and would appreciate some advise, firstly my aim is to do this at some point and has always fascinated me how possible is it for a novice to undertake my heads telling me surely 50miles a day is easy ? And time is of no rush so maybe 20 days ,forget the planning and b'n'bs thats a whole different thing. I just wondered how easy, hard , achievable this task is , I hope this doesn't come across as arrogant it's not meant to. what's your thoughts thank you for your time

You will need to do some riding so you know what you are able to do comfortably, once you know what you can do in comfort, then you can plan some trial rides covering your planned daily distance.
For my ride I broke it down into chunks of around 2 hours, 2 hours coffee and cake stop, 2 hours meal, 2 hours b&b and evening meal, riding in short chunks like this made it much easier than worrying about riding 1000+ miles.
First you need to get riding, get comfortable on the bike .then you can start planning.

Find your local touring club and do some rides with them you will pick up a wealth of knowledge

When I did my first JOGLE, I knew I was capable of cycling up to 100miles in a day, but never done one back-to-back with another one, let alone 70/80 miles daily for a week and a half.
Neither had I gone any reasonable time on the road with panniers.

It was a leap of faith, but an odds-on bet that I'd be fine.

You need to find it inside you somewhere to have faith in yourself that you can do it. Go on a long ride that'll take you all day, stay overnight, and then ride home. See how you feel.

Good luck!

Go on a long ride that'll take you all day, stay overnight, and then ride home. See how you feel.

Agreed, perfect advice particularly if you have a favourite aunt at the end of the first day who will put you up and take care for you if all goes belly-up.

I did a Jogle this year using exactly the sort of numbers you're thinking about; I did 1160 miles over 22 days, which averages at 52 miles per day.

Whilst you do need to get on your bike and ride in preparation, I found this trip was more of a mental than physical challenge. At the risk of sounding like I've swallowed the premium athlete's word book, I found that just taking one day at a time, staying in the moment blah blah blah made it more than do-able.

Have fun!

I found this trip was more of a mental than physical challenge

As an Audax cyclist doing long rides I agree that most rides are mostly mental rather than physical. It does require mental toughness to keep going for hundreds of miles a day in all conditions without finally screaming: "Oh dear! and calling mummy to come get you.

roberteaton1967 wrote:I understand this a formidable ride...................... my heads telling me surely 50miles a day is easy ? And time is of no rush so maybe 20 days ,forget the planning and b'n'bs thats a whole different thing. I just wondered how easy, hard , achievable this task is , I hope this doesn't come across as arrogant it's not meant to. what's your thoughts thank you for your time

It's not formidable, it only becomes formidable if you are out to challenge the current record holder Michael Broadwith!
Averaging 50 miles a day for 20 days is within the abilities of most people of average fitness, and you become a little fitter every day of the trip.
As for planning, don't spend too much time on that, some days will go better than others regardless of planning or lack of.
I can understand your concerns, but just convince yourself that LEJOG is nothing more than series of enjoyable day trips and get on with it

.... I agree that most rides are mostly mental rather than physical. ....

This is it. The extra feature of something like an End-to-End ride is that it's day in, day out till you finish. If somebody is a fair weather rider - only going out when the weather is good - they may well have mornings when they don't want to get on their bike.

It's not easy for a novice rider to ride to the end of the street: it doesn't take long to get that burning in the saddle interface. Getting the miles in enables a rider to get some self-knowledge about what suits them for things like eating and drinking and above all, how to silence that little voice saying "this is stupid."

The fact that MB could do the ride in a couple of days while resting his head on part of the handlebars shows what's humanly possible. Fifty miles a day means five hours riding at a cruising speed of 10 mph (obvious, I know.) It's the sitting there and pedalling for several hours on end that can get to you, especially if things are going wrong. For anybody with a bit of basic fitness - and a backside used to a bike saddle - sitting there and pedalling all day at a comfy speed isn't physically demanding, but you need the right mental approach as well.

Thank you all very much for your posts ,you have all made my mind up for me so training in the new year with a September start I will of course keep you all up to date ,cheers guys and girls happy Xmas and new year to all