LEJOG Advice?

[gibson_hero]

Hello Folks,

I am intending on doing LEJOG in August 11 with my wife and we need to buy two new bikes for the purpose. I have a custom made road bike at the moment which was made for me when I was 16. Its got a really good frame, and the gear set is shimano tiagra, but its too small for me now, 9 years later, and needs a lot of TLC. My wife has a town bike which is not fit for purpose either! The main problems with the decision are as follows. Two of my brothers in law did the cycle last year and they found the following problems. One has a specialised tri-cross which he has bought thinner wheels and slick tyres for, the other has a full road bike (i forget the make model). The specialised had a large advantage with the hills because it has extra gears, whereas the road bike had a massive speed advantage downhill and on the flats. The other problem is that the road bike had a really stiff frame which has resulted in giving my brother in law lasting nerve damage in his hands from the vibrations.

This leaves me with a problem. I have max £800 to spend on each bike and have no idea what would be best for the job. I want a quick bike as I am used to riding quickly on my old bike, but with the state of the roads up in scotland (and also we're looking into using NCN routes as much as possible) I have been looking at cyclocross bikes, with the possibility of buying thinner wheels and slick tyres to gain back some speed. But this throws up other problems, as we'll be carrying our gear with us and most cyclocross bikes dont come with rack mounts, or even bottle mounts on some models. I think that any of the dawes type trekking bikes will be too heavy and not quick enough for me after the challenge is finished, so I'm not sure what to do!

Any ideas?

Regards,
Rob

[snibgo]

You might consider buying bikes for the trip, then selling them afterwards. Get a good bike for £1000, and sell it later for £500.

There is loads of advice on these forums about bikes for JOGLE. They mostly assume the trip is on roads. If you are doing serious off-road, the advice might be different. An important question is how much gear you are taking.

[thirdcrank]

If you think of this as a touring ride, which is what it is for most people, the answer is likely to be some sort of touring bike.

[horizon]

gibson-hero: does your wife know about this?

[gibson_hero]

Ha ha. Yes, my wife does know about it! She's as enthusiastic as I am!

I'm trying not to look at it as a tour, we're aiming to do it in 9 days on approx 1000 mile route, so speed is important. I really dont want to buy a bike just for the event. I cant see the point in that really. Im seeing the bikes as an investment for road riding after the trip too.

Gear wise, we're only taking a small amount really, just clothes and basic repairs stuff. We're doing it unsupported so we've got to carry all spares with us, but this shouldnt weigh too much. We're using B&B's rather than camping too, that way we will always have showers and a mattress!!

[horizon]

Glad you appreciated the joke What I meant of course was "Will you both be expecting the same sort of ride?" It seems yes, and you will therefore want the same bikes, more or less. A quick look at the Dawes website will give a range of fast touring (aka Audax or Sportif) bikes, a cross or two as well. While many people would recommend a tourer I think from what you say that you will end up with a cross as it suits your approach. Once you are sure about your type of bike you can look across the different makes to get the price/model you like best.

Saying you will do it in 9 days with light luggage gives a lot more clues as to the type of bike you want and £800 is a good budget. Other people will comment on whether it is even worth thinking about NCN routes - 9 days will require some fairly good roads, luggage or not.

http://www.dawescycles.com/c-82-sportif-bikes.aspx

sportif.jpg (75.57 KiB) Viewed 7451 times

[snibgo]

That is impressively fast. You must both be very fit. Do you both regularly ride 200 miles in a weekend?

I suggest you keep the gear down to an absolute minimum, then leave half of it behind, then throw away half of the rest. Share a toothbrush, that sort of thing. 5-10kg each.

Then you won't need proper touring bikes, but the sort they call "audax" or light touring. All the manufacturers make their own versions of these. Raleigh do a bike they call a "Royal" at £450 with low end (Shimano Sora) kit, but it might do.

Doubtless others will chip in with suggestions.

[robgul]

I don't want to hi-jack the thread ... but on my site www.cycle-endtoend.org.uk I would like to add more information that answers just the sort of questions raised (and many others)

There are obviously lots of factors in any decision on any matters relating to the BIG ride ... but some structured and balanced articles would be useful - it's really a matter of setting out various options (e.g. days for the ride, route, supported or unsupported, campingor B&Bs etc) and then listing pros and cons.

If anyone would like to contribute content then please do - the website has some contact details ... no financial rewards I'm afraid but a mention by name etc. and helping other would-be riders for what is a pretty significant achievement for most people.

Rob - Cycle : End-to-End webmaster

[Gearoidmuar]

The other problem is that the road bike had a really stiff frame which has resulted in giving my brother in law lasting nerve damage in his hands from the vibrations.

No. All frames are really stiff. If they weren't you would be riding spaghetti. The nerve damage can result from intrinsic changes in the hands, excessive riding, bad hand position, incorrect reach, excessive pressure on his hands, but frame stiffness, no. Many people have too much weight on their hands due to bike layout, or incorrect or unsuitable position.

[keviboy]

You have set yourselves quite a task. I did 935 miles in 12 days and enjoyed it greatly. Even so we did not do much other than ride, eat and sleep. We also had some easier days. I don't think you will have that luxury.
On the hand problems I was given a tip by another long distance rider. Double wrap cushion tape round the handlebars. It damps some vibration and increases the diameter which worked for me. The advice about setting your bikes up properly is undoubtedly true. All this needs to be sorted during your training and my advice would be to start now. Good luck.

[Thistle]

Spa cycles is currently selling the Dawes Galaxy for 750:

http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php ... b0s21p1987

[thirdcrank]

Have a look at this post from horizon
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=43485&p=351461#p351461
Hand and wrist pain in spades.

We obviously understand the word 'touring' differently, but to me, a ride of several days stopping somewhere new most nights is a tour, which might be fast, medium or slow. The common factor is relatively long periods sitting on a bike. If you are planning on approx 90 miles a day, that's around six hours actual riding at 15mph and obviously less if you go even faster and that's every day for over a week. For fit riders with a light load that's no big deal but you still need to be comfy. To me that means a riding position where the weight is not all on the hands ie, more upright than a racing position and then a broader saddle to provide a bit more support in that position than a racing saddle. (I'm not talking about a soft and mushy saddle, just something with a bit more width than a saddle designed for a racing position.) Although not everybody agrees, fatter tyres are more appropriate than racing widths, even if they are only something like 28 mm and if it rains, mudguards = more comfort. That means greater clearances than a racing bike. If you are not looking for a big luggage capability, what I'm describing is something of the audax type, AKA a light tourer. Unless you intend using the bikes for road racing after your End-to-End, then I'll suggest there is no type of road riding for which the type of bike I'm describing would not be ideal.

[Gearoidmuar]

Have a look at this post from horizon
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=43485&p=351461#p351461
Hand and wrist pain in spades.

We obviously understand the word 'touring' differently, but to me, a ride of several days stopping somewhere new most nights is a tour, which might be fast, medium or slow. The common factor is relatively long periods sitting on a bike. If you are planning on approx 90 miles a day, that's around six hours actual riding at 15mph and obviously less if you go even faster and that's every day for over a week. For fit riders with a light load that's no big deal .

I've often averaged over 15 mph when younger and indeed, and I'm no athlete, have averaged over 20mph on occasions, but these were big efforts.
I've been on 63 bike tours and the fastest I've averaged on a hardish tour, overall, was 13.5 mph. And, that was because I was with a pal who was superfit at the time. Our average touring speed on tours is about 12 mph, or even less in hard terrain. That's tiring enough over most touring terrain and several days.

[EllieMay968]

Hmm you could go for nine days - but from what I gather you are not speed cyclists - you will be knackered, you won't enjoy it, and at the end at least one of you will be considering petitioning for a divorce. Or you could spend 15-20 days, have a really nice time and you will have the energy at the end to get out of JOG and find somewhere nice to stay. Or you could do what I did - take 23 days and get <inapropriate term removed> every night...Like this: http://lejogging.blogspot.com/

Just my thoughts.

[Big T]

It took me & my wife 18 riding days, averaging about 60 miles a day. We rode touring bikes and were riding most days from 9.30 to 5pm. we were both pretty tired each day and invariably had an early night.

You'll be doing it in half the time, so that's 120 miles a day. You're going to have to ride faster and for longer. we were riding for 6-7 hours most days. It'll be hard to maintain a high average speed - there are some very long hills in Scotland and some steep ones in Devon and Cornwall. You can use light touring/audax bikes but expect more punctures. we had 1 puncture between us in the whiole trip (caused by a badly seated tube). We met 2 guys in Ludlow using audax bikes and they'd both had 2 punctures each at less than halfway.

The distance is doable in the time but you're going to have to be quite fit before you go. We both did over 2000 miles in training from January to mid-may when we set off. You'll need to do more than this, i suggest.

we also spent a couple of hours imbibing the local beverage each night, but never to the extent that we had hangovers in the morning. the opportunity to sample over 30 real ales was one of the highlights of the trip for me. My fave was Skye Red Cuillin .