Cycling UK LEJOG tours 2019 (Our 85 yr old rider in Sept 2018 now ratified by Guiness)

[Halchemy]

CTC Tours (which are part of Cycling UK) have spaces on the June and September LEJoG tours. The tours are aimed at those who wish to do it in comfort with a bit of luxury along the way. This version of the tour has been run some twenty five times, so is well tested.

Dates are 31 May - 19 June and 30 August - 18 September 2019. The itinerary, info and online booking for June and September are available at http://www.cyclingholidays.org and more detail at http://www.2cycle2.co.uk/

The tour uses good quality hotels, including a couple of 4 star establishments and almost all evening meals and breakfasts are included and we bus people back down to Inverness from JoG.

The tours are fully supported with a van to carry your luggage and assist you during the day. Group size is usually around 16 - 18 persons.

The route is very scenic but, as you probably know, hilly. There is no flat route from LE to JoG! To avoid going around/through Manchester we detour into the Peak District and then the Yorkshire Dales. To avoid going through Glasgow we take a route through the gap between Edinburgh and Glasgow. This, we think, makes the tour more interesting than those that plough the usual northward furrow.

Average distance per day is about 65 miles. Longest day is about 80 miles.

Included in the cost, we loan Garmin GPS units to tour members, who have found these to be the easiest way to navigate.

We have a rest day at Stirling before the Scottish Highlands and 18 days on the road, allowing a more gentle pace than the 10 or 12 day tours of some companies.

Again full details and online booking can be found at http://www.cyclingholidays.org and more detail at http://www.2cycle2.co.uk/

CTC Tours are open to members of Cycling UK and national organisations that are ECF members.

CTC Tours are part of Cycling UK, a registered charity. Our basic remit is to encourage and support people to go cycling and we've being doing that since 1878 (Cycling UK, also called the Cyclist's Touring Club or CTC, is the oldest cycling club in the world).

You do not need to be British or live in the UK to be a member, there will usually be at least one or two visitors from abroad on the ride.

Cost in 2019 is £2195 per person.

[Halchemy]

A bit of late news:

We have just had our oldest ever tour member, the amazing Alex Menarry, complete the tour in September at the age of 85 years and 8 months. Alex, who came well prepared on a carbon bike with very low gears, made the hills look easy and set a good pace. There may have been older riders do LEJoG but (as far as we know) none who did it at the rate of 65 miles a day, with longest days of around 80 miles. Alex has now sent his details off to the Guiness people and is waiting to see if his record will be ratified.

CONFIRMED! http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/wor ... n-o-groats

[Paulatic]

Read his story https://www.oldesttocyclelejog.com/

[Halchemy]

Alex at the Sign. He is very fit - not many 85 year olds can hold their bike above their heads!

[puffin]

The man is a legend.

[NEvans]

Chris; your version of the LEJoG is a ride I've been wanting to do for a long time, but still don't think I will be able to fit it in in 2019. Do you think you're likely to be doing it in 2020? Your idea of spreading it over a few more days and decent beds at night, definitely sounds more desirable to me than longer days and YHA or tented (really!) events.

Thanks
Neil

ps. I'm glad I wasn't doing it same time as Alex, I hate it when 85year olds overtake me going up hills! Well done Alex

[Halchemy]

Yes, all being well, we will be running CTC Tour LEJoGs in 2020. I like doing it, there's always something new and the people who do it tend to be decent, friendly and down to earth, so I'll keep going, touch wood, for a few more years yet.

[NEvans]

The only mistake I made was suggesting to the missus that I wanted to do it some years back. She decided that was a great idea and she'd join me, but I'm lucky to get her on her bike more than half a dozen times a year. Do you think you might need a van driver/support crew?

[Halchemy]

Get her a good quality Electric bike? We've already had this a couple of times, once where where the wife used an electric bike due to having rheumatoid arthritis and another case where the husband was recovering from cancer, each time it worked well. They had kept themselves reasonably fit though, despite being ill.

[Halchemy]

For the people asking about the September 2019 tour.

The online booking for this should open for this about Nov 25.

The online booking for June is already up and running.

[Halchemy]

Correction: Bookings for September are now being taken. CTC Tours have decided to open the tour early.

[Halchemy]

We have had people this week asking about the female to male ratio on the tours, as the tour photos make it look a bit male dominated. On average the LEJoG tours ratio is about 5 females to 12 males. We get single ladies and couples. The age range for females is currently from 30 to 78. We have had tours which were mostly female but this is unusual.

[Halchemy]

Update: At 10 December 2018 we still have spaces on both these tours.

[Huck]

Alex at the Sign. He is very fit - not many 85 year olds can hold their bike above their heads!

Alexjogsignsmall.jpg

I am 69 and for a while thought could I do this, I now realise that I have 16 years to get fitter. What a inspirational man.

[Halchemy]

We've just had a couple of people asking how 'hard' our route is. The answer is it was designed to be doable by what we considered to be 'average' road cyclists; in other words people who might go out once a week and do 50 - 60 miles in the summer and a bit less in winter. We now deliberately have a day in Cornwall before we start moving on to allow people a gentle start and to get their acts together and visit both LE and the Lizard if they want, as well as the rest day we've always had.

It does help if those average cyclists make an effort to up their pace and do a few hills on one or two longer (70 - 80 mile) rides before they come but the 50 mile on a sunday riders should be able to enjoy it if they persevere and get past the first three days or so. If they can do 100 miles in a day, so much the better, but it's not necessary to enjoy the ride. On the other hand, don't turn up weighing twenty stone and unable to ride five miles without stopping as you will get no sympathy from me and will probably drop out on the first day (and yes, we have had this occur). Fairly obviously, also don't handicap yourself with a heavy bike and high gears if you're not that strong to start with.

I'll now await people asking for my definition of a 'heavy' bike....