Friendly support wanted!!!

[Victor]

Have you managed to acquire the bike you intend to use yet? In any case, I wish you all the best in your cycling endevours.

[TrevA]

When my wife and I did JOGLE in 2009, she was a novice cyclist. We took 18 days and aimed for 60 miles per day, which worked out OK, though we had some long, hard, hilly days. You can read my blog linked in my signature. If you are aiming at 4 weeks, you can plan to do less miles per day than we did, and also plan in a few rest days. We had one rest day at Ludlow, just over half way. It was a great experience. I’m a life long cyclist, but my wife was new to it then, and she’s still cycling today, 16 years later. We stayed in B&B’s and a few chain hotels, mostly Travelodges. We found accommodation by just Googling hotels near our chosen destination each night.

It’s certainly doable, even for a novice cyclist.

[LittleGreyCat]

Loads of good advice.
I would suggest treating the first week, at least, as training.
You will reap the benefits in the last couple of weeks.

[phil parker]

There's plenty of good advice here, so I will try not to repeat.

Age...makes a difference. The younger you are, the more you can get away with. I first organised a JOGLE, with work colleagues, in my 30s. Although I was a regular cyclist, some were not, but completed with minimal training and maximum determination.

I agree with LittleGreyCat about treating the first week as training, so long as you do have some mileage and conditioning beforehand. Try and include into your training some cycle rides with overnight stops, especially if you are camping, and then you can 'fine tune' your preferences (and learn by any mistakes).

I have completed a few cycle tours (including 3 variations of LEJOG/JOGLE) and I always found day 4 or day 5 to be the hardest - and knowing that would happen, helped me though the tough spell, and it got easier from there, pretty much as suggested - a training week.

Please don't ignore training as you can learn so much more than just cycling. Good lcuk and please let us all know how you get on before and after!

[mattsccm]

Just remember that we live in a really sensationalising society. So many people will be putting you off by making a huge deal of this. It isn't.. Yes it will be hard work but it isn't a circumnavigation of the world. You can do it, just take one day at a time

[Victor]

I don't think anyone said it can't be done, not even me, however for someone starting without a bike, and with only a few weeks to go, even ~50miles/day could be quite uncomfortable if the bike is not well setup. I think the OP needs to sort out a bike and setup ASAP, as well as giving it a good shakedown. Discomfort is probably far more significant than physical fitness.