Jogle worst parts???

[largeallan]

Ah, nothing quite like rollin a fag after ye've been in among the sardines!!!

[ersakus]

Thanks for the replies guys, lets hope we get some good weather, I dont mind the hills as I am doing all my training down here in Cornwall, the thing that is bothering me is the odd inconsiderate motorist, also out of 4 of us I am the only one that will be riding on a mountain bike so dont know if I will be able to keep up with the others who will be on road bikes well I cant afford to buy a road bike so I'm just going to do the best i can and eat loads of carbs.

Just get touring tyres such as 26 x 1.75 panaracer paselas on your MTB. Do not ever use knobbies for this trip. Also for comy positions people use handlebar attachments to give more hand positions.

[Adders75]

Thanks for the replies guys, lets hope we get some good weather, I dont mind the hills as I am doing all my training down here in Cornwall, the thing that is bothering me is the odd inconsiderate motorist, also out of 4 of us I am the only one that will be riding on a mountain bike so dont know if I will be able to keep up with the others who will be on road bikes well I cant afford to buy a road bike so I'm just going to do the best i can and eat loads of carbs.

Just get touring tyres such as 26 x 1.75 panaracer paselas on your MTB. Do not ever use knobbies for this trip. Also for comy positions people use handlebar attachments to give more hand positions.

Thanks mate, I have already got continental slicks and bar ends, may do a few more mods near the time.

Andy

[DaveGos]

The dual carriageways in and around Telford...I still have the fear of God in me after that lot!!!!

I do not know why anybody rides this ( Queensway - Known locally as EP - Eastern Primary) There was a LEJOG fatality on it last year. I am a keen cyclist have done LEJOG PBP , race including DCs and have NEVER riden this road though I live 2 miles away. Pleny of flat alternatives , and why would you want to ride through Telford when you can ride through Shropshire countryside.

[Si]

and why would you want to ride through Telford when you can ride through Shropshire countryside.

this is what always makes me wonder - the alternatives on either side are so nice!

[GavinC]

and why would you want to ride through Telford when you can ride through Shropshire countryside.

this is what always makes me wonder - the alternatives on either side are so nice!

At a guess, I'd say that it's becuase most LEJOGers are unfamiliar with a lot of the areas they'll be riding through, so when planning the ride they just pick what looks like the most direct route on a map and hope for the best...

[ericonabike]

Seven day unsupported solo JOGLE in 2009. No mechanicals, not even a p""ct**e. Worst part was getting a bit anxious on Day 3 as I'd underestimated the mileage and didn't get to my accommodation until 19.30. A lot of other moments COULD have been bad if I'd let them - several days driving rain, cars pulling out, lack of porridge for breakfast - but if you can get your head right then they really don't matter.

One tip - I used the ride to raise money for charity and festooned my back and either side of the rear rack with 'John O' Groats to Land's End for Cancer Research. Honk to Support' posters. An unexpected treat was the respect this earnt from motorists. They wave you through,smile and generally behave in a most out-of-chareacter way. Once, stopped at a set of lights on an urban dual carriageway in Preston [I think] a guy wound down his window. Oohoh I thought. But he wanted to knowif I was going straight on or left so that he wouldn't be cutting across me. Magic...

[Archie2K]

Hardest: Weather. Two days of solid headwinds out of Cornwall and Devon (rode to 10pm to hit mileage, and got caught in a thunderstorm - nothing would be as hard after that). And the day of solid rain in the Cairngorms. And the 50 miles in the driving rain on the A68 to Edinburgh.

Worst: A9 from Inverness to Tain. Hateful road. Avoid it. The alternatives are much prettier.

[mattraisin]

On my first two days in Scotland (I started at JOG) I had disastrously strong head winds and It destroyed my progress. It was unrelenting leaving me with a days cycling done in two days. The wind was bad enough to make it a struggle to reach 10 mph downhill never mind averaging at 10. The worst part of this is it made me want to pack it in and go home. I felt as if I wasn't fit enough and had got it all wrong...I pressed on through though. So I would say unrelenting headwinds is one of the worst and hardest things that can happen to you. Coping with injury and illness was also a struggle, I was run off the road and displaced my shoulder at Dumfries (involved mobile phone driver, ask me if you want to know more) and had to go home for over a week while I suffered from gastroenteritis about half way through, I returned from this feeling incredibly weak. I also developed a painful hip that fluctuated in intensity from about the 5th day, this may of been due to the crash.

In terms of the hardest parts when it comes to landscape I have to say Devon. Devon is hell on earth for cyclists, it is the cycling equivalent of poking your eyes out with a hot fork, you would have more fun basting yourself then squeezing into a hot oven. The hills maybe smaller than Scotland or the Lakes but they are unrelenting. The roads don't stick to valleys like they do in the Highlands or Lakes and there is no sense of achievement when you reach the top as you are immediately faced with the sight of another downhill followed by an excruciating uphill. There is no "amazing view" to gawp at and the drivers give you no space or consideration. After this you face Cornwall, this is like Devon but with nicer views and progressively less harsh and repetitive hills. I would personally flatten Devon with an atom bomb if I had the choice.

[ransos]

I thought some of the hardest bits were the best. The long slog up Dartmoor was amply rewarded with the stunning view, and then the descent most of the way to Exeter. I was lucky with no mechanicals and good weather, so the worst bits tended to be related to busy, narrow roads. If was doing it again:

1. I'd find an alternative to the A49 through Shropshire and Cheshire
2. I'd gve Glasgow - Ft William a miss. Beautiful scenery through Glen Coe, but just too busy with drivers passing too fast and close. I think I would go via Edinburgh and the old A9 instead.
3. An alternative to the A9 just north of Inverness, if there is one.

My advice is to not worry too much about hills: unless you're doing a very quick LEJOG, there's plenty of time in the day to cover the mileage without over-exerting yourself. I found that a lasagne and chips followed by an early night would set me up just fine for the next morning.

People seem to have trouble with Bristol: my advice is to get a copy of the Avon Cycleway map, which has a spur out to the old Severn Bridge via back roads. It's then a nice run up to Monmouth.

[cycloret]

People's experience of cycling through Devon and Cornwall seem to polarise opinions. Is it down to choice of route, Lejog or Jogle, scenic or direct?

Possibly the South West was the most enjoyed part of my Lejog and the section I'd be most happy to repeat, maybe having lived in Plymouth and having ancestors from Somerset made a difference.

[melon]

it annoys me when people moan about hills. you can comment on them, but its silly to moan about terrain when you have set out to ride the length of a country. what did you expect, bike riding is alot more taxing than doing naff all.

[jasps]

The hardest/worst part for me was navigating my way around Bristol, but I guess I should have been better prepared. I blindly followed the CTC B&B route and I got terribly lost and I added a lot of hours to my day.

I had some pretty hard days on my solo LEJOG because the weather was so horrendous for the first seven days (torrential rain and wind). I was high up on the North York moors at 10 o'clock at night (under-estimated time to cover mileage) in the rain and the dark with no lights but I loved it. I was lucky there was a pretty full moon that night. It was a great adventure. I enjoyed it that much, I'm going back there for a couple of days cycling holiday.

I think it is a very personal thing because some of the parts people say was their worst moment, I absolutely loved. Over the course of a 1000 miles you will have many highs and lows and I suppose that is what determines the hardest/worst part. I loved the whole of the trip in Scotland, however, I am Scottish and slightly biased (I also know my way around because I have cycled a good portion of my route before)

Adam

[JohnCKirk]

The dual carriageways in and around Telford...I still have the fear of God in me after that lot!!!!

I do not know why anybody rides this ( Queensway - Known locally as EP - Eastern Primary) There was a LEJOG fatality on it last year. I am a keen cyclist have done LEJOG PBP , race including DCs and have NEVER riden this road though I live 2 miles away. Pleny of flat alternatives , and why would you want to ride through Telford when you can ride through Shropshire countryside.

I'm planning to go through Telford (on NCN 55), mainly because I want to visit Ironbridge and Telford is so close. I haven't mapped out that section in detail yet, so I assume that it avoids the dual carriageways, but I'd be interested in any local knowledge.

[largeallan]

and why would you want to ride through Telford when you can ride through Shropshire countryside.

this is what always makes me wonder - the alternatives on either side are so nice!

Hi, my post was in no way intending to put down Telford or the surrounding countryside. Shropshire was very pleasant cycling indeed...and very pretty with the rape seed in full bloom. My mistake....and it was MY mistake : lack of planning! I just woke up in the tent in the morning with the phillips road map, measured a hundred miles and went for it. As a previous poster said, local knowlege is everything sometimes.....I see tourists up here pedalling on roads I would never dream of taking the bike on (the A78 dual carriageway between Ayr and Ardrossan for one). Sometimes the alternatives just dont look good on a map...anyway, blah de blah, it was a lesson learnt for me if nothing else.