Cycling UK Forum

A few of us did it in eight days and decided to pick ever lump that we could find....never again!!

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Day Four

Day Five

Day Six

Day Seven

Day Eight

Dartmoor!

We see loadsa End2Enders coming through along the A390 and into Tavistock.
They all want to go over Dartmoor. I saw seven of them yesterday in the rain and the dank. You wouldn't have got me up there yesterday!

If you want to cycle Dartmoor, come down to the Southwest for a weekend. Stay over somewhere, and ride the moor to your heart's content.
If you want to ride End2End, skirt round it to the north via Okehampton. That route is less fierce, less open to horrible weather, and less of a hassle.

I often ride up there.
1,500ft only a few miles out of Tavistock and it's a great ride ................ but I pick the weather.

Mick F wrote:Hi, six or seven days is a bit fast, and as such, you need to use the trunk roads for much of the ride.
If you want a scenic route, it'll take you longer.

With respect, I disagree with this.
I detest trunk roads, A-roads etc and would never choose to use them for a tour. I simply factor in longer days.

I cycled from Manchester to London the other day, 221 miles and apart from a few unavoidable bits leaving Manchester and obviously the run in to London, we hardly touched any A-roads. Few little bits and pieces but more or less country lanes the whole way; it's incredible how close you can be to fairly major cities yet be on little backroads with country pubs. Wasn't even that hilly, only about 10,000ft the whole way and that included some intentional climbs on the edge of the Peak District.

Yes it was a long day (13hrs riding time) but factored in some nice stops in scenic places. The last part of the ride into London was in the dark (we had good lights) but doing it in midsummer would avoid that.

If you want to be fast it doesn't mean taking the horrible roads with lorries pounding past, it simply means you ride faster, leave earlier and/or finish later.

Hi,
Stay off the A361 that goes past tiverton west, its hell for your body and your life. Seems you cant avoid it going west

rareposter wrote:If you want to be fast it doesn't mean taking the horrible roads with lorries pounding past, it simply means you ride faster, leave earlier and/or finish later.

I mostly agree with that, for some parts of the country the alternative to the main roads is a lot of extra miles and/or climbing. but for most of it there's plenty of choice for only a slight penalty. There was a time when sticking to the direct route saved a lot of time navigating (Or failing to as was often the case) GPS has changed that. I'd say the difference between a main road route and something quieter is less than the difference between 6 and 7 days.
I'm tempted to have a go at a 7 day ride next year, my previous one was a leisurely 1,100 miles in 11 days. As well as rarposter's points above, a lot of it is organisation, minimising time off the bike while out on the ride and maximising the rest time between days. Even if you ride a a steady pace it's possible to cover high mileages and still have time to eat and sleep well.

Ok.
For the mega fit cyclist, he/she can pick a scenic route and still be fast.

I drove in support of some riders doing LEJOG in five days. May 2008.
1st night was Bristol.
They never made it, and had to be given a lift due to fallen trees.
Following morning, we took them back to where they left off, and 2nd night was Chester.
They made that ok, but they rode from 0500 to well after midnight that day.
Following night was Moffat, and they rolled in at midnight too.
Next was Kingussie - 0100
They finished at JOG, last man in was 2200.

Route?
LE to Exeter A30
Exeter to Gloucester A38
Gloucester to Chester via Telford and Bridgnorth on Trunk roads and A49
Trunk roads and A49 + A6 + A9 to JOG

Me?
No way would I even contemplate riding it so quickly.
10 to 14 days is about right for me.

This is sort of a useful partner to that old "where have all the LEJOG'ers gone?" thread a while ago
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=103904

In other words, what is the point of the journey? Is it to smash it from A to B as fast as possible, potentially see less of the countryside but have the kudos(?) of doing it fast? Is it to take your time, visit some off-the-beaten-track areas but potentially have it costing a lot more (more nights accommodation, more food etc).

I suspect for most people it's a bit of a balancing act between those two - they want to do an iconic route but only have 5 days available. To be honest, if I only had 5 days I wouldn't ride LEJOG on main roads, I'd rather just go to Scotland and do a 5-day tour of the islands or out to Wales and ride the coastline.

More than 200 miles a day and I'd get bored of riding that amount each day (although, physically, I could do it). Equally, anything more than about 14 days of touring and I'd get bored of getting up each morning and having to ride AGAIN!

I think we're all agreed then - there is no right or wrong way of doing it.

Personally I liked riding on main roads because it allowed (even encouraged) me to keep up a higher average speed due to the gradients and surfaces, and traffic generally doesn't bother me too much (I commute in central London!). I do other tours at a slower speed when I want to see the scenery, but I'd cycled enough of the UK not to feel as though I was missing out.

It really depends on your motivation - for me it was essentially proving something to myself. For others it may be a relaxing break or possibly seeing areas new to them. For most it's a combination of these things.

toontra wrote:I think we're all agreed then - there is no right or wrong way of doing it.

I enjoyed reading your blog - we share some of the same ideas, early starts, short breaks and a time cushion at the end of the day. I too like that feeling of having done a good chunk of the days mileage before most people have had breakfast.
Your trip looks to have been well organised, with good preparation and a lot of experience to draw on. I wonder how that differs to the group Mick F was supporting. They seem to have had adverse weather conditions which can wreck the best of plans, but 200 miles on the first and hardest day does look like over confidence to me and they probably paid for it on the rest of the days.
It may well be that for most cyclists the only possible route for 5 days is the main roads. But the question in this thread is about a 7 day attempt and I do think the extra 2 days opens up the option of a longer quieter route, though not everyone would want that.
Anyway, maybe it's time for me to put up or shut up, I may be revisiting this thread...

PH wrote: But the question in this thread is about a 7 day attempt and I do think the extra 2 days opens up the option of a longer quieter route, though not everyone would want that.

Indeed. This is a thread revival from 2008 when I was first considering doing LEJoG and was dithering between a 7 or 6-day attempt. In the end it became 6 days, and was followed up by a 5-day in 2014.

Just recently though someone here completed a 4-day using my basic route but tweaking it to avoid some of the worst bits on main road, particularly the A9 north of Perth, so faster routes don't necessarily mean only A roads. I suspect he had a pretty good level of fitness as well though!.

Good luck with your plans.

Mick F wrote:Ok.
For the mega fit cyclist, he/she can pick a scenic route and still be fast.

I drove in support of some riders doing LEJOG in five days. May 2008.
1st night was Bristol.
They never made it, and had to be given a lift due to fallen trees.
Following morning, we took them back to where they left off, and 2nd night was Chester.
They made that ok, but they rode from 0500 to well after midnight that day.
Following night was Moffat, and they rolled in at midnight too.
Next was Kingussie - 0100
They finished at JOG, last man in was 2200.

Route?
LE to Exeter A30
Exeter to Gloucester A38
Gloucester to Chester via Telford and Bridgnorth on Trunk roads and A49
Trunk roads and A49 + A6 + A9 to JOG

Me?
No way would I even contemplate riding it so quickly.
10 to 14 days is about right for me.

Sounds like that group were poorly prepared for the ride so I don't think they're really an example of how difficult the ride should be. It should've been no surprise to them how long it would take if they'd even done one day ride of equivalent distance.

If they'd trained and prepared properly it could have been a very different experience, like my 5 day LEJOG (without support). I also started at around 5am most days, but was done by about 5pm giving me time for a relaxing evening recovering. I got to JoG at about 3pm on day 5.

Hi,
Been mentioned before that a group even of three have different performance and fall out to, having said that a solo ride might be more reliable but is harder for sure.
Even one day rides with groups go pear shaped, solo rider has to be extra reliable with preparing bike and carry all the tools.

P.S. Off to the tour tomorrow at Haytor

Previously tried and failed to see them at three point of course.............on my bike, missed the second by minutes

Could do two tomorrow or take it easy and go straight there 15 miles or.....nearer 40 if I drive park up and try two points
OR.......from home nearer 50-60...Mmmmm....................

amaferanga wrote:Sounds like that group were poorly prepared for the ride so I don't think they're really an example of how difficult the ride should be.

Main issue was the weather.

27 May 2008 they left LE at 0600.
Sleet and high winds over Bodmin Moor.
Trees down on the A38 south of Bristol.
Snow and hail in Lancashire.
Headwinds and cold rain through the Borders. One rider was verging on the hypothermic.
Arrived JOG 31 May. Last man in 2200.

Poorly prepared?
Not at all, it was the weather and the conditions.
All cyclists have to cope with the weather and conditions, and you are at the mercy of them. You cannot pick the weather.

........... and that is exactly my point.
If you give yourself more time, you can afford to be delayed during the days, but still keep on schedule.
The riders back then seriously considered abandoning the ride.

The riders back then seriously considered abandoning the ride.

There becomes a point where discretion is the better part of valour and it's better to admit defeat, live to ride another day and console yourself with the view that you did your best. I've done that before in weather where the only appropriate attire would have been full on arctic survival kit and unsurprisingly, I wasn't carrying that on a bicycle...

Well that sounds like pretty unusual weather for the end of May. I only had heavy rain most days.

Still, given typical UK summer weather, it's not really as big an undertaking as this example suggests. Many, many people manage in 5 days or less without it being a drama or an ordeal.

And as above, sometimes you need to ask yourself if it's really worth it. Its just a bike ride.