Cycling UK Forum

Crazily I notice it has been six months (to the day) since I came to the end of my first LEJoG attempt! So I'm potentially half-way to my 2010 trip already

Maybe I am being too ambitious considering how the last time went, but next year I want to set my sights higher, on a 5 or 6 day transit. With this in mind I'd be really interested to hear from those who've ridden a fast LEJoG to ask how you did your training and any useful tips for making the most of the time between now and 'then'. (For example, did you train with a load on the bike to simulate your luggage?)

The first step I've taken is to line myself up with a comfortable distance bike, since the fixed-wheel made things so miserable last time around. It is considerably nicer even to ride to work than it used to be (although some will say it is cheating to lie down):



The other problem I had at Easter was that I'd never ridden a century before I got on the bike at Land's End, and suddenly I was asking my body to ride eight even longer days back-to-back. (Strangely this didn't seem to be a problem until the time, the wonders of innocent youth!) So, I've also got into audax to try and motivate myself onto doing longer rides.

I was a bit slow on the uptake, thanks to the vagaries of the bike to work scheme, but by November will have ridden four 200km events. I've been quite happy with my performance, in fact I managed 16mph average moving speed around the Pitlochry 200km in August, which has almost 8500' of climbing. Similar to a day of LEJoG-ing, which is the plan of course

Anyway, so far my plan has just been to keep commuting and when the audax calendar picks up in the new year, to ride as many of the 200km (or longer) events as I can manage. Do you think I ought to try to ride back-to-back 200-300km+ rides some weekends (how much mileage is enough, how much is too much?)

I'm slightly concerned because I've taken a new job, which is much closer and has cut my commuting mileage from 175 / week to between 40 and 75. This is quite a lot less than even the RABbers seem to be doing for a 9 day supported trip. On the other hand, it perhaps means I will spend less energy racing around in the week, and have some left for longer, more relevant trips at the weekends.

Finally, does anyone have any repeat trip excuses for the other half? She thought I was mad last time!

I didn't do it that fast (although, considering I'd only been cycling for a year and a bit when I did it I think that 16days was relatively quick) but from my experiences what you describe sounds OK.

Probably well worth having a couple of mini-tours beforehand with the luggage on the bike just to check that it all works OK over 2 or 3 days of long, unsupported riding. For a couple of months before mine I always did weekend rides with loaded panniers on the bike just so that I was used to them.

Re-the commute, if it's shorter can't you alter it to take a longer route home and get some extra miles in? Currently my commute is about 10 mile each way but the most miles that I've taken to get home from the office in one trip is 90

Audaxing is a good idea - not just for the fitness benefits but because you get to ride with and talk to people who have done rides like the the one that you are aiming at - plenty of advice to be had. Back to back 200s should be fine (after all, it's just a 400 with a break in it).

Are you aiming at 5/6 days as a specific challenge or is it just that you are limited to how much holiday you can use for it?

I'll be able to take a week off, no more - so that limits me to a 7 day trip (allowing a day at either end to travel). If I went over Easter weekend again it could be eight days but I don't want to be doing the exact same thing only be a year older... hence the faster target.

5 days seems to be as fast as it gets (before you're into audax-style riding round the clock) so that would be the ideal. To an extent I'll be flexible, as I'm not going to plan out accommodation this time. That was another lesson from Easter, as the first day I would have killed to stop in Okehampton (but had to push on to Widdon Down in utter exhaustion) while on the second day, I got to Bristol mid afternoon legs of steel and could have gone on to Monmouth instead.

This year I sort of want to camp, but I haven't quite figured out if it will be practical in the south of England. Up here you can of course pitch up anywhere that isn't someone's back garden It would also completely free me from worrying about shaving a pound or two off the bike before I go...

I didn't need an excuse Mrs FW came straight to the point, "Well what are you going to follow that up with? do it again but faster?" I'll give you till July and you'll think of something (my birthday that was about 4weeks away) " she was right! well they always are arn't they but Shhhh don't tell, two weeks later "I think I'll do it again top to bottom this time" She had that knowing smile.

I'm starting to plan next summers outing.

The state of my knees means I'm limited to cycleing around 250 miles per week.
Leave the house the house, early may, and head north.
Get to JOG three weeks later, visiting family on way up.
Head south, prob via west coast.
When I cannot go further south, head home.
Planning on a 10 week trip.

The hard part is going to be finding camp sites every 35-50 miles traving through the non-senic parts of England.

Luck ...........

I did a 5 day 1500km LEJOG earlier this year. My training proper started in January with 200km rides - I hadn't ridden 200km since 2007 (PBP in fact) so it came as a bit of a shock, especially given it was in the Peaks. Through to March/April time I was doing a 200km ride every other weekend and commuting 20 miles/day on fixed (weekend rides on geared). I then had almost a month off due to work commitments (a conference in Hawaii amongst other things, so could've been worse!). From the end of May onwards my long rides were 300km - my daily LEJOG distance. These were all very hilly rides - 300km in the Peaks is tough, believe me, but that meant that every day of my LEJOG was easy in comparison (roughly half the amount of climbing as my training rides). With 3 weeks to departure I did some back-to-back rides with a 320km ride up to visit my parents in Scotland, 100km the next day to visit a friend then had planned to ride back home to Sheffield the following day, but it pee'd with rain so I just jumped on the train. I felt fine though so knew I was ready.

I would recommend B&B's and YH's actually and to plan your stops every day - if you can't cover the distance comfortably then you're not fit enough. I stopped for less than an hour total each day (not much at all for a 300km ride) and 300km was taking around 12 hours, which meant I had plenty time at the end of the day to get supplies for the next day, get plenty of food inside me and get a good long sleep. 12 hours to recover made it quite easy- had I only had 8 hours then it would have been much harder.

Tiger, I cycle camped from Jo'G to Chesterfield across the top and down the west coast, so if you want a mix of campsites and b/b s let me know. I started off at 50 miles and 2 glucosamine tablets a day, and worked up to around the 75m mark, then did the last day (115m) in one pull because the scenery had become boring. That was a mistake, I was off the bike for 3 days recovering. It's best to get used to a daily mileage then up it gradually, not in one huge jump!

amaferanga wrote:I would recommend B&B's and YH's actually and to plan your stops every day - if you can't cover the distance comfortably then you're not fit enough. I stopped for less than an hour total each day (not much at all for a 300km ride) and 300km was taking around 12 hours, which meant I had plenty time at the end of the day to get supplies for the next day, get plenty of food inside me and get a good long sleep. 12 hours to recover made it quite easy- had I only had 8 hours then it would have been much harder.

This is a totally different way of doing it - but it makes sense. Hrrmm.

Did you plan each day to be an equal length (and hence have much easier days and much harder ones) or did you try to do a certain amount of "effort" each day?

I would ALWAYS pre-book.

I like my comfort, I like socialising in the evening, but I hate not knowing where I should get to or whether I can find somewhere. I would fret.

I tended to aim for YHA/SYHA, but you need to mix in some B+B as well. Perhaps a pub or inn - you have the bar for a beer and a chat and perhaps a bar meal too. I pick a variation in distance. Maybe have some long days on the trot, then put in a shorter one - it feels like a day off and will do wonders for the morale!

I didn't prebook. I did check out before I set off some of the camp sites along the route marked on the OS map just to make sure they were still operating and then just turned up. Only had a problem once (a marked campsite I had not checked turned out not to take tents) and had to go on another 40 miles. (I tried for hotel/b&b but all full because OASIS were playing nearby). But it was ok and if I'd not found it when I did would have camped in a wood.

EdinburghFixed wrote:

amaferanga wrote:I would recommend B&B's and YH's actually and to plan your stops every day - if you can't cover the distance comfortably then you're not fit enough. I stopped for less than an hour total each day (not much at all for a 300km ride) and 300km was taking around 12 hours, which meant I had plenty time at the end of the day to get supplies for the next day, get plenty of food inside me and get a good long sleep. 12 hours to recover made it quite easy- had I only had 8 hours then it would have been much harder.

This is a totally different way of doing it - but it makes sense. Hrrmm.

Did you plan each day to be an equal length (and hence have much easier days and much harder ones) or did you try to do a certain amount of "effort" each day?

Each day was around 300km regardless of the difficulty. But in reality a direct LEJOG isn't a hilly ride - I took a direct route through Cornwall/Devon (Mick F's route actually) which was virtually hill-free, there were a few proper hills in Wales, Shap fell and then some gentle, but long climbs in Scotland. No day was particularly difficult.

Jack wrote:I didn't prebook. I did check out before I set off some of the camp sites along the route marked on the OS map just to make sure they were still operating and then just turned up. Only had a problem once (a marked campsite I had not checked turned out not to take tents) and had to go on another 40 miles. (I tried for hotel/b&b but all full because OASIS were playing nearby). But it was ok and if I'd not found it when I did would have camped in a wood.

That's fine if you're doing moderate distances each day, but after 300km the last thing you want is to waste time looking for accommodation.

amaferanga wrote:Each day was around 300km regardless of the difficulty. But in reality a direct LEJOG isn't a hilly ride - I took a direct route through Cornwall/Devon (Mick F's route actually) which was virtually hill-free, there were a few proper hills in Wales, Shap fell and then some gentle, but long climbs in Scotland. No day was particularly difficult.

I think I messed up my last time round by opting for the A390 southern route - this has no obvious descents but around 50,000ft of climbing

When I got onto the next couple of days, I was amazed by how flat it was but I think I'd already broken myself!

Next time I'm definitely going via Newquay to the old A30, through Exeter and up the side of the M5 (or vice versa).

OK, so that was another 10 hour trip, for a moving average of 16mph (2400m of climb).

At that rate I could just grab a 12 hour 300km day (if I had no breaks!) but 15 hours is more realistic, and that's a bit on the long side.

I suppose LEJoG isn't quite so hilly... I found some stats from the Race Against Time that said they did 1,448km with 10,644m ascent, which is "only" 740m/100km rather than 1200m/100km.

Hrmm.