Need advice, suggestions and help on an End 2 End expedition

howsmyriding27

Hi - I want to get into touring cycling.

I really want to cycle JoGLE or LEJoG but I'm not sure which (I live in the south east). I'm only 16 and will be doing it with a friend, or possibly solo.

I also need to get a touring bike and ALL the kit. Any good recommendations/ideas of what I will need?

What is the best way to fund/plan/do this trip? I will probably want to cycle in aid of Leukemia research. Would there be any corporate sponsership avaiable or would I have to fund it myself?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Cunobelin

Develop rather than rush......

I am a touring cyclist, but I enjoy the experience of touring, meeting people,exploring places and views.

My personal suggestion would be to undertake a couple of overnight stays - extend to a week and gain your wheels before tackling the E2E

ronstrutt

howsmyriding27 wrote:

Hi - I want to get into touring cycling.

I really want to cycle JoGLE or LEJoG but I'm not sure which (I live in the south east). I'm only 16 and will be doing it with a friend, or possibly solo.

I also need to get a touring bike and ALL the kit. Any good recommendations/ideas of what I will need?

I certainly wouldn't want to recommend a particular touring bike - everyone seems to have their own preferences, not least on price - and it very much depends what sort of touring you want to do. Off-road touring with full camping gear will need something much more substantial than the light tourer that would suffice for all-road credit card touring.

For your other questions, have a look at my site www.ruralrides.net and in particular the Tips and Hints section

howsmyriding27 wrote:

What is the best way to fund/plan/do this trip? I will probably want to cycle in aid of Leukemia research. Would there be any corporate sponsership avaiable or would I have to fund it myself?

Too many people do the End to End each year (it is said to be over 3,000) for it to be of much interest to potential sponsors but you might be lucky and find a local company willing to back you. Most people, though, pay for their costs themselves, whether or not they raise funds for charity.

another jacko

Have a look at this website. 100s of links to websites of people who have done it and lots of hints and tips to pick up.
http://www.users.waitrose.com/~ianclare/links.htm
There are lots of ways to do it and no 'right way'.

First decide how much time you have available to do it in? Most of us only have a fortnight at most but, if you have a choice, do you want a leisurely holiday and a longer route to see more of the country or challenging race against yourself on the shortest possible route? When you've decided that then you need to train to do the kind of mileage you will need to do, day after day.

You'll also need to work out what your budget is - Do you need to camp or can you afford B & B and to travel light. If you need to camp you'll need a stronger bike and more gear than if you go lightweight.

Don't get too hung up on having the 'right bike' - a mountain bike (with slicks) will be fine if that's what you've got, but do carry luggage on a rack, not your back. Being comfortable for repeated full days in the saddle is the most important thing, strong wheels is second.

You don't need to plan every last detail if you get the basics right and prepare well. It can be quite good fun to change your plans along the way if you feel like it - like going further because you feel good and have a tailwind, or take a day off cos its peeing down. If you have problems most people you'll meet will be friendly and helpful and you're never that far from a bike shop to get you going again if you have mechanical problems.

Whatever you do, it will be a great experience, especially at your age. Have fun.

zenzinnia

There's also lots of advice on the CTC website and forum (where there is a special section just for LEJoG

ThatGuyOnABike

sounds nasty but i would say ditch all thought of charity and also you won't get sponsers.

for your first trip the last thing you need is deadlines and heavy targets associated with charity and sponsers.

also i don't know how rich you are or whether at 16 you have a job or something but you will need to spend a lot on good gear if you wanna look serious enough for sponsers and stuff. which means if you don't like touring you'll be left with a lot of expensive kit. and so go a bit on the cheap side, don't get sponsers and pressure of charity, then if you don't like it, you'd have lost less.

i'm 18, i just recently went with a hardtail, fully loaded, to europe, no particular route other then a few sites we were interested in. brillilant, loved it, but i won't do it for a while cos of uni and may not do it after if interests change. luckily i went with cheap crap like £20 panniers and dry bag and 2nd hand rack etc, apart from the tent and the bike there was probably nothing over £20, and so nothing to cry about.

lets face it, we teens change our minds and interests a lot so don't waste your parents and your dosh on this one tour and don't waste the time of companies cos your one in a dozen and they won't invest also charity means targets, no targets, no donnations, and targets are crap and will ruin your experience sooooooo much+ don't be such a do gooder!

hope i've dashed a few dreams, ever the pessimist,
thatguyonabike

vernonlevy

ThatGuyOnABike wrote:

sounds nasty but i would say ditch all thought of charity and also you won't get sponsers.

for your first trip the last thing you need is deadlines and heavy targets associated with charity and sponsers.

also i don't know how rich you are or whether at 16 you have a job or something but you will need to spend a lot on good gear if you wanna look serious enough for sponsers and stuff. which means if you don't like touring you'll be left with a lot of expensive kit. and so go a bit on the cheap side, don't get sponsers and pressure of charity, then if you don't like it, you'd have lost less.

i'm 18, i just recently went with a hardtail, fully loaded, to europe, no particular route other then a few sites we were interested in. brillilant, loved it, but i won't do it for a while cos of uni and may not do it after if interests change. luckily i went with cheap crap like £20 panniers and dry bag and 2nd hand rack etc, apart from the tent and the bike there was probably nothing over £20, and so nothing to cry about.

lets face it, we teens change our minds and interests a lot so don't waste your parents and your dosh on this one tour and don't waste the time of companies cos your one in a dozen and they won't invest also charity means targets, no targets, no donnations, and targets are crap and will ruin your experience sooooooo much+ don't be such a do gooder!

hope i've dashed a few dreams, ever the pessimist,
thatguyonabike

Sponsorship will be quite hard to get old of unless you can present a unique selling point for your trip. Equipment manufacturers are inundated with sponsorship requests and sadly LEJOG is not seen as being that remarkable any more.

You wont have that many problems getting friends to give money for the charity side of things - I had problems convincing my friends that I wasn't doing my LEJOG for charity. I didn't want the pressure of other folks' expectations. I also met a few riders during my LEJOG ride who would have packed in their LEJOG rides because they were struggling and were hating it if they hadn't got sponsors expectations to live up to. They were adamant that they would not be able to look back on their ride with any degree of fondness.

Assuming that you will continue your full time education you will have several extended slots aka school holidays in which to have a crack at the ride. Don't set yourself an unrealistic schedule. Take your time and use camping as your accommodation mode then you will have maximum flexibility of your schedules i.e. you can stop on a whim or ride further than planned without having to re-arrange accommodation.

If you want a budget set up for touring have a look at the Edinburgh Bike Co-Operative's own brand touring machines. They are acknowledged as being incredible value for money. Other than that, there a plethora of tourer's available from Trek, Cannondale, Ridgeback and Dawes.

On the camping front - it's a matter of budget and personal taste. Don't skimp too much on the tent - it will be your home for a fortnight or so.

ThatGuyOnABike

On the camping front - it's a matter of budget and personal taste. Don't skimp too much on the tent - it will be your home for a fortnight or so.

very true, do not skimp at all on tent, and after one reasonably long trip you'll find that they don't deappriciate too much and you can expect to sell it at 60-75% of original cost to you, 50-60% if newer model on market, but remember to put it on ebay straight after tour if you don't think you'll be using it again!, the only reason i put mine for sale was cos it was a 1 skin ultralight solo one, far too extreme and like a coffin, go for a two skin/with inner tent, two man tent at around £60 plus and you should do alright.

the guy above also reinforced my point about charity and targets, so do consider scrapping that aspect seriously, leave charity for your next tour if there is one becuase by then you would be ready to take on that challenge on top of the general challenges of touring which should be your focus on a first tour.

as for breaks in uni- don't expect much, you'll have to work and will probs be part of some club and end up going with them somewhere not neccessarilly cycle related

priory

I suggest you take the quick way to learning how to do it by going out with the old blokes on the local ctc rides.
We may not look very glamorous but ,hey, just think how good you'll look by comparison.
you get a wealth of tips from these blokes and learn to ride long distance as a group. They may have some tours planned that you could join, or equipment to lend.
The rides wil be of various lengths and speeds, and they will not leave you behind.
Have a look at the website of your nearest group
My riding was transformed by joining in.

TerryJ

priory

on the subject of charity rides:
evry year for quite a few I have done at least one charity ride , usually of 100miles or so.
Before I do it I hand out leaflets that say ' I intend to do this ride. I pay ALL my own expenses. The organisers expect me to take them some money for their charity which is....... If you feel that you can afford to support me in this collection I shall be most grateful. All of your money will go to the charity whether I succeed or not.'

As you see I make no guarantees about finishing the ride, or even turning up , so not much pressure. Plenty of people will need to be told why you are doing it anyway, you might as well tap them for a good cause .

I agree that to guarantee completion of the trip makes you even more apprehensive , and some people even collect afterwards ,having lists of promises to pay . That would drive me mad.

TerryJ

toole

Hi youngun

Coming from a very new cyclist and tourer i can only offer so much, but i can give you my experiences ffrom the last few months of organising a 400mile trip with a friend from Inverness to South Lakedistrict...

Firstly we have neither never done a cycle tour this big let alone cycled that long really... We both use our bikes for uni/gym/work.. That is about it..

We have bought all our own equipment and luckily can strip a bike and put it all back together in a couple of hours So buying things was not too hard and there are alot of bargains to be had out there..

Our equipment was bought as cheaply as possible including my new [2nd hand] bike. Here is a quick run down.

-bike: Carrera Vulcan [250 in halfords] bought it for 65quid on ebay and it was rather tatty with a few new htings being needed. Cost about another 20quid and a few days of elbow grease and its more or less brand new
-Touring tyres: 19quid on ebay with inner tubes thrown in, so thats good for spares!
-Pannier Rack: 13quid for heavy duty rear one holds upto 25kg
-Pannier Bags: 8.50 for 40litre absolute bargain, just put bin bags inside for waterproofing

Luckily i have a touring tent i got for my 21st of my mother which is a 3man and only about 4kg when packed up Takes 3 minutes to put up and about 5 to put down.

Obviously there is alot more involved, such as maps[local charity shops have hundreds! and well cheap aswell, i have become quite fond of older ones now ]camping equipment/waterproofs etc etc

We have also been planning for what seems like forever, and with just over a week until we leave Leeds and get on a train to Inverness we still have campsites and a hostel to arrange in the Lakes..

Get a bit of money together, sort out all your gear, list everything, narrow it down etc etc and one day you will find your in the saddle of on a beautiful journey

howsmyriding27

wow! thanks for all the replies - your experience is priceless to me!

many thanks again, and I have already begun sketching out ideas for my adventure.