End to End?

kami

hello i was wondering if anyone has done a end to end as im planning on doing it next summer and wonderd what sort of training was use before hand????
there are three of us riding and 2 are relativly new to endurance events
we aim to do it over 14 days
any info would help lots thanks

ronstrutt

Have a look here: www.ruralrides.net under Hints & Tips. It's one of the questions answered there.

Since writing that I've done another End to End, but this time I followed a fairly rigorous six-month build-up regime. This included regular 100k and 100-mile rides, a maximum of 150 miles, a couple of multi-day trips, and regular commuting to work (only 11 miles each way). It certainly paid off - it was the most painless of all my long rides.

cusimar9

Hi there,

I did the end to end over 2 years. The first year we aimed to do it in 10 days which was just too much given our level of fitness. We made it into Scotland and on the 6th day had to pack in. After a much more serious training regime I finished the ride this year, cycling Scotland in 5 days (read about it here)

My main recommendation is not to skimp on the training miles. Get into a habit of doing 30 or 40 milers as 'routine' and get plenty of 80+ mile rides done. Its only on the really long rides that problems make themselves apparent and you need to give yourself time to fix problems or recover from injuries they may cause.

Any specific advice you're after just ask

toontra

Did it this year. Managed 6 days, but the info in my blog may be useful none the less - http://6-daylejog.blogspot.com/

There's a whole forum dedicated to LEJoG's over on the CTC website - http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewforum.php?f ... 39c692fe07

Good luck!

kami

cheers everyone il have a read through all u sent me we have 8 months to train so i guess il be living on my bike for a while lol
thanks again

vernonlevy

kami wrote:

cheers everyone il have a read through all u sent me we have 8 months to train so i guess il be living on my bike for a while lol
thanks again

There's no need for intensive training, just regular rides. 14 days allows for a relaxed pace.

I did it weighing in at around 24 stones in 17 days and a chap who occasionally posts on the CTC forums did it weighing in at 27 stones in a similar time.

My training was nothing more involved than doing a regular 20-30 mile ride every weekend and in the month before setting off doing 2 x 100km,1 x 150km and a 200km Audax ride with the odd camping weeken in the preceding month.

It's not that difficult a ride - there's many accounts of it being completed by people who have done very little training beforehand. Your mental resilience is more likely to affect your ability to finish the ride than your physical fitness.

Go for it. You'll enjoy the adventure and you'll meet lots of interesting people.

mercsport

This past summer( Sept. ) , although an ancient of days ( 62 ) I quit at just short of Shap ( horizontal rain ; ferocious wind ; shattered in spirit ) I managed to do it from LE in a shade over 4 days , with no training whatsoever - maybe 25 to 50 miles per week avg -and about 4 stone overweight . Although not in any particular hurry - a plodder - roadside bivouacs helped I would suppose , despite the relentless wetness of it all .
It would be delightful , I would suppose to be able to afford and organized enough to pre-plan a succession of B&B's though .

vernonlevy

mercsport wrote:

This past summer( Sept. ) , although an ancient of days ( 62 ) I quit at just short of Shap ( horizontal rain ; ferocious wind ; shattered in spirit ) I managed to do it from LE in a shade over 4 days , with no training whatsoever - maybe 25 to 50 miles per week avg -and about 4 stone overweight . Although not in any particular hurry - a plodder - roadside bivouacs helped I would suppose , despite the relentless wetness of it all .
It would be delightful , I would suppose to be able to afford and organized enough to pre-plan a succession of B&B's though .

This was not a good year for LEJOG. And I recall fretting about all the hapless riders whose carefully planned rides were challenged by the summer deluges.

Mind you I've never seen sunshine at Shap - it is a spirit breaking place and I recall feeling miserable when I passed through the place on a JOGLE ride two years ago. Weighing 23 stones or so at the time did not make for a happy climb to the summit though the subsequent descent was fun.

mercsport

Vernon : " It's not that difficult a ride - there's many accounts of it being completed by people who have done very little training beforehand. Your mental resilience is more likely to affect your ability to finish the ride than your physical fitness. " .

I think you've hit the nail firmly on the head there . Spot on .

I have to add also that I'm much impressed by your confessed weight and relaxed 'training' regime . Almost the same as mine . Which is to say : bugger all really . :P In fact , despite an aversion to touring in the UK , it was a Saturday afternoon that it entered my head to have a crack at LEJOG and Monday was on the train to Penzance .

One consequence is that I've developed an even bigger aversion to UK touring . It isn' t , sad to say , like the Frank Patterson drawings of yore anymore .

toontra

Whilst it's clearly possible to do this without any, or very little, training, the whole thing will be far more enjoyable and a great element of worry and anxiety would be removed if you felt confident in your ability to easily achieve the daily targets. You could reach this state by training.

In other words, I can see many advantages of training, mainly making the whole trip more enjoyable. I can't think of any advantages of not training, apart from saving a bit of time and effort.

Just my opinion, mind!

vorsprung

My daughters friends brother asked me for training advice for his LEJoG

I told him that the distances each day would be no problem, he would ride into fitness on the route. The problem would be his contact points: the backside, the hands and the feet

So get a bike that fits properly. Get padded shorts. Get a tub of sudocreme. Get mitts with padding. Get proper cycling shoes. Get nice socks.

Usually in cycling, equipment isn't the answer. But in this case, it is.

coxy84

hello im doing lejog summer of 09 was wondering what bikes peolpe think
are good to use, touring road or cross.

im concerned that tourers look a bit bulky and slow but at the same time im
sure a road bike would destroy my rrrrss.

gonna need to take panniers got about 6 to 7 hundred to spend any ideas ?

vernonlevy

coxy84 wrote:

hello im doing lejog summer of 09 was wondering what bikes peolpe think
are good to use, touring road or cross.

im concerned that tourers look a bit bulky and slow but at the same time im
sure a road bike would destroy my rrrrss.

gonna need to take panniers got about 6 to 7 hundred to spend any ideas ?

Touring bikes in the Dawes Galaxy mould are not that slow. I use mine for touring and Audaxing and have few problems regarding pace.

Tourers similar to the fat tyred flay barred Edinburgh Bike Co-op range are also reasonable steeds and cheaper than the Galaxy.

It's not the bikes that are a pain in the rear but unsuitable saddles and poor riding positions. Consider a Brookes B17 saddle. They are a bit like Marmite you'll love them or hate them. I have fitted all but my mountain bike with B17s.

I've toured using a road bike, drop barred tourer and hybrid and there was little to choose between the tourer and hybrid. The gearing on the road bike was unsuitable for fully loaded touring.

Have a look at spacycles.co.uk for good prices on the Galaxy range.

The edinburgh bike co-op has a decent site too.

jibi

Take it slow and easy.

Take each day as it comes.

enjoy the moment

jibi

Ashley_R

coxy84 wrote:

hello im doing lejog summer of 09 was wondering what bikes peolpe think
are good to use, touring road or cross.

im concerned that tourers look a bit bulky and slow but at the same time im
sure a road bike would destroy my rrrrss.

gonna need to take panniers got about 6 to 7 hundred to spend any ideas ?

Well getting up to 45 mph in Devon on me fully loaded Hewitt Ceviot isn't what I call slow!!

If you're going to be spending all day on the bike as you probably will be it pays to have a bike thats comfy first rather than fast, in general tourers aren't exactly slow, its just the speed you ride it! :P