I’m going to attempt a self supported wild camp LEJOG almost exlusively on sustrans with the odd bit of walking round major cities and such.

What would be a good tyre choice up to 40c for this. I’ve looked at Marathon Supremes and Voyager Hypers so far.

Any ideas?

In addition what do you reckon is a good daily distance to be hitting and also any advice on calories consumed per day.

Regards.

Depends on how long you want to stay in the saddle. You can do 100 miles a day at a surprisingly relaxed pace if you don’t mind putting the hours in! 🙂

In addition what do you reckon is a good daily distance to be hitting and also any advice on calories consumed per day.

Very hard to quantify without knowing your weight, fitness etc.
As a very rough estimate, you can use 500kcal/hr for calories.
As for distance, something between 30-200mi/day depending on how much time you want to spend sightseeing and how fit you are.

Re: tyres, I like the Marathon Racer. They won’t stop every puncture but they will stop most and they are fast rolling and comfy 🙂

My wife did the CTC version a few years ago. That takes just under two weeks and is two longish days (90 miles or so) followed by a shorter day to get a bit of recovery. She was stopping at prebooked YHAs and independent hostels so no need to rush and plenty of time to stop for cake!

If you’ve not done multi-day riding before then day 3 or day 4 will feel hard as typically in training you’ll do two long rides at the weekend but not much during the week. Your body will quickly adapt though. Since you are going to be wild camping you’ve no time distance pressures on you apart from the overall time off work and there may be one or two sections where stopping might not be advisable!

In addition what do you reckon is a good daily distance to be hitting

What are you hoping to achieve? A sense of achievement from doing it very quickly, or leisurely touring of the sights, or something in between?

I’ve always thought around 75 miles is a nice distance for a multi day tour, and that’s what I averaged on my LEJOG. Get on the road for about 9am, take a decent lunch break, and even at modest touring speeds, you’ll still be finished by 5pm. So plenty of time to find a pub, eat your own body weight, and get an early night.

Oh, and I really rate the Vittoria Hypers.

Most of our customers are doing it in 10-12 days. A few hit half that, some take 3 weeks.

Setting off very early each day is a good idea if you’re camping but remember that you might struggle to find anywhere to eat before lunchtime in the more remote areas (esp. Scotland).

I’d plan on around 5,000 calories per day, especially if your bike is well loaded.

Sustrans routes tend to go through centres of population so you should be able to top up with food as you go. Just carry a few snacks etc to get you through half a day. Once you reach the north, be prepared to carry a little more.

Tyre choice is anything you want really. Personally, I’d go with 28mm GP 4 Seasons, or even Marathons. Fast enough, but also tough enough to cope with the vagaries of urban cycle routes. Some of the Sustrans routes might have more “off-road” sections where a little extra volume/tread would be handy. If you’re going wider then Marathon Mondials or similar. I’ve been riding on WTB Nano 40Cs for a couple of weeks and they’re really very good too. Don’t fret this though, tyre choice really is a very low priority. I see many folk with full on MTB tyres 🙂

Try to do a 2-3 day ride of around 200 miles as part of your training/acclimatisation. It’ll give you a chance to work out clothing, bag carrying etc.

You’ve probably already been told that Cornwall/Devon is tough on account of the many short, sharp hills. By the time you reach Bristol area you should can look forward to a few easier days. Scottish hills tend to be higher, but longer and of an easier gradient.

Book your return journey as soon as you can (assuming you’re looking to get the train). If you can’t get your bike booked on then contact me and I’ll send you a link to the company I work for as we getting folk and bikes back home from JOG is what we do.

Go and look on the CUK forum. Fill yer boots

I did lejog back in 1999 in possibly the most disorganized fashion possible. Took three weeks off work, did it in ten days.
Planned the route around where in could stay at friends houses with yha /b&b as a second resort (couple of 120m days)
Used a full suspension MTB as that was my only bike
Used a rucksack to carry kit
Did it in October
Training was riding 10m to work
Cut pages out of a road atlas as my route guide

But, it was bloody good fun and I would/will do it again one day.

I have ridden it once, in 10 days. I would love to do it again, but would take longer… shorter days, explore a bit and look around.

At 100 miles a day (on a cx bike) it wasn’t ‘hard’, but it was definitely a mission to ‘ride LEJOG’. In retrospect although I think I did a pretty cool thing – riding the whole length of the country… I didn’t actually SEE much of the country – except my pre planned route…

As above – depends on why you’re doing it.

You see Ernie, that to me is the essence of this sort of stuff! Not just self supported but self-motivated. Making your own adventure rather than purchasing an off the shelf one.

Not knocking the other way though- I totally see why you would choose to do that but I think it would feel hollow compared to doing it ‘wild’.

The biggest shock was the cost of the train ride home. From memory it was £200 way back in 1999/2000

Did Jogle a few years back, super light hotel touring using minor roads and cycle paths when possible, averaged 85 miles a day for 12 days going via Arran, the first couple of days we topped 100 miles each day which was ok with a light load, did it on 25c Conti 4 Seasons with 1 puncture each, the only tricky bits were down the side of the canal that cuts out the A38 and on the rough surfaced railway line that avoids the road hills out of Truro with Vin Cox showing us the way. If I was wild camping and planning to use more Sustrans I’d probably go up to 35-40c and tubeless.

Route, kit list etc on my blog: https://rodewarrior.wordpress.com/category/jogle-2/

Oh and the train journey booked as far in advance as possible (12-13 weeks iirc) cost £65 each from Peterborough – Edinburgh – Inverness – Thursoe

I used Schwalbe Land Cruisers for my last lejog and ventured off road on a few occasions. Swear by these tyres.