A (possibly) off the cuff comment at work as spawned the idea of a work LEJOG team… 😯

So – how many days * would be a “reasonable” time. We’d all be reasonably fit riders (hopefully) and doing it on road bikes.

* – ie how much time away from our desks would we need to wangle?

9 days is nice, I reckon

Depends on your route, could be 850 – 1100 + miles and what you’re carrying. Shortest is the ‘classic’ but lots of A roads. I’d allow about ~10 days riding assuming a mixed group.

Yeah – 10 days at 100 miles, plus a day at each end.
Get a driver with a van as support and to get the bikes to and from the end points

14 days would give you about a 60-65 mile a day average.
there are a few variables to consider, will you be loaded with luggage?
do you want to do it quick as poss or stop and look at stuff on the way?
try a couple of 3 day stints riding together first, make sure you can handle it day in day out would be my advice.
in no way am i trying to put you off btw, go for it!

Hmm,

I was thinking a week off work, plus the four w/e days on each side.

Feels like 9 days, including logisitcs is a bit “keen”

9 days fully supported could be ok, have brekkie, do about 50 miles, have a leisurely lunch, repeat mileage, dinner/shower etc.

I agree with the others. It depends on whether you are going to go direct or take more scenic options. And whether you are going to take much luggage (even unsupported, you actually need very little; you can send parcels of clean socks/energy powders etc ahead to B&Bs).

If you ride as a big group you probably need to allow more time for mechanicals etc (unless you don’t plan to wait for each other when they occur).

The other consideration is the time of year. Weather is unpredictable all year these days, but daylight hours are not. I did it in early September a few years ago and rode from dawn to dusk each day (or just beyond on the days I got lost). If you go for June you get more time in a day.

Also, if you’re cutting the time fine, think about how you will transfer at each end. I live in Devon, so just got a train to Penzance after work on a Friday night. But getting home from Scotland took one and a half days.

tomc – yep, logistics at each end do look like a pain…

Remember, our wonderful train services can only handle a couple of bikes at time. Rocking up at Wick with a large group of bikes is a non-starter, hence my suggestion of a van 🙂

9 days is manageable by almost anyone with a reasonable degree of fitness. 105 ish miles a day average which isn’t as bad as it sounds. On the road at 9am, lunch at 12ish, afternoon cafe stop at 3ish, into next B&B at 5ish.

The Deloitte Ride Across Britain does it in 9 days and some of the people doing that were by no means regular or experienced cyclists.

The worst thing about it isn’t the riding, it’s the logistics.
Get down to LE on Friday, start on Saturday, finish on the following Sunday in JOG then drive down to Inverness for the night, drive back from there on Monday.

A support van/car is invaluable, especially if it can meet you at a pre-arranged point each day so you can drop off excess kit or pick up waterproofs etc.

My personal opinion is to run each day as it comes rather than to rely on a pre-arranged destination. That way if you’re having a bad day and you’re way behind schedule, you don’t need to push on to get to [location], equally, if it’s good weather/tailwind, you can probably go 30 miles further than planned. Get to 3pm, call your support crew, tell them you’ll be at [location] in 2hrs, get them to find a B&B/YHA/hotel and book it for you.

+1 for booking accommodation as you go, assuming you can get someone to do it for you.

That can work the wrong way round too though. Without a set destination for the night, it can be too easy to cut a day short (be that through bad weather, mechanicals etc). Do that a couple of times and you leave yourself too much to catch up on. I reckon that’s a personality thing – what works for some won’t work for all.

Also – if it’s a big group – trying to find last-minute accommodation can be an issue, especially in the less densely populated sections.

That can work the wrong way round too though. Without a set destination for the night, it can be too easy to cut a day short (be that through bad weather, mechanicals etc). Do that a couple of times and you leave yourself too much to catch up on. I reckon that’s a personality thing – what works for some won’t work for all.

I agree, it depends very much on the group size and dynamic and also the mental strength to push on and not just call it a day after 40 miles!

We had some pretty rubbish weather at times and a couple of days of horrendous headwinds but you just push through it and it never rained ALL day – a few short lived showers rather than torrential all day rain.

Equally, some of the days were blissful – tailwinds and sunshine! 🙂

We did a JOGLE in eight days this June – as above, logistics is the killer. We had a support van and pre-booked all our accommodation (essential for a group of eight).

In terms of the riding, we did mostly 120 mile days, less on the first and last days for connecting transport reasons. I wouldn’t want to do it much quicker than that – we seemed to have hardly any free time in the evenings once showering, eating, drying wet kit and bike fettling was out of the way. If you want to get a flavour, we blogged about it here (our main website with route info etc. is here).

We did LEJOG in 9 days unsupported staying in B&Bs, earlier this year. It was a scenic route, ended up being 960 miles. We pre-booked all the B&Bs and planned a gps route for each day (mostly based on the CTC B&B route with some detours to friends houses we were staying at). You don’t need much stuff tbh, I fit everything in a Carradice Barley bag (with spare footwear tied on top). Shortest day was 85, longest 140.

It was great fun (thou we had amazing weather, even in the highlands)!

Photos here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150979015111405.472084.515091404&type=3&l=56e7559ce8

I have a spreadsheet if you want all the details/route. Email me…

Some good stuff on here – thanks!

Getting some interest back from the “prospective team”…

Still the SOs to be convinced

Still the SOs to be convinced

😆

still not mentioned it to mine !

Forgot to mention logistics…

From London, I got a train to penzance (easy).

Back to London from JOG, rode 20 miles to Wick, gave bike to a bike (plus toy shop) there who posted it home for £50 (including packaging it quite well), got the train to Inverness, then the overnight sleeper to London Euston.

Dont think photos worked the first time: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/107765230154583117106/albums/5747702058647411153

Another option is to sign up with a guided/charity effort. Let them handle all the logistics and just enjoy the ride.

We took 12 days, unsupported. The important thing is to decide why you’re doing it. For us, the challenge was less important than a chance to do an extended cycling holiday. Yes, we could have done it in 9 days, but it would’ve been less enjoyable.

I find in general 75 miles is a nice daily distance for loaded touring – no need to start before 9, plenty of spare time for a good lunch break, and you’re done early enough to shower, change, wash your cycling clothes and get down the pub for some quality rehydration. In bed by 11 and repeat.

As for getting back from JOG – we managed to get on a guided tour minibus which dropped us back in Inverness. Then overnight train to Euston, cycle to Paddington, then train to Brizzle.

Started considering this for 2014 !!! Looking at 10 days and may look at paying the extra to be supported by one of the companies that do it. Just want to enjoy the experience, not have to carry gear and a comfy B and B at the end of the day. Yes it will cost us, I know. I have family in Falmouth , who can get us to the start ( if we do it that way) or back to the station, if we do it the other way. And mate who also wants to do it, has family in Scotland.

surely you should do it for the enjoyment, ticking boxes is weird, unless your’e going to challenge andy wilkinson’s record, seems best to take as much time as you can, granted with work its a pain.could you not get your work to ‘sponsor’ you 😉

4 days (unless we die).

Started considering this for 2014 !!! Looking at 10 days and may look at paying the extra to be supported by one of the companies that do it.

If you’re staying in B&Bs/ hostels you need, at most, 2 smallish panniers. Some people manage with a large Carradice seatpack.

I’m considering doing it, but more or less traffic free, so adding a few hundred miles at least. Expecting it will be 15 days minimum. Still perusing maps/blogs for the best route though, so I could be miles out.

If you’re staying in B&Bs/ hostels you need, at most, 2 smallish panniers. Some people manage with a large Carradice seatpack.

I was hoping to just use my water bottles for fluids and a camelback pack for nibbles and waterproofs and tools and they arrange your luggage move and lunches and stuff. Although we are in preliminary stages of organisation at the moment, although just put my name down for a 600 miler into France next year as a warm up now.

I was hoping to just use my water bottles for fluids and a camelback pack for nibbles and waterproofs and tools and they arrange your luggage move and lunches and stuff

I meant for doing it unsupported! The point being that you don’t need to carry too much extra weight if you pack carefully.

We just used cafes and pubs for lunch. The large pasty in Tavistock fuelled the climb up Dartmoor and fish and chips in Tyndrum to warm up for the climb up the A82.

I did it on 10 days, unsuported and camping. which is manageable with out much training. However the weather was crap and I didn’t enjoy it that much.

My advice would be to tour in france or spain where the weather is more guaranteed, especially if your going to spend money on B&B’s etc, because the money it costs wont be that much different…

If you do, do it, don’t forget to book your bike onto the trains if you are using the trains. You will need to this early if you do.

We hired a van to get to penzance one way from prston. Wasn’t that expensive.

My riding buddies just did it in 6 days supported. Don’t think they had much time to actually enjoy themselves and didn’t have a single pub lunch. 100 miles a day sounds a good distance.

a biffer like me can do it in 4 days 22 hours and 40 minutes (supported)

There is something somewhere about doing it sub 5 days (Audax/ CTT / something else)

10 days, just over 1,000 miles, self supported, pre booked accommodation, sleeper trains down and back, biggest day about 130 miles, and a couple around 80. Bikes were prebooked on the train!

Pleased we didn’t have support – too easy to bail, hitch, wimp out. Pleased everything was booked – it provided an incentive to finish the day.

Great ride. Possibly one of the best bike things you can do!!