Hi,

Can you give me some inspiration?

I want to do something epic. So far I’ve been cycling for years (road and mtb) however, if I note down the biggest challenges I’ve done its not that impressive…

– Couple of rat races
– Sprint Tri’s
– The Royal Windsor Olympic Tri
– Some of the MTB Marathon series

…and thats about it. What have you guys done that was pretty epic (yet affordable)? Here’s what I’ve been toying with…

– LE-JOG
– Deloitte Ride Across Britain (If I could get work to pay for it)
– Big tour around Scotland/britain/Europe?
– Whole marathon series?

I really don’t know but I know I want to do something. What have you guys done when you’ve felt like this?

Doing Le-jog in May on my own, aiming for 8 days, should be fun!!

I’m thinking of LeJog this year as part of a charity ride for a local Hospice. I guess it’s not that “epic”, but it feels like it’s one of the things that all UK riders should do at least once.

I’ve always resorted to camping trips, to me, organised events never feel very epic (I stress the ‘to me’ bit there, I’m not disputing the epicness of certain events! 😀 )

Wether or not camping trips are affordable depends on how much kit you already have though. Expense aside, you can spend many happy weeks poring over maps planning your route, making it as ‘epic’ as you please by incorporating as many or as few big hills, famous landmarks, bothies and empty glens as you please. The more remote it is, the more epic it will feel.

I’d suggest starting with a route that you know is rideable however, although hike-a-bike can still be ‘epic’, its not a great deal of fun day after day…

My next epic on the bike will probably be the coast of scotland. You could make this a camping trip with a lightly loaded tourer (no need to carry masses of food) or make it lighter still but fork out for hostels every night. I’m still undecided…

Cycling top to bottom of wales A470 in 1 day epic as you like, no need to pay for anything other than someone to pick up the remains of your shattered body at the end.

The Welsh Ride Thing was a good event and a bit of a step up from a MTB marathon. Its nothing that you cant just go and do on your own but it was a great excuse to do it with other people

The Fred

One to do in under 8 hours before you die

Tour Divide? 😆

One to do in under 8 seven hours before you die.

[Fixed it for you]

I think you should look in a different direction.

How far have you ridden in a day? 100 miles? 150 miles? try and beat it.
Ride from one side of the country to the other…. Trans-pennine trail or the coast to coast, in a day…

South Downs Way, in a day. Both ways in a day.

Multiday touring for me – offroad in the highlands for bestest.

Try and get a solo place in the 2012 ‘Puffer 🙂

Solo across Iceland is not at all technical: all you need is fitness, determination and reasonable weather. You can book mountain hut accommodation or carry a tent/ provisions, or a combination of both.

There’s Paris-Brest-Paris audax in August 2011. 1200km in about 90 hours.

Three no fuss 10 events solo. You might win a holiday and would be guaranteed three great weekends.

My Epic Bike Challenge is to adopt a 1 in 1 out philosophy to the garage/misson control/operations base Alpha.

Other than this i will be planning a 2012 trip to the Outer Hebrides and do some coast riding. Getting married in 2011 so i suspect the wisest thing to do is not mention i fancy a trip this year.

Getting married in 2011 so i suspect the wisest thing to do is not mention i fancy a trip this year

Coast to Coast Honeymoon?

24 solo? Plenty to choose from. Not sure epic is the word, but a good challenge!

A few summers ago I acted as backup for a quadrathlon challenge,a truly epic effort completed by Keith Longney and Peter Hart who over the course of under 7 days did the following:biked Lands end to John o Groats,jogged up snowdon,scafell and ben nevis,kayaked the length of lake bala,windermere and loch lomond,swum the last mile or so of each lake.This was done in one unbroken self-propelled journey,staying overnight in keiths RV.As far as I know nobody has repeated this epic.Keith and Peter are both world age group champions at quadrathlon,I say this not to put anybody off but merely to highlight the fact that these lads have trained for many years and,like other seemingly impossible endurance efforts,require as much mental strength as physical.

Doing the Camino de Santiago in April with a mate, should be fun (no religious connotations on my part!). Then the Deloitte JOGLE in June (work is paying 😀 ).

Previous long/endurance stuff: London-Paris in 22 hours, TransWales, a couple of 24 hour solos. All good ways of finding things out about yourself.

One day I want to give TransRockies a go. A couple of weeks’ self-sufficient touring off road would also be something I’d like to do at some point.

Camino de Santiago would be great, me and my girlfriend did part of it when we did a tour of northern Spain/picos de Europa earlier this year 🙂

Off road coast to coast solo would be a good bet too, also did that earlier in the year over
4 days. U can camp, bivvi, bothy or hostel it and felt pretty epic for me!

Coast 2 coast?

From Newfoundland to Vancouver on the Trans Canada Trail.
You might need a bit more time of work though.

Paris-Brest-Paris or your UK/ Europe Tour idea. If you want to spice it up a bit combine the tour with some hiking. If time is tight do something like. 10 days 10 uk peaks 1000 miles. That would be a challenge! Or scale it down to a three peaks with cycling between, make the route off road if you fancy too.

Something with Deloitte in the name is guaranteed ego masturbation fest of office boys indirectly comparing phallic length via bike choice and racing but not racing each other. Just like most sportives.

Other than PBP organise and plan the challenge yourself, as logistics and failing in the planning of is where the fun and adventure quite often comes from.

Ironman Lanza, that should shut you up for a year or so 😉

I’m doing the London to Paris in June for Brain Tumour UK. 300 miles over 4 days, entrants can select what charity they wish to support. Supported, so perhaps less of a challenge than some events, but it’ll do me – barely ridden a bike for 2 years, so have 6 months to prepare for it, includes a century and a bit on the first day (never ridden a century before either….)

IIRC the PBP needs certain brevet rides to have been completed before the PBP can be entered – don’t know if they can all be completed in one season, the Audax UK site might have more information about it though.

Boston-Montreal-Boston sounds good to me, 750ish miles.

Did Oxford to Paris and back last year with 3 friends. Didn’t really plan anything and did it spur of the moment. Had a great time, even slept rough by the River Seine for 2 nights:

In 2011 I want to take a the bicycles on a train to Germany and do Hamburg > Berlin > Munich, and spend a few days in each city. It’s about 550 miles so a bit more challenging than Oxford to Paris (350 miles).

The Sarn Helen, solo, self supporting over 3 days was a baby epic for me last year. My second attempt at it and I’m doing it again in the summer. This time travelling lighter. I’m doing it with a Transalp rucksack rather than a trailer.
‘Epic’ means different things to different people but organised events with support don’t seem at all epic to me.

Im doing the Nokia Coast to coast..

now this is what I call a challenge http://www.scotlandcoasttocoast.com/

IIRC the PBP needs certain brevet rides to have been completed before the PBP can be entered – don’t know if they can all be completed in one season, the Audax UK site might have more information about it though.

Yes, you need to complete a Super Randonneur series to enter. So 200km, 300km, 400km and 600km.
And they do all need to be done in 2011, and at certain times. eg I think you have to do the 200 before April, and the 300 in April or May etc. Probably a good idea to do some more long rides than that anyway, to get fit enough etc.
There are a few other 1200km audax rides around, most of them don’t require any qualifying. Though I think most of them don’t happen in PBP year.

transwales for hodsup

Is Camino de Santiago organised or self guided? How long does the route take, looks like a great ride.

The CdS is a self-organised thing in our case. Logistics of getting to the start and back from Santiago are quite challenging. The route itself is well waymarked. There are only a few cycling guides for it as it’s mostly a walking pilgrimage, but Amazon has some useful stuff. Will find out where my mate sourced the maps from.

We’re planning on taking it steady over 8 days and mellowing out.

London to Brighton offroad on a 6″ freeride bike….

(I’m hoping to do this next year for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation).

Is it doable?

For a big event, try the Grand Raid http://www.grand-raid-cristalp.ch/ or the Tour Divide http://tourdivide.org/. On road, the route de Grande Alpes (Lake Geneva to the Med near Nice via all the big cols) is good, did that last summer and then back via Mont Ventoux. Loads of good ideas there though, depending on your personal limits – South Downs Way either one or both ways is still pretty big for most people.