[Closed] Has anyone here done the Land's End to John O'Groats?

None,get on with it 🙂

My only advice ...Start early ,finish early .
Enjoy

I haven't, but my bike has. Does that count? 😉

I'd say you'll be fine without doing any extra training as such, crack on. Steady away, eat & drink plenty amd have a little rest if you're tired.

None - do it.

I did mine over a couple of months, taking a wee circuit of Ireland at the same time. And then cycled home.

And when you've got to JoG, head the extra mile up the road to Duncansby Head. Stunning! (NE tip, rather than the NE town)

No, but I did do John O'Groats to Lands End 🙂 On a recumbent 😮

I didn't do any extra training, but we just bimbled down using a mixture of Sustrans and the CTC "quiet roads" routes. We took three weeks to do 1145 miles and stayed in B&Bs (so no camping kit), which should be easy enough for anybody reasonably fit.

100 miles a day with no kit to carry shouldn't be too bad. Good shorts and a decent hygiene regime could be more of a factor than basic fitness I'd say.

Not much. Just do a couple 80-100 mile rides to see how you fare at those distances/get used to eating.

Ask me in two weeks, leaving on the 3rd, 9 days unsupported B&B route

I've done it twice!

I did a 9-dayer last year (PM me if you'd like route GPS files) and confirm you'll be fine. Not clear if you're used to riding centuries - if not, do a couple beforehand, and ideally back-to-back long days at least once to get used to getting up knackered and doing it all over again 😉

Not done it but sounds like you'll be fine - as others have said, i'd do a few 100 mile rides in the weeks/months before, and maybe a weekend with 2 x 100 mile days.

Is this that Deloitte thing that everyone seems to training for at the moment?

In that case, they'll be loads of other riders to sit behind out of the wind 😉

Thanks guys, very encouraging.

If you're used to riding and have done a few longer rides/Sportives etc, you'll be fine. You kind of ride yourself into it. Third day you'll probably feel like shit but after that it gets easier and easier (assuming you don't overdo and and knacker your knee or pick up a saddle sore).

Shouldn't need to do any more. My only advice is use a bike you are used to, are comfortable on and don't change anything last minute.

Did it over 13days with Mrs MoN on a tandem. It's great fun. Devon and Cornwall are by far the hardest sections, so by the time you hit Somerset you'll be fit and the rest will feel easy in comparison... Presumably you are using main roads for a 9 day route? In which case that should help tame the south west for you anyway.

I didn't do any training, and do less general riding than you. I did it in 12 days unsupported, and didn't find it too taxing.

As others have said, you'll be fighting fit by the time you get out of Devon.

Did a JOGLE on less training than that in 9 days, unsupported. Had a great time but two of us had achilies tendonitis at day 4, probably due to lack of back to back long rides. Ibruprofen was our snack of choice for the other 5 days.
Ride, eat, sleep. wonderful.
Just dont ride up the A30 from lands end, we stayed on the north coast road, hilly but safer, and beautiful scenery.

If you're used to riding and have done a few longer rides/Sportives etc, you'll be fine. You kind of ride yourself into it. Third day you'll probably feel like shit but after that it gets easier and easier (assuming you don't overdo and and knacker your knee or pick up a saddle sore).

Pretty much nails it. It'll get 'easier' as you go along. With no big kit to carry 9 days isn't that difficult so long as you don't go mad in the first couple of days. I did it on an MTB with full kit in 10 days as a fifteen-year-old and with a lot less miles in my legs than you, so you should have no problems at all.

None. A mate of mine did it. I doubt he does 400 miles a year normally. He (we) did Sleepless two weeks later. I expected him to be a fitness god. He was completely unchanged.

Another mate who doesn't cycle at all did it. No problems. He was a handy enduro racer though, so fit. All 17 stone of him.

Edit... and my uncle did it in his 60s with a mate. His mate broke his arm in Cornwall excitedly pointing at a pub. Their support driver was a GP who splinted him up. They finished. They did do some training though, but only to do LEJOG. They weren't habitual cyclists.

How old are you Mr Woppit? I think you will do it no problem based on how much you ride now.
My Dad is 76 and starts his tomorrow although they are doing it over 3 weeks, approx 50 miles per day and a couple of rest days, go Dad 🙂

62, almost.

His mate broke his arm in Cornwall excitedly pointing at a pub.

😆 😆 😆

My Dad is 76 and starts his tomorrow although they are doing it over 3 weeks, approx 50 miles per day and a couple of rest days, go Dad

Good for him! I hope I can manage 50 miles a day when I'm 76.

Don't train, just do! Me and the Mrs did it on a tandem a few years back but with no support. You'll be fine and your fitness quickly increases.

It's gonna be worth doing a couple of days back to back at 100 miles just to get a feel for it.

Awesome Mr Woppit, go for it and let us know how you get on!

😥

Just had a look at the relevant website - too late to organise for this year - got to save a deposit of £300 and present minimum £3500 donations, in by the end of June.

Just have to hold my water until next year. I'll probably start a "Just Giving" page sometime in October...

Get down to Lands End tomorrow, be happy with 50 miles a day and I'll ask my Dad if there is room for one more 😉
They have support and probably a place as one guy dropped out as he has to have a triple heart bypass.

Why too late to organise Mr Woppit? If you fancy it, just go do it. It's a great experience. You don't necessarily have to do it as a charity thang. ....Although after the 100th person asks you what charity you're doing it for ...(and then looks at you like you're a bad person when you say you're just doing it for yourself) ..you might think differently.

I reckon at that level of commuting, you'll be fine

12 days for me to go from John O Groats to Lands End t'other year- self supporting on an old GT hardtail

It was harder than I reckoned because the weight of tent, sleeping bag, camping stove etc, slowed my average daily speed down a lot more than I'd anticipated - so ended up doing some very long days in the saddle.

Biggest issue for me was arse pain (mainly due to an SDG saddle) and wrist pain.

Starting from Lands End, in theory, but not guaranteed, means the wind will be kind of behind you. Downside is you will hit hills from day 1 and they are never ending down there. Other downside is you finish in John O Groats. The two nearest stations don't have regular trains like Penzance and the trains have limited bike carrying capacity, and lots of cyclists finishing their rides up there at similar times. One section of the Scottish train route won't allow you to reserve bike carriage in advance. I heard stories of people being stuck for 3 or 4 days up there and someone getting a hire car down to Inverness rather than wait. No such issues with Penzance due to volume of trains and entire journey back to MCR allows for bike reservations in advance

The other plus of starting from JoG is you are fairly fit for the Conwall Devon hills by the time you get there.

Downside of starting from JOG is the riding gets progressively less nice the further South you go. Cornwall/Devon you'll more than likely be on main roads with fast traffic around if you want to finish in under a fortnight roads. I took a detour thru Exmoor(B3223) to try and get away from them for a bit - and see the Exmoor National Park - which I was surprised to find fairly underwhelming. Any view in the Peak District, Lakes, Wales, Yorks, Scotland would make (what I saw of) Exmoor, instantly forgettable - nowt like eg Dartmoor or Bodmin Moor (apologies to anyone who's a fan of the place)

The riding down to ~ Garstang however is brilliant. Some of the scenery is just brilliant. If you are camping then you won't need to go all the way along the N coast of Scotand to the YHA at Tongue. Instead turn S a lot earlier and head down the Strathnaver valley (top tip from a local). This was probably the most spectacular bit of riding of the journey for me. Other impressive bits are the sections just N and S of Innerleithen. Pitlochry cycle path over Drumochter Pass. Eskdalemuir Forest down to Langholm - has a very "Canadian" feel to it.

I thought I would be a fitness god by the time I got back. Bizarrely, it just didn't work like that, as I discovered when I went out on the SS in the peaks a couple of days later 🙁

JOGLE for me had headwind all the way so LEJOG probably better way round.
996 miles
13 1/2 Days
17.5 Stone
Fitness before - 15 mile commute to work for 2 months 2 days a week.
Longest ride before I started 30 miles.
1st day 56 miles
2nd Day 78 Miles
3rd Day 90
4th Day 105
etc...

Just do it, you might as well, raise some money, i did it as a second thought and raised £3,000 for local disabled kids, they did the fund raising all i did was cycle and appear in a photo for the paper. Sometimes they need a crazy person to pin campaign to and get local press.