Anyone done LeJog on here?
Might be doing it in June actually.
not yet . . . . .
Have hopes (dreams?) of doing it May.
Just after some route advice..
Best mate and I are doing it in April on our Bromptons (yes I know why do it on the kids bikes). Did the c2c on them so thought we best do LeJog on them as well
....
Yup, did it in May. What sort of route advice?
Join the Cycle touring Club, they have several routes.
already in CTC and my best mate has plotted a route using bike toaster..
looking or general main road avoidance routes in Cornwall / Devon.
plus any general handy tips/advice.
There aren't many roads in Cornwall-Devon so you tend to end up on the A30 to Penzance. There is a bit of dual carriageway that's rubbish, then you can cut North on smaller roads and follow the coast. Nothing really stands out, it was very uppy-downy though.
General advice - if you are using GPSs, examine the town centres carefully. Lots of them have one way systems that can be very confusing when your route doesn't take account of this. It took us 4 laps to get out of Kendal. And Lancaster has one way bridges.
How long are you taking? Ours was a fairly quick ride with a support crew, so my advice would be different to someone who carried their own stuff or was slightly more leisurely.
Planned for 8 days with minimal luggage... ;-( I was hoping to take longer, but my best mate insists it will be fine.
still trying to get him to consider more/lower gears on our 2 speeds...
cornwall and devon looks like lots of up/down in a bad way!
will post our route up
We did 8 days too, on road bikes with no luggage - it was tough, the repeated days just wear you down. Take lots of warm clothes, ours was mid-May and freezing, which didn't help our knees (despite wearing leg warmers and tights).
Take things easy the first few days and you'll finish stronger.
I blogged the trip - the LEJOG bit starts [url= http://dislocatedmtb.blogspot.com/2010/05/itinerary.html ]here[/url]
yep see what you mean about A30 - hard to avoid
Route:
Day1 to day 8
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=194914
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=194934
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=194932
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=194555
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=194936
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=194939
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=194941
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=194944
ps Biketoaster is a great tool - very useful
works out to be 860ish miles
We went further North on day 1. Route was roughly Penzance, Hayle, Gwithian, Portreath, little roads to A3075, then towards Newquay, A392, A39 to Wadebridge, Camelford, Holsworthy, Great Torrington.
I can send you the .kml if you like.
Our total was 959 miles - we tried to avoid major roads where possible.
I was intending to do it this year, but my excursion down into the darkest depths of England for the SSEC put me off ever venturing onto English roads on a bike. You lot are braver than me 🙂
I'm going to try to do something of similar mileage (1,000) in Scotland in 2011, and if I can keep it in the highlands so much the better 🙂
epicyclo - Scotland was easily the riding highlight of LEJOG!
Did it for my 40th a couple of years ago. Fully loaded camping. Weather was shit with lots of heavy rain but we had a tail wind most days. Took 10.5 days in all. We did the a30 because we had a cracking tail wind that day so made the most of it. When I do it again I will take more time and see the sights/enjoy it. 8 days will be a slog. The hardest bit is sorting transport to and from the start/end. We hired a van one way to le then was picked up at t'other end.
Did JOGLE a couple of years ago and live in Devon. Definitely avoid the A30, horrible road and busy in the summer. We rode along the north coast from Newquay all the way to Penzance, very hilly but great scenery. I often ride to Cornwall from Exeter and have been over dartmoor and Bodmin moor and also up through mid devon-okehampton, holsworthy way. We did it in 8 days staying in YHA then family in the south. Best ride ever.
yer had thought about doing in North to South, but we thought it best to get the most climbing (cornwall and devon( out of the first).
We are booked to do it at the end of April around wingnut jr and ms middleton's wedding
Hi beej, yer if you could send me the kml for your day 1 that would be most useful. Email is in my profile.
Ta
Si
Did it a couple of years ago over 14 days.
Went north to south because I really didn't want to end up knackered in JOG.
Blog here [url= http://www.spokeshirts.co.uk/blog/Al_Mel_s_JOGLE_2009(4).pdf ]blog[/url]
Best laugh I've ever had on a bike.
Did LeJog in Sept 2009. We tried to avoid all main roads taking scenic routes where possible. Up over Exmoor (South Molton) there were some monster climbs and some cracing descents such as the one down into Dunster (maxed out at 55mph).
As one or two have said, take the first few days easy, do plenty of mileage training before hand so you can string together at least three days at 90 miles a day.
We used Torque products and I can recommend them particularly the recovery drink. Give your legs a really good massage as soon after your after ride bath/shower, it may hurt a bit but it should guarantee no next morning soreness.
Mechanically if you are using weird size wheels or unusual spokes make sure you take a good supply of spokes (my two riding buddies ended up using my spare wheels on more than one occasion each).
Beware that the last days mileage contains two nasty leg burners at Helmdale and Berrydale.
Would jump at the chance to do it again 😀
My take on it [url= http://www.phased.co.uk/index.php/lands-end-john-ogroats.html ]here[/url]
I'm going for it again in September as a credit card tour
Rootes
Did it in 2008 in 8 days (one was only a half day Edinburger to Dundee)
Went on my own with pre-booked Hostels and B+Bs .
I posted changes of gear and spare energy stuff ahead,so I used my light road bike http://tinyurl.com/2vnru7n
It was South to North ,not just cause I is from teh North ,but (as you may have read),there is a chance of the wind going that way.
It came true on my trip,tailwinds all the way 😯
I went ...
Lands end - Crediton
Crediton - Ledbury
Ledbury - Widnes
Widnes - Penrith
Penrith - Edinburgh
Edinburgh - Dundee
Dundee - Inverness
Inverness - John o Groats 958 miles
I used maps (from interweb routes) and bits of paper stuck to the bars with the key places to head for each day.
This caused two major getting lost moments ,one in Cornwall ,where all roads end up down a hill to the sea.Then the worst one, trying to find my way out of Widnes at rush hour.
My only tip would be ,get on the road early every day and enjoy all the brilliant bits that make up our daft wee island.
One of the best things I have done on a bike 😀
Well did it!
8 days 876miles on the Bromptons (2 speed derailleur with a manual shift fanny ring chainset) carrying our own stuff (used B&Bs) and without a van/car following us..
Start - 22nd April 2011
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Finish - 29th April 2011
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Garmin Edge GPS was a massive help! just follow the line 😉
Well done,excellent effort on clown bikes 😉 🙂
Did you get good weather/tailwinds?
Did you get good weather/tailwinds?
Pretty lucky with the weather - dry in general (few spots of rain near Inverness) couple of hots days and mostly side winds - one day of tail wind (Stoke to Tebay helpful as it was 123miles that day) - had a head wind on the last day up to John O'Groats but not that strong and was a short 70miles that day..
cornwall and devon def harder days than further north - def more climbing
on bromptons!? not as mental as the guy who did it on a chopper but on the way..!
me, i'm with epicyclo. i keep looking at it but the notion of cycling down in englandshire just puts me off, esp the bit in the middle. in the meantime i'm having nice scotlandish road circuits around the coast.
on bromptons!? not as mental as the guy who did it on a chopper but on the way..!
true he towed a trailer as well! though took twice as long to do it as we did - but he is also knocking on 60.. so will let him off 😉
madness one we thought was 9 days on a unicycle!
Nice work. I gather you met my brother and his mate both in Wigan and at the end, who were a bit shocked that you were doing it in the same number of days as them on racers but on Bromptons!
i see your nine days and raise you 6 days 8 hours on unicycles
not by me i hasten to add:
[url= http://www.redwelly.co.uk/end2end/wordpress/ ]lejog by unicycle[/url]
that chap also holds to record for distance covered on a unicycle in 24hr: over 450km...
ahhhh i've got it, i was thinking it was some French running challenge 😳
I was thinking of giving it a go this summer but I don't think I'll be able to manage the ~80 miles a day for more than a couple of days in a row (if that). Is Coast to Coast a better introduction to touring?
I'm starting it next Saturday! LEJOG way up. Feeling a little apprehensive, taking 14 days between Youf Hostels. Wish me luck 😀
Have fun Tgirl,you will be fine 😉
Just remember early starts ,then you can have more cake stops 🙂
Just starting to plan out a round Scotland ride for next year.(1700 ish miles) 😯
Did it in in 2008.
10 days 953 miles, but it really is do-able in 7 or 8 days.
We went via the Lizard in Cornwall to do the southern most mainland point in UK as well and then finished off with Dunnet Head for furthest point North.
I would recommend going through the Peak district, Yorkshire Dales and across the Pennines, its very tough but the views are so spectacular, and its that experience that counts. Much better than scooting between the Lakes and the Peaks which may be easier but is more industrial and dual carriageway. After all you will probably only ever do it once.
Onc you get into Scotland we found it gets easier as the roads tend to wind round the big hills rather than going straight over them, thats where I reckon we could have easily taken 2 days off the time.
If you are doing the B and B thing, make sure they have baths if possible, as it makes all the difference at the end of a hard day.
Try to avoid the A30 out of Cornwall if you can, its probably the most dangerous part of the ride, I remember riding it in the pouring rain, right on the edge of the big rain gulleys in the side of the road dodging discarded tyres,bits of lorry exhausts and roadkill. I believe there is a much quieter option which is the old dual carriageway out of Cornwall, which runs pretty much parallel with the A30.
Good luck!!
I believe there is a much quieter option which is the old dual carriageway out of Cornwall, which runs pretty much parallel with the A30.
I have a backroads route out of Cornwall if anyone is interested, it avoids the main roads completely..but it is a tad hilly.
Good effort doing it on your Bromptons.
Every time I read this thread I get the urge to do it again. Well done on doing it on your limited geared Bromptons. just out of interest did you break any spokes?
Top effort ,A favourite of mine over the years,Google- lejog very nice people, for an unusual and warming blog on the kindness of others.
