CYCLELEJOG - LEJOG Planning & Tips

LAND'S END - JOHN O'GROATS

GEORGE'S LEJOG PROGRESS : FINISHED!! 8pm 9th June 2007

Why LEJOG?

It first took my fancy a few years ago when I was browsing through the Bike Events magazine. I’ve always liked long distance running and enjoy doing long grueling events like the marathon so the thought of cycling the best part of 900 miles attracted me in some strange mental way.

My Cycling Experience ...

Virtually none!!! Before this event I only ever trained for the annual Manchester to Blackpool cycle ride – a total of 60 miles. My “training” consisted of a weekend ride starting at about 20 miles and building up to about 50 – over a period of 3 months, other than that I rarely used my bike.

And when it came to maintaining my bike if anything was to go wrong – I, erm...knew how to fix a puncture!!

PLANNING FOR LEJOG

Which way to go?

As a novice I assumed that everyone went top to bottom – JOGLE – but after doing lots of research on the internet I soon realised that everyone does it the other way round – hence LEJOG. The main argument for this seems to be based on the prevailing winds which tend to be blowing from the west or southwest so, hopefully, you get blown up the country – we’ll see!!

Some friends, who originally planned on doing the event with me, talked me into doing it in 8 days – averaging 110 miles per day – so that’s what I planned to do.

Our actual route is published elsewhere on this site but in essence we stuck to the traditional west side route.

Where To Stay?

Staying in hotels can be expensive (for me) so we decided to join the Youth Hostel association (YHA) and the Scottish YHA. We booked Lands End several weeks before the event but even then we got the very last room. About two weeks before the event we planned where we would stop each night and started ringing the Youth Hostels but most of them were already full!

Lesson 1 – Book YHA and SYHA accommodation well in advance!

We then resorted to Travel Lodges. Travel Lodges allow 3 adults per room whereas Travel Inns only allow a maximum of 2. The other good thing about Travel Lodges is that often they have special offers (especially on midweek rooms) which can sometimes beat the prices at Youth Hostels! The remainder of our accommodation (in Scotland ) was reasonably priced Bed and Breakfasts.

Bike and Equipment

I’m not a bike anorak in any way so I won’t be going into full technical details but I paid a whole £270 for my Carrera Valour!!! It has two wheels – one at the front and one at the back. A few weeks before the event I got it fully serviced – new brake blocks and cables. New chain and block plus 2 new tyres lined with Kevlar^®. I then made a list of all the spare parts and tools I would need on the journey – just in case!

My list comprised:-

· Front and rear wheel

· Tyre

· Inner Tubes (6)

· Chain

· Chain Breaker

· Allan Keys

· Strong Tyre Levers

· Track Pump

· Screwdrivers

· Wrenches

· Puncture Repair Kit

TRAINING FOR LEJOG

As I mentioned earlier, I hardly used my bike prior to this event so it was difficult to know how much training to do. I am fairly fit through lots of running, circuit training and spinning but as we all know a different sport uses different muscle groups.

I researched it on the internet but didn’t find anything useful to be honest. So I resorted to what I know which is how to train for long distance running – I have done the London Marathon twice – and decided to build up gradually, peaking in terms of distance one week before the event. I started cycling to work 4 days a week which is a round trip of 24 miles – the 5^th day was my SRD (shirt replenishment day). Gradually over a period of 3 months I extended my route to/from work so that I was regularly doing 50 miles per day.

On weekends I started with 50 mile routes then gradually increased the distance to over 100 miles per day – trying to do long rides 2 days in succession. I also included some hill training, which is important for Cornwall and the Highlands!

LEJOG TIPS

If you intend to join the Cyclists Touring Club (CTC) do this before joining the Youth Hostel Association (YHA) as CTC members get a discount on the YHA joining fee.

Membership of the CTC gives you “free” third party insurance in case you are involved in an accident. It also provides other benefits including loads of useful information for a LEJOG journey as well as a competitively priced online shop.

Book YHA and SYHA accommodation well in advance!

Purchase lots of warm cycling clothes if you intend to train during the winter months – thermal gloves, waterproof jacket, overshoes, leg and arm warmers are all invaluable.

USEFUL LINKS