LEJOG - challenge met....

"Ian" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi all

Just a quick post to say I completed Lands End to John O'Groats last
weekend. 1001 miles of effort over 13 days (plus a rest day). Lots of
highs and lows, and I think I can safely say I don't want to cycle Braemar
to Carrbridge again.

I've put together a small website to immortalise the trip....
http://members.lycos.co.uk/iwe2e/

Suggestions for improvements are welcomed (still working on making it look
better when viewed with Mozilla).

Ian.

Great report - we did the JOGLE in June this year and probably had much the
same sort of feelings as you did on a number of occasions and situations -
read the whole story at www.beewee.co.uk and the obvious link.

Rob (& Joe)

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Hi all

Just a quick post to say I completed Lands End to John O'Groats last
weekend. 1001 miles of effort over 13 days (plus a rest day). Lots of
highs and lows, and I think I can safely say I don't want to cycle
Braemar to Carrbridge again.

I've put together a small website to immortalise the trip....
http://members.lycos.co.uk/iwe2e/

Suggestions for improvements are welcomed (still working on making it
look better when viewed with Mozilla).

Ian.

Great read .... way to go .... inspiring .... one day .... sigh ....

Quoted message said:

Suggestions for improvements are welcomed (still working on making it
look better when viewed with Mozilla).

Looks fine through Firefox. Nice site. You must be fit, 90+ mile days! I
agree with your sentiments about the lack of appeal of John O'Groats. My
late father in law would have discribed it as a 'busy little dump'

Chapeau

Vernon

Quoted message said:

Great read .... way to go .... inspiring .... one day .... sigh ....

Wrong attitude mOrk!

I am as heavy if not heavier than you and have completed LEJOG this year.
It's just a matter of committing yourself to incremental steps of fitness
improvement. If I had to wait 'til my weight was 'reasonable', whatever
perameters one choses as reasonable, I'd still be waiting to make a start
:-)

Two and a half to three years ago I had great problems walking to the end of
my street without getting breathless. A raft of tentative diagnoses were
made by the medical profession ranging from heart failure (i had severe
water retention too), through post-viral fatigue <I'd had severe flue
several months earlier> to 'I'm buggered if I know but well do lots of tests
until we find out'. When I first took up cycling the thought of cycling
along the 15 mile Selby to York cycle path filled me with fear and
apprehension.- It was an impossible dream - now I cycle to Selby from Leeds,
do the cycle rout to York and then ride home to Leeds without batting an
eyelid. Never got a firm dignosis of the problem(s) no medical intervention
too place but whatever it was, I'm apparently cured...it's a miracle <grin>

Within six months of taking up cycling again I'd cycled the C2C route...not
always easy and a lot dismounting to push
I was cycling from Leeds to Darlington, 55 miles within a year yet was
frightened of taking on Audaxes.
Last year I did 550 miles of LEJOG before bailing out
This year I progressed through 100km, 150km and 200km Audaxes before doing
the W2W coast to coast ride before completing LEJOG in August.
I still have my moments, I bailed out of a 100km Audax this month the
failure was more to do with mind set rather than fitness.

Go for it. It would be great if you could persuade your partner to take up
cycling with you but there's plenty of opportunities to find riding partners
through local cycling clubs and the District Associations of the CTC.

Don't forget to get to Aldi this Thursday for their winter cycling gear.
The jackets have always fitted but there's no hope for their trousers
fitting me unless industrial scale liposuction is performed on me. The
gloves work well. Get a couple of pairs, you can make wearing out the first
pair a primary target for the winter :-)

C'mon you're missing some lovely cycling weather with your prevarication :-)

Vernon

in message <[email hidden]>, Ian

(') said:

Hi all

Just a quick post to say I completed Lands End to John O'Groats last
weekend. 1001 miles of effort over 13 days (plus a rest day). Lots of
highs and lows, and I think I can safely say I don't want to cycle
Braemar to Carrbridge again.

I've put together a small website to immortalise the trip....
http://members.lycos.co.uk/iwe2e/

Suggestions for improvements are welcomed (still working on making it
look better when viewed with Mozilla).

Wow. A thousand miles on flat bars. My wrists ache just thinking about
it... Good for you. That's some run.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; Want to know what SCO stands for?
;; http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030605

"Ian" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi all

Just a quick post to say I completed Lands End to John O'Groats last
weekend. 1001 miles of effort over 13 days (plus a rest day). Lots of
highs and lows, and I think I can safely say I don't want to cycle Braemar
to Carrbridge again.

Great site, good read. I'm toying with the idea, but half hearted thoughts
really. My idea was to do it quickly with support. However looking at your
site and other ones, I think I should just consider running light and stay
at YHA's etc. and possibly making it a few days longer. I did a 70 miler
yesterday and was feeling the effects of that today. However I did that on
one breakfast bar and one coffee with sugar. Not exactly best eating for
energy regime. I also had to push the last 20 miles to get back on time. (I
think the extra excersion there was where I felt it.). I also think I may go
and do it by myself too.

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden]
says...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Great read .... way to go .... inspiring .... one day .... sigh ....

Wrong attitude mOrk!

I am as heavy if not heavier than you and have completed LEJOG this year.
It's just a matter of committing yourself to incremental steps of fitness
improvement. If I had to wait 'til my weight was 'reasonable', whatever
perameters one choses as reasonable, I'd still be waiting to make a start
:-)

Two and a half to three years ago I had great problems walking to the endof
my street without getting breathless. A raft of tentative diagnoses were
made by the medical profession ranging from heart failure (i had severe
water retention too), through post-viral fatigue <I'd had severe flue
several months earlier> to 'I'm buggered if I know but well do lots of tests
until we find out'. When I first took up cycling the thought of cycling
along the 15 mile Selby to York cycle path filled me with fear and
apprehension.- It was an impossible dream - now I cycle to Selby from Leeds,
do the cycle rout to York and then ride home to Leeds without batting an
eyelid. Never got a firm dignosis of the problem(s) no medical intervention
too place but whatever it was, I'm apparently cured...it's a miracle <grin>

Within six months of taking up cycling again I'd cycled the C2C route...not
always easy and a lot dismounting to push
I was cycling from Leeds to Darlington, 55 miles within a year yet was
frightened of taking on Audaxes.
Last year I did 550 miles of LEJOG before bailing out
This year I progressed through 100km, 150km and 200km Audaxes before doing
the W2W coast to coast ride before completing LEJOG in August.
I still have my moments, I bailed out of a 100km Audax this month the
failure was more to do with mind set rather than fitness.

Go for it. It would be great if you could persuade your partner to take up
cycling with you but there's plenty of opportunities to find riding partners
through local cycling clubs and the District Associations of the CTC.

Don't forget to get to Aldi this Thursday for their winter cycling gear.
The jackets have always fitted but there's no hope for their trousers
fitting me unless industrial scale liposuction is performed on me. The
gloves work well. Get a couple of pairs, you can make wearing out the first
pair a primary target for the winter :-)

C'mon you're missing some lovely cycling weather with your prevarication :-)

Vernon

She wont cycle at all, ever - I tried before, I tried more recently -
swimming is about the extent of sport she will become involved in.

I admire your conviction and resolve to getting yourself sorted, thats
just what ive started recently, started eating more healthy and some
walking and swimming - lost over 1 stone so far in the last month ...
but cycling is my preferred sport and the sort of riding I want to get
back to is just the sort you've managed .....

...... but I wouldnt go as far to say I am prevaricating .... certainly
procrastinating though. 😉

I was at swimming at 8am this morning so its not that I am avoiding the
exercise ...

I am having to negotiate the finer points of budget constraint to not
cause internal conflict with wife2b (mainly down to heard it all before,
cried wolf syndrome) and whilst this is going on I have managed to
finally decide on a dawes horizon model, found a supplier who happens to
be the cheapest ive found on the .net who also happens to have a local
branch close to my work place. Ive enquired on the availability and
patiently wait until they get to work tomorrow to answer me.

So, hopefully i'll be sorted out soon enough and will be out and about
building up the legs.

I know if I spent another £150 I could get the next rung up the ladder
for bikes but id rather that go towards the wedding and keeping wife2b
happy for the moment. Especially as once the wedding and associated
costs are out of the way that means budget constraints are mostly
removed and i'll just have to have a look at those thorn custom jobbies
and keep my horizon as my hack bike ... you see, less now means more
later, some method to my madness at least ;o)

RG said:

"Ian" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi all

Just a quick post to say I completed Lands End to John O'Groats last
weekend. 1001 miles of effort over 13 days (plus a rest day). Lots of
highs and lows, and I think I can safely say I don't want to cycle Braemar
to Carrbridge again.

ahhh but the Carrbridge Hostel... A good way to end a hard day..

(best if you like cats)

Well done...

Richard Webb

in message <[email hidden]>, RG

(') said:

"Ian" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi all

Just a quick post to say I completed Lands End to John O'Groats last
weekend. 1001 miles of effort over 13 days (plus a rest day). Lots of
highs and lows, and I think I can safely say I don't want to cycle
Braemar to Carrbridge again.

I've put together a small website to immortalise the trip....
http://members.lycos.co.uk/iwe2e/

Suggestions for improvements are welcomed (still working on making it
look better when viewed with Mozilla).

Ian.

Great report - we did the JOGLE in June this year

Woah! I cycled the A74 from Gretna down to Carlisle when I did Lockerbie
to Cheltenham.... but that was in 1973 when the traffic was, errm,
somewhat lighter. It was a terrifying bit of road then! Much respect to
you for daring it now.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
There's nae Gods, an there's precious few heroes
but there's plenty on the dole in th Land o th Leal;
And it's time now, tae sweep the future clear o
th lies o a past that we know wis never real.

Ian said:

I've put together a small website to immortalise the trip....

Goood site Ian It brought back some memories of my E2E a few years ago.
There's nothing like the feeling when you start out from Lands End with
a 1000 mile of road ahead. Or When you arrive in a village and find
the hostel is always at the top of the hill. I went from Chester to
Slaidburn via the Wirral, Mersey ferry, and Liverpool which avoided
much of the midlands urban sprawl. Slaidburn and the other small
hostels were the best to stay in. Well worth the detours sometimes
involved to get to the likes of Cross Fell (now closed I think) and
Wanlockhead.
Iain

Simon Brooke said:

Woah! I cycled the A74 from Gretna down to Carlisle when I did Lockerbie
to Cheltenham.... but that was in 1973 when the traffic was, errm,
somewhat lighter. It was a terrifying bit of road then! Much respect to
you for daring it now.

Erm ... I didn't. I took the A7 to Longtown and the A60671 to Gretna.
Having driven the A74 many times there was absolutely no way I was going
anywhere near it on a bike. The phrase "suicidal" springs to mind.

Ian.

Simon Brooke said:

Wow. A thousand miles on flat bars. My wrists ache just thinking about
it... Good for you. That's some run.

Thanks.

It's not very clear from the photos, but I used a little pair of Smica
bar ends which gave me a couple of extra hand positions. I did
occasionally suffer from slight numbness at the tips of my fingers at
the end of the day - maybe better gloves would have helped.

Ian

Quoted message said:

Slaidburn and the other small hostels were the best to stay in.

I agree, the big hostels in Chester and Exeter were very impersonal -
the staff don't have time to chat (or don't want to). By contrast
Slaidburn and Leominster were excellent - not to busy, and the wardens
really made a big difference to the atmosphere.

Ian

Ian said:

Simon Brooke said:

Woah! I cycled the A74 from Gretna down to Carlisle when I did Lockerbie
to Cheltenham.... but that was in 1973 when the traffic was, errm,
somewhat lighter. It was a terrifying bit of road then! Much respect to
you for daring it now.

Erm ... I didn't. I took the A7 to Longtown and the A60671 to Gretna.
Having driven the A74 many times there was absolutely no way I was going
anywhere near it on a bike. The phrase "suicidal" springs to mind.

We did the same, but the road to Longtown was the first time that I came
across a complete drain cover missing, and luckily saw it at the last minute.
Lethal :-(

On the plus side there was a great roadside caff with blackpud and
sausage rolls which we muchly enjoyed for second breakfast :-)

John B

Ian said:

Quoted message said:

Slaidburn and the other small hostels were the best to stay in.

I agree, the big hostels in Chester and Exeter were very impersonal -
the staff don't have time to chat (or don't want to).

Who wants to stay and chat to the staff at Exeter, when just across the
river the Double Locks beckons ;-)

John B

"Ian" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Simon Brooke said:

Woah! I cycled the A74 from Gretna down to Carlisle when I did Lockerbie
to Cheltenham.... but that was in 1973 when the traffic was, errm,
somewhat lighter. It was a terrifying bit of road then! Much respect to
you for daring it now.

Erm ... I didn't. I took the A7 to Longtown and the A60671 to Gretna.
Having driven the A74 many times there was absolutely no way I was going
anywhere near it on a bike. The phrase "suicidal" springs to mind.

Ian.

Our "plan" took us from Gretna towards Longtown and then Carlisle - however,
it was a nice day and we had to meet someone at Carlisle Station so we went
for it. Have to say that other than about 400 yards on a bridge there was
an ample hard shoulder to ride well away from the traffic (I was comfortable
but Joe was a little more apprehensive).

(The guy at the B&B in Lockerbie did try and explain a route that left
Gretna towards Longtown and then used very narrow lanes to cross the A74 and
the river at Metal Bridge and thence to Carlisle on back roads ... as we
didn't have the complete OS for the area and he was a bit vague about some
of the "wee roads" we declined!)

Having said that - the A30 just outside Redruth was way worse.

Rob

"JohnB" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Ian said:

Quoted message said:

Slaidburn and the other small hostels were the best to stay in.

I agree, the big hostels in Chester and Exeter were very impersonal -
the staff don't have time to chat (or don't want to).

Who wants to stay and chat to the staff at Exeter, when just across the
river the Double Locks beckons ;-)

Is the Bridge too far?

cheers,
clive

Clive George said:

"JohnB" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Who wants to stay and chat to the staff at Exeter, when just across the
river the Double Locks beckons ;-)

Is the Bridge too far?

Normally, its *never* too far :-)

But after a hard day crossing Dartmoor perhaps :-(

John B

RG said:

"Ian" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Simon Brooke said:

Woah! I cycled the A74 from Gretna down to Carlisle when I did Lockerbie
to Cheltenham.... but that was in 1973 when the traffic was, errm,
somewhat lighter. It was a terrifying bit of road then! Much respect to
you for daring it now.

Erm ... I didn't. I took the A7 to Longtown and the A60671 to Gretna.
Having driven the A74 many times there was absolutely no way I was going
anywhere near it on a bike. The phrase "suicidal" springs to mind.

Ian.

Our "plan" took us from Gretna towards Longtown and then Carlisle - however,
it was a nice day and we had to meet someone at Carlisle Station so we went
for it. Have to say that other than about 400 yards on a bridge there was
an ample hard shoulder to ride well away from the traffic (I was comfortable
but Joe was a little more apprehensive).

(The guy at the B&B in Lockerbie did try and explain a route that left
Gretna towards Longtown and then used very narrow lanes to cross the A74 and
the river at Metal Bridge and thence to Carlisle on back roads ... as we
didn't have the complete OS for the area and he was a bit vague about some
of the "wee roads" we declined!)

Having said that - the A30 just outside Redruth was way worse.

Rob

Phew. That bridge on the A74 was *definitely* the most scary bit of my
LEJOG. The HGV following me across it was most considerate - but I had
to take drink when I stopped at Gretna for my overnight!
I avoided the A30 until Indian Queens (I picked up an excellent tip
about the B3275 from this group during the research phase) but I was
pleasantly surprised by the wide shoulder along long stretches.

Pete
--
mono<losethis>treme@ntl<andthis>world.com