LEJOG08

There are various ways to view the ride photos:

album view
map view
slideshow
view in google earth

Thankfully GeoSetter and our trusty Garmin GPS gadgets take the pain out of tagging the photos to the place they were taken.

Rain and Wind on and off during the last day.
This is what it was like 3 miles from John O'Groats

And so it's all over.

Thanks again to the many helpers I said thanks to along the way. Thanks to Mark for the idea and organisation. Thanks to Garmin for the almost limitless entertainment, which kept team morale high. And continued thanks to my mother and my father for teaching me the immense value of chasing silly dreams.

When life offers a challenge, don't ask yourself if you can make it to John O'Groats, just ask if you can make it a mile. And keep asking until you get there.

Ian

Tick. (to be continued...)

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All done. Wet, hungry, tired and happy.
More photos etc to follow in the next few days.
Thanks again for all the accomodation, lifts (to and from start and finish only), and well wishes.

Last food stop! 30 miles to go. Been hit by heavy rain, and winds trying to blow us into the North Sea. Sun out again now. Passed 4 other groups heading the same way, made us go that little bit faster...

First 30 miles done. Pretty good so far. Roads smooth and flat, and amazingly the wind has been behind us at times. First time that's happened... Taking 10 miles at a time, and hoping therain misses us. All in good spirits here and looking forward to some Champagne at the finish!

After just surviving yesterday we awoke to similar weather this morning. Cold, windy, and showers all around. Time to press on to the finish today at our new really slow pace. Hopefully it,s John O'Groats before dark (about midnight up here!)

If we ignore the pain and cold and rain and wind and dirt track and A9 and Inverness and thirteen and a half hours sat on a 4 inch seat... if we ignore all that... then today was a good day. (Boy I'm wordy today... Zzzzz)

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I've always said cycle paths are useless! This is just gravel....

Off the A9 and onto more sheltered, quieter roads. The fun has returned...

Cold, windy, cold, windy,sore, we hurt.
A long way to go today and we're getting nowhere fast.
Scenery nice , but I can't see it for the ice on my glasses.

In Scotland in June, at 7am, it's still winter! brrr

< no signal >

Ian can't send a summary today as he has no phone signal, and he's asleep.

That little blob man moving slowly up the middle of nowhere is feeling very hungry, and we've just had a snack of 2 rolls each, lovely chocolate cake, a couple of cereal bars and some peanuts. We've uncovered a new force driving us on to reach the end of each day... More food!

Weather awesome again! Finally found the Bridge after a little gps madness We've just spent far too long taking photos of the rail bridge as it's so nice out here.
Short day today, only about 95 miles and we've done 10 by half eight. Happy days.

Mostly warm with icy patches

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Mostly warm with icy patches

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We keep meaning to sit down in the evenings and write down the funny things that have happened during the days. Unfortunately we're too tired / lazy, and most wouldn't be nearly as funny as when told in person. So I'm sure we'll be happy to bore anyone interested in listening when we get back.
As a reminder so we don't forget:
Chain issues within sight on Lands End. Super fast slick tyres, Old Woman running us over, Squirrels, hitting and warnings. Kenny Herriot, UK's Wheelchair Marathon record holder. GPS telling Ian to cycle across the river Severn. GPS telling us all to cycle 350miles to avoid crossing the Severn Bridge. Rich cycling more than 5 miles without needing the toilet. Man cycling Lands End to John O'Groats with all the things we forgot. Casualty signs, Finding Bike shops, Shortcuts down embankments, Roads in Liverpool, awful and glass! Dirt! Tibet

Some photos from the evening of Day2, and the last three days.

Many thanks to all those who've put us up along the way, commented on the blog, and wished us well. I had a check tonight and 80 different people viewed the website yesterday. Apparently watching a little blob move up the country is more interesting than work....

LEJOG08-Day2 to 5

The first drops of rain hit us a we took a photo at the Welcome to Scotland sign!!!
Typical...

A couple of very heavy showers hit us on the way through the Borders and into Scotland.
Was a little chilly heading down a hill side into it but otherwise there weren't any grumbles.

Forecast looks good for the rest of the trip, so hopefully there's no stopping us now.

We made it to Scotland!
Several hours ago now, but somehow the blog post didn't appear.
Pete: Shame as we took a photo at the sign especially for you, so you and the rest of MQ could get on with some work and stop waiting in anticipation.
Chris: We waved at 10am this morning, did you see us?

It's 10 am, we've cycled 30 and have 90 to go. There was only thing for it. Meat Pies, Mmm

Quick 30 miles out through the Lake District this morning. Scenery terrific, road surface horrible. The forecast rain has held off so far and the wind has eased, so we're all pleased with that.
Ian's knees and one of Rich's are playing up a bit on the hills, but otherwise we're in pretty good shape. Tans coming on nicely too, though very patchy!
No caption comp yesterday as Rich had no punctures.

I am 50 percent broken and the ride is half done. I couldn't have planned it more perfectly! Zzzzz

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Slow and steady through the winds today. Up from Liverpool to Preston then a dash through to Windermere. 25 more miles of ups and downs and it's another day done... Can't believe we're so far North!

Catching the 7.40 Ferry across the Mersey. A little overcast and very windy today so it could be a tough old ride into the Lake District.

Lots of miles. Lots and lots of miles. Zzzzz

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Lots of miles. Lots and lots of miles. Zzzzz

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Lots of miles. Lots and lots of miles. Zzzzz

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LONG DAY, MOSTLY SPENT LOOKING FOR A BIKE SHOP, HITTING SQUIRRELS, CLIMBING DOWN EMBANKMENTS, AND SAYING 'IT'S REALLY HOT HERE'
20 TO GO NOW.
tHEN I CAN TRY AND TURN CAPS LOCK OFF, SHOWER, EAT AND SLEEP

The tyre change yesterday didn't last very long. Rich leading puncture count on 2, Ian with 1 and Mark with 0. Mark leading the Chain snapping count with 1 yesterday. Chain fixed and remarkably the gears are working better than before.
We're all missing work, so there will be a 'tyre' Quality meeting at 2pm in a field in Herefordshire. We'll be trying to understand the route cause of the failures and how the damage was injected. We won't be apportioning any blame, except to Ian for buying super light super thin racing tyres.... He has agreed to cycle the next 50 miles standing up as punishment ( though this may also have something to do with not being able to sit down anymore)

Squirrel head buts my back wheel shocker.. Both bike and squirrel are fine. Not sure why it took offence to me.

It's still sunny! Hopefully will stay like this all the way to Liverpool

It's still sunny! Hopefully will stay like this all the way to Liverpool

Yesterday was very very hilly. Zzzzz

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Lands End to John O'Groats 2008

Late lunch today on Severn beach, with a great view of the new bridge behind. Been pretty flat across Somerset so far, still nice and hot too. Only incidents of note was Rich getting a puncture and the gps units getting very confused and taking a liking to the M5.

Rest stop in bridgewater. Approx 3 hours and 45 miles from Dog Village and it' time to eat the excellent rock cakes we were given when we leftthe B&B. Incidentally we didn't even have to pay for our nights accomodation!

Looking good. No not us, the weather. Blue sk and no wind again. Hopefully it will stay like that.
Ros, our nice B&B lady washed our clothes last night so we'll be setting off at 7 ( the tracking websitge seems tgo be out by an hour!) heading up to Burnham on Sea. Passing Brent Knoll where I used to roll Easter eggs as a child, then over the Avonmouth and Severn Bridges and into Wales. Hopefully getting to Ian's Aunt's house near Hereford this afternoon.

Lots of hills. Lots and lots of hills. Zzzzz

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Batteries dying, gps stopped sending, but we're fine. Should get to exeter in another hour or two. Lots of hills today, been cool (other two don't agree!)

Great morning so far, weather amazing, a few minor incidents to report on.
Mark almost being hit by an old lady in a VW, and a minute ago Ian's tyre shredded. Thankfully we were 1 mile from a bike shop so new ones bought and tyre fixed. Ready to roll again shortly.
40 miles down, 90 to go till the pub/ home for the night.

P.s. To Clare, Rich says he won't be home for dinner tonight.

We've started!

We're at Lands End! The trip down was painless, uneventful, and fairly quiet as the hangovers slowly subsided.

B&B is great, and we've met three other groups all starting out towards J O G tomorrow. Taking 10, 14, 17 days respectively. Sitting here sharing a bottle of champagne we still think it's going to be remarkably easy. Some may say
Blind optimism.

Dinner was some dry and rubbery Fish and chips. This completed todays primary object of carb loading. Between us today we've eaten
6 sausages, 3 bowls of muesli, 2 packs of ham, 3 punnets of fruit, a 4 egg omlette, a mackeral, 3 M&S chicken and pasta meals, 1 tub of cottage cheese, 3 slabs of pate, 1 giant (2 foot) fresh loaf, large rocky road slab, 1 family size chocolate bar, 1 flapjack, packet of toffee digestive biscuits, 3 fish, large bowl of chips, some peas, 3 small salads, and for dinner we had a bottle of champagne.

On an unrelated note, Rich spectacularly managed to not complete his one assigned prep task.... So we've no print outs as backups. Hopefully the 4 gps units and PDA will keep working and we'll know where we're supposed to be going. Rich has pointed out the positive side to this, in that he's helped keep the weight down. Nice one Rich :)

My final post from home, is to
announce the daily caption competition.
this seemed like a good idea last night and in
theory it should work if we manage

To remember to
upload a good photo every day. Then all we need are
responses in the form of comments.
no prizes for the daily winners
but there may be flowers for the best single entry for Hursley based participants.
upload as many entries as you.
like, Good
luck to you all.


Formatting has gone a little awry somehow today. hmmm...

Last day of work today, followed by a few drinks out tonight, then a long hungover drive down to Lands End tomorrow afternoon.
Thankfully Jack (Ian's brother) is driving us down in a big hire car. Thanks in advance Jack.

Then we start cycling on Saturday morning, and the weather looks good so far.. wohoo!

A final play around last night and I can now upload photos from my camera to the blog, and more importantly the all too geeky live tracking is now operational.

Big thanks to Chris for the loan of his bluetooth gps as mine wouldn't work!
See the blog and live links off the homepage.

That was meant to say test

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I found this at very useful instruction booklet online.
I think we could have saved ourselves some time over the past month or two by following these simple instructions:

A Beginners Guide to Cycle Touring: How to prepare
Step 1: Get a spaghetti-strainer and several small sponges. Soak the sponges in salt-water and paste them to the inside of the spaghetti-strainer. Place the
strainer on your head. Find a busy road. Stand by the side of the road and do
deep knee-bends for 8 hours. This will acclimatise you to a day's ride.

Step 2: Take some sandpaper and rub your rear-end and the insides of your legs for about 20 minutes. Rinse with salt-water. Repeat. Then, sit on a golf ball for 8 hours. Do this daily for at least 8 days.

Step 3: Each day, take two twenty-pound notes and tear them into small pieces. Place the pieces on a dinner-plate, douse them with lighter fluid and burn them. Inhale the smoke (simulating car-fumes). Rub the ashes on your face. Then go to the local B&B and ask them for a room.

Step 4: Take a 1-ltr plastic bottle. Fill it from the utility sink of a local
petrol-station (where the mechanics wash their hands). Let the bottle sit in the
sun for 2 or 3 hours until it's good and tepid. Seal the bottle up (kinda,
sorta) and drag it through a ditch or swamp. Walk to a busy road. Place your
spagetti-strainer on your head and drink the swill-water from the bottle while
doing deep knee-bends along the side of the road.

Step 5: Get some clogs. Coat the bottoms with 90-W
gear-oil. Go to the local supermarket (preferably one with tile floors). Put
the oil-coated, wooden shoes on your feet and go shopping.

Step 6: Think of a song from the 1980's that you really hated. Buy the CD and play 20 seconds of that song over and over and over for about 6 hours. Do more deep knee-bends

Step 7: Hill training: Do your deep knee-bends for about 4 hours with the
salt-soaked spaghetti-strainer on your head, while you drink the warm
swill-water and listen to the 80's song over and over (I would recommend "I'm a cowboy/On a STEEL horse I ride!" by Bon Jovi). At the end of 4 hours, climb onto the hood of a friend's car and have him drive like a lunatic down the twistiest road in the area while you hang on for dear life.

Step 8: Humiliation training: Wash your car and wipe it down with a
chamois-cloth. Make sure you get a healthy amount of residual soap and
road-grit embedded in the chamois. Put the chamois on your body like a
loin-cloth, then wrap your thighs and middle-section with cellophane. Make sure it's really snug. Paint yourself from the waist down with black latex paint. Cut an onion in half and rub it into your arm-pits. Put on a brightly colored shirt and your Dutch oil-coated wooden shoes and go shopping at a crowded local mall.

Step 9: Foul weather training: Take everything that's important to you, pack it in a Nylon bag and place it in the shower. Get in the shower with it. Run the water from hot to cold. Get out and without drying off, go to the local corner shop. Leave the wet, important stuff on the sidewalk. Go inside and buy £10 worth of Lucozade and Alpen Bars.

Step 10: As Archimedes hypothesized: "Use a simple lever to move the Earth from one place to another". After doing that, go around your house and lift heavy things that you never imagined a person could lift. Surprise yourself. Do 1,000 sit-ups. Then 10,000. Eat lunch. Repeat. Argue with every girlfriend/boyfriend you've ever known and be RIGHT. Solve all the problems of politics, faith and economics. At the end of the day, get into a huge tub filled with hot soapy water and relax, because tomorrow is another BIG DAY ON THE BIKE!

Step 11: Headwinds training: Buy a huge map of the entire country. Spread it in front of you. Have a friend hold a hair-dryer in your face. Stick your feet in
taffy and try to pull your knees to your chest while your friend tries to
shove you into a ditch or into traffic with his free hand. Every 20 minutes
or so, look at the huge map and marvel at the fact that you have gone nowhere after so much hard work and suffering. Fold the map in front of a window-fan set to "High".

Rich has a wedding to go to in Bath this weekend, so headed off on Friday to cycle there by himself. There's been no reply to txts asking how he got on, so he's either having a great time or he's fallen into another hedge.

Ian and I made a slow start to Saturday, having got another puncture on the way round to Eastleigh!
The plan was to find some hills, and the route out from Winchester to Fareham duly obliged. 30 miles of ups and downs! In a tribute to Lance Armstrong we turned around at the bottom of a couple of the longer hills and cycled back to the top.

Passing by some road works we had no option but to pass over some hot and sticky new tarmac. Over the next half mile we managed to pick up every little bit of dirt and stone we passed over!

We started to take it easier later on, and when we found ourselves mincing around eating several cereal bars each, then txt-ing and calling people, we thought it was about time to make a start homewards.

We did find the strangest cycle path though. Heading towards Petersfield from the south a nicely signposted cycle path suddenly diverts you onto the A3 dual carriageway. Cycling along beside speeding cars may not be something you bargained for on a relaxing days cycle round the country side!



One of my gear cables went 'ping' on the way home, leaving me the choice of two very hard gears for the last 15 miles. Luckily I wasn't wearing the heart rate monitor so it couldn't complain about the absurdly high heart rate I had for the last 10 of those miles.

Friday: Suppposed to leave work at 3, but was slightly delayed by a conference call. When the three of us did get away I wasn't really in the mood.

Saturday: It was very windy.
We were supposed to leave from Romsey at 8. Ian turned up slightly after 8 and Rich turned up sometime after 9.... Muttering something about Man Flu.
The maps on the GPS proved useful and we spent 130 miles cycling round really nice quiet countryside, being told where to go by the GPS, and completely oblivious to where we were.
The route took us 130 miles, up towards Swindon, round to Oxford and then down to Reading, oh and it was very very windy.
Thanks to Ian's mum for the beds and dinner!

Sunday: Ian had told his mum we might be leaving by half seven.....
About nine Rich and I made it downstairs to find Ian slumped on the sofa grumbling about the weather. Our dedication to the cause dissapeared quickly on seeing the forecast showing solid rain for the Sunday and bank holiday Monday.
So we waited till 11 and cycled on through the driving rain down to Basingstoke.
It did clear up later but we'd decided to head home and relax by that point.
A roundabout route got us upto 70 odd miles.


Incidents:
Hedge diving by Rich: 0
Bike blowing over in the wind and crushing bike helmet: 1 (Mark)
Serious case of Man Flu: 1 (Rich)
Getting drunk on half a can of warm lager: 3 (Ian, Mark, Rich)
Punctures: 2 (Mark & Ian)
Almost being blown off a bike in Reading city center: 1 (Ian)

Photos

I have a feeling something went wrong with my GPS yesterday.
Check out the average speed!

This weekend's plan is for a 3 (and a bit) day final practice before the real thing.
To make it more realistic we're taking absolutely everything with us that will be needed to get to John O'Groats.

Having said that, our plan is to travel light....
very light...

So, fully loaded my bike now weights 12kg.



Clothes, first aid kit, toiletries at the front.
Waterproof strapped on.
Spares, toolkit, and food at the back.

Not sure I've seen any unsupported cyclists with less!

Ian, for once I agree - bike mechanics we are not...
Though I feel the need to explain my newly discovered training technique..
A hasty chain change was called for before last weekends ride. Possibly due to forcing the bike into the back of my Smart Car, after finding myself in the unenvious position of having both bike and car in Southampton, and being worried that one or either might get nicked if I left them there..

Fortunately the New Forest is pretty damn flat so there was no need for high gears for a while the next day. A little later it wasn't quite the same, with the Isle of Purbeck throwing a few hills around (and some gravel tracks, but we won't mention them)

The Outcome: two days of good strength training, followed by two days of very bad football as I couldn't run.

For the first year running Mark wins the longest chain competition, after fitting a new chain without removing surplus links. Hehe, bike mechanics we are not (And I'm not telling you the awards I deserve)

The other two had (drinking) commitments this weekend and I had struggled with the distance last week, so I thought I'd better get some miles in and catch up. I have difficulty navigating home from next door, so I made it easy by setting a 25 mile loop around Lyndhurst, Lymington, Bucklers Hard and Beaulieu using Gmaps Pedometer. The plan: do four loops on Saturday and four on Sunday for about 120 miles a day.

Rich's stats for the weekend:
Total distance/time: 247 miles, 16hrs 15 mins
Lost: 8 times doing laps, 7 extra miles
Friends: zero (awah!)
Animals on road: 11 donkeys, 7 cows, 4 pheasants, 9 rabbits; I had no friends to chat with so I counted animals!
FA cup finals missed: one
Embarrasing falls with foot stuck in pedal next to a crowded bus: one
Pedal clips tension reduced: one, but too late
Disgruntled girlfriends: one--see total time
Amount spent on dinner on Sunday to make up: 92.61 GPB

A good weekend cycling, and good distance, but it's more fun in a group!

The actual route we'll be taking is now shown, off the menu at: Plans - LEJOG08 Route

Great training weekend, over 100 miles per day for 2 days, 4 ferries, 1 hovercraft, 1 hovercraft employee of the month, 2 trains, a birthday girl (bag carrier - THANK YOU!), beer avec sleeping pills (surely?), 2 x GPS toys, zero pages of GPS manuals read, lots of using old fashioned road signs, a quick drop by Sophie and the Hewitt clan, a lack of lycra love (from Rich), a walk through the streets of Parkstone in bare feet, plenty of afternoon bonking*, and sun, sun, sun.



* Cycling term. No really

Photos
Sat 105 miles
Sun 100 miles

An artist's impression.

Rich, after weeks of feigning illness annouced he's bought an bike and is coming with us to John O'Groats.

Great news as it's another person to share the pain with! woo.

He's got himself the same bike as mine, but this years model luckily so the colours are different. The Specialized Roubaix expert is a great bike, lots of bits and pieces for making longer rides more comfortable, and not setup for out and out racing, so less neck and back ache (hopefully!)

It also comes with a nice saddle, which Ian has just bought too!

Sunday 4th May, Ian, Rob and I caught the 9am ferry over to Cowes. Good going after being out and about in Southampton till midnight for Chris Law's 30th.
This was Rob's first outing on his new Trek Madone, and after raising the seat about a foot, eating some overpriced rolls on the ferry, and registering we were off.

The route was mostly gentle rolling hills, with a few larger ones thrown in. We took it fairly steady as Rob hadn't been out too far on the new bike. Though Ian and I made an effort to push hard up the larger hills. It's pretty satisfying flying past dozens of panting cyclist on a long uphill drag, even if half were kids and OAPs.

We were all reasonably tired by the end, but a nice pint on the ferry back cured that.
Ride distance around 75 miles.

Details here
Photos here

My butt hurts. New saddle ordered.

Both back in the UK, we headed out for a 75 mile ride last weekend. A pretty flat route on a sunny day it should have been easy. The lack of time on the bike recently made it hard though. It wasn't the muscles though, but back, backside, neck, etc. All aches and pains, and thankfully they'd gone by the next day.
The ride itself was very pleasant, a missed turn in Twyford added a few extra miles, as did suddenly arriving at a dual carriageway, and needing to retrace our steps a little.

Ride details here and photos here.
Good news is that it was nice and sunny, and despite the aches it was great fun to get back on the bikes!

Labels: training lejog

As Ian said, we've not been out on the bikes much. I've been pretty slack cycling to work due to the constant rain recently, but the weather looks like it's taking a turn for the better so the mileage should soon start to wrack up.

I had a week out snowboarding with a dozen guys in Tignes, France. Conditions were amazing for the time of year, and more importantly I came back in one piece!

... is the key to good cycle training, so for 5 weeks Mark and I left the bikes at home. I mainly replaced wheels with hiking and rock boots. Here's a pic of me training without a bike...



Now that we're home we are likely to see more blogging and hopefully a little more biking.

Mark I are now keen to find two more cyclists to join us on dual carriageway sections of the route so that we can use the following technique "It is possible to ride in fours on a dual carriageway, a pair in the left lane, and a pair in the right lane" (see http://www.byneacc.co.uk/highway%5Chighway.htm). Mark and I will be in the left lane (quite far to the left in fact). Any takers for the right lane??

Second weekend of training...
Again, slightly interrupted by the Six Nations Rugby.
Ian and I set out at 9am on Saturday morning and had a nice ride round the New Forest, down to Lepe.
We only managed 40 miles as I wanted to get back to watch Scotland v Italy... I think another 40 miles on the bike would have been alot more enjoyable.
The route is here, GPX here
The average speed was alright, but I hadn't had time to get maps sorted out properly, so there were quite a few stops to work out where to go.

The route is coming together and looks something like:

day1 Lands End to Exeter: 124 miles
day2 Exeter to Hereford: 128 miles
day3: Hereforf to Liverpool: 106 miles
day4: Liverpool to Annan: 130 miles
day5: Annan to Edinburgh: 85 miles
day6: Edinburgh to Pitlochry: 102 miles
day7: Pitlochry to Dornoch: 125 miles
day8: Dornoch to John O'Groats: 80 miles

Today Ian, Rich and I had a first practice ride. The plan was an easy 40 miles into the New Forest and back. Easy for two reasons:
i) It would be Ian's first proper ride on his new road bike.
ii) We'd been drinking Guinness in the pub for most of Saturday watching Scotland gloriously beat England.

The ride was pretty good though, and we managed to avoid the rain which was all around us at one point.

We did miss a right turn which meant we headed south alot further than planned. So it was a nice easy 55 mile ride in the end. The route is here