LeJog

[Some Gump]

Just been down to Cornwall, and visited Lands End. Got me thinking - an end to end would be quite some thing to be able to say "I've done that".

A couple of years ago, I got fit enough that a 150 mile ride didn't kill me for days - and back to back 50+ milers were common.

How much of a step up is it to be able to do say 75+ miles a day for 12 days? Is it massive, or is this a challenge that is possible?

[Gruffy]

If you can do 150 and not feel broken the day after then I think you could comfortably do consecutive 75s, assuming you take your recovery and nutrition as seriously as the riding.

[ChocolateFrog]

It's certainly doable. I did it off the cuff with no training as I was sick of looking at my bike and feeling guilty.

You quickly get into the mentality that your out for more than a two hour ride. I was doing 120-150 miles per day for a week.

[yellowjack]

Is that trip regarded as being any easier from one end or the other?

All "JogLe is all downhill" jokes aside, I'm just wondering whether conventional wisdom regards it as being harder to go 'up' or to go 'down'. It's not something that's really appealed to me, to be honest. I think I'd rather go somewhere to use as a base to explore and ride loops, than to ride past/through loads of interesting places yet not be able to stop to enjoy them. I'm always impressed by the achievement, and the commitment needed to complete these end-to-end trips, though. When I was last on Holiday in Cornwall two years ago, we went to Lands End and there was a charity event finishing there, with small batches of riders arriving at the 'finish line' throughout the afternoon. with their support crews and families all out to cheer them in. Despite the miles they'd done, there wasn't a single rider (that I saw) who didn't have the most massive grin on their face as they finished.

[Tiddy1]

I did it many years back from top to bottom, we extended the route a bit so it ended at about 1200 miles but this allowed us for choose nicer roads rather than jus blast the shortest way down dual carriageways. Highly recommended, and a great sense of achievement, I was only 14 at the time

[anonymous-user]

Assume you get a favourable wind going south to north?

[oyster]

The big charities tend to do JOGLE as it's easier to get the media to LE than JOG.

I've walked it and I did LEJOG as I started in spring so got into north Scotland as the weather was improving.

For cycling there'd be 2 major advantages to doing LEJOG:
1. Having the prevailing wind behind.
2. Having the afternoon sun behind and hence making you a bit easier to see for drivers.


Either way, make sure you do it the scenic way and not the main road, fast-as-possible way.

[SpeckledJim]

I did LeJog with my pal over 12 days. Very little planning and literally no training.

First 2 days were tough, but after that we were fine. Very glad we did it, we had a great time. Plenty of bananas while on the bikes, but steak pie and 4 pints for dinner ever night.

Each day we would stop for lunch, make a guess on where we were going to be that evening, and book a B&B or hostel in about the right place.

Doing it in a week will require a bit more of you, but 12 days was fine for two averagely fit 30 year-olds.

[bakerstreet]

I would like to do it, but the charity versions are big money. IE you have to raise over 3k and take two weeks off work and I'm not sure I will ever be in that position.

I quite fancy doing it in 7 days, but I'd want about three days to recover!! Also it would be a good excuse for me to get a bike specially built for the ride Not sure I would trust my Garmin to navigate LEJOG either

[SpeckledJim]

As I gathered talking to some charity wallahs we passed en route, it isnt much fun doing it that way.

VERY regimented, hands-held at every opportunity, H&S at every step, and basically processed, treated like children and nannied.

Not to mention the ball-ache of actually having to do the fundraising and making your colleagues hate you.

Just jump on and go. If you have a phone and a credit card, all problems are surmountable.

[Roger Irrelevant]

I did JoGLE a few years ago in 9 days, and from that I'd say that if you're reasonably fit, i.e. able to knock out a century without too much bother, then 12 days is probably about right. It will allow you to stray off the fastest route to travel some nicer roads, and you should have time to stop off at places along the way if you feel like it. I ended up going through Altnaharra, Glencoe, the Lake District (Kirkstone pass was a bugger after only 5 miles on the 4th day!), some really nice places along the Welsh border, Cheddar Gorge and brilliant back roads in Devon/Cornwall; none of which are on the 'fast' route (I think). On the way back home after I saw a lot of people cycling along the dual carriageway in Cornwall and wondering why the hell you'd want to do that.

The 'tailwinds if you do LEJoG' idea is fine in theory, but after a 1,000 mile ride LE seems like a much nicer place to end up than JoG - particularly so if I lived in the south and couldn't be arsed with a 600 mile drive afterwards. Plus when I did it I had a howling tailwind for the first few days in Scotland then nice n' calm n' sunny for the other 7 days - if I could guarantee that again I'd do it all again this summer!