Well the virtual route is complete and can be found here. At 100 miles to 3cm it doesn't look too bad, but having spent a wee while plotting each turn so that hopefully we wont get lost (too often) it does seem like an awful long way.
That said, we have had our first offer of company along the route from Rob who completed the trip last year (see his blog which has some very useful info and a cool downhill video). Rob is along for day 5 and has even offered to cycle in front to make the day a bit easier for us (I haven't mentioned the tow rope yet, but I'm sure he wont mind).
So now that the route is finished, I'm almost ready for the trip. Just need to get a bike.
Wednesday, 30 May 2007
Monday, 28 May 2007
Rain Rain and more Rain
Well I manged 30 miles yesterday in the pouring rain. Some lessons have been learnt.
1. Don't sit waiting for the rain to stop. It only gets heavier.
2. If you have gell in your hair it will get washed out by the rain and you won't be able to see. V nice.
3. I must buy some overshoes. That might just keep my feet dry.
It was a decent ride even with the rain. It is a good incentive to keep going.
Many thanks to Elayne and Al who have been working their socks off to get all the accomodation booked.
Might go out today if I can get my bike shoes dry and it stops raining. Or I could sit and watch the test match.
1. Don't sit waiting for the rain to stop. It only gets heavier.
2. If you have gell in your hair it will get washed out by the rain and you won't be able to see. V nice.
3. I must buy some overshoes. That might just keep my feet dry.
It was a decent ride even with the rain. It is a good incentive to keep going.
Many thanks to Elayne and Al who have been working their socks off to get all the accomodation booked.
Might go out today if I can get my bike shoes dry and it stops raining. Or I could sit and watch the test match.
Saturday, 26 May 2007
My Bike has Wheels
Hi all,
I thought you should see what a complete and ridden touring bike looks like.
This is the Dawes Super Galaxy that I fell off after just seven miles.
As you can see from the top picture I have now managed over 100 miles. The only problem is it has taken four trips! I suppose it will get easier when we are doing this for real! At least I hope so.
Going out tommorow for a quick ride round. Will let you know how it is afterwards.
Friday, 25 May 2007
First Blood to Matt
I've just realised that if I had wanted to raise some serious cash for charity I should have started a book on who (if anyone) was going to have the first accident on this trip. I just know where the money would have gone. Well you're all wrong, so pay up .... ahh ok, I didn't start a book. Doh!!
Anyway, since Matt has failed to blog about his first bike trip on his shiny new bike, then I guess that task falls (no pun intended) to me. It wasn't a serious accident, but it was embarrassing, so I feel that it's my duty to share it with the world, or at least both people who are reading this blog.
Firstly, a little bit of cycling background. Anyone who wants to call themselves a cyclist (and even us two) have got to use clipless pedals. If you've not come across them before they work a little like ski bindings. If you don't know how ski bindings work then they are quite similar to clipless pedals. Basically they are designed to stop your foot from coming loose when you pull your it up, but release when you twist your heal. Rule 1 about getting a new bike with new clipless pedals is to make sure they are loose enough so that they do disengage when you want them to. If you don't, then the first time you go out for a ride and come to a stop you suddenly realise that you and the bike are as one and cannot be separated. This is then quickly followed by the moment when you realise that you're locked in and have seconds (which in true cartoon form can seem a lot longer) to decide which side you want to fall onto, either into the road (not good) or if you're lucky a really soft verge on the left (that never happens).
Anyway, now for Matt's first ride. It went something like this: Shiny bike, hmmmm shiny, ride, ride, ride, ride, stop, realisation, wobble, wobble, fall, blood, more blood, not so shiny bike.
Matt - do you want to add anything :-)
Anyway, since Matt has failed to blog about his first bike trip on his shiny new bike, then I guess that task falls (no pun intended) to me. It wasn't a serious accident, but it was embarrassing, so I feel that it's my duty to share it with the world, or at least both people who are reading this blog.
Firstly, a little bit of cycling background. Anyone who wants to call themselves a cyclist (and even us two) have got to use clipless pedals. If you've not come across them before they work a little like ski bindings. If you don't know how ski bindings work then they are quite similar to clipless pedals. Basically they are designed to stop your foot from coming loose when you pull your it up, but release when you twist your heal. Rule 1 about getting a new bike with new clipless pedals is to make sure they are loose enough so that they do disengage when you want them to. If you don't, then the first time you go out for a ride and come to a stop you suddenly realise that you and the bike are as one and cannot be separated. This is then quickly followed by the moment when you realise that you're locked in and have seconds (which in true cartoon form can seem a lot longer) to decide which side you want to fall onto, either into the road (not good) or if you're lucky a really soft verge on the left (that never happens).
Anyway, now for Matt's first ride. It went something like this: Shiny bike, hmmmm shiny, ride, ride, ride, ride, stop, realisation, wobble, wobble, fall, blood, more blood, not so shiny bike.
Matt - do you want to add anything :-)
Tuesday, 22 May 2007
I've got my bike ..... not
OK, now this is crazy. I was just searching for a photo I had put onto Flikr and found my new bike.Nightmare!! There are a few other pics as well. Good news is that the frame looks coooool. Bad news is that it's still just a frame, which will reduce the weight considerably but without some other components such as wheels, might make the trip a bit more challenging than I had planned and there are only just over 3 weeks to go...... gulp.
Time to phone the bike shop.
Shouldn't you spend more time riding and less blogging?
Yep, probably right.
Anyway, since I've started a post I might as well finish. We've now added a new website that contains details of the route (first 12 days, more to come .... I hope) which can be viewed in Google Maps or Google Earth. The site can be found at http://bikelejog.googlepages.com/ which you can get to by clicking on the map on the right.
If you want to see the whole route (or at least the first 12 days) then follow this link : End To End Route
Well that's the end of another post and I've successfully avoided another bike ride.
Anyway, since I've started a post I might as well finish. We've now added a new website that contains details of the route (first 12 days, more to come .... I hope) which can be viewed in Google Maps or Google Earth. The site can be found at http://bikelejog.googlepages.com/ which you can get to by clicking on the map on the right.
If you want to see the whole route (or at least the first 12 days) then follow this link : End To End Route
Well that's the end of another post and I've successfully avoided another bike ride.
Sunday, 20 May 2007
Matts first ride with loaded panniers
Well here it is my first post. My first ride with loaded panniers this weekend. Hmmm. That makes a difference. I thought hills were bad enough before. Still can't be bad two firsts in one weekend. Thanks to Al for setting up the Blog.
Hopefully we can keep people amused and provide information on how to get from end to end without training to much. If anyone who knows us wants to join us for a day or two just let us know. You will be most welcome.
Looking forward to seeing parts of the country I have not seen and getting to the end!
Hopefully we can keep people amused and provide information on how to get from end to end without training to much. If anyone who knows us wants to join us for a day or two just let us know. You will be most welcome.
Looking forward to seeing parts of the country I have not seen and getting to the end!
Why on earth did you decide to use that route?
OK, good question.
Apparently, one of the best parts of a long distance cycle ride is the planning. Buying lots of maps and poring over them into the wee hours trying to work out the most scenic challenging route you can find. Tweaking it to make sure it includes detours to all those places you've wanted to visit, but have not got around to. Most people only do LeJog once, so it's important to get the route right. So why did we decide on this route?
Answer: Laziness.
Although I'm sure the planning phase would be great fun we were just too lazy (and I for one didn't trust my route planning skills), so we opted for the easy approach and bought the Bike Britain book. It's obvious really. If you want to plan a trip from one end of Britain to the other, buy a book written by a New Zealander ...... hmmmmm ...... oh well, too late now.
Actually we did read a few good reviews of the route and the book itself is very informative and has already provided useful information for the trip, which includes a check list which has Bike as the number one item. Which is good really, because with less than four weeks to go that is one thing I'm missing. That reminds me, I must stop blogging an call the bike shop again...
An outline of the route can be seen on the left. At some stage we'll post more detailed routes and upon completion we'll add our thoughts of the route. Anyway, I've got a call to make.
Apparently, one of the best parts of a long distance cycle ride is the planning. Buying lots of maps and poring over them into the wee hours trying to work out the most scenic challenging route you can find. Tweaking it to make sure it includes detours to all those places you've wanted to visit, but have not got around to. Most people only do LeJog once, so it's important to get the route right. So why did we decide on this route?
Answer: Laziness.
Although I'm sure the planning phase would be great fun we were just too lazy (and I for one didn't trust my route planning skills), so we opted for the easy approach and bought the Bike Britain book. It's obvious really. If you want to plan a trip from one end of Britain to the other, buy a book written by a New Zealander ...... hmmmmm ...... oh well, too late now.
Actually we did read a few good reviews of the route and the book itself is very informative and has already provided useful information for the trip, which includes a check list which has Bike as the number one item. Which is good really, because with less than four weeks to go that is one thing I'm missing. That reminds me, I must stop blogging an call the bike shop again...
An outline of the route can be seen on the left. At some stage we'll post more detailed routes and upon completion we'll add our thoughts of the route. Anyway, I've got a call to make.
First blog post
The main purpose of this blog is to keep anyone who is interested, updated with our progress during the trip from Lands End to John O'Groats. This will allow people to check in daily to find out what our progress is and no doubt make comments like "They really should have done more training" and "Only 50 miles a day!!" etc etc
In addition to blogging about the trip, we'll also add details about accommodation, equipment and anything else that might be useful to any future LeJogers.
In addition to blogging about the trip, we'll also add details about accommodation, equipment and anything else that might be useful to any future LeJogers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
