Cycling Lands End to John O' Groats, before the beginning

 Food is obv the most important aspect of any sports adventure


LEJOG:       PACKING FOR AN ADVENTURE

So, this will be a rushed post I'm afraid, before I get to bed (the alarm will soon be waking me at 0530 ).

But, hello and welcome to my posts about my first 'adventure' this year, the classic British iconic cycle 'Lands End to John O'Groats'; cycling from the southern most tip of the UK to the northern most tip (strictly not geographically correct, but the accurate sites for some reason aren't popular enough to have their own route!).

The story goes that my father, a much keener outdoors enthusiast than myself, suggested cycling LEJOG as one to tick off the bucket list, and I of course thought it a brilliant idea.
Sadly for a few reasons, my dad then pulled out of our planned ride in December last year. Having set dates for it,  obviously being very excited, and knowing it would the biggest thing I'd be doing to kick start my 'gap' year from full-time employment - I was encouraged by a fellow sports enthusiast to do it anyway, alone. So, I am!

I decided to use the only 'guidebook' I have found, 'Cicerone' as a basis for my route, and reserved B&Bs/hostels for each night way back in January. I have therefore had this looming for 9 months, slowly chipping away at buying new cycle kit, and stepping up the long rides in the last few months.
I've done two sportives now, a hilly peak district one, and a 100 mile flatter route just last week. I also started riding once-twice per week with a local 'cycle touring club', through which I have met some absolutely lovely people, and made some cycling companions which is always nice :).

Now, day 1 for me is 18th September, however today (9th Sept) is my last day at home, so I've been rushing around all week sorting all the final bits out. Classically there are a few minor detours immediately before starting this epic journey...

1) Tomorrow at 6am I will drive myself & my boyfriend (who will be returning home from his A&E shift at 3am, hence my fleeting guest use of his car) to Oxford for the wedding of a close friend.

2) 11:30am morning after wedding - I shall cycle to the nearest train station, with not only my fully packed panniers, but a rucksack on my back containing a week of kit, to catch the train to Devon. Here 11-16th Sept I'll be undertaking another residential week for the diploma I'm doing (Expedition Medicine).
I've had to pack things for caving, river rescues, camping...

3) Finally Sat 17th I will find a post office, and pay whatever it takes to dump all of that diploma kit, then get a train to Penzance, before cycling the 10 miles to my accommodation for NIGHT 1. Aahhhh!!

I've realised that yes I've made things slightly difficult for myself packing 3 big things in like that (totally coincidental with the dates by the way!), but also that planning a 2 week cycle across the UK without support and being a vegan, is pretty logistically challenging.
I don't want to bore you any further, but a brief list of suggestions of the things I've had to arrange/consider:

Route (off main roads for safety, ?hills - bear in mind I'll be carrying a lot of weight), accommodation (location - not too much of a detour, price, vegan breakfast available, bike storage, time of breakfast), bike kit (clothing, thick/good quality chamois padded shorts, waterproof kit e.g. shoe covers, leg warmers, panniers, rack), trains to each side & separately book bicycle onto trains, plot route onto online maps road for road & download to GPS (took me forever!), training (at least 160-200 miles of cycling per week, trying to get hills in, & weighted rides to practice with full panniers), food for whole trip (I will doubtfully find vegan protein everyday in random rural areas, how will I carry it? I've sent a few packages of ready cooked lentil dishes to every other B&B - see picture above, & check with them first!), lunches for each day (I'll carry wraps, peanut butter, and will buy bananas on the way).

And to think I was asked last week "So have you been twiddling your thumbs all day now you're not working?" ha!

Ok I must dash! I've made a protein breakfast smoothie already for brekkie, & will also have energy drinks on the go (for those desperate times).
To drive in the dress for the wedding or not? Hmmmm

Goodnight all, see you on the 18th!

x







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

LEJOG Day 11 - Loch lomond to Glencoe

Image
Day 11 69 miles 890m ascent "This weather can only be described as biblical" Double espresso, layering & good company are the only things that got me through those last 30 miles. Monsoon weather over Glencoe mountain resort Awoke feeling pretty rough - full of a cold (thanks dad! Ha), but started out with the multiple coffees I now require to get me through. Dad had collected two cartons of soya milk from the kind folk at the previous two B&Bs, so fortunately I was sorted when this B&B revealed they had forgotten I was vegan. I still had a nice enough bowl of porridge & beans on toast before meeting greg at 0900 & setting off. The rain started pretty sharpish, so we were faffing quite a bit for the first 10 miles - layers on, then off, then on again. Until it began to pour with a persistent rage. I also had some front brake issues which were a little annoying, such as squealing & the front wheel not free spinning as much as it shou...
Read more

LEJOG Day 1 - Lands End to Fowey

Image
Day 1 67 miles 5h 35 min (riding time) 1671m ascent 2877 calories (apparently) So, we've done it. Day 1 down, 13 to go. The day started with 2 coffees & a double breakfast (fruit with Cereal,  then a full cooked vegan)- I felt quite bad for my friend Greg, eating leftover rice from the night before & packing up his wet tent before meeting me (his choice!). We then met on the road & headed down for an 8:30am arrival at a desolate Lands End clifftop post,  after passing through a ghost town-like visitor centre. It was much the same cycling up the quiet Sunday morning A 30,  through barren exposed & windy fields, before returning to Penzance. We rounded Mount's Bay following NCN3, constantly looking over to the imposing st Michael's Mount. The rest of the day was spent chatting and cycling through rural south cornwall; many fields, country lanes, & tiny hamlets. There was the occasional steep hill, but really not as bad as I was expec...
Read more

LEJOG Day 14 - The Crask Inn to John O'Groats

Image
Day 14 - The Last Day! 87 miles 1324m ascent 3200 calories Icy Highland beauty, desolation, further flat tyres, & the finish line. Today was going to be the furthest of them all; if we included a diversion around the northern most point (Dunnet Head) it would've been close to 100 miles, the planned start time was therefore 0800. Unfortunately poor Mr Crask had stayed up late to check in guests at 0130/0200 (!owning a B&B sounds hard..), so was running a little late with breakfast, & for whatever other reasons we didn't actually set off until just before 0900. Also, the epic 3 course vegan spread he served us the previous night, was included in the room rate, as well as breakfast - what a legend! There was frost on the ground,  & the air felt like ice when it touched our skin, so wrapped up in all of our layers we headed off along that single road towards the north coast (32 miles to go!). The sky was clear, the scenery stunning & ethereal, lo...
Read more