HOWTO cycle Land's End to John o'Groats

How I, a racer with no experience of touring, cycled Land's End to John o'Groats in ten days solo and unsupported in August 2007 for charity.


How I planned it

I decided early in 2007 that it would be the year I would cycle LEJoG and the first thing I did was set a date so I would have something to aim for. I decided to ride it in late August through to early September in the hope of finding a meteorological sweet spot between too much sun and too much rain.

I didn't start route planning and finding accommodation till about two months beforehand, although in retrospect I should have started earlier because hostels and B&Bs were already getting booked up. In choosing my dates I inadvertently chose to ride over the August bank holiday weekend so finding accommodation was even more difficult. Avoid doing this.

A typical LEJoG route is around 1600km, although it is possible to plan a shorter one. I chose to do it in ten days because it sounded like a good number, I knew I could comfortably do 160km in a day (although I'd never tried getting up the next day and doing it again) and would represent a reasonably speedy LEJoG. That said, after planning this, a guy I sometimes cycle with told me he'd done it in six and a half days. Wow.

I planned the details of my route in several steps. First I decided the broad plan: stick to the North coast of Devon and Cornwall, cut across into Wales via the Severn Bridge, head straight North to pass between Liverpool and Manchester, stay West of the Pennines, cycle Carlisle to Glasgow, then to Fort William so that I could cycle up the Great Glen, past Loch Ness, to join the East coast of Scotland up to John O'Groats. This isn't the most efficient LEJoG route and totalled to 1700km.

Then I bought a whole bunch of maps. I recommend the series of OS maps designed for regional route planning (scale: 1:250,000, anything more detailed and you'd constantly be changing maps whilst cycling). They've also got contour lines rather than shading to indicate elevation which is very useful for a cyclist. With these I planned the specific roads I would take. Rather than use a piece of string and a ruler, I transferred my route as I was making it to Gmaps Pedometer to calculate the distance.

I mostly chose to ride along single carriage A-roads rather than B-roads. For a start they are generally more efficient (and at least in Devon and Cornwall, flatter as well). Although cars are typically faster, they also have much more room to overtake you than on smaller roads. I avoided dual carriageways as much as possible, although sometimes I opted to ride five or so kilometres on them to avoid ridiculous detours on minor roads. Up in Scotland I took a B-road dual carrigeway and it was desseted. Probably because it was one of the most poorly maintained surfaces I rode on in the entire journey.

I mostly stayed in Youth Hostels and booked these in advance. There was only once, on the East coast of Scotland, that I couldn't find one along my route, so I stayed in a Bed & Breakfast. By that point, not sharing my room with five or so other people was extremely welcome. I also stayed one night at the parent's house of a friend of my girlfriend. I'd never met them, but they made me very welcome and gave me some excellent food, good conversation and I had really good bed. That, as with the night in a B&B, was something to look forward to. Therefore, my top tip is to either stay with people you know along the way as much possible; or if you're mostly staying in hostels, occasionally plan a night in a B&B. The extra cost will be worth it!

The other school of thought is to plan your route and accommodation a couple of nights beforehand as you ride or even on the day. It would certainly give you more freedom and you won't wake up with the uneasy feeling of knowing that you need to ride over 100 miles to a certain location to get to your bed that evening. But really, the last thing I wanted to be worrying about whilst cycling was finding and booking accommodation. I reckon the even more uneasy feeling of not knowing if you'd find a bed after 100 miles would surely outweigh any extra freedom you'd have.


Training

Even without the plan of cycling LEJoG, I do a lot of cycling anyway. So I can't say I had a training plan other than aiming to be out on my bike every weekend, some weeknights as well as commuting. I made sure I did some long-ish (~120km) fast-ish rides by going out with the Central London CTC, doing my own thing (fast laps of Richmond Park, cycling Reading to Bath) and incorporating some events such as the Dunwhich Dynamo and the Isle of Wight Randonnee for some more variety.

I also did a LEJoG in real ales at the Great British Beer Festival. As I said, you gotta have variety in your training.


My bike and what I took

My bike plus panniers.

I rode LEJoG on an entry-level racing bike. It really is nothing fancy (although it is yellow). In fact I got it from Halfords when I was still an undergraduate. The moral is this: an awesome racing bike would be cool, but an entry-level one is more than enough.

I kept with the fairly narrow racing tyres (700x25) I'd been using for commuting and although I considered swapping for sturdier, but slower, touring tyres, I'm glad I didn't. The back tyre was more than able to carry the weight of everything in my panniers and I only got two punctures over the 1700km.

My panniers, full of everything I would need for the next ten days.

To carry my stuff I got two back panniers (a pair of Ortliebs- thoroughly waterproof and worth every penny). Into them I stuffed everything I would need:

• Tools and spares: four or so inner tubes, a spare tyre, spare spokes, puncture repair kit, a little oil, allen keys (only the ones needed for my bike), a screw driver, a spoke key, a lock ring, a spanner, a chain whip (the last three so that I could replace a damaged spoke on the back wheel).
• Gaffa tape. Always useful.
• Minimal toiletries, including three-in-one shower gel, shampoo and conditioner as well as a Lifeventure rapid dry towel (you really should take one of these, to avoid lugging around a heavy damp towel).
• Basic first aid kit: stuff like bandages and disinfectant wipes (I find I always end up with some unexplained cut after a long ride), a foil thermal blanket just in case, some pain killers, some midge insect repellent for Scotland, etc... If you're travelling in a group you probably won't need to be so worried about carrying all of this.
• Sun tan lotion. Well, I am a ginger.
  
• Evening wear: one pair of shorts, two t-shirts (in case one got wet (I did drop one in a shower so was a good move)) and (to save weight) flip-flops.
• Two 500g bottles of electrolyte powder. About enough for two bottles of the stuff per day.
  
• Waterproof cycling trousers, windproof jacket (which I would end up wearing most of the time North of Ross-on-Wye).
• Pen and a log book. Telephone numbers and adressed for everywhere I was staying at.
  
• A bike lock (not as hefty as the one I would usually use in London).
• Probably some other stuff I've forgotten. More coming soon.
  

Doing it solo

I chose to do the ride solo for a couple of reasons. Primarily I wanted to be able to set my own pace and although I knew of people interested in riding LEJoG, I didn't know anyone who was keen to do it in less than about fourteen days. But more than that, navigating solo from one end of the country to the other appealed to me as an adventure.

It hadn't occurred to me that it might also have considerable downsides until a couple of weeks before I set off. A friend commented to me that whilst he thought I could manage the distance he thought the biggest challenge would be staying sane on my own for ten days. And he wasn't the only one. The idea that doing it alone would be a bigger challenge than the ride itself seemed to be a common theme amongst people wishing me luck. In truth, I know part of me enjoys having an audience, and even if that's just an audience of one other cyclist, it would be sufficient for my purposes. And so I set off by train to Penzance just as worried about the distance, as I was about not having anyone to share it with.

But, I really enjoyed the ride and cycling it solo wasn't a problem. Ten days on your own really isn't very long and it wasn't as if I was sailing solo across a sea. There were loads of other people around (~60 million in fact). No doubt that my spirits would have been higher at times if I could have shared setbacks with a cycling buddy and perhaps I could have even enjoyed day 7 if I'd shared the barren roads with a mate. But I met plenty of people along the way, in hostels, other cyclists and even the guy on the bunk below me in the sleeper train back to London was excellent (he had whisky).

Battling headwinds on my own was the physical downside of doing it solo, but for the extra adventure it was worth it. However, if (or rather when) I do LEJoG again it won't be on my own. Next time I think a bigger challenge will be to do it faster.


Doing it for charity

I read a lot of other people's experiences of LEJoG whilst I was planning the ride. A good number did it for charity, but there was also a view that by raising money for a cause you remove the option to give up and go home if it the ride seems too much after a couple of days.

Nonetheless, I figured the oppurtunity to raise some cash was too good to miss, so I chose to do ride it for Afasic, the chairty for children and young people with speech problems. It probably helps if you feel some connection to the charity, but I found it to be a good motivator (particularly, when I was cycling downhill and spinning out of my saddle, but still only managing 20kph into the wind).

I could be wrong, but I got the impression that some people were donating more than they normally might have, if say I was doing a fun run. There is no doubt that cycling Land's End to John o'Groats captures the imagination, so if you're planning to do, its a great oppurtunity to raise some money.

Finally, a big thank you to everyone who donated. I really appreciate it. Also, thanks go to Mark at Afasic.


On the ride

Coming soon.

The route

Just made a full clickable google map of the route here.

Includes reviews of all the youth hostels and bed and breakfasts I stayed at, warnings about dangerous roads or poor surfaces and comments about the route. Will add more as I remember.

Day 10: Tain to John o'Groats

Distance: 154.1km
Total: 1690.4km
Time: 7hrs 11mins
Average: 21.4kph
Maximum: 60.6kph

I guess it was right that the final day should be tough: a reminder that getting from end to end shouldn't be as easy as yesterday's ride. I had the wind in my face again today and some tough climbs along the coast road. Ken P texted me in the morning to warn me about the hills out of Berriedale and it turned out rightly so: it was a steep climb.

As I pushed further north the gradients decreased but the wind increased and I found it harder and harder against the 25mph gusts. I can't complain much about rain since somehow I didn't get a full day of rain in one of the wettest summers on record, but the sharp showers today were very heavy.

I stopped in Wick and seriously considered just getting a B&B and cycling the final 25km tommorrow instead of continuing in the wind and the rain. For some reason I persuaded myself to carry on: the rain eased up although somehow the wind got even stronger.

Those last kilometres seemed incredibly long. This isn't some abstract comment about the last part of a long journey always feeling like the longest: it was simply exceptionally difficult to make progress against the wind. Out of my saddle and in the lowest gear I was able to creep up to around 15kph.

My arrival into John o'Groats was a bit of an anti-climax. I wasn't expecting cheering crowds, but really, there is nothing there. I got my log book stampted in the hotel, took a picture in front of the sign and then headed the final five kilometres to the hostel. To be honest I was more relieved to get into the warmth than I was to have finished.

With no pubs near the hostel and not fancying venturing back out into the cold night I celebrated with several plates of pasta and no beer.

Day 9: Fort William to Tain

Distance: 170.1km
Total: 1536.3km
Time: 6hrs 44mins
Average: 25.2kph
Maximum: 64.9kph

This was an awesome day of riding: after two days with the wind against me I finally had it pushing me along today. Sped out of Fort William up along the Great Glen to Loch Ness. I made some monster checks but all I saw were rocks sticking out of the water. I cut away from Loch Ness at Drumnadrochit to take a short cut past Inverness. There was a steep climb out of Milton, but once up in the glen it was fine and I continued with good pace down to Muir of Ord.

I joined the A9 for the final 30km up to Tain, where I saw the first sign to John o'Groats: 104 miles to go. The last hour was fantastic with what had become a very strong wind behind me I cruised into Tain at well over 35kph, regularly pushing 45kph on the flat.

As there were no youth hostels around I had booked a bed and breakfast on the outskirts of town (not that Tain is a particularly big place anyway, so outskirt is probably not the best word).It was so good to sleep in my own room, without anyone else snoring around me or coming into the dorm at three in the morning. I stayed at the Morangie B&B, found the place to be very plush and although expensive compared to a hostel, excellent value I felt at £35 for what I got.

In contrast to my accomodation, I found the local pub food to be pretty lacking and the service even worse. Oh well, can't have everything.

Nonetheless a great ride and a good setup for the final day.

Day 8: Glasgow to Fort William

Distance: 180.7km
Total: 1366.2km
Time: 7hrs 39mins
Average: 23.5kph
Maximum: 47.2kph

With a strong wind against me for the second day and some rain this had the potential to be another poor day. As it turned out I really enjoyed it, thanks mostly to a chance meeting on the A82 out of Glasgow.

I got cycling with a group of five firefighters on a sponsored 90 miles ride, the first 50 miles or so happened to be the route I was planning to take. So they let me join their group and with each of us taking turns cutting into the wind we made excellent pace up Loch Lomond. At the 80km mark I'd recorded an average speed of 26.5kph, which I was ecstatic with given the wind, my cummulative distance so far and the poor sleep I had in the hostel last night (noisy arrivals in the dorm at 01:00 then 03:00; not impressed).

The firefighters had two minibuses supporting them, so I was able to share their pasta lunch shortly before we split off our seperate ways. Riding together had raised both my average speed and my spirits.

Without the help of the group I found the wind tougher going as I climbed into the Grampians, but continued to make steady progress. The wind got worse as I approached the stunning Glencoe and sometimes I was out of my saddle in a low gear going downhill and barely doing much more than 20kph.

I've never been this far North before and I was impressed by the scenery. I just wish I could spend some more time to appreciate it all. Camera stopped working this afternoon so not many photos.

I'm staying in the Glen Nevis hostel about three miles out of Fort William. Very easy to find and in a very picturesque area. It has just started raining hard whilst I've been eating which doesn't look great for tommorrow.

[Just updated ride stats for Day 6]

Day 7: Carlisle to Glasgow

Distance: 175.2km
Total: 1185.5km
Time: 8hrs 27mins
Average: 20.7kph
Maximum: 42.0kph

In contrast to yesterday, this really wasn't a great ride. Day started well by crossing into Scotland, but soon became clear that I'd be fighting a strong wind against me.

This was the most isolated of rides so far and the constant threat of rain probably didn't help my mood either. I cycled mostly along B roads running alongside the A74 (M) motorway. The first 80km or so were a gradual up hill to the head of the Clyde. Nothing too sharp, but constant climbing does get tiresome after a while.

I didn't really stop much for food, just ate and carried on as quickly as possible in case the weather turned on me. The roads were pretty rough with lots of potholes which didn't help my pace either.

Nonetheless, by pushing on I got within 40km of Glasgow by four o'clock, but it took almost another three hours to get to the hostel! Got lost several times, although could have been worse as was greatly helped by a Glasgow A-Z lent to me by Ken P.

Oh well, one good thing about today was that it didn't rain, despite the dark clouds.

I'm just relaxing now with food and a cheeky beer. Thanks for all your comments, has really helped me cheer up after this less than excellent day!

Day 6: Leylands to Carlisle

Update 31/08/07
Stats are
Distance: 167.4km
Total: 1010.3km
Time: 7hrs 35mins
Average: 22.0kph
Maximum: 54.6

No stats right now for this leg of the ride (they are in my room and I'm down in the internet cafe right now). Distance wise it was about 165km, certainly enough to take me over the magic 1000km mark.

This was an excellent ride. Gentle sun and although the wind was against me it wasn't too strong. From Preston into Lancaster the roads were very flat and I was able to spin along at a decent 25kph or so thanks to the generous food and rest the night before.

Tim texted me in the morning to tell me to look forward to the scenery beyond Lancaster and he was right. Cycling into Kendal for lunch was an awesome ride and although there was now a distinct upwards gradient I was still pushing a good pace.

After lunch I climbed the 18km up to the 1400 feet Shap fell. This was a climb I'd been looking forward to all day. It had been described to me by a cyclist in Warrington as a "long, steady climb". Was much more satisfying to climb than the relentless hill-ettes in Devon and Cornwall. Some good photos when I get back. Wish I could have spent a bit longer in that part of the country, but I had to push on.

The ride down to Penrith was good and almost all down hill. I cycled with another tourer, Mel, for a while who I met there. It turned out she was a professional demonstrator, which I should have guessed by the "No Oil" sign on the back of her bike. She was cycling back to Glasgow after doing "some environmental stuff" down South, including as it turned out the Climate Change Camp at Heathrow. Made for interesting conversation.

I made a stop for tea before Carlisle with some past neighbours of my Grandparents. It turns out I'd never met them before; the last time they'd seen my Dad was 1978 but they are still in touch with the Grandparents. They very kindly offered accomodation for the night, but with the aim of getting to Glasgow tommorrow I felt I should push on.

Hostel was pretty easy to find and I even had my own room. Overall a great ride

Day 5: Dimmingsdale to Leylands

Distance: 137.5km
Total: 842.9km
Time: 6hrs 21mins
Average: 21.6kph
Maximum: 55.2kph

I'd billed this day as my rest day, assuming without using google pedometer, that this would be a 100km maximum ride. As it turned out it was almost 140km, but was certainly more of a rest than yesterday. I got up later (08:00) and arrived earlier.

Pace was slower today, feeling tired and had a strong wind against me to start with. Bought my average speed up in the afternoon as conditions improved and I made up for a small breakfast with a foot long sandwich from Subway.

Not optimal cylce route today, lots of cycling through urban areas and got caught in the rush hour around Wigan. Don't think I spend more than 15km on a single road, thus adding to the overall time with lots of navigation stops.

Staying at "Donna's Mum's" in Leylands. Excellent to have a good meal, a bath and a decent bed to sleep in. Which is where I'm going now.

Day 4: Welsh Bricknor (near Ross on Wye) to Dimmingsdale (near Cheadle)

Distance: 189.8km
Total: 705.5km
Time: 8hrs 35mins
Average: 22.0kph
Maximum: 54.3kph

I knew this was going to be a long ride, but sitting in the hostel afterwards, still with oil on my face (not really sure how it got there, but I'm finding I'm getting bike oil everywhere) I felt pretty good. It was very satisfying to make some good progress northwards (after several days of essentially cycling towards the north east) and was pretty flat. Couldn't have done the ride without that steak last night though.

Was awesome to see, and feel in my legs, the change in scenery along the route, from the flat roads around Ross up to the hillier Peak District. I took a route that avoided the Malverns and was averaging a decent 23.5kph until the last two hours when the wind turned towards me and I got into the hills around the Peaks. My attempt at a short cut to the hostel back fired, adding a good half hour to my overall time. Distance wise it was probably shorter, but I should have looked at the countour lines in more detail to see I'd be taking a particularly hilly route.

With about eight hours a day on the bike, you need some ways to pass the time somehow. One of the ways I've been doing this is by waving at other cyclists en route. A lot of racers and tourers wave at you anyway as a form of greeting between cyclists, but I've extended this to commuter cyclists as well. Most of them just seem plain baffled but I got a friendly salutation of some of them.

Legs are aching a bit and I can defintley feel when climbing that I don't have quite the pace I had at the start. More than anything my back and neck are aching at the end of the day, despite spending a far ammount of time on warming them up before the ride. Arms are also aching surprisingly, I think from compensating in turns for all the weight in my panniers.

Hostel was easy to find this time and very friendly. Met another cyclist who was on a tour up from Bath across to Nottingham, doing about 60 miles a day. Certainly a more sensible approach to touring.

Day 3: Quantock Hills to Welsh Bricknor

Distance: 174.5km
Total: 515.6km
Time: 7hrs 43mins
Average: 22.5kph
Maximum: 59.7kph

So much flatter today riding into Somerset, leaving the hills of Devon and Cornwall behind me. I won't be returning around there by bike for a while! The flatter ground is reflected in the higher average speed but lower maximum speed I recorded today.

Distance was longer than I expected and my legs are starting to feel tired, but once I get into a good rhythm am still able to cover some good ground.

Grateful to a racer I met on the way into Bristol ("Steve the cyclist") for his route advice and for showing me the way to the Clifton suspension bridge. His assertion that the Wye valley was as "flat as a pan" turned out to be excellently true.

Was supposed to meet my sister in Bristol for lunch, but surprisingly my parents turned up as well with a picnic. Although three days on your own isn't long, when you're cycling solo you're always greatful for some company. And some good food.

After lunch I used some more of Steve's advice to take me over the old Severn bridge, thus cycling over two iconic bridges in one day.

The youth hostel was difficult to find and required quite a bit of climbing out of the Wye valley. Again, this hostel is not great for anyone on a racer as both routes to it are along mud and gravel tracks.

Met Ben in the evening, who drove down to the hostel. We headed in to Monmouth and after finding somewhere still serving food at half eight on a Sunday evening, I sat down to a huge plate of steak and chips. Some drama later as Ben almost ran out of petrol. Many thanks to Ben for popping by to visit me!

(Ben made it home OK by the way).

Day 2: Titagel to Quantock Hills

Distance: 183.8km
Total: 341.1km
Time: 8hrs 14mins
Average: 22.2kph
Maximum: 70.6kph

Changed from my planned to route to take the A49 for most of the day to try and avoid the worst of the hills. Gradients were kinder in the most compared to yesterday, but the hills were still relentless and included a 1:4 hill to climb. In fact I even climbed above the clouds. Photographic evidence when I get back.

Roads in Devon were pretty messy and I got two punctures before lunch. Made a mistake and tried to press on too far before lunch. Ended up without water and very hungry down some country lane. Eventually got a pizza at half three in the afternoon after 110km of riding.

Youth hostel was pretty basic but with friendly staff at the top of a long track, not good for riding along with a race bike!

Recorded my top speed on this bike as well today. Got to 67kph and decided it would be silly not to try and pass the 70kph mark. Overall a satisfying ride, one of the longest single rides I've done.

Day 1: Land's End to Titagel

Distance: 157.3km
Total: 157.3km
Time: 7hrs 37mins
Average: 20.6kph
Maximum: 63.8kph

Very hilly day and no direct route. Tough going with the hills and quite disheartening to find progress so slow. Wasn't helped by the 30km round trip to Land's End this morning. Cheered up by the evening and the arrival at the hostel. Big meal of cous cous, sausages, tomatoes and eggs overlooking the setting sun.

Day 0: Train to Penzance

Just got back to the Youth Hostel after some pub food and a walk around Penzance harbour.

The five hour train journey from London was impressive: you don't need an anorak to see why its worth taking at least once. On several ocassions the track lies right next to the sea and a glance out of the window makes you think you're on a boat rather than a train. The scenery was stricking and as a sign of things to come, very hilly.

Good weather here; in fact from a rainy London it was sunny just beyond Reading. Not sure how long it'll last but choosing the wettest summer since 1927 [I'm pretty sure I read that somewhere, limited internet access means no diligent fact checking on, er, Wikipedia] means I'll probably get wet at some point.

Had an excellent send off from College today, a somewhat slower version of the Tour de France's Grand Depart. Thanks to Zoe, Ben, Tim, Pete, Iain, Simon, Andy, Adele and Matty for seeing me off. The balloons are still attached to my bike. Let's see if they make it up to Titagel.

I'm going to do my best to blog my way to John o'Groats as well as cycle there, with updates every evening provided I can on to the interweb. So check back to see how I'm getting on.

Total distance today was 17.5km, which included riding into College, on to the station and then finally up to the hostel.

I'm off!

It's twenty past nine and I'm about to leave to catch my train down to Penzance to start my Land's End to John o'Groats mega ride. Both nervous and excited. I've probably forgotten something, but my panniers are sufficiently heavy that I've probably got some things I won't need as well.

Updates will apear here in the evenings if I can get on the internet (a further requirement will be my ability to stay awake after a day of cycling).

Thanks to everyone who has sponsored me, already raised more than I hoped I ever could. Your support to Afasic really reminds me why I'm doing this.

160 hours to go

One week to go before I set off by train for Land's End. I finished planning the Scottish part of the route last night, although I use the word planning in the loosest possible sense since there really isn't much choice of routes. Out of Glasgow along the A82, following it up to Fort William where I'll stay the night. Then another day on the A82 along Loch Ness and up to Tain for another night's sleep. And finally a day cycling up the A9 to John o'Groats. At least navigation will be easier as I spend two days on the A82.

I'll link to my route as soon as I've transfered it to a Google map. For the distance planning I exchanged the traditional length of string for gmaps-pedometer. I would link to the maps I created on there, but the only downside is there is no option to share as a read-only map. I'd recomend it to anyone planning along cycle ride and I suspect more accurate the trying to curve a piece of string around hairpin bends on a three-miles-to-the-inch map.

Back in February, when I pencilled the last week of August in to do this ride, I didn't realise that this would mean stradling the busiest bank holiday weekend of the year. I've booked a lot of my accomodation now (mostly youth hostels), but I just couldn't find anything available on the bank holiday Saturday. The best I was offered was £70 for a bed, breakfast not included. So I've decided to take a tent and jetison it on to my sister when I meet her on Sunday. It's extra weight, but much better than cycling through the night.

Zoe and I cycled 125km from Reading to Bath at the weekend, mostly along the A4. We averaged 24.5kph. Was pleasantly surprised, the road was wide enough that traffic was able to overtake fast but not close. May work some more A roads into my earlier routes as a result. The plan was to cycle back on Sunday, but still suffering from a bad throat at the tail end of a cold we decided to catch the train back instead.

Land's End to John O'Groats: trial run

Not much bloggage recently because there hasn't been much cycling to write about.

Replacing the broken spoke I got on the Dunwich Dynamo turned into replacing the entire wheel when more spokes broke whilst I was removing the gears. Rather than just replace all the broken spokes and worry that more might go on LEJoG, I figured it would be best just to replace the whole thing. It's done about 5000km, although I have to say I'm not very sure what a good wheel lifetime is.

Replacing replacing my rear wheel in turn meant changing my rear cassette since Shimano have adopted a new system in the last two years and I couldnt' simply swap my gears over. With new rear cogs on it seemed prudent to replace the chain in case it had streched. Whilst doing this and re-adjusting my gear cables I noticed that my bottom bracket was a bit loose. In the spirit of repairing stuff I got a new one and for good measure some new gear cables as well.

So one hundred and fifty quid down and a week and a bit of cycling lost, but my bike does feel a whole lot smoother now.

To make up for the lack of training I did a Land's End to John O'Groats in ales at "the biggest pub in the world" yesterday, the Great British Beer Festival. Starting in Southwest England I had a Blindman's Golden Spring, which wasn't as good as the name suggested. Forging up in to Wales I had probably one of the best ales I've had for a while, a Grog-y-Vog from the Vale of Glamorgan. After that I'm not very sure what I had, although I do remember the Scotish ale was particularly good. Photo evidence below. (It was hat day, hence, er, the hats).













Surprisingly only two people tried to "press" my hat.

Dunwich Dynamo: I'm not a spokesman

Full moon in July means cycling 200km on the "turn-up-and-go challenging slightly-scary free-entry overnight on-road" Dunwich Dynamo ride. I completed it last year, despite moderate rain, two broken spokes and a ripped tyre. For good measure I did an extra 50km to a train station at the end.

I'd been looking forward to this year's ride pretty much since I recovered from the last one, the achievement of pulling into Dunwich as the sun rises in the morning is awesome. I headed over to London Fields on Saturday evening to start this year's ride looking for a good training cycle and a bit of adventure.

Learning from last year's ride when I ran out of food at four in the morning, I over compensated this year. But four bacon sandwiches, two packets of fig rolls, five bananas, one energy bar, two electrolyte sachets and a tray's worth of flatjacks, alongside all of my mechanical stuff (basic tools, inner tubes and spare tyre) not to mention maps and a change of clothes in case it rained were all be too much for my courier bag. So with the even greater baggage needs of LEJoG in mind I figured the time was right to get a pair of panniers.

Along with cycling over 100 miles a day for ten days, one thing I'm dreading about LEJoG is that I'll have to de-pimp my bike down to a tourer. Hello panniers, goodbye racer. I guess I could put some go-faster stripes down the side to make it look a bit cooler.

Weather forecasts for the ride were pretty poor, but having survived rain last year I didn't think much of it. Didn't look like the hundreds of others in London Fields on Saturday evening thought much of it either. I bumped into some riders from the Central London CTC who I'd cycled with before so joined them to set off. There's no official start to the Dynamo, at around 8pm people start setting off and then a kind of momentum develops and the streets fill with bikes.

An hour in and the drizzle started. But with a good tailwind and plenty of energy we plunged on into the darkening night, following a trail of red LEDs through into the countryside. Many of us were cycling along two a breast along the wider roads, sharing cycling anecdotes with complete stangers or pushing on in silence with cycling buddies. However, for reasons I can't adequatley explain I was chosen as the spokesman for all cyclists when a boy racer pulled along side me and shouted across his girlfriend "Oi, you ride single file. Single file". I started back at him by begining to explain that the highway code allows cycling up to two abreast on wide roads, but before I could get more than "Nah mate, we're fine like this-" he swerved his car towards me. Sometimes it might be best to keep quiet. I wonder how many other breaches of the highway code he's made whilst compensating for his presumably small genetalia.

Only 40km in I heard a noise I'd been dreading since last year's ride: the twang of a broken spoke. Fortunatley we'd just past a village so I turned back into the light to inspect the damage. With one spoke down my back wheel was wobbling around, all I could think was "man, this is untrue!". In the slight panic which gripped me with the realisation that if one spoke was gone, another might be about to go, that it was raining harder and harder, that if I couldn't continue I was in the middle of nowhere and that it was too late to find a bed & breakfast, I couldn't remember how to true my wheel. After almost an hour of uber-faffing, spending over five quid on a pay phone (no mobile reception) to get someone to look up which way to turn a spoke key to tighten spokes and trying to get the number of the nearest travel lodge, the good sense of an old cyclist prevailed: "loosen your rear brakes and don't worry about it, you've got lots of other spokes".

So once more I plunged roughly back into that good night. The next 70km to the food station were pretty unremarkable along dark country lanes: my waterproof became saturated and I got wetter and wetter, but with a good tailwind and a plentiful supply of fig roles things didn't seem too bad. Pulling into the warmth of the food station at just past two in the morning made me realised just how cold I was. Completley drenched and shivering I huddled around one of the radiators to dry out whilst shoving down bacon sandwiches, flapjacks and bananas.

I found some of the CTCers who I'd become seperated from earlier and discovered that I wasn't the only one who wasn't looking forward to going back out into the worsening rain. They'd even found out that there was a train back to London in five hours and so, along with many others, my Dynamo finished in a village hall on the outskirts of Sudbury.

Along with the rides to the start and the station back I clocked up 160km. No Dunwich, but I did discover that my Ortlieb panniers really are totally waterproof, even in torrential rain.

A weekend of cycling and peddaling poor puns

True story: I'd planned to do a 50km ride yesterday, but too much drinking and not enough eating on Friday night meant that, er, I spent most of the day in bed. I eventually managed to get out to buy a spoke key to true my back wheel. It was surprisingly satisfying to finally deal with the slight lateral bulge in my wheel. It made me wheely truly happy. (Aside: if you're thinking of truing your wheel but like me just couldn't be bothered, it's well worth it. Bike feels a lot smoother. Good instructions here.)

Made up for yesterday's laziness by joining another excellent Central London CTC ride around Hertfordshire. Including cycling to and from train stations I clocked up 125km, averaging a little over 24km/h. Pace was a bit slower than normal, but that sometimes happens on group rides. Physics joke: surprisingly the group velocity was slower than the phase velocity.

I got a puncture just before lunch, but I didn't allow myself to get too deflated by this. Even if I had, I would have been uplifted by our afternoon tea stop at Panshanger Aerodrome (if you enjoy full stops between sentences don't visit their site).

Bitten by the cycling bug

I seem to have got a fly in the ointment whilst out training at the weekend. When I got back from doing laps of Richmond Park (average 29.5kph) I discovered that my left leg was unusually swollen, seems that I've got a possibly infected bite, much like this one which started my blog in the first place. A good reminder to buy some insect repellent to fend off midges in Scotland.

On my bike

At the end of August I've decided that I'm going to go to the most southerly point in Britain (Land's End down in Cornwall), aim my bike towards the North and start cycling. Hopefully 1600km and about 350,000 turns of my pedals later I'll arrive at John O'Groats right at the top of Scotland. Those with an eye for these sort of things will have noticed that what I will be doing the so called Land's End to John O'Groats.

So I'm starting a new section of my blog so you can keep up to date with my training and the ride itself (subject to me being able to get onto the interweb).

This will be the longest ride I've ever done and to make it more of a challenge I'm going to do it solo in the shortest time I can manage, averaging at least 100 miles per day. Although I can't wait to travel across the country, cycle through Cheddar (I understand I should be able to get some cheese there) and inspect Loch Ness for signs of life along the way, I'm also hoping to raise some money for Afasic.

I chose Afasic because across the UK there are over one million children and young people affected by speech and language impairments. In fact research shows that six in 100 children will at some stage have a speech, language or communication difficulty... that's about two children in every classroom.

Afasic helps these children, working for their inclusion in society and supporting their parents and carers. They provide a telephone helpline, publications, organise training workshops, run activities and events for the children and young people and have a network of local parent support groups across the UK.

Having needed speech therapy when I was younger I know what a difference a bit of support can make!

You can sponsor me at www.justgiving.com/alexguite!