LEJOG - How much training is required?
Discussion
I’m poised to sign up for doing Lands End to John OGroats in June next year. I’m just wondering if anybody here has done the trip and how much training is involved.
The trip I’m looking at takes 12 days, riding up to 100 miles a day. Would 10-15 hours a week in the saddle be enough to prepare for this?
I started commuting on the bike a couple of months ago but so far haven’t manage more than 100 miles in a week and my longest ride has only been 20 miles! I’m looking for a challenge/target to push me.
The trip I’m looking at takes 12 days, riding up to 100 miles a day. Would 10-15 hours a week in the saddle be enough to prepare for this?
I started commuting on the bike a couple of months ago but so far haven’t manage more than 100 miles in a week and my longest ride has only been 20 miles! I’m looking for a challenge/target to push me.
Now first of all I've never done it! But Like you I ride about 25 miles to work and back four days a week so about 100 miles. There was talk of a few of us doing this at work so I said lets do a "big" ride of say 70 miles of big ass hills etc with just one stop for lunch. Everyone said "yeah!" on the day only two of us turned up and I was the only one to complete 70 odd miles my mate bailed after 40ish.
Now the ride itself was okay but I did notice a few things:
1) Sore arse.
2) Sore hands.
3) Sore left knee (old injury)
4) Sore little toe on right foot (WTF?)
All of this reminds me of when I first dragged my fatter unhealthy fat carcass onto a bike a few months ago and did my first epic ride out of three whole miles and collapsed in the back garden twitching like a goldfish out of water.
So I have drawn from this that I need to:
a) Harden the f**k up.
b) Man the f**k up.
c) Get more practice on long saddle time rides.
d) Get more practice of repeated long rides (2 or 3 days in a row)
Just my worthless opinion from a fat bloke whose never done it lol..
HTH
Now the ride itself was okay but I did notice a few things:
1) Sore arse.
2) Sore hands.
3) Sore left knee (old injury)
4) Sore little toe on right foot (WTF?)
All of this reminds me of when I first dragged my fatter unhealthy fat carcass onto a bike a few months ago and did my first epic ride out of three whole miles and collapsed in the back garden twitching like a goldfish out of water.
So I have drawn from this that I need to:
a) Harden the f**k up.
b) Man the f**k up.
c) Get more practice on long saddle time rides.
d) Get more practice of repeated long rides (2 or 3 days in a row)
Just my worthless opinion from a fat bloke whose never done it lol..
HTH
I've not done LEJOG but I've done a similar thing in France in that I rode from the Atlantic to the Med then back to Caen then home from Portsmouth so I've a rough idea of what it'll be like.
Before signing up, the main thing to consider is whether you'll be doing it supported or unsupported and if unsupported, will you be staying in B&Bs or camping? What I mean by supported is will you have a van or car shadowing you, meeting up at several places throughout the day with food & water and carrying clothes for when you stop in the evening? If you take this option, you can do it on a road bike which should make things considerably easier than if you have to carry all your kit on your bike.
Option 2 - unsupported but B&Bs. A bit more difficult because your bike will weigh more and have a bit more drag if you're carrying a few extra clothes and toiletries etc. so you'll be on the bike for longer each day to cover the same distance.
Option 3 - camping. Pretty hardcore to do LEJOG and camp if you've not done any long distance riding before because the weight of the camping equipment makes a massive difference to how fast you can go, especially up hills. Let's say you were to be able to average 15-16mph on a road bike, expect this to drop to 12-14mph for B&B touring and 8-10mph for carrying camping kit so you could in theory take twice as long to reach your planned stop each day. Don't forget you'd also need to make & break camp each day on top of 12+ hours in the saddle!
In terms of training, you'd really need to up it from the 20 mile rides you're doing now to rides of at least 50 miles on consecutive days and if you can fit it in, a couple of 80-100 mile rides back to back in the same weekend to see how you feel going back out on the Sunday having ridden this sort of distance the day before. It might seem like a chore, but leaving it until you start LEJOG to find out you can't do it is too late!
The other thing is don't try to increase your training by too much too soon but build it up slowly so that by next spring you're comfortable going out and doing 50 miles on an after work ride and 80 miles on a weekend ride. If you can do this, LEJOG will be a piece of piss!
Good luck.
Before signing up, the main thing to consider is whether you'll be doing it supported or unsupported and if unsupported, will you be staying in B&Bs or camping? What I mean by supported is will you have a van or car shadowing you, meeting up at several places throughout the day with food & water and carrying clothes for when you stop in the evening? If you take this option, you can do it on a road bike which should make things considerably easier than if you have to carry all your kit on your bike.
Option 2 - unsupported but B&Bs. A bit more difficult because your bike will weigh more and have a bit more drag if you're carrying a few extra clothes and toiletries etc. so you'll be on the bike for longer each day to cover the same distance.
Option 3 - camping. Pretty hardcore to do LEJOG and camp if you've not done any long distance riding before because the weight of the camping equipment makes a massive difference to how fast you can go, especially up hills. Let's say you were to be able to average 15-16mph on a road bike, expect this to drop to 12-14mph for B&B touring and 8-10mph for carrying camping kit so you could in theory take twice as long to reach your planned stop each day. Don't forget you'd also need to make & break camp each day on top of 12+ hours in the saddle!
In terms of training, you'd really need to up it from the 20 mile rides you're doing now to rides of at least 50 miles on consecutive days and if you can fit it in, a couple of 80-100 mile rides back to back in the same weekend to see how you feel going back out on the Sunday having ridden this sort of distance the day before. It might seem like a chore, but leaving it until you start LEJOG to find out you can't do it is too late!
The other thing is don't try to increase your training by too much too soon but build it up slowly so that by next spring you're comfortable going out and doing 50 miles on an after work ride and 80 miles on a weekend ride. If you can do this, LEJOG will be a piece of piss!
Good luck.
Thanks for the replies guys. Jimbo, I definitely think I need to go with parts a) & b) of your plan.
The ride is supported; run by Discovery Adventure on behalf of the Altzimer's Society. I might just take the plunge and pay the £300 registration fee then just get on with it. I should be able to up the duration of my weekend rides easily and I'm already looking for a long ride home. (Struggling with the concept of getting up earlier so won't be increasing my ride to work!)
The ride is supported; run by Discovery Adventure on behalf of the Altzimer's Society. I might just take the plunge and pay the £300 registration fee then just get on with it. I should be able to up the duration of my weekend rides easily and I'm already looking for a long ride home. (Struggling with the concept of getting up earlier so won't be increasing my ride to work!)
One thing I forget to say was don't underestimate the effects of doing back to back long (100+ miles) rides for days on end. By the end of the second day you may feel like crap but your body soon learns to adjust and towards the end of the week you'll just be enjoying the riding and will have forgotten how bad you felt at the start.
At least the UK's relatively flat.
At least the UK's relatively flat.
Hi,
Good luck with the LEJOG. I'm planning to do the JOGLE in August 2011 so I'm down to the last 10 weeks of training.
My current training plan involves a long ride at the weekend (about 95 miles) followed by two shorter rides in the week (30 miles each). The shorter ones I try to do at high intesity (for me 20mph ave which is pretty much flat out).
As well as cycling I try to get to the gym a couple of times a week for core strength......I find some weight training helps my back and posture when on the bike.
I really need to find time to put more long rides in, from what I've read the biggest problem with an event like this is bum, neck, foot and hand pain for which hours in the saddle is the best cure. I also read that before you attempt the JOGLE/LEJOG you should be able to do 100 miles on 3 consecutive days.....if you can do that you're good to go:-)
All the best.......
Good luck with the LEJOG. I'm planning to do the JOGLE in August 2011 so I'm down to the last 10 weeks of training.
My current training plan involves a long ride at the weekend (about 95 miles) followed by two shorter rides in the week (30 miles each). The shorter ones I try to do at high intesity (for me 20mph ave which is pretty much flat out).
As well as cycling I try to get to the gym a couple of times a week for core strength......I find some weight training helps my back and posture when on the bike.
I really need to find time to put more long rides in, from what I've read the biggest problem with an event like this is bum, neck, foot and hand pain for which hours in the saddle is the best cure. I also read that before you attempt the JOGLE/LEJOG you should be able to do 100 miles on 3 consecutive days.....if you can do that you're good to go:-)
All the best.......
I would like to do this next year, riding solo on a road bike, supported, in real beds every night.
In the last few weeks before I do it, I want to be able to do.
Monday: 20 miles, flattish, spinning.
Tuesday: 40 miles, hilly training session.
Wednesday: 20 miles, flattish, spinning.
Thursday: 50 miles, mixed terrain.
Friday: 20 miles, flattish, spinning.
Saturday: 100 miles, hilly route.
Sunday: 100 miles, flatter route.
By my maths, that's 350 miles a week, around a 7am - 6pm office job. A lot of cycling, but I will build up to it over the next 10 months or so.
In the last few weeks before I do it, I want to be able to do.
Monday: 20 miles, flattish, spinning.
Tuesday: 40 miles, hilly training session.
Wednesday: 20 miles, flattish, spinning.
Thursday: 50 miles, mixed terrain.
Friday: 20 miles, flattish, spinning.
Saturday: 100 miles, hilly route.
Sunday: 100 miles, flatter route.
By my maths, that's 350 miles a week, around a 7am - 6pm office job. A lot of cycling, but I will build up to it over the next 10 months or so.
Sound's similar to what I'll be aiming to do. Not sure I'll have time to do back to back rides every weekend though. I also have the difficulty of being required to travel overseas for work, this means that I will go a couple of weeks with only a few hours in a hotel gym as training.
wtf...swerni said:
Problem with that is it's a charity event, so you end up collecting for a charity you have little or no interest in.
We should just do something because we can
You can just pay discovery adventure or one of the other organizers for support. And there is always the option of just going solo and carrying everything on the bike.We should just do something because we can
And I have a very personal interest in the Alzheimer's Society; 2 of my grand parents have been effected by the condition so I have no problem with fundraising for them.
swerni said:
I'm not adversed to fund raising, as an ex cancer patient I've raised over £20k in the past few years.
It's when you enter and event this doesn't represent a charity that is really significant.
I know loads of people who do the London marathon each year and expect their friends to effectively fund their place buy entering on behalf of weird and wonderful organisations.
I would be well up for helping organize a LEJOG event next year.
IMHO it should be Supported and self funded.
Then if anyone has a personal charity they want to raise for then it's up to them.
Full agree. I'm doing doing the Cambridge to Norwich ride in October which I've entered for fun. It's on behalf of Cots for Tots, a good cause but not one I'm hugely passionate about or one I'd expect my mid twenties, childless friends to dig deep for. If I raise £100 I'll be happy. It's when you enter and event this doesn't represent a charity that is really significant.
I know loads of people who do the London marathon each year and expect their friends to effectively fund their place buy entering on behalf of weird and wonderful organisations.
I would be well up for helping organize a LEJOG event next year.
IMHO it should be Supported and self funded.
Then if anyone has a personal charity they want to raise for then it's up to them.
swerni said:
So why collect at all?
Just pay the entrance fee and go enjoy.
/\This./\Just pay the entrance fee and go enjoy.
We have a ride going at work factory to factory all round the country "our" leg is the hardest out of the eleven and quite a few of us fancied it. Alas when we sent off for info it came with all sorts of conditions the worst one was you had to raise £200 each to enter per leg! Now this might sound tight or unfair but at work we get sponsor sheeted to death! so much so it's now an unwritten rule to put them up on the notice board and just hope. Because of the huge number that go around the refusals started to get quite harsh!
The company I work for are very pro active fundraisers for whichever charity they pick each year and it is basically uncomfortable getting asked at least twice a week. So when 10 of us need to raise £2000 from 300 co workers you can see how it's going to end. More so when this bike ride is the umpteenth sponsor sheet this year..
If as a team we could enter for £200 we'd all chuck in £20 each and to be honest if we raised £20 between us that's £20 they didn't have before! When was the last time a charity collection person in the local shopping center shook a charity tin in your face and said "If your not putting in a tenner bugger off!"
Conditions on how much you raise is unfair IMHO..
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