Jogle - Made it!

Hi y'all... Well, made it, John O' Groats to Lands End in 9 days and last one was Penzance to Lands
End, i.e. 10 miles. Extremely lucky with the weather, only finally raining on me about 20 miles
north of Penzance, not bad for end of March. Scariest bit trying to get to Penzance from Barnstaple,
about 110 miles, dashing down the A30, which is almost as scary as being on a motorway. Had several
cop cars go by, kept expecting them to pull me over as it felt as if I really shouldn't have been
there !! Steepest bit, funnily enough wasn't Scotland or Cumbria but Devon / Cornwall, mainly
Porlock (1in4, chose easy option of 1in14 but for 4 miles!!!), then Lynton/Lynmouth. Didn't realise
you could bypass it, so went
in. Sign recommends cyclists get off and walk *down* the hill 'cos it's so steep. Cycled anyway but
had to get off and push up the other side out of the village.

6 punctures all between Glasgow (1st in the Clyde cycle tunnel for Gods sake!!) and Wigan, 4 on my
birthday (thanks God!) No other mechanical failures but chain was definitely tired, had to keep
flexing it across, rather than along the length to stop it from kinking and slipping. Not bad for a
25 year old racer with no maintenance or servicing beforehand. It's gonna get major attention now
though by way of thanks......

Deep and interesting thoughts from trip.....
1. It's just like life, got a beginning, an end and lots of variety and challenging bits in the
middle..... or (my personal favourite)
2. 'S a nice ride.

No doubt I'll become an end to end bore and post some more about this in the very near future ;-)

cheers,

Dave.

 

Congrats!!! Well done!!! Glad you enjoyed it!

Cheers, helen s

~~~~~~~~~~
Flush out that intestinal parasite and/or the waste product before sending a reply!

Any speeliong mistake$ aR the resiult of my cats sitting on the keyboaRRRDdd
~~~~~~~~~~

 

"wafflycathcsdirtycatlitter" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Congrats!!! Well done!!! Glad you enjoyed it!
>
> Cheers, helen s
>
>
Thanks Helen, 's good to be back ;-) Now for the difficult bit, getting the sponsorship monies in...
ho-hum! Dave.

 

"Dave" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Hi y'all... Well, made it, John O' Groats to Lands End in 9 days and last one was Penzance to
> Lands End, i.e. 10 miles.

Well done. Thanks for the report.

T

 

In article <[email protected]>, Dave <no- [email protected]> writes
>Not bad for a 25 year old racer with no maintenance or servicing beforehand.

Absolutely. And what about the bike?
--
The Big Baguette

 

Well done, you make me envious, I was planning on LeJog in 15 days last summer, but I was made
redundant and couldn't justify the expense. This year I have been cajoled into Raid Pyrenean so
it'll have to wait until next year. Got to do it before I am forty.

I look forward to your route details appearing on here.

"Dave" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Hi y'all... Well, made it, John O' Groats to Lands End in 9 days and last one was Penzance to
> Lands End, i.e. 10 miles. Extremely lucky with the weather, only finally raining on me about 20
miles
> north of Penzance, not bad for end of March. Scariest bit trying to get to Penzance from
> Barnstaple, about 110 miles, dashing down the A30, which is almost as scary as being on a
> motorway. Had several cop cars go by, kept expecting them to pull me over as it felt as
if
> I really shouldn't have been there !! Steepest bit, funnily enough wasn't Scotland or Cumbria but
> Devon / Cornwall, mainly Porlock (1in4, chose easy option of 1in14 but for 4 miles!!!), then
> Lynton/Lynmouth. Didn't realise you could bypass it, so
went
> in. Sign recommends cyclists get off and walk *down* the hill 'cos it's so steep. Cycled anyway
> but had to get off and push up the other side out of the village.
>
> 6 punctures all between Glasgow (1st in the Clyde cycle tunnel for Gods sake!!) and Wigan, 4 on my
> birthday (thanks God!) No other mechanical failures but chain was definitely tired, had to keep
> flexing it across, rather than along the length to stop it from kinking
and
> slipping. Not bad for a 25 year old racer with no maintenance or servicing beforehand. It's gonna
> get major attention now though by way of
thanks......
>
> Deep and interesting thoughts from trip.....
> 1. It's just like life, got a beginning, an end and lots of variety and challenging bits in the
> middle..... or (my personal favourite)
> 2. 'S a nice ride.
>
> No doubt I'll become an end to end bore and post some more about this in
the
> very near future ;-)
>
> cheers,
>
> Dave.

 

"Dave" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> Hi y'all... Well, made it, John O' Groats to Lands End in 9 days and last one was Penzance to
> Lands End, i.e. 10 miles.

1. Nice going.

2. What made you decide JoGLE rather than LEJoG? (Forgive me if you've already answered this.) I'm
doing an e2e in a few weeks and have been toying with the idea of doing it upside-down as well.

http://www.bikereader.com/E2E/trip.html http://www.bikereader.com/BikeReader/BikeReader.html

 

"Scott" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Dave" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> > Hi y'all... Well, made it, John O' Groats to Lands End in 9 days and last one was Penzance to
> > Lands End, i.e. 10 miles.
>
> 1. Nice going.

Thanks ;-)
>
> 2. What made you decide JoGLE rather than LEJoG? (Forgive me if you've already answered this.) I'm
> doing an e2e in a few weeks and have been toying with the idea of doing it upside-down as well.
>
I only planned it for about a week and had the misconception that was how it was done. Several
things supported the idea.
1. I live in the West Midlands so if I needed to bail out during the latter half of the trip due to
exhaustion of either myself or the bike, I'd probably be doing it closer to home.
2. The train ticket from West Mids to JOG was £106 whereas the LE to West Mids was £16, so I wanted
to get full value of most expensive ticket....I did as Virgin Trains let me down on connections
and ended up providing people carrier taxi from Inverness to JOG, which must have cost them a
bloody fortune. On the down side, not very environmentally friendly :-(..
3. Thought I'd get the more hilly (hillier???) Scotland and Cumbria out of the way first. Think this
was probably a misconception, or at least certainly underestimated the 'power' of the Devon /
Cornwall hills.
4. I'm more familiar with Cornwall / Penzance, having holidayed there for the last 6 years and
thought that might be of benefit at the end, rather than potentially being in some bleak
forbidding storm lashed Scottish outpost..
5. The traditional psychological benefit of looking at the map and it's all 'downhill' in that
direction ;-)

I think the good weather played the biggest part in my success (and my single minded determination,
of course!), so if you can, do what I did and arrange for the best weather on record....(ooops,
there goes my grip on reality!)

Personally, I think a large amount of luck and once you've made your decision about which way to go,
go for it, don't worry about it. There are hills in both directions but the good news is, there are
both down as well as up sides to hills!

Whatever you decide, good luck, enjoy it 'cos trhat's what it's all about. Cheers, Dave.

 

"The Big Baguette" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In article <[email protected]>, Dave <no- [email protected]> writes
> >Not bad for a 25 year old racer with no maintenance or servicing beforehand.
>
> Absolutely. And what about the bike?
> --
> The Big Baguette

The bike ?.... a brand new, super, top of the range, carbon fibre....(like I wish ;-)

 

"M Series" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Well done, you make me envious, I was planning on LeJog in 15 days last summer, but I was made
> redundant and couldn't justify the expense. This
year
> I have been cajoled into Raid Pyrenean so it'll have to wait until next year. Got to do it before
> I am forty.
>
> I look forward to your route details appearing on here.
>
>
Will post soon, got to sort out Mothers Day stuff first. I had my 42nd birthday in the middle of it,
most unusual, me and a bunch of sheep!! Dave.

 

"Dave" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Hi y'all... Well, made it, John O' Groats to Lands End in 9 days and last one was Penzance to
> Lands End, i.e. 10 miles.

That's fantastic Dave, very well done!
--
Simon Mason Anlaby East Yorkshire. 53°44'N 0°26'W http://www.simonmason.karoo.net

 

Dave <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>
> "M Series" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...

> I had my 42nd birthday in the middle of it, most unusual, me and a bunch
of
> sheep!! Dave.
>
>

Can't think of a better way to spend it...plenty of entertainment when your on the road for 9 days!
Where did you carry the wellies?

Well done, and looking forward to seeing the route...let us know when it's available.

--
Mark
____________________________
Practice does not make perfect... Perfect practice makes perfect

---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.465 / Virus Database: 263 - Release Date: 25/03/03

 

Thus spake "MSA" <[email protected]>

> Dave <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> >
> > "M Series" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...

> > I had my 42nd birthday in the middle of it, most unusual, me and a bunch
> of
> > sheep!! Dave.
> >
> >

> Can't think of a better way to spend it...plenty of entertainment when your on the road for 9
> days! Where did you carry the wellies?

> Well done, and looking forward to seeing the route...let us know when it's available.

I cycled into John O'Groats on my 28th birthday and into Lappland on my 30th. An early June Birthday
makes this rather wonderful.

Helen (age 44¾)

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email protected] Edgware.

 

Well done! I remember those Devon/Cornwall hills well! I was glad I got them out of the way first.
In Scotland they have the good sense to take the roads round the mountains, not over them. (mostly).
My own ride was in celebration of my 40th birthday. Jo "M Series" <[email protected]> wrote in
message news:[email protected]...
> Well done, you make me envious, I was planning on LeJog in 15 days last summer, but I was made
> redundant and couldn't justify the expense. This
year
> I have been cajoled into Raid Pyrenean so it'll have to wait until next year. Got to do it before
> I am forty.
>
> I look forward to your route details appearing on here.
>
>
> "Dave" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Hi y'all... Well, made it, John O' Groats to Lands End in 9 days and last one was Penzance to
> > Lands End, i.e. 10 miles. Extremely lucky with the weather, only finally raining on me about 20
> miles
> > north of Penzance, not bad for end of March. Scariest bit trying to get to Penzance from
> > Barnstaple, about 110 miles, dashing down the A30, which is almost as scary as being on a
> > motorway.
Had
> > several cop cars go by, kept expecting them to pull me over as it felt
as
> if
> > I really shouldn't have been there !! Steepest bit, funnily enough wasn't Scotland or Cumbria
> > but Devon / Cornwall, mainly Porlock (1in4, chose easy option of 1in14 but for 4 miles!!!), then
> > Lynton/Lynmouth. Didn't realise you could bypass it, so
> went
> > in. Sign recommends cyclists get off and walk *down* the hill 'cos it's
so
> > steep. Cycled anyway but had to get off and push up the other side out
of
> > the village.
> >
> > 6 punctures all between Glasgow (1st in the Clyde cycle tunnel for Gods sake!!) and Wigan, 4 on
> > my birthday (thanks God!) No other mechanical failures but chain was definitely tired, had to
> > keep flexing it across, rather than along the length to stop it from kinking
> and
> > slipping. Not bad for a 25 year old racer with no maintenance or
servicing
> > beforehand. It's gonna get major attention now though by way of
> thanks......
> >
> > Deep and interesting thoughts from trip.....
> > 1. It's just like life, got a beginning, an end and lots of variety and challenging bits in the
> > middle..... or (my personal favourite)
> > 2. 'S a nice ride.
> >
> > No doubt I'll become an end to end bore and post some more about this in
> the
> > very near future ;-)
> >
> > cheers,
> >
> > Dave.
> >
>

 

I thought the traditional route was South West to North East to take advantage of the prevailing
wind from the Atlantic. Intresting point about the train fares. When I had mine planned last year I
booked a ticket from JoG to York rather that Leeds, it was £30 cheaper but a ticket from York to
Leeds is < £10. I thought I 'd ride it anyway, after 1000 mile ride then a day on the train 30 miles
would be OK.

"Scott" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Dave" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> > Hi y'all... Well, made it, John O' Groats to Lands End in 9 days and last one was Penzance to
> > Lands End, i.e. 10 miles.
>
> 1. Nice going.
>
> 2. What made you decide JoGLE rather than LEJoG? (Forgive me if you've already answered this.) I'm
> doing an e2e in a few weeks and have been toying with the idea of doing it upside-down as well.
>
> http://www.bikereader.com/E2E/trip.html http://www.bikereader.com/BikeReader/BikeReader.html

 

I crossed the International Dateline on my 26th birthday travelling east so had it all over again !
Got taken out for dinner by ladies in Auckland and LA !

"Helen Deborah Vecht" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Thus spake "MSA" <[email protected]>
>
>
>
> > Dave <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> > >
> > > "M Series" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>
>
> > > I had my 42nd birthday in the middle of it, most unusual, me and a
bunch
> > of
> > > sheep!! Dave.
> > >
> > >
>
> > Can't think of a better way to spend it...plenty of entertainment when
your
> > on the road for 9 days! Where did you carry the wellies?
>
> > Well done, and looking forward to seeing the route...let us know when
it's
> > available.
>
> I cycled into John O'Groats on my 28th birthday and into Lappland on my 30th. An early June
> Birthday makes this rather wonderful.
>
> Helen (age 44¾)
>
> --
> Helen D. Vecht: [email protected] Edgware.

 

"M Series" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...

> Got to do it before I am forty.
>

Oh god, if we're going to talk of 'got to do it before' decades, then I'd have to say 'got to do it
before I'm sixty'.... That's still a few years yet but I'm definitely closer to that than to forty!
Maybe I'd better start planning before it's too late!!!

Congrats to Dave. LeJog is certainly one thing I'd really like to do.

Rich

 

Dave wrote:

> Hi y'all... Well, made it, John O' Groats to Lands End in 9 days and last one was Penzance to
> Lands End, i.e. 10 miles. Extremely lucky with the weather, only finally raining on me about 20
> miles north of Penzance, not bad for end of March. Scariest bit trying to get to Penzance from
> Barnstaple, about 110 miles, dashing down the A30, which is almost as scary as being on a
> motorway. Had several cop cars go by, kept expecting them to pull me over as it felt as if I
> really shouldn't have been there !! Steepest bit, funnily enough wasn't Scotland or Cumbria but
> Devon / Cornwall, mainly Porlock (1in4, chose easy option of 1in14 but for 4 miles!!!), then
> Lynton/Lynmouth. Didn't realise you could bypass it, so went
> in. Sign recommends cyclists get off and walk *down* the hill 'cos it's so steep. Cycled anyway
> but had to get off and push up the other side out of the village.
>
> 6 punctures all between Glasgow (1st in the Clyde cycle tunnel for Gods sake!!) and Wigan, 4 on my
> birthday (thanks God!) No other mechanical failures but chain was definitely tired, had to keep
> flexing it across, rather than along the length to stop it from kinking and slipping. Not bad for
> a 25 year old racer with no maintenance or servicing beforehand. It's gonna get major attention
> now though by way of thanks......
>
> Deep and interesting thoughts from trip.....
> 1. It's just like life, got a beginning, an end and lots of variety and challenging bits in the
> middle..... or (my personal favourite)
> 2. 'S a nice ride.
>
> No doubt I'll become an end to end bore and post some more about this in the very near future ;-)
>
> cheers,
>
> Dave.

Well done. yes, very lucky with the weather. your body coped OK?

davep

 

"wafflycathcsdirtycatlitter" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> Hmm... do I see a mass LeJog by we oldies of urc???
>
> Cheers, helen s
>
>

'Oldies'! Me! The borough where I work has a program called 'Better Government for older
people', by which they mean 50+. I thought it was bad enough being considered an 'older' person
.. trying to look at optimistically, I took it as meaning sort of getting towards 'old' but not
necessarily being it!

But OTOH if people are going to start saying they've 'got to do it before' they're 30 or 40, as if
they couldn't do it after, maybe we 'oldies' should show them it's possible! (Or do it before we're
any older too...)

Rich

 

"davep" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]... <snip>
>
> Well done. yes, very lucky with the weather. your body coped OK?
>
> davep
>
>
>
Strangely enough, yes it did (the body, that is)... I took voluntary redundancy about 15 months ago,
so got out from behind the desk and the wheel of the car. Gave up smoking about 12 months ago,
started running and cycling. Started job as lifeguard at local pool in August, so started swimming
as well. Also do a bit of rock climbing.... So since last August my 'fitness regime' has been as
follows :- 1 x run 12 miles per week 1 x reasonable ride per week, either road 50-60 miles or
off-road 20-30 miles. upto 3 x 1 mile swims per week 1 x upto 4hrs training climb or day out in wild
if time/weather allows

My first day of around 100+miles was painful 'cos I suffer from cramp. At one point I was stuck in
the middle of nowhere, astride the bike with both legs cramped up, ( I broke the silence a bit, I
can tell you ;-), unable to bend them, just around a blind bend atop an incline. I couldn't move and
was expecting a car to come speeding around at any second. Last thing I'd've seen would be the look
of suprise on the drivers face ;-). Luckily no-one came and I managed to get over the cramp and out
of the middle of the road and on my way. At another point I ended up falling off the bike onto the
grassy verge at the side of the road and just had to lie there until I got over the 'all over body
cramp'. I just continued through the cramps as much as possible and managed to make the daily
mileage. From day 2 there was far less incidence of cramp and by day 4 I was well over it. I was
drinking 6 to 8 litres of water a day (finally discovered the delight of orange squash and ice cubes
by day 5!!) and eating unsalted peanuts and dried mixed fruit during the day. I started the day with
a good fried breakfast, cereal, toast & honey whenever possible and finished the day with a good
meal. So, apart from 5 days of an abcess under a crowned tooth ( a totally unfair coincidence, I
think), which was finally sorted at Carlisle A&E, I had no real physical problems. Cheers, Dave.