LE - JOG or JOG - LE ?

[Ian Teelan]

Hello all,

Discussing the End to End with mates and the direction of travel came up. The Land's End - John
O'Groats route is apparently the most popular since the prevailing wind is generally behind you.
However the hills at the start of this route can be very hard going and sometimes cause people to
drop out after a relatively short distance.

On the other hand the alternative John O'Groats - Land's End route starts with less severe hills and
allows you to build up the cycling muscles as you go along therefore enabling the beginner long
distance tourer to see the trip all the way through.

Two points of view - which do this newsgroup feel is the better argument, and better route ?

Regards,

Ian

 

[Msa]

"Ian Teelan" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Hello all,
>
> Discussing the End to End with mates and the direction of travel came up. The Land's End - John
> O'Groats route is apparently the most popular since the prevailing wind is generally behind you.
> However the hills at the
start
> of this route can be very hard going and sometimes cause people to drop
out
> after a relatively short distance.
>
> On the other hand the alternative John O'Groats - Land's End route starts with less severe hills
> and allows you to build up the cycling muscles as
you
> go along therefore enabling the beginner long distance tourer to see the trip all the way through.
>
> Two points of view - which do this newsgroup feel is the better argument, and better route ?
>
> Regards,
>
> Ian
>
>

I don't have any real opinion on this but I would have thought that hoping to "build up the cycling
muscles" once on the ride, would be leaving it a little late?

--
Mark

"Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak"

 

[M Series]

I am doing Lands End to John O'Groats, get the hardest part (yeah right) out of the way while I'm
still freshest. FWIW I cycled across America the 'wrong' way.

"Ian Teelan" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Hello all,
>
> Discussing the End to End with mates and the direction of travel came up. The Land's End - John
> O'Groats route is apparently the most popular since the prevailing wind is generally behind you.
> However the hills at the
start
> of this route can be very hard going and sometimes cause people to drop
out
> after a relatively short distance.
>
> On the other hand the alternative John O'Groats - Land's End route starts with less severe hills
> and allows you to build up the cycling muscles as
you
> go along therefore enabling the beginner long distance tourer to see the trip all the way through.
>
> Two points of view - which do this newsgroup feel is the better argument, and better route ?
>
> Regards,
>
> Ian

 

[Bigman]

Having done it both ways, I found north to south easier, though we did take two extra days and visited some Scottish islands.
You do get fitter as you go along even if you started off well prepared, however much training you do you won’t have ridden those distances day after day. The prevailing wind thing doesn’t always apply, we had two days of bad wind, in the midlands travelling north, a third and we would have packed. The wind is most relevant in the summer, I prefer the autumn.
There’s lots of good sites on the web, here’s one that has some useful info and plenty of links.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ron.strutt/

 

[M Series]

Know what you are saying, same applied to my RAAM, the real training was the first two weeks.

"Bigman" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Having done it both ways, I found north to south easier, though we did take two extra days and
> visited some Scottish islands. You do get fitter as you go along even if you started off well
> prepared, however much training you do you won’t have ridden those distances day after day. The
> prevailing wind thing doesn’t always apply, we had two days of bad wind, in the midlands
> travelling north, a third and we would have packed. The wind is most relevant in the summer, I
> prefer the autumn. There’s lots of good sites on the web, here’s one that has some useful info and
> plenty of links. http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ron.strutt/
>
>
>
> --
> >--------------------------<
> Posted via cyclingforums.com http://www.cyclingforums.com

 

[Dave]

"Ian Teelan" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Hello all,
>
> Discussing the End to End with mates and the direction of travel came up. The Land's End - John
> O'Groats route is apparently the most popular since the prevailing wind is generally behind you.
> However the hills at the
start
> of this route can be very hard going and sometimes cause people to drop
out
> after a relatively short distance.
>
> On the other hand the alternative John O'Groats - Land's End route starts with less severe hills
> and allows you to build up the cycling muscles as
you
> go along therefore enabling the beginner long distance tourer to see the trip all the way through.
>
> Two points of view - which do this newsgroup feel is the better argument, and better route ?
>
> Regards,
>
> Ian
>
>
Each to their own, Ian....but I rode North to South in March (remember that really nice patch of
weather about then ? - I arranged that ;-). No real problems. Hadn't trained upto it properley,
but again, no real probs apart from some serious cramp on the first day, alright thereafter. !00
miles per day, 10 days. I was alone and carrying all my own kit also. Wish I'd given myself a few
more days to really enjoy the scenery and not have to have my nose on the front wheel all day
(less daylight hours then.). One thing I did learn is that there (almost) ain't no such thing as a
flat road!! There's uphills and downhills in various combinations / gradients etc. I'm that heavy
that the headwinds I did encounter had virtually no effect. Good luck and most of all, enjoy!
Cheers, Dave.

 

[David Green]

"M Series" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> I am doing Lands End to John O'Groats, get the hardest part (yeah right)
out
> of the way while I'm still freshest. FWIW I cycled across America the 'wrong' way.

Absolutely right.

Hills in the SW are short and steep. I sometimes had to get off and push! But after Bridgewater, the
trip is pretty flat all the way. Scotland tends to be longer gradients up valleys.

I'd have hated to face 2 weeks of headwind and then hit the Cornish hills.

D Green Cambridge.
--
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[Wafflydirtycatl]

>Two points of view - which do this newsgroup feel is the better argument, and better route ?

Personally I'm impressed with anyone who does it, from whatever direction.

Cheers, helen s

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[Iarocu]

"Ian Teelan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> Hello all,
>
> Discussing the End to End with mates and the direction of travel came up. The Land's End - John
> O'Groats route is apparently the most popular since the prevailing wind is generally behind you.
> However the hills at the start of this route can be very hard going and sometimes cause people to
> drop out after a relatively short distance.
>
> On the other hand the alternative John O'Groats - Land's End route starts with less severe hills
> and allows you to build up the cycling muscles as you go along therefore enabling the beginner
> long distance tourer to see the trip all the way through.
>
> Two points of view - which do this newsgroup feel is the better argument, and better route ?
>
> Regards,
>
> Ian

Don,t worry too much about wind direction. On my Le-Jog last year I had 3 days with a strong
tailwind and 2 with a strong headwind. The other 8 days the wind was neutral. Give other factors
consideration. The fitness you need depends on how many days your planning to take and your route.
Take 3 weeks and you could get fit as you go. I averaged 75-85 miles a day and took 2 weeks. My
training was riding 120-130 miles per week for a few weeks before I went.If I was doing it again I
would take a few days longer and spend more time stopping to see the places I was going through.3
weeks would be enough to allow a rest day here and there and diversions off the direct route. Also
worth considering is transport. The train from JoG to Inverness only takes booking for 2 bikes so
starting there you can book places and be flexible as to when you get to the other end. I didn,t
have a space booked for my bike but found that the guard on the train will at his discretion if
asked nicely allow a 3rd bike on. enjoy it Iain C