Wrapping Up

Almost 10 months after finishing LEJoG I still have fond memories of the good and the bad days, the beauty and variety of our wonderful "Sceptred Isle", the friends made along the way, and the emotions of finishing.

As I rode into John O'Groats I was greeted by what is perhaps the most pointless but at the same time welcoming (and yet sad) sign posts

We were riding in one large group for the first time in over 1000 miles and  were escorted by two ambulances, that worked for Papworth, sirens and blue lights blazing out into the cooling evening air

As I rode down I saw what appeared to be a group of nurses wearing the old fashioned caps.

As I got closer I realised that it was a group of John Plants - I had been cloned...

For the first time in over a month I was with my whole family and their partners masked and kitted out in Jonnie P masks and T Shirts, an amazing surprise. Thanks to you all for your love and support

So what did I learn?

Before revealing that, I have to say a massive thank you to Neil, Lee and Tony from Peak Tours. Your good humour, professionalism and help made the trip go smoothly and I am sure it helped many of our group complete the ride

And last but by no means least to the dozens of sponsors who gave so much to help the TCT in its work in helping so many young people in what are for them ghastly times.

Will I do it again? - yes in 2014 I will be riding again with Peak Tours to raise money for another good cause. I will also be riding with someone who as yet does not even own a bike!

LEJoG – Things learnt or remembered

Prior to doing LEJoG I did a lot of reading and searching to learn more of how

to deal with something that  “normal” riders of bikes do not ever contemplate.
This  research added to my own experience. Some of what I have to

suggest might be contentious and you may disagree. In the end things worked for

me, in some cases they didn’t, it is for you to decide what might be good for

you.

I have divided this into sections which I hope will appear logical:

The rider

o Get the miles in – train as much as you can, hours in the saddle rather

than speed are key

o Ride or train (on an exercise bike if you have to) at least 3 times per

week

o Ride back to back days – use these to practice things related to

recovery, taking care of you, taking care of the bike, since both body
and bike will require maintenance

o Drink, even on cold or damp days since you will be loosing fluids, take small

drinks at regular intervals, I tried to remember to take a small amount

of drink every 20 – 30 minutes

o Avoid plain water if you can – I carried Zero tablets and would add

these when I filled my bottles during the day after energy drinks had been used up.

o Eat well and try to avoid hard to digest food. A full English, Welsh, or

Scottish will not be easily digested. I usually ate porridge with fruit and

honey most mornings, topped up with toast and jams

o Avoid coffee it is a diuretic you will pee more and loose fluids

o Balance your diet, protein and carbohydrate in balanced proportions are

said to overcome cramps

o Having suffered with cramps I had three strategies:

1. Drink regularly

2. Towards the end of the ride start to drink a recovery drink a mix

of protein and carbohydrate, finish this immediately after the

ride – I would drink 750ml of this during the hour on either side

of the ride

3. Eat meals that have a balance of carbohydrate and good quality

low fat protein – Some mornings as well as porridge I would eat

eggs and toast

Did this work? – yes

o Look after your bum!

a. Keep shorts clean wash them regularly

b. Use Chamois Butter every day

c. Smooth out creases in your shorts or longs

d. Stand up every now and again and shift your position on the

saddle

e. If things get sore use Sudocrem (I mixed this on a couple of

days with Chamois Butter putting Sudocrem on first to provide

an antiseptic and water resistant barrier)

f. I also used Assos Skin repair cream which seemed to heal one

sore spot that developed due to my ignoring a crease in my

shorts

o Find some long hills we have nothing in our area (West

Midlands) that comes any where near what will be encountered,

learn how to ride them – its all about, getting the right gear,

finding a rhythm, and switching off (don’t worry about it, look

around and enjoy the views or admire the tarmac)

o Don’t be a “gear snob” – On LEJoG I noticed one guy would not

change down until someone else did. I asked him quietly why

his answer “I didn’t want to look like a whimp”. We all have our

own natural cadence mine is quiet fast so I am comfortable

twiddling low gears do what is right for you.

o Sleep and rest are important, get to bed early

o Stretch, learn how,  and what to stretch do it properly and don’t

over stretch and injure yourself

o Learn and practice the skills you will need; navigation,

maintenance and repairs (you should now how to change a tyre,

how to adjust brakes, and take up the stretch in gear cables as

a minimum),
o Practice drinking and eating on the move, its better to do this than to stop
and loose momentum, it also encourages regular eating and drinking

o Find out what foods and drinks suit you make sure you can get

these on the ride.

o Don’t try anything new

o Keep warm and dry

o Don’t push yourself too hard always ride so that you feel you

are in your comfort zone

o Eyes may get sore from wind and salt from sweat – take some

eye drops, wear glasses think about using a sweat band, a bandana or a cap

o Lips may chap – take some lip balm ( I took one with sun

protection to kill two birds)

o Watch out for sunburn

The bike

o It should be comfortable -  ideally get fitted (this need not involve having

a bike made for you since stems, saddle height, and crank length can

all be changed).

o Get mudguards (proper ones if you can) a wet bum and a body

covered in road dirt, or worse, is no fun

o Choose some sensible tyres. I rode 25mm Gatorhardshells and had one

puncture. Others on 23mm tyres like Ultremos suffered not only

punctures but also horrendous vibration (see the part on Scottish roads

below). I would have probably ridden on 28mm had my frame not

been steel and hence softer

o Fit a good bag to carry things that you will, or might need, don't use a backpack 

o Have some good bar tape – gel tape is really comfortable two layers

even more so

o Use pedals that you are comfortable with. I would really recommend SPDs
and touring shoes (make sure these are wide enough since your feet will swell)

o Get a good saddle, at this point opinions will divide. I have four Brooks

saddles one of which is 35 years old and love them. On LEJoG I rode a

B17 narrow that I broke in over about 400 miles. The choice is yours.

o Get a triple chain set, or failing that a low gear. I rode a chainset with a 30 tooth

front matched to a 30 tooth cassette. A granny gear (Vitesse Grand

Mere) it was and I welcomed it, hitting a 1 in 3 at 6 miles an hour is

not a good experience and I was one of only a few riders who did not

have to bail out. It used to be possible to match road changers to

Shimano MTB deraileurs (I have a compact chainset with a 38 tooth

cassette on a road bike since my heart attack) you could look at this

as an option (it is cheaper than buying a triple chainset) if you have

older series changers and can find an XT Shadow rear mech it may work
(Chris Juden of the CTC has information on this) . If you are

having a bike built think carefully about your gearing, do you really need
to race down all the hills? Lower gears may be more use, but less "sexy"

o Sort out your cockpit. Speedometer, Garmin, and a holder for map or route

directions, all will need to be visible and secure.

o Fit a rear light – on busy roads in rain use it

o Fit a small front light – again on busy roads in the rain use it

This bit about lights might seem superfluous but having seen the

difference in the visibility of other cyclists with and without lights on

main roads it does make sense

o Before you go service your bike, or have it serviced (in any event check it)

ensure it has;

• Tyres with a good deal of life left in them

• New brake blocks

• A good and newish chain

• Everything properly lubricated and adjusted

• All the bolts tightened down properly

• Everything is working as it should

• The headset properly adjusted

On the issue of services I have only ever had my bikes serviced at a

bike shop twice. On the first occasion I was working away from home

and needed the bike in a hurry so one of my sons’ friends did it (he

had a part time job in the LBS) and did a superb job, cables were

oiled, grease literally oozed out of bearings, the bike was clean, the

brakes were spot on both in terms of clearance and centring, there

was obvious love and pride in what he had done (he now is a motor

engineer who has designed F1 chassis and develops tyres). On the

second occasion I needed a wheel re-builiding so asked for a service.

It was not a good experience and I spent 2 hours after collecting the

bike cleaning lubricating it and finding things that had not been done.

If you can do your own maintenance it will be done properly and you

will better understand how your bike works and how to mend it if

things go wrong

Kit

What did I find best?

o Good waterproofs – jacket, trousers and overshoes

o Shorts gel padded I took 3 pairs to allow them to be washed

o Arm warmers 1 set

o Cycling tops short sleeve – 3.  These were either wool/ acrylic wool

 Merino has a natural resistance to developing odours and is neither too hot or cold

o Vests  / Baselayers– I took some acrylic vests (2) but used only merino (3)
other than when I needed an extra layer to keep out wind DHB merino vests

from Wiggle are good

o Long bottoms – basically some running tights that I would wear over

shorts on cold mornings, when it warmed up these rolled up small and

vanished into my Barley Saddle bag

o Gloves and Mittens (1 pair of gloves and 2 pairs of mittens) all with gel

palms

o Buff so good for so many things; hat, glasses cloth, neck warmer, and

seal to stop water running down my neck ( I now have a Merino Wool version
which is even better)

o Glasses with clear and sunglass lenses

o Cap – worn under my helmet it did two things; keeps rain of glasses,

stops sweat running into eyes. I used to think riders who used these

looked stupid - I was wrong.

o Helmet – these were compulsory on our ride I struck lucky when I

bought my Kask Mojito it is the most comfortable helmet I have

ever used and has gel padding that does not soak up sweat

o Rain cap – I splashed out on an Assos cap that is waterproof and

breathable it is great, Sealskins now do a similar cap.
o Reflective vest - keeps our the wind makes you visible most are useless because
they don't have pockets! I now have a Respro and a Louis Garneau with pockets
others are redundant

o Garmin Edge 800

o iPhone loaded with View Ranger it allowed friends to follow my

progress using Buddy Beacon (Its free if you have the right tariff, set the
interval between points sent to more than 30 minutes if you want to have the
whole track visible) 

o Power Monkey – and external battery for the iPhone since View Ranger

and GPS applications reduce iPhone battery life to about 4 hours, it can also charge
your Garmin

o iPad to check weather to blog and generally keep in touch with people

o Eagle Creek Packit cubes and folders, these keep your kit and clothes

organised and easy to find (see routines below)

o A tough soft holdall – I have a Northface bag that has been around the

globe quite a lot in the last 8 years it holds enormous amounts of kit, is

tough and water proofish and can be dragged around without any

worries. Van drivers love it because it is easier to pack in the van than

a hard case (Yes my luggage was carried for me)

o 750 ml drink bottles rather than 500ml

o Leatherman with pliers

o Swiss army knife

o Park Tyre Levers

o Separate chain splitter ( I now use KMC chain and quick links but will still
carry the splitter in case I needed to shorten the chain)

o Multi tool (make sure the allen keys will fit all of your bolts)

o Good quality puncture repair kit (one with tapered patches not square cut edges)

o Spare folding tyre (sold to one of my fellow riders)

o Good quality light inner tubes

o Lumix camera (Now a waterproof version)

o Gorillapod tripod (for self portraits and landscapes)

o Water sterilising tablets (used to bleach bottles at night see below)

o Café lock

What was useless?

o A pair of leg warmers – they creased and gave me pain in the tendons

at the back of my legs almost useless but kept me warm for 4 hours in

the glens

o A pair of Sealskins waterproof gloves (taken because I had them) the

linings stick to damp fingers making them difficult to take off and put

on totally useless. In frustration I binned these on our wettest day.
You could carry a wooden spoon to push the linings back!

o Too many normal clothes – you will spend about 6 hours in the

evening eating and considerable more sleeping. I took and used all of:

o 1 pair trousers

o 2 T shirts (Climafit in case I needed extra layers for cycling)

o 1 pair of SPD trainers (to act as a back up to my road shoes if I

needed them

o 1 woollen jumper

o 1 casual shirt for the occasional smartish restaurant

o 2 sets of underwear

I would have taken a warm fleece

Routines

Every day of the ride will be long. On my ride people became tired and forgot things,

or made mistakes. Some people were really well organised and had routines

some of these tips are theirs, some are mine

o Wear your cycling gear to breakfast there is no point in having to rush

away from breakfast to change and pack

o Pack the night before and put your kit for the next day ready,in the

morning you should only then have to pack nightwear and wash kit
(Pile your kit in the order you will put it on, leave the Chamois Butter next to your
shorts)

o Wash out drink bottles every day and leave them filled (to the brim) overnight
 with water to which you have added 2 water sterilising tablets,

turn the tops upside down so that the open drink spout is in the water. The

tablets release chlorine this will kill off all bugs. Next morning fit the top

to the bottle and squeeze the water through the top to flush it out.

o Have a small bag ( I have one of the Sainsbury’s packable shopping

bags) into which you can put all you loose things (Garmin, Bottle,

Gloves, Hat, Glasses) when you stop for lunch and when you are

picking up your bike. Nothing gets dropped or left behind

o Before you leave any where take a good look around for anything that

has been left (One guy set off without his helmet – adding 10 miles to

his ride for the day)

o Eat as soon as you can when you finish your ride

o Stretch when you can

o At lunch or drink stops don’t linger if you can avoid it

o Every night look over your bike for any problems there is more time to

deal with these at the end of the ride even if you are tired. In the evening
there may still be a bike shop open, next morning there wont be time or opportunity

o Clean you bike when you can, ideally before it dries, a wipe with a cloth

is better than nothing. Call in at a filling station and use a jet wash if

you can (don’t spray bearings with full power wash) Spray with WD40

or similar to get rid of water. Your B&B may have a hose and things

that they will let you use

o Carry and use chain lube every morning

o Pump tyres every morning and do your checks of brakes etc.

o Every other day check bolts for tightness
o Wrap some tape around your saddle stem to mark where it enters the frame.
Over time it may slip down ruining the fit of the bike.

o Check to make sure you know where you are staying each night.

(Seeing people having to ride back 2 / 3 miles was not uncommon)

o Store leaders and other riders numbers in your phone

o Dry clothes by rolling them in a towel and then treading on it before

hanging them out to dry

o Charge everything every night

o HAVE A ROUTINE YOU WILL BE TIRED AT TIMES DOING THINGS

REPETITIVELY WILL AVOID MISTAKES CAUSED BY TIREDNESS