LeJog trip Data

Finally got round to doing my trip data for the Lands End - John O Groats tour from June last year . I thought this may be useful for others doing this route

My route was not the fastest and I made a horrendous navigational error on day 8 which added about 50km. I loved this route, Arran well worth a visit and the west of Scotland very pretty. I strongly suggest the "Day 10" route over the central highlands on an amazing sealed D-road.

Journal Link  - Distance - Bikely Route Map

Links have more details:

Day 1:      179.91 km    Lands End - Okehampton

Day 2:      141.88 km    Okehampton - Shipton

Day 3:      166.33 km    Shipton - Ludlow

Day 4:      161.96 km    Ludlow - Wigan

Day 5:      198.63 km   Wigan - Gretna

Day 6:      161.24 km   Gretna - Irvine

Day 7:      171.86 km   Irvine-Arran-Oban

Day 8:      201.17 km   Oban - Drumnadrochit

Day 9:        95.67 km   Drumnadrochit - Lairg

Day 10:     163.3  km   Lairg - John O Groats

Total: 1641.95 km
Average day: 164 km

Trip summary in brief:

• Rode solo and unsupported
• I was riding for 2 charities and raised £1,488.50 for the Mental Health charity Rethink and £700.00 for The Dom Pardy Trust
• I rode on a Specialized Cycle Cross with 2 rear panniers and a bar bag (above) I was travelling light for speed in order to meet a 10 day deadline I'd set myself for the charities. I stayed in B&B's mostly, not camping to save weight. 
• Apart from the multitude of other blogs on Lejog, the other 2 websites that proved to be a goldmine was http://www.xcweather.co.uk/GB/forecast for detailed wind forecasts, and the CTCForums
• Weather: so much debate on heading in the direction Lejog vs Jogle (south to north, or north to south). If you can afford to leave your choice to the last minute, watch the wind forecast website above and go with the flow. For most of us that's not possible due to the remoteness of the start/finish and logistics involved.

Eat Meat (And Vege) For Charity - raised £660!

Last weekend Carla and I ran a fund-raising BBQ at our place. Our plan was, to cash in our "Nectar" points and then top up what ever else we needed with cash, and host a "Gourmet BBQ" in our backyard...with our guests donating whatever they felt was appropriate after they'd been well fed (and admittedly, well lubricated).

We were SO lucky with the weather. We also spent a lot of effort getting a good menu together and put together about 20 dishes of all sorts. The Duck and Plum sauce was a definite winner, along with Carla's amazing rocky road. The latter of which I need to find a way to stop melting as a few slices of that would come in handy for a sugar hit when riding!

What really made it cool however was our friends company - and wonderful generosity at the end of the night. We raised £330 each, for both the Dom Pardy Trust, and also for Rethink! Thank you so much guys...we were so pleased we also donated the cost of putting it on.

My last day at work tomorrow. The new bike has been great! Yesterday I got up at 6am and did a 60km circuit around Richmond Common before work. She handles really well on the whole, although a few jumpy gears and I need to switch to SPD pedals again and fit my rack on. All of that too happen tomorrow all going well, and a trial ride in "final" set up before I head down to Lands end on Tuesday...no backing out now!

Mixing for charity

As you all probably know I;m partial to a bit of a cheeky mix everynow and then...and last week wrangled a deal with a mate for his very own personal mix, in exchange for a donation....



The deal was done. I spend some time putting together a personalised 70 minute mix and Martin very kindly made a donation - thank you sir!

Anyone else wanting a personal mix of their choice can drop me a line...you name the genre! Classic trance? Latino techno? Name it! All I ask is a donation in return....

Thank you for donating! And adult babies...

A big big thank you to everyone who has shared the link to this blog, given words of encouragement, and best of all donated to these causes. I hope karma comes your way in great quantities! It took a while to get off the mark but am underway at last and so far have collected....

....Hang on, this is better presented by an adult baby*:



Dom Pardy Trust: £120.00
Rethink: £223:50

Still a rather long way to go on the £2000 target but am glad to be off the dreaded duck...

As for training, well this turned out to be a demoralising week again in terms of training. I found myself at work well beyond midnight every night and in the weekend too- so not a single long ride achieved. Just peddling home at 3am was hard enough, and didn’t manage to do that every night either. Whilst this puts a big dent in momentum, I’m still confident I’ll be able to make up for it at some point…even if it means delaying my start date by a few weeks. Thankfully the planned start date was late spring so maybe I can move that...will see what happens.

So I just need to stick out this period and do enough riding to stop the fitness falling too far…am going to make myself ride no matter how late I finish work!

On the whole, February was nearly on target:



I was aiming for about 800 and 1 weekend off pretty much killed that, but 650km is OK and will just try to add to that in March.

*Markus if you are reading this, I want to get you one of these suits

About the Dom Pardy Trust

I've known Dom for a few years now, he's always been a highly charismatic and energetic individual...with a huge circle of friends and a zest for life. We were all horrified a few years ago when Dom suffered a stroke..I 'd thought that happened only to old people? I was wrong...

In Dom's words:

"I thought I'd made a success of my life, girl I loved,great friends, exciting sidelines, job I loved, financial independence, my own flat, gym three times a week, I thought I'd achieved happiness until I nearly died after having a massive stroke without warning on xmas day 2005. I can't lie, this has fecked my life. After 2 years of hell in hospital I'm living semi-independently."

The Dominic Pardy Trust has been set up to help support Dom through his recovery. I want to help this very specific cause. If you'd like to help, you can send a donation via Paypal to:

dompardeytrust@gmail.com

Please include a comment mentioning this charity cycle. And thank you very much!