The Lands End to John O'Groats thread

I finally did my long-planned JogLe, only 3 years later than originally intended, and with the bike that I got for it almost worn out. This was supported by Mrs Earthloop in a small camper van that we bought with this in mind. Two weeks of leave booked, planing to follow a 1400k route and attempt about 200k per day in the mornings with 4am starts, and lounge about and maybe do a bit of walking in the afternoons, and then have a camper van holiday for the second week of leave if I finish on schedule.

That plan lasted until we arrived in Scotland on Saturday, after which "let's see how fast you can finish it, maybe you'll have time to go back again, then we can park the van in a whisky distillery car park and get blootered afterwards" started to seem like a good idea.

So, jump on the bike on Sunday morning, and off I go down the A99. Excited to finally be doing it, adrenaline, I put in a fairly fast first 200k, and start to think about maybe getting in 500k for the day. Then a slowdown - I was burning sugar faster than the 10g/hour I'd been taking on, no problem: eat some gels and then at around the 300k mark bump the dosage up to 20g/hour for the remainder. A slight mixup with the dosage had me continuing on 3g/hour instead of 20, bonked hard at 325km, done (in) for the day. Eat a proper dinner and plenty of sugar. http://www.strava.com/activities/583367850

Day 2: I wake up, and everything hurts. I want to stop. I make a deal with myself: I'll stop, but I should have a gentle recovery ride to aid healing, just a few hours of very easy riding, might as well ride along the route as anywhere else. In this way I con myself into carrying on. So off I head, everything still hurting, and setting a nice gentle pace. Things start to hurt less, then I settle in, aches all faded away. The scenery is beautiful. A bit of a dodgy moment when an oncoming van comes around a corner on my side of the road a skids with a nasty skiddy noise as it struggles to get back over and avoid hitting me. I start to feel a bit meh around noon, eating some real food at lunchtime helps a lot, and I finish the day on 390km even after accidentally going over Kirkstone Pass due to a lack of attention to hills when planning the route. But there's lots to do with bike/equipment logistics, and I don't get to bed until midnight. http://www.strava.com/activities/583368549

Day 3: A bit of a late start. My nutrition is more or less sorted out at this point, 20g/hour of maltodextrin and 5g/hour of whey protein, supplemented with chorizo sausages, salted almonds, a tub of double cream for breakfast and a bit of mayonnaise. Overall nutrition strategy: anything too slow to get out of the way gets eaten. It seems to be pretty much working for me, but van logistics need some work to eliminate time consuming post-ride fannying about, so a fairly early finish 12km off route because we need a proper campsite. 298 km for the day. http://www.strava.com/activities/583368190

Day 4: Maybe it's cumulative tiredness, but the unrelenting steep hills of the Devon lanes finish me off. I stop a bit early, wrecked after 257 km. Did not set an alarm for the morning. http://www.strava.com/activities/583368352

Day 5: only 187 km to go, but knackered. 0 km.

Day 6: It's a lovely morning, but I'm still knackered. Now it's late morning. In the interests of getting the damn thing done, I abandon the planned route through the lanes of Devon and Cornwall, and hoon down the A30 instead. I was a little sad to be missing out on really seeing any of Cornwall, but part of the A30 near Bodmin was closed to cyclists, and the alternative route was nicely signposted and lovely. Maybe that was just luck, or all of Cornwall is that nice to ride, or the diversion people consulted someone who actually rides a bike. The combination of a day and a morning off and flatter riding have me feeling much better, despite getting my first and only puncture on this leg. We decide to try an a-road route back the other way. I'm keen to turn around and head straight back today (I recon it'll be mentally easier to get going the next day if I've already started the return leg) but Mrs Earthloop persuades me not to. 148km and JogLe done :) http://www.strava.com/activities/583367847

Day 7: we decide to take another non-riding day, because Mrs Earthloop is horrified by the amount of time I spend fannying about with the bike at the end of the ride, so a review of procedures is in order. I also need to google a fast a-road route - I find Lee Fancourt's LeJogLe record attempt route and decide to give that a whirl.

Day 8 (LeJog day 1): a slightly late start because the camp site is 5 km from Lands End so I have to ride to the start first. New procedures seem to be working well, Mrs Earthloop is set up in a campsite in good time and I know well in advance where and when I'm stopping, and I manage to get off the bike and into bed in fairly quickly. This was a good day, and the pace felt sustainable. 397km in the bag: http://www.strava.com/activities/583369087

Day 9 (LeJog day 2): Up and off in fairly good time, the legs are hurting again and I'm no-longer falling for the recovery ride story, but never mind, I'll just continue slowly. This time part of the pain is in and around the right knee and ankle; the sites of old injuries that have kept me off the bike for many weeks in the past. I worry that this may be the end. Taking it very very easy from the start, no standing climbs (for which my gooch does not thank me) and hoping for a reversal. All muscle aches gone after a couple of hours, there's nothing going on but dull aches in right knee and ankle. Then following a brief stop to re-apply gooch cream, a sharp stabbing pain at the front of the right knee, so that's me done. LeJog: abort. Feel a bit sad. http://www.strava.com/activities/583367955

Aftermath: we meandered back up to Edinburgh in the van, did a lot of walking, tried some whisky but didn't get blootered in the car park, had very nice haggis dishes in places we discovered via our new good food place finding strategy: go into a pub that obviously doesn't serve food, ask the bar-person if they serve food, look a bit sad at the answer, then ask them to recommend somewhere that does.

My knee and ankle aren't quite right yet, but they're far better than the worst they've ever been and I'm commuting to work (gently) 3 days a week already, so I'm hopeful for a reasonably fast recovery.

Next up: a lap of Iceland in 2017: http://www.wowcyclothon.com/