36,500km in 365 days - Cycling Against Living Miserably

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  • That looks easy enough and as you said I could do that in situ. That's turned what i thought was another £50 to a nice easy enough fix. Lovely, that's why i love this forum.

  • Lejog is done and I'm back home with a day off before i go back to work tomorrow:

    We ended up doing 10 days of cycling in the 11 days we were away and it meant for some amazing times. I absolutely loved the trip and spending every day on the bike, we saw each day as a task to get the distance finished so we didn't ride fast. I've never been happier than when we finished Inverness - Fort William covered in grit as it rained and bought some pizzas to eat in the train station waiting for the sleeper train home. I'm definitely keen now to do something bigger next year, just unsure what.

    I'm about 500km up now on the challenge which is great.

    There's some negatives though; my friend got pick pocketed in Inverness, I got hit by another cyclists on Day 1... He was on the wrong side of the road around a blind corner riding 2 a breast, they were a big group of rugby players with support vehicles doing JOGLE. I was fine, he feel hard and my right shoulder has been painful but only after 150km each day. Also my wahoo broke on day 7, sad times.

    I didn't realise at the time but when i got home and washed the bike, i think the Isen is dead. Definitely in need of being sent back to the workshop as there's a dent/fold in the seat tube. Such a high from completing the trip and then a big low discovering the dent, i ended listening to Mad world on repeat while cleaning the bike then :(


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  • Good to hear and also sorry.

    Post a pick of the seattube. Any decent builder can just cut it and repair. Sure if you explain situation they might be able to help...

  • Sure isen can sort you out - give them a call. Congrats all round though you been busy recently :)

  • Very busy especially doing a 54 hour week on the bike which was ace, I'd love to do that more but obviously work etc gets in the way.

    Here's what it looks like, I'm probably making sound worse than it is but I'm not comfortable putting 700km a week on it.


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  • Steel is tough, I'd want it repaired at some point in the near future but that will definitely be fine to ride for a while

  • @Norfolkbound Great going. I'm reading a book just now about a guy riding round the British coastline. Started from London and headed anticlockwise. He said when he got to JOG, there was a guy charging for photos to be taken beside the sign. He thought he would wait until after the guy left and take a selfie. Unfortunately, come 5pm and the guy was packing up, he also took the sign with him! Looks a bit more permanent now. Maybe an idea for your next challenge if you have time to spare. The books a good read too. I can send it on to you when I finish if you want.


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  • Sounds like a great trip. Well done getting ahead of target. Keep it up

  • Do you think it's worth getting it sorted now as it's insured so i assume it "should be covered" i use laka. Thanks, that's very reassuring

  • Sorry to hear about the frame, that's rubbish. I won't have any issue riding it but my bikes are much rattyer than yours.

    When talking to the insurance be very clear about how it happened, I assume it happened in the incident with the rugby player. If you can't pin point exactly how it happened they might try and say it's wear and tear and not covered.

    I honestly have no idea how you managing to keep up your daily miles. I've averaged 50 miles a day over the last couple of months and I'm really struggling with fatigue and generally feeling run down right now. Its really impressive.

  • riding round the British coastline

    Anna Hughes, too, a few years earlier (and I imagine loads of people will have done it and that there are more books that have been forgotten):

    https://totalwomenscycling.com/longform/eat-sleep-cycle-anna-hughes-tells-us-what-its-like-to-cycle-the-coast-of-britain

    a guy charging for photos to be taken beside the sign. He thought he would wait until after the guy left and take a selfie. Unfortunately, come 5pm and the guy was packing up, he also took the sign with him!

    Skinflint cyclists never disappoint, do they? :)

  • It's a shame but i guess it's the nature of riding a lot of miles, sometimes your equipment doesn't last.

    I've contacted Laka and I'm currently emailing them with the relevant information, I'll take the bike to the LBS at the weekend for the quote. I'm hoping they just say it needs replacing, if they say it's rideable then I'll replace the frame myself (not ideal). I had a steel frame collapse on me when i lived in London, granted it was an old Peugeot so I'm not keen to ride it.

    Thanks, it's quite the undertaking but I'm enjoying it. I don't do the early starts like you though so i get a fair amount of rest. I spoke to my GF about this and I'm essentially really good at being bored and monotony

    I'm back at work tomorrow for the first time in 2 weeks and I'd much rather just ride 50 hour weeks on the bike then work full time :)

  • The sign at Lands End gets removed for photos but it's permanent at JOG now. It was weird riding to finish as there was a queue for photos, essentially for people who were just there for a holiday... But when it was our turn they realised that we cycled from Lands End and clapped which was nice. Also there's a great cafe at JOG which is nice. A loop of the coast is a good idea, there's a similar one on the west coast of Ireland too.

  • No way they're saying its rideable.

  • You left Land's End and arrived at John O'Groats just two days before me in both cases, and in what looks like much better weather! Sounds like you got your share of wet weather on the way though. Mammoth effort this year so far, and for a great cause, it's really inspiring! Will donate now. Hope you can get the bike sorted soon.

  • I’ve not been commenting so just a note to say I’ve enjoyed dipping in and out of this thread to see your progress.

    Well done mate, already an epic achievement.

  • Thanks everyone for the support and recent donations, it's going well at the moment and I'm staying ahead of the target.

    So Isen are amazing, they're sorting out my insurance quote for Laka and they have a frame which I will swap over on Wednesday for a loan until mine is sorted :) I'm in London on Wednesday to sort this, I have to go to SBC cycles for the frame swap as they have the spare in stock and then heading over to see Caren for the insurance quote and to talk about what we can do next with a potential new frame. This could be exciting as i'd like something more suited to road riding as I've only ever done 3 gravel rides in 4 years...

  • I'm currently on day 213 at 21,732km with 14,768km left of this challenge, still have to finish today so I'm 500km up. I'm very happy to have all the issues sorted with the bike and Laka have paid out which is amazing, I'm placing an order with Isen for a replacement frame which is very exciting as I'm going for a r3 disc so it will be more suited to my geometry. The paint job will be wild too :)

    The riding is going fairly well at the moment, but I'm definitely tired and my GF is ready for it to end... Socialising is difficult and there's only a few times in the week where I can do it and I'm tired so I'm not my best self

  • Good going mucka!

    Are you ever worried you will never want to ride a bicycle ever again?

  • Well done mate, this is wonderful stuff. Genuinely pretty inspiring - making me plan a much more modest annual goal myself!

    No doubt the new frame will put a spring in your step, that new bike fun always makes me put in some extra miles!

  • I'm more worried about only wanting to ride my bike :) I've already had the chats, "once the challenge is over we can..." with me thinking I'd still like to commute to work and train on the bike so it'll be at least 15 hours a week.

    @Ottomanotter thank you, it's obviously a lot but with a commute it's manageable(ish).. Yes indeed, i can't wait to get the new frame and the paint job promises to be wild

  • cough Go intercontinental touring coughcough

  • So I'm thinking about another mid-challenge challenge, potentially a large volume weekend. I need something to keep me entertained until December as I have time off then for Xmas and once that's over I only have 23 days left.

    Are there any decent Audax's in late October/November? I really don't fancy doing RB time laps

  • Thanks, I've submitted my interest. There's only 25 spots so let's see as it's quite late to enter

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36,500km in 365 days - Cycling Against Living Miserably

Posted by Avatar for Norfolkbound @Norfolkbound

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