The Challenge

We will be cycling LEJOG in 11 and a bit days covering almost exactly 1000 miles. We set off from Land's End at 9.30am on Tuesday 24 September and arrive in John O'Groats by late morning on Saturday 05 October. The last day is the 'bit day' - a quick 30-miler to give us time to have our photos taken by the End-to-End sign, throw our bikes in the sea, and jump on the coach back to Inverness for a chafing and blisters party. Here is the route:

Click to enlarge

From Day 3, we cross the Severn Bridge and head up the Welsh border, passing through Wigan and Preston, skirting the edge of the Lake District, and then heading up the west side of Scotland. We follow the fault line towards Inverness before heading directly north to the coast.

We are riding with a tour organised by DiscoverAdventure. 21 riders are currently entered. DiscoverAdventure look after everything except the cycling so we don't have to carry our luggage or arrange accommodation. Most nights we will do B&Bs, with the odd Travelodge thrown in and even a youth hostel. Sharing a dormitory all night with 20 other smelly snoring and farting cyclists and then having to fill the coal buckets in the morning is not my idea of heaven but I am hoping I will be too tired to care.

Most days we will cover between 80 and 100 miles. Day 2 is only 70 miles, but that is the dreaded Dartmoor day, a day with no flat surfaces, only nasty inclines and hair-raising descents with wild horses and sheep blocking the roads at the bottom, not to mention man-eating big cats lurking on the verges (or was that the Beast of Bodmin?). It will be the hardest ride I have ever done. Well, that is what everyone keeps telling me, from the organisers to colleagues whose relatives have done LEJOG, and even passers-by in the street. I can see what they mean:

Day 2 Profile: click to enlarge

We drove Day 2 a few weeks ago on the way back from Cornwall and I was exhausted in the car. The one thing that is helping distract me from Day-2-Fear is enjoying team mate John's sheer terror of it.

Part of the endurance test will be writing this blog each day. It will be my LEJOG Blog Slog. An even greater test of endurance will be yours, reading it. I thought I'd say it before you did.