LEJOG April 2025 - Land's End to John o'Groats in 11 days

I’ve hit the wall before. Not metaphorically — I mean the real, full-body shutdown. Mid-run, back when I was doing marathons, it was a known moment. Legs like stone. Tunnel vision. The grim, glacial maths of how much road was left. You expect it. You learn to fear it slightly, and fuel against it. But what hit me today wasn’t that wall. This was something different. Stranger. And honestly, a bit unsettling. We’d just finished our final long training ride. 70 miles — not nothing, but pretty much our regular training distance. I’d eaten well during the ride: gels, a couple of my homemade bars, banana, a classic café stop with cake and tea. I was well hydrated — five litres, a mix of energy and electrolyte drinks. Straight after the ride, I had a recovery shake, another banana, a few biscuits, and some peanut M&Ms. All ticking the boxes. Textbook recovery. I felt fine. Relaxed. Satisfied. Tired, but in that solid, earned way. And then — about an hour or so later — my brain just… went ...

For endurance sports, regularly taking on electrolytes in sufficient quantities is essential. Until a month or so ago, I was particularly prone to leg cramps after long training ride, moreso than the other guys. Sometimes these cramps would hit me at night, which was both extremely painful, and disruptive to my sleep. Lots of stretching before, during and after a big training ride didn't seem to make much difference. Researching the subject, allegedly there's a genetic component, i.e. some people are simply more prone to cramping than others. So I was nearly  resigned to cramping... Nearly. Then I figured out that I was under-dosing on electrolytes . I'd always made the assumption that chucking a single electrolyte tablet into a standard 800ml water bottle seemed "about right". I'd never actually read the recommended dosage. Doh!!! It turns out that TWO electrolyte tablets are closer to "about right" for a standard water bottle. Once I doubled the d...

Buying lots of branded products can of course get very expensive. We're flogging ourselves for 11 days, and so will need LOTS of special stuff before, during, and after our daily rides to keep us sufficiently fueled-up and energised. Supplements, protein, gels, electrolytes, carbs, etc. One opportunity to save quite a bit of money is to make your own energy/protein bars for snacking during the day. 'Course you can Google for lots of recipes, but AI is the new Google, right?! 😎 Here's the recipe that ChatGPT recommended to me... .and I love it! Please note: My first attempt didn't involve any baking. I just pressed the mixture down hard, and kept in cool in the fridge. But this gave a very crumbly result. So I asked AI for a version for baking (just 20 minutes), and the results were soooo much better. Here we go... Baked Energy Bars Recipe Ingredients (makes about 12–15 bars): Rolled oats (200g) Medjool dates (approx. 200g, pitted) Nut butter (almond or pea...

  Kev and I, the hardcore mountain bikers, regularly wear Camelbaks (other brands are available) on longer distance MTB rides, especially in warmer weather. But apparently road bikers don't typically wear such things. The reasons given for not wearing such things are Can make your back a bit sweaty A preference to carrying more weight on the bike itself, and less on the body. What a load of old rubbish! Bladders are fab! Here's why: Typical fluid capacity is 1.5-3 litres. When I wear my 3L bladder, fully loaded with water and electrolytes, I barely feel the weight. Maybe if I weighed 60kg instead of 100kg I'd feel the weight more 😁 If wearing one has contributed to me having a sweatier back... I've not noticed. They provide additional storage options, especially as the fluid goes down. Many come with additional pockets/pouches that are affected by how much fluid is left. They greatly increase your total water carrying capacity. A typical water bottle will carry, say, 7...

How much training are we doing to prepare for this epic ride? Here's what I'm currently doing WEEKLY: 1 x large ride, approx 100km, on Saturday or Sunday, whichever day has the "least worst" weather! 2 x 45 min intense spin (indoor cycling) classes, Tues and Thurs evening. Our instructor, Savannah, is excellent! Er, that's about it for me at the moment. I recently gave Pilates a go for the first time ever, but  I wasn't as impressed by it as I thought I'd be. The classes are always packed at my local leisure centre, so it's hard to book in advance. We've got  just over 2 months to go before the start. 😱 Either I'll give Pilates another go, and/or I expect to partake in some targetted leg strength-building exercises. I'm annoyingly prone to leg cramps at night, in bed, after a big day of riding. Hopefully working on length strength will reduce the cramps. While I've got you, here's some info on spin classes: The term “spin class” is...

  I had a miraculous escape on one of our recent training rides. I was cycling downhill, at a moderate speed, on a combined cycle + pedestrian path. But, until it was too late, I didn't see a long crack in the path that 'perfectly' fitted my tyre width. I suddenly found myself well and truly in the groove. The miraculous part was that my bike and I were forced hard to the left and straight into a large bank of very soft ivy (see photo). Had I been thrown off on almost any other section of this path, in either direction, I've no doubt that myself and/or my bike would have sustained a potentially serious degree of injury. As it was, I just had to disentagle myself and the bike from the ivy, straighten my twisted handlebars, and I was on my way again.  Uninjured, and a little more cycling savvy. Thanks to Kev for re-enacting the incident on yesterday's ride on the same section of path. 😁 Naturally I've reported this to the local council, who will hopefully have it...

 *UPDATE 20th Jan 2025* Unfortunately, at least with my first attempt yesterday, these toe warmers DID NOT WORK for me. It appears that they require a reasonable amount of *ongoing* contact with air in order to give off heat, which (it turns out) is NOT sufficient in the relatively tight confines of my cycling shoes. I'll give them another go, but I'm not expecting them to work. Disappointing! I'll very likely have to find another solution. ---------- So far the only recurring, consistent discomfort I've experienced while cycling is very cold toes. Of course the winter weather is a major factor here. As to what the weather/temperature will be like in April '25 - who knows! Most likely highly variable. Another factor is the mild frostbite I got in my toes when climbing Pico Bolívar, the highest mountain in Venezuela, way back in 1994. It took 6 months for the feeling to completely return to my toes. Blood circulation (or lack thereof) in my toes has clearly been impa...