Lands end to John O'Groats - sans training

[Churchill]

k2p2 and friends did this last summer. They took around 3 weeks and they did train for it, so I suspect setting off in February and aiming for two weeks may be a bit ambitious.
Hopefully k2p2 will be along to offer her experience later.

Yeah but she was(is, Shirley?) a girly, they're bound to take longer!

[Zippy]

Yeah but she was(is, Shirley?) a girly, they're bound to take longer!

Oh yes, of course. She had to fit in the ironing around all that biking stuff.

[Churchill]

Oh yes, of course. She had to fit in the ironing around all that biking stuff.

That and make sure there was plenty of tea.

(Actually at the risk of being accused of being patronising(going soft, Shirley?), "Well done, k2p2!".)

[MarillionFan]

That and make sure there was plenty of tea.

(Actually at the risk of being accused of being patronising(going soft, Shirley?), "Well done, k2p2!".)

You soft shiite!

[Churchill]

You soft shiite!

Well you should know!

When are you "back in the cage"? I bet the gerbil is sh!tting bricks!

[MarillionFan]

Well you should know!

When are you "back in the cage"? I bet the gerbil is sh!tting bricks!

Having treatment on a shoulder injury and I've leant my XBox to a nephew, once I get it back though there will be no stopping me.

Thinking of joining the Army next and doing a Call of Duty.

[Churchill]

Having treatment on a shoulder injury and I've leant my XBox to a nephew, once I get it back though there will be no stopping me.

Thinking of joining the Army next and doing a Call of Duty.

Plenty of 9 year olds out there who'll kick your arse.

[OwlHoot]

Everyone does Land's End to John O'Groats. How about something different, like Beachy Head (or the Cliffs of Dover) to Cape Wrath?

(Assuming you can get to that part of North West Scotland - At one point I think it was an Army training area, off limits to civvies.)

Edit: I'll sponsor you for 10p a mile, as long as you don't go and waste it all on charities.

[mudskipper]

Yeah but she was(is, Shirley?) a girly, they're bound to take longer!

It is probably a valid point. I think men have more latent strength and fitness than women. We did it over three weeks, with a day off every 5 days, so 19 cycling days – we wanted to enjoy it, it wasn’t supposed to be a race. Having said that, some days were really tough – from Carlisle to Gretna we were cycling into a 30mph headwind and struggled to do 8mph. We did 1065 miles - we chose a scenic route – cycling up A roads is no fun (although unavoidable in places) and did a definite detour to Mull which added on a day. We didn’t have road bikes – mine’s a commuter bike (sort of town / hybrid thing) and was probably the roadiest of all of us. Don’t underestimate the difference carrying your stuff makes –really slows you down – also you’ll need a strong enough bike for panniers, so super lightweight is probably out. Cornwall / Devon is toughest hill-wise, so if you really are going to do it without training, you may want to plan some shorter days at the beginning. We used Phil Horsley’s guide (Uncle Phil, as we came to call (and curse) him on the ride), which was very entertaining, although if you’re relying on it for maps you’ll struggle. I plotted the whole route beforehand which was time well spent – saved all that faffing about en route getting lost. You can checkout our blog here - our route is on there too, although if you do go for it and want the gpx version then PM me. FWIW I think it would be very tough if you’re not fit, and even if you are fit you’re arse will be agony if you don’t break it in on a bike. Do a 30 mile, hilly ride next weekend, see how it goes and make a judgement on whether you could do double that every day for a fortnight. Good luck...

[DaveB]

FWIW I think it would be very tough if you’re not fit, and even if you are fit you’re arse will be agony if you don’t break it in on a bike.

WK2P2S.

It's not the fitness that will kill you, it is the lack of acclimatisation to being on a bike for anywhere from 5-8 hours a day. If you haven't trained you will be in agony by the end of the 2nd day.

You need to be doing 30-40 miles a couple of times a week for a couple of months to get used to being on the bike before you go and to make sure you have the bike set up right. It's no good discovering that your handle bars/saddle/gearing are wrong when you're two days in, your arse is too painful to sit on and your arms and shoulders have seized up because your position on the bike is crap.

February is a Bad Idea. Cold, wet and windy is not the weather you want when out on a bike all day. It will drain you of any enthusiasm you may have had to start.

May to early June is the best time to do it. The weather is better but it's not too hot.