John O' Groats to Lands End

[bikerta]

As many of you know I am hoping to complete a cycle from John O' Groats to Lands End this summer and I was wondering if any of you lovely people on this site would sponsor me for the trip. I am cycling in aid of Air Ambulance and as the trip is around 1,000 miles I thought I would aim high and try and reach a target of £1 for each mile so raising £1,000.

My train tickets have been booked and arrived last week. I am leaving here on the afternoon of Tuesday 29th July bound for London, where I will then catch the Caledonian Sleeper for the overnight journey up to Inverness arriving there at 8.30am. I then catch the 10.30 train up to Thurso arriving at 2.30pm, which leaves me a 20 mile cycle to John O' Groats where I will camp overnight. The ride will then begin on Thursday 31st July. Not really looking forward to the 24 hour journey up, but would rather face it at the beginning of the trip than at the end, plus I will have much more flexibility as I can then book the journey home from Penzance when I am a couple of days from Lands End.

I will be camping each night, providing the weather is fairly reasonable, but if faced with day after day of rain, then I may have to escape to a B & B every now and again to dry out my gear. I am funding the trip myself (hence why the price of my bike worried me so much) and am aiming to cover 40 to 50 miles a day. Luckily I can take my time and may even have a day off cycling if necessary. However, this is still a massive challenge for me as I have done very little 'serious' cycling and have only really started covering more miles since August of last year.

Any support you could give me would therefore be very much appreciated and if you could find a pound or so in your pockets, please log onto 'justgiving.com' and call up Jackie Yorke and you will see my page there where you can donate online.

Many, many thanks for all the help I have received from this site so far in the purchase of what I hope will turn out to be the ideal bike for this trip.

Jackie

[jags]

Jackie i never know how much to sponsor a person.one of the reasons is i'm stone broke on the fecking dole,but i could certainly muster up 10euro and post it over to you.i know its not a lot but its 10 euro more that you had  2 minutes ago and maybe it will start the ball rolling.


jags.

[phopwood]

Jackie,

Will you be setting up a sponsorship web page where people can pledge on line, or some thing similar.

Peter

[in4]

Here's Jackie's Just Giving page link: http://www.justgiving.com/Jackie-Yorke

[jags]

jackie send me your address and i'll post a few bob over to you.
i dont have bank account.
very best of luck on this tour love to be doing with you.i sure hope you get great weather its going to be class.
make sure to take plenty of ics and an odd 20 minute video would be fantastic

jags.

[phopwood]

Thanks for the link, the ball is rolling on turning back now.

The very best of luck.

Peter

[alfie1952]

Hi Jackie,

Clear skies, tailwinds and happy days.

Best wishes ,Alfie

[bikerta]

I can't believe the generosity of you guys, especially considering I am a newbie to the site. Thank you so much, it is really appreciated. I know how hard times are at the moment as I work up to 60 hours a week to pay the bills myself. Jags, I will PM you with address, you are amazing.  

Hi Peter, many thanks and you are right there is no turning back now, that's a scary thought!

I have a couple of days off next week, so am hoping to string a couple of longer rides together to see how that goes and then after that I will have to start loading the bike up a little so I get used to the extra weight on the bike. It's all go from now on.

Things I still have to buy:  Front Panniers

                                     MIDGE NET!!!
                                    
                                     Skin So Soft/Jungle Formula for Midges.

                                     Phillips Navigator Atlas that I can cut up and use each day.

                                     Could do with a new sleeping bag as have a very cheap Tesco down one, but not sure it's warm enough
                                              otherwise I have a warmer bag but it's very bulky - think I will have to go without this though.

                                     Waterproofs - though of course I am not going to need these.  

I have most other things from my motorcycle camping trips thankfully.

Thank you once again.
Jackie

 

[jags]

Your more than welcome Jackie it's a hell of a tour your undertaking fair play to you.
i would never get my head around doing a tour like that on my own,i'm an auld chatter box i  like good company that i can have the craic with.
but yeah its very hard to find a touring partener,i cycled with bikepacker in the uk and ireland he brilliant to tour with, but a few other guys i toured with was a disaster 
if i taught i would get away with murder i would have gladly killed one particular bloke here in ireland 7 in italy and another in france 
ah i'm a geek i know but i hate bullies with a passion.yeah solo is the way to go for most  people but anto needs company.
sorry for rambling but theres nopthing worth watching on the tv.

a nto.

[allywatt]

Hi Jackie,

I'm doing LE to JOG starting about 10 days before your launch date.  Like you I'm going to camp as often as possible and plan to stay on the wee roads. 

At Gretna, the plan is to turn left and cross from ardrossen to Arran, then up the west coast to Oban, cross to barra, up the outer hebs, take the ferry to ullapool, durness and across the top to JOG.

Good luck with the trip.  If you need any info on the highlands, just ask, I live on Skye.

Ali

[lewis noble]

I hope your preparations go well.  I am sure you will find the Sherpa an excellent choice, more and more it seems to me the features that matter are good basic design and geometry, and simple but decent quality components.

I have just got back to UK from a sponsored London - Paris ride on the Ripio I bought last year.  The 'tight' frame and low crossbar (sorry, top tube) of mountain bikes has always suited me, and the Ripio is probably pretty similar to the Sherpa, maybe a bit shorter in the chainstays.

There were 15 on the ride.  All the others had modern dropped road bikes, some with tyres like rubber bands, others using hybrids.  Mine was the only one with 26" wheels.  It was the heaviest in the group, but in reality not all that much more than several of the hybrids - mine has 2" Supremes at present and solid Mt Tura forks, so the kit is much the same as your Sherpa.

How did it go??  The bike went faultlessly, rolled along the level and downhill just as well as the lighter bikes.  And people were surprised at this - " My bike shop told me 700 wheels were much faster!!"  Not true.

Yes, it was slower off the mark at junctions and so on on the urban sections, and slower up the hills, and I found my pace just a bit slower than others, which was frustrating as I either had to push harder than I like which knackered my joints a bit, ride alone, or feel I was holding others up.  But that is down to me as much as the bike.  At one time, the faster riders formed a pack around me and swept me along at 25 mph plus - what an experience!!!  Riding alone, as I think you will be doing, and riding in a group, is a very different experience.

And my bike excelled, of course, on the more 'trail' parts of the ride, with gravel surfaces, where the others were in difficulties - though the Supremes, brilliant on tarmac, were not good on the slippery muddy bits at the sides of the tracks. Duremes much better for that.   No punctures, brakes and gears all perfect . . . . . At all times I felt secure and in control.

So the Sherpa will look after you I am sure.

Lewis

[jags]

excellent review Lewis i'de nearly buy another sherpa 

jags.

[lewis noble]

Thanks jags . . . . Talking about weight, I should have added that the Ripio, with Thorn rack, mudguards,pedals and 3 (empty) bottle cages and a mini pump weighs in at about 14.5 kg.

Perhaps on the high side . . . . but would saving around 230g on lighter wheels (Grizzlys at present) make much difference??  I'm not sure . . .  I probably should lose it off my belly.

One of the helpers on the ride did comment that the bike felt very much heavier than the others.  But with 3 full water bottles, I guess it was bound to!!  Most of the others could only carry one. 

Lewis

[jags]

ah if a fella could only shed a few stone the heavy bike would not matter one bit.


jags..

[bikerta]

Hi Anto, just to let you know that your 'donation' arrived in the post this morning. Many thanks for that.

With regards to losing weight off the bike, I have lost a stone since the beginning of this year. I reckon that means that I can now carry my tent, sleeping bag, Exped downmat and my stove/pots/cutlery for free      Mind you I can't seem to lose any more, maybe it's because I am starting to see signs of muscles in my legs and they weigh more than fat don't they? 

Lewis, your Ripio sounds very similar in weight to the Sherpa. I'm glad your bike performed well for you on your trip. I have been very pleased with the set up of the Sherpa. I am not too worried about the speed as I don't usually ride with others, so I just keep my own pace. I agree that the bike is slower up the hills, but in my case I suspect a lot of that is due to the rider rather than the bike.    I am far more confident on the Sherpa than I ever was on the Dawes. It would be interesting to see what drop bars felt like on the Sherpa as I am not sure if it was the drops on the Dawes that made me feel insecure or the fact that the reach was too long and I was not quite in control.

Either way, I am very happy with the straight bars and bar ends that I have on the Sherpa.

Allywatt, how long are you expected to take to complete your LEJOG? We may pass somewhere along the route, that's if I ever get my route sorted. I am still debating which route to take through the middle of Scotland. I intended to go via Loch Ness, but the A82 is worrying me and you can't avoid all of it. I will dodge as much as I can, but hate riding on really busy roads. Alternative is to take the Glens and Lochs route following the old A9 through the Cairngorms. Sounds like a lot of extra climbing though, but at least you don't have to cycle on the main roads.

I love the idea of going via the islands, but doesn't this add a fair bit of mileage and time onto the trip. I have got up to 4 weeks, but I would like to make this a holiday not a marathon and really 4 weeks is just that bit too long as I would only just make it back to work on time. Also aren't the islands the worst place for the dreaded midges?  Blimey, I sound like a right old moaner. I don't mean to be as I feel very lucky to be able to take on this trip and intend to enjoy every minute of it. Any help would be much appreciated.