A test of body and mind

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Preparing for our 1,500km 18,000 climbing challenge from Lands End to John O’Groats (LEJOG) is no easy feat. Finding weekends that work for Andy, David and John is hard enough. Overlay that with getting already stretched holidays from work and negotiating even more time away from domestic responsibilities makes the cycling seem easy!

We decided to attempt a long weekend in May cycling a Scottish equivalent of LEJOG from Stranraer to John O’Groats. The idea of our “STJOG” was to simulate our last three days of the main event. Holidays, weather and other general commitments put paid to our best laid plans. So we reduced the trial to 2 days covering as much distance and climbing as possible. Even that was a challenge. 

Day 1 started about 6.30 am for breakfast and in John’s case walking Leo the dog. We were on the road by 7.50. Andy couldn’t join us in the Dumfries and Galloway so he started in Balerno and rode towards us – a tough challenge on its own as he cycled into a persistent wind. John and David were lucky with the weather – not cold and winds that at worst were cross winds and not overly strong. John had done his usual excellent route planning…until he took us over the Old Edinburgh Road. 8km of gravel and hardcore is not what I would recommend 90 minutes into a 210k cycle!


That slowed us down but not too long after we arrived in Dalry or to give it its proper title “St John’s town of Dalry where we were treated like Kings by Alan Jackson’s mum and dad. There were enough home-made scones, chocolate chip cookies and cake to feed the army that probably arched over the old Edinburgh road. Thank you to the Jacksons for a lovely hearty morning break!





From there it was on to Moniaive where Andy and lunch awaited. Luck stayed with us as the sun shone and we devoured fantastic chicken and bacon wraps as we prepared for the second half of the ride home. We were feeling good until John asked would we like to try the “wee kicker” out of Moniaive. If you ever meet John when he asks that question just say no!. Dunreggan rise lasts about 1.2km. The strava section for the last bit is called “Dunreggan Brae Steep Bit”. It maxed out at 20% and whatever benefit we got from the wraps was used up in that 10 minutes or so. 


At least we were on the way home, though up ahead is the Mennock Pass one of the official 100 climbs in the UK. Though it is not particularly steep (average 2.9%) it lasts for 11.4km and after 120+ km is not easy climb…at least not to me. 

Our next objective was tea and cake in Carnwath though not before a few kilometres cycling into a strong headwind. Our luck was not in at Carnwath as the Apple Pie was shut. Nothing for it but coke and ice cream from the co-op. I hope Martin the driver has been rescued from the toilet in the co-op. If he stayed any longer I would worry about the impact on shop sales!


Now it was only 35km from home on a route we knew well – dogs trust to Harburn and home on the laing whang. Allan Jackson, Mark Gwynn and Jen McKenna joined us at Harperrigg to help us home. I learned how to “spin” over the last 15 minutes massively reducing pain that evening and the next morning. 

Our average speed for the day was a little over 25km per hour over 211km and would probably have been over 26km per hour if not for the Old Edinburgh Road. Slightly faster that we hope to achieve in LEJOG, despite cross winds so all very positive. 

Day 2. Saturday morning was miserable and got worse. After the previous day’s sun this was wind and drizzle. Within 15km it was obvious there was a problem with my gearing so I couldn’t use the big ring which would slow us down all day. The original plan of heading to Tinto went out the window as we improvised while waiting for a bicycle shop to open. 

In spite of our early morning problems we managed another 145km on Day 2 before the Heavens opened. Average speed on Day 2 was over 26km which, after a tough day the day before and the first 40 or 50k at a snail’s pace due to the gear problems, was another highly satisfactory day and is raising our confidence that we can manage the full LEJOG challenge.



Remember we are doing all this for 2 great causes and need your help to raise as much money as possible. You can donate here either to Aspergillosis or to the Balerno High School Tanzania Project (or both if you’re feeling very generous). 

Keep supporting us by donating and sharing the blog. 

Andy, John, David


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