I want to deconstruct and share all the bike, equipment, gear and any other details about travel, storage, lodging, etc. I will wax Geek speak.
Hopefully my trials and tribulations will help you in your preparation and planning for this or any brevet or grand randonnee.
Bike Set Up
In late 2018 I took delivery of a Bill Holland custom titanium frame with the Richey breakaway. It has been my go-to bike for all long distance events. At the time, disc brakes were still rather new on road bikes and I wasn’t familiar working them, so I decided stick with rim brakes.
Here are the deets:
- Shimano Dura Ace 9100 11-sp shifters
- Shimano Dura Ace 9000 52-38 11-sp crank
- Shimano Dura Ace 9100 11-30 rear cassette
- Shimano Ultegra R8000n 11-sp front derailleur
- Shimano Ultegra 11-sp rear derailleur (the generation when the cable end pointed out)
- Holland branded carbon fork
- Brooks Swift saddle with titanium rails (style points with perhaps some weight saving)
- Brooks leather bar tape
- King titanium bottle cage for downtube
- Unknown maker titanium bottle cage for seat tube (bought from Robert Abraham)
- Mavic Ksyrium SSL wheel set (I struggled with putting tires with tubes on tubeless ready wheels, so I bought a “vintage” wheelset that could only take tubes)
- Conti Gatorskin tires
I had to make trade-offs to accommodate for the other accessories to work. I am considering a new titanium frame bike (N+1).
Fenders
Portland Design Works full metal 700×30. Rain was my biggest concern. At LEL in 2017, a torrential down pour on Day 1 was the seed of my downfall. I previously installed a 28 but it wasn’t wide enough to minimize splash. When I tried to install the 30s, it didn’t have enough clearance in front and rear of the bike. I had to cut out sections on both sides of each fender just enough to clear both fork and frame widths. The maximum tires I could put on were 700×25 to prevent any rubbing.
The road conditions in the UK were atrocious. Patches covering excavations would have 50 shades of grey yet 60 different depths. When the Conservative government instituded austerity, they applied it liberally. Because of the cutouts, the front fender’s structural integrity was compromised. The shock and vibration was so incessant and violent at times that when I reached Wiveliscombe, the front “tongue” just simply fell off when I stopped at an intersection. I conjectured that the vibration from the bounces matched the harmonics of the molecular bond of the aluminum such that they separated.
In the end, it never rained from start to finish. The closest I came to feeling any moisture was then climbing Bretherdale Head in Cumbria. Another rando complained what a waste of time it was to install fenders. I thought they were the talisman that warded off the rain.
Fiat Lux (Let There Be Light)
I knew I wasn’t going to ride through the night. Britain in the summer had extended daylight. Any riding in the dark wouldn’t be extended. I brought a Cygolite 1800 as my primary headlight with a NiteRider 900 Micro as my backup. The Cygolyte had the benefit of continued operation when recharging while the NiteRider did not (at least not the one I have).
I Got the Power
Becausing I was foregoing a dynamo to power my light and other onboard electronics with the Sinewave USB charger, I relied on one 5000 mAh battery in my frame bag for my phone and one 10,000 mAh battery in my handlebar bag to charge the Garmin and light. I performed a weight comparison between battery+Cyglolyte+front wheel combo and the wheel with SONS dynamo+Edelux II+USB charger combo. It ended up being almost the same weight. So I decided to go with the former to save the drag that the dynamo would cause. All in the margins in the end.
Rather than worrying about charging anything, I packed batteries in both drop bags so that I could just grab and go. While at the overnight controls, I would drain the current battery, knowing that I could swap out with fresh ones before I leave.
Bike Cartage
Saddle Bag
Apidura 7L bag – LEJOG’s drop bag staging required me to carry a change of bib shorts at the first overnight. Other items in my bag included tools, 2 spare tubes, my control clothes.
Frame Bag
Outer Shell medium frame bag – I decided to use a frame bag to carry smaller clothing items (light full-finger glovers, gaiter and on-ride food). I ran into an issue with getting to my down tube water bottle, so I installed a side access bottle cage. My other minor gripe was the material used for the straps. It scuffed up my Ibis Hakka gravel frame.
Handlebar Bag
Almstre handlebar bag compact 3.5” diameter x 7.5” long. I use this bag to carry my 10,000 mAh battery, medical kit and a plastic spoon. I needed to route a USB cable to connect the battery to the Garmin/headlight. If I ran it through the zipper opening, rain and the resulting leak would ruin its content. I punched a hole through the body of the bag facing the stem where water would least likely to get to and pulled the cable through that hole. I’ve used this handlebar bag at Garden State brevets last May when it did rain and the inside remained dry. My only issue was insufficient space so recently I bought a larger bag from Almstre.
Repair Kit
The items shown below are what I carry in my repair kit for LEJOG:
- Spare zip ties
- Tire boot made from cutting a section off of an old tire
- 5mm hex key
- 4mm hex key
- 2mm hex key (for derailleur adjustment)
- Spare Garmin rubber band
- 2 AAA batteries for my rear light and additional electrical tape
- Tube patch kits
- Small phillips head screw driver
- 2 sets of 11-speed quick links
- Small Swiss Army knife with a tweezer (to remove wires from tires)
- Old Park Tools patch kit box to store quick links and Swiss Army knife
- Pedro’s plastic tire spatula
- LA Matt’s brevet savage spare derailleur cable
Below is my fancy repair bag.
Medical Kit
My kit contained antacid tablets (not in photo), ibuprofen, electrolyte pills, chamois cream and sun block. I filled empty pill bottles with the chamois cream so I could easily carry on in my handlebar bag for access for mid-ride touch-up. I packed a spare bottle in my saddle bag. When I accessed my drop bag, I would refill with the tube I packed at each controil. I preferred DZ Nuts for its 4 oz tube packaging. It was pricey but transport was a major factor.
Around 1 chamois cream bottle I wrapped spare duct tape as well as spare electrical trap around the sun block tube.
Control clothes
I packed a light weight shirt and a pair of loose boxer shorts to wear at control after showers. When sleeping, I needed maximum airflow in that nether region of the undercarriage to recover. Again, an important lesson I learned at LEL 2027.
Drop bags
We were allowed 2 drop bags for 4 overnight controls. Each bag didn’t have much capacity compared to a back pack. Trade-off had to be made given this limitation. For the first bag at Golborne, I packed 1 bib shorts. Upon my arrival, I would pick up the fresh shorts and jersey and put my 2 used shorts from Day 1 and 2 into the drop bag for pick up at the finish. When I arrived at Kirkburn at the end of Day 3, I then changed my shorts and jersey for Day 4 and 5. I needed to pack my post ride change of clothes so I had to sacrifice another clean bib shorts for Day 5 in the Kirkburn drop bag. In each bag I also packed two 10,000 mAh batteries and one 5,000 mAh battery, 2 tubes, a tube of chamois cream, on-ride snacks and electrolyte powder.
Route Planning and Scouting
Because we were looking for hotels in lieu of controls to grab sleep, I had to scope out places that would support our late arrival/early departure. Quaint B&Bs and small local hotels were many but most would be closed for check in when we would showed up. That limited choices and thus forced us to look for national or international chain hotels farther than I would have liked.
As a result, I had to prepare an itinerary to show where I would be from day to day, control to control. I also inserted the name and distance of the hotels. I searched for places to eat to account for early check out.
Navigation
Andy sent out the full RWGPS route. My Garmin 1030 would not be able to handle that amount of data. I broke the route down to each day’s ride. I customized the turn-by-turns to account for where our hotels located off course. Then for each day’s file, I created a backup so that if the main file became corrupted for whatever reason, I have a backup file. When riding, I often just left the map screen on so I can follow.
Booking Lodging at Start and Finish
I am now an adherent to Airbnb. For the start, we found a place that was in walking distance to the start HQ. The property had a full kitchen that enabled us to buy food of our choosing to cook and enjoy breakfast. There were 3 beds for Michael, LA Matt and me. Came out to $645 for 3 nights.
At the finish we found a motor home through Airbnb that was so close to the John O’Groats that I was able to walk back to despite being drunk and tired at the end. It was $103 for 1 night.
I was never a big fan of Airbnb until my trip to Las Vegas.
Transport to Land’s End and from John O’Groats
I reached out to Tal Katzir, Israeli Randonneurs RBA and current LRM president. He first tipped me off about LEJOG. He guidance on transport was to reserve an one-way rental a car from London and drop it off at Penzance; then for John O’Groats, bike to Wick to pick up the rental car and then drive it back to London. Given what ended up happening, Michael rented a car and drove to John O’Groats to bring Matt and me back to London. Matt who abandoned at Golborne reached John O’Groats to pick up his drop back.
Storage of Bike Box and Other Belongings
In the mid-90, I studied in London for my masters. I reached out to a classmate, Cheri, who not only allowed me store my belongings, she invited me to stay at her home throughout my visit before and after LEJOG. Her boyfriend, who was a cycling enthusiast as well, let me use his repair stand and was helping me putting together and taking apart my bike. He also guided me on several shakedown rides through Richmond, getting to see Hampton Court where King Henry VIII resided. To celebrate my finish, she invited Fiona, another classmate, with her partner and hosted a lavish dinner with bottles of wine and delightful conversation about art, literature and British comedy, all on the pretext to help me recover from my calorie deficit. Always good to have friends at RIGHT places.
Recommend LEJOG?
Would I recommend anyone to give LEJOG a go? Hell yes! But with provisos.
Would I go back to take part in LEJOG again? Hell no! I was lucky to have no inclement weather in 2024. Can’t say I would be this lucky the next time.
I would consider a more relaxed form of LEJOG. Hurrying past Tintern Abby, Monmouth, Balmoral Castle and Castle Cawdor, I’d like to go back to visit those important places of British history and literature. Next time I’ll stay at every hotel that I book.