Barry's Big Bike Ride

Final Report

I see the ride as having taken 16 days (an evening start and a half day finish) averaging 63 miles a day; the longest day was the 90 miles from Ludlow to home, and the shortest full day 48, Bankfoot to the Pass of Drumochter. Over the 1003 total miles I maintained an average pace of 11.8 mph in a total 84.5 hours of riding, all of which falls somewhat short of my hoped for 70 miles a day, 12.5 mph average but I have my excuses ready.

I think I was unlucky with the weather, having rain on 9 out of the 16 days, all day on a couple of them, and powerful head winds for most of the Scottish end (though a very strong tail wind for the first 6 days or so). While far from being unsupported a solo ride is definitely demanding of mental as well as physical energy, but having comfortable accommodation to head for each day helped to keep me going; that was due to Jill spending a lot of time at home working out the optimum route and climb for me and then booking the B&Bs.

My route was worked out using the Anquet OS map database and my life would have been much harder but for Jill spending hours measuring every possible option for me and providing me with map sections of varying scales, including town plans where needed and detailed notes for guidance. In places I used marked cycle routes to link sections of the ride but found it necessary to be cautious of the Sustrans route marking, which often seems more concerned with scenery than destination.

My bike was bought in 2007 from Deeside Cycles and is an alloy frame with carbon fibre forks. It is therefore very stiff and, partly because of the small frame my small frame requires (I had trouble finding one of the right size), has a short wheelbase. It is therefore not an ideal touring bike but is very light and stood up well to carrying a load. I had not thought seriously about an End-to-End when I specified the bike, thinking more in terms of Audax style long rides, and had it equipped with a Shimano 105 groupset. Great for most purposes, but when I wanted a lower bottom gear when preparing for the E-to-E I found that it could go no lower than the existing 30x28, about 30". Consequently, I struggled on the steeper climbs and was galled to see other loaded E-to-Eers on heavy looking Scott and Trek hybrids pedalling steadily up inclines that beat me. But, I had no mechanical problems and no punctures despite some lengths of rough track here and there, so I have no complaints about the gear.

Does having completed give me an urge to do more? Well, I understand the Trans Pennine cycle track ultimately goes to Istanbul...

A final thanks to those who turned out to ride with me, and those as well who sent messages of encouragement at times when I really needed a boost; I even worked out how to get messages off the mobile. Thanks also to those who have contributed so generously to the Jacob Marsland Appeal and a hope that now I have completed others may do so. A particular thanks to Jill who spent more time on all the support tasks she took on for me than I spent doing the ride.

Barry's schedule

Barry's schedule for Land's End to John o'Groats

Date	Destination	Distance (miles)	Climb (m)	Distance cycled
26 June	Penzance	10	234	12
27 June	Wadebridge	55	1427	61
28 June	Great Torrington	57	1407	59
29 June	Meare Green (Taunton)	60	1490	66
30 June	Alvington (Forest of Dean)	72	973	77.5
1 July	Brimfield (Ludlow)	54	1310	59
2 July	Delamere	82	1095	90
3 July	Potters Brook (Lancaster)	70	743	81
4 July	Kirkoswald	68	1800	62
5 July	Beattock	60	1032	58
6 July	Maddiston (Falkirk)	62	1369	61.5
7 July	Bankfoot	57	879	63
8 July	Pass of Drumochter	47	1513	49
9 July	Inverness	62	1056	64
10 July	Golspie	58	873	51
11 July	Reay (Melvich)	61	1162	60
12 July	John o'Groats (by Dunnet Head)	40	645	30
Total		975	19008	1004

Setting Out

DEE Fixtures Secretary Barry Barnes is cycling from Land's End to John o'Groats, starting on 26th June 2008. He tells us about his plans...

Well - I'm off! As a lifelong cyclist I've been thinking about doing a solo End-to-End (around 1000 miles Land's End to John o'Groats) for the last couple of years, but without doing any specific planning. Commitments made it unlikely I'd be doing it in 2008 either - until in early June ago I had some sudden swaps to my weekly work shifts which left me clear from late June until late July. Booking a one-way ticket to Penzance for 26 June quite literally set the wheels in motion.

Anyone familiar with my navigational skills - or lack of them - will understand why Jill wanted to make sure I'd got detailed maps and route notes for every section of the journey. She's spent the last week preparing for the first third of the route, back to Delamere, while I've been concentrating on getting my bike, equipment and clothing sorted. That done, coping with two train changes and a taxi ride to Land's End should see me at the start, ready to go.

I'm not out to break any records (44 hours on a 'normal' bike in 1996, 41 hours on a recumbent in 2001), just hoping to put in an average of around 65 miles a day. There are a large number of suggested routes, none ideal, and accommodation is a big constraint, so the brief has been to find the shortest, flattest route on mainly minor roads with a comfortable bed and a hot meal available at suitable intervals. The trip is usually done south to north, to take advantage of prevailing westerly winds, and the schedule I'm likely to be following is given below. Jill will be transporting my panniers for the three days I'm in the North-West, so she can give a lift to anyone who wants to join me for a day or two; Andrew Williams will be riding the Ludlow to Delamere stretch.

Finally, anyone I've mentioned this to has assumed I will be doing it for charity, so I'm taking advantage of people's generosity to use the ride to raise funds for the Jacob Marsland Appeal.

On This Page

• Setting Out
• Schedule
• Final Report

 

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