It's only two months now before I set off on my 1,000-mile cycle ride from Dover to Durness, from the south-easternmost point in Britain to the far north-west. (It'll make a change from Lands End to John O'Groats, which I've already done three times.)

Everything seems to be falling into place - thanks to this site I'm carrying over two stones less weight than before (which will make the task a lot easier), I've had lots of practice, and even the technology seems to be in place to both guide me there and report back on my progress.

The plan is:

Saturday 14 June: Dover to London via Canterbury/Rochester 72 miles
Sunday 15 June: London to Ramsey Cambs via Ware/Royston 73 miles
Monday 16 June: Ramsey to Lincoln via Spalding/Sleaford 70 miles
Tuesday 17 June: Lincoln to York via Selby 76 miles
Wednesday 18 June: York to Roker via Northallerton 84 miles
Thursday 19 June: Roker to Wooler via Blyth/Alnwick 65 miles
Friday 20 June: Wooler to Edinburgh via Kelso 65 miles
Saturday 21 June: Edinburgh to Pitlochry via Forth Road Bridge/Perth 72 miles
Sunday 22 June: Pitlochry to Tomatin via Kingussie 72 miles
Monday 23 June: Tomatin to Ullapool via Inverness 73 miles
Tuesday 24 June: Ullapool to Durness 70 miles
Wednesday 25 June: Durness-Cape Wrath-Durness 35 miles
Thursday 26 June: Durness to Thurso via Tongue/Bettyhill 72 miles
Friday 27 June: Thurso to Wick Stn via Dunnet Head/JOG/Duncansby Head 50 miles

If anyone wants to come out to cheer me on, toss me sustenance, recommend accommodation, or even to ride a bit of the way with me, you'll be more than welcome.

The important bit:

I have set up a page at www.justgiving.com/ronstrutt so that you can sponsor me for Cancer Research UK on this epic journey. Please be as generous as you can.

Hi Ron,

Read this post a few days ago, then lost it and could not remember where i saw it. ( They say that the mind is the second thing to go.......can't remember what the first is!!)

Truly inspirational mate!!

We will definitely try to get out to the Sleaford area to cheer you on. It's the closest that your route comes to where we live in Norfolk.

Assume you will be on the A15??

I have just bought a bike and started riding, but only a few miles at a time. Frankly, what you are doing leaves me gobsmacked! I am doing the Edinburgh Moonwalk for breast cancer in June, but that is only 26miles and walking!! Mind you, I do have to wear a bra!!

Anyway, best wishes from my Fiancee and I. Will definitely try to sort out some sponsorship

Enjoy your ride. If you can find someone to go with it may be better. Hope it doesn't rain.

I did my first two LE to JOG rides on my own. It's quite an interesting experience in that you have a massive amount of time to do little but think (something that few of us get these days) and the pain helps to concentrate the mind!

The third time I went with a girlfriend, which is perhaps not the best choice of companion. Relationships do get put under stress in those circumstances!

I don't so much mind the rain - it's the wind that does for you, especially when you're cycling directly into it. I remember cycling along the north coast of Scotland in a fierce wind, with gusts so strong that it blew us to a halt. Wind and rain, of course, is even worse.

How do you avoid the numb bum syndrome Ron. I find that if I cycle for a long time it hurts when I get off my bike. It puts me off a bit.

Basically, the more you cycle the more your backside gets used to it, so it ceases to be a problem. It's a phase you have to go through. The padding in good quality cycling shorts helps too - if you don't like lycra you can get padded undershorts to use with conventional trousers or shorts. The final part of the equation is a saddle on which you feel comfortable, which can be a case of trial and error and, oddly, padded gel saddles aren't necessarily the answer. I use one with a slot cut in the middle to relieve the pressure on the most sensitive bits!

As far as numb bits are concenred, the greatest problem I suffer from is numb hands and fingers.

Too much information, Ron!

Are you training for this, or have you done it so many times before that it's a dawdle now?

I wish it was so easy! Unfortunately, no matter how often you do it, it doesn't seem to get any easier. I'm not convinced that training helps either. For my first Lands End to John O'Groats I trained by riding 30 miles to work and 30 miles home three times a week for a few months. The actual thing was still very hard work.

The main thing I'm doing this time round is to train by cycling far longer distances than I plan to do each day on the trip. The idea is that when I have to ride 80 miles in a day it'll seem quite short compared to the 100-150 mile rides I've been doing.

Tomorrow I'm going to take advantage of the promised nice day to pop down to Andover and back, then next week I'm heading up to Stafford (with a friend) and then turning east across to Norfolk (solo) to remind me (a) what it's like to ride a long way for several days on the trot and (b) to try to burn off a few more pounds, having seemingly got stuck at 12 stone 4.

... you should get in touch with Simon Draine and Ruth Loftus - I'm sure they'd be delighted to offer you sustenance and a soft seat for a while!

I wondered if anyone could explain to me the reason why saddles on bikes have to be so uncomfortable is it some kind of saddistic rite that you have to go through.
I'm sure it would be much better for any newcomer to cycling to be able to sit on a normal seat that is actually shaped to the rear end.
Would you buy a car that had a seat that does unmentionable things to your butt?? I think not

Ron, there have been letters to our local paper recently discussing the merits of a helmet. Some car drivers are very anti cyclists who are on the local dual carriageway but the point people are trying to make is that car drivers will give you more space if you don't have a helmet on than if you do. I always wear my helmet (as do the kids) but we don't go on the main roads very much.

You do see quite a lot of people cycling on wide pavements - that says a lot about how safe it is to cycle on the road these days. I thought it was against the highway code to cycle on the pavement over a certain age (unfortunately not 40).

What do you think about all this?

Precisely my point - saddles shouldn't be uncomfortable. However, since the shape (and size) of people's posteriors varies enormously, no one saddle shape is going to suit everyone. and sometimes the right one does take a bit of finding.

The idea of having a seat that is shaped to the rear end might seem fine in theory, but when you're sitting on a bike saddle you're not sitting still (or virtually still) as you would be in a car. Your backside and your legs are moving the whole time, and a seat that was thoroughly in contact with them would soon begin to chafe. Hence why many experienced cyclists opt for saddles that look like knife blades.

There is also the problem that an excess of bulk in that area does provide more material to get chafed, so the more exercise you do (in the form of more cycling), the more the problem goes away!

When I first returned to cycling I did the obvious thing and bought a heavily padded gel saddle and soon encountered the chafing problem. I solved it by buying my present, much skinnier saddle. Wearing a pair of padded shorts*, I can sit on this for hours on end without feeling any more (indeed, much less) discomfort than I would on a car seat.

However, long distance cycling does pose a particular problem. The backside isn't really designed to be sat upon for hours on end, no matter how well-shaped and comfortable the seat, so it is a case of getting used to it.

As far as the numb bum syndrome is concerned, riding position has an impact too. Sit up and beg bikes (and, too a large extent, mountain bikes) encourage an upright riding position that pushes your weight back onto the saddle. That is why I use a bike with drop handle bars which brings my weight forwards. Which probably explains why I get numb hands...

Gosh - you had me waiting with bated breath for that last word - phew - hands!

Oh dear, you're going to get me started now, Jaki!

On helmets, I never used to wear one until (a) I came off my bike doing 25-30mph - trying to get out of the way of a tractor - and bounced my head (amongst other bits) off the road, and (b) I got punched in the head by a drunken yob on a train on which I was working (I hasten to add that he came off the worst, but that's another story). Those two events decided me that my head had suffered enough and I wasn't prepared to risk it any more.

Having said that, helmets do have downsides. Firstly, they won't prevent serious damage at speeds much above 12mph, while my cruising speed is getting on for 20mph and my top speed (so far) 50mph. Secondly, they encourage riders - especially younger ones - to take risks that they might not take if they were unhelmeted. Thirdly, they do get very hot.

As I say, my preference is to wear one but I don't support those who would seek to make helmet wearing compulsory. You're more likely to die through lack of exercise than you are through cycling without a helmet.

I have always found that the more obvious you are, the wider berth motorists will give you. High-visibility jackets help in this, as do multiple lights in anything less than perfect visibility. Panniers, with bright yellow covers, are even better because they make the bike look much wider. A positive (some might say aggressive) riding style - refusing to be forced into the gutter and maintaining a riding position a metre from the kerb (but allowing other traffic past when it is reasonable and safe to do so) - helps too.

Some car drivers do object to cyclists being on the road. They are often the ones who would have a heart attack if they undertook any form of exercise. Their usual excuse is that (a) cyclists don't pay road tax, (b) we're not insured, and (c) some car drivers think they have a God-given right of way on the road. Oh, and (d) we're making shorter journeys than the average car driver, (e) cars are faster than bikes, and (f) all bike riders jump red traffic lights.

Our responses are that (a) most of us do - we also have cars and, although we use our cars less, we pay the same amount of road tax as those who use their cars all the time, (b) cyclists who belong to a club like the Cyclists Touring Club do have insurance, and (c) I'd better not respond to this one on a family-oriented forum. As far as (d) is concerned, the average car journey is less than 2 miles, whereas I rarely bother getting the bike out for a ride of less than 10 miles. On (e) I can get through a large town in the rush hour far quicker than a car. And as for (f), talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

Cyclists have as much right to be on the road (motorways excepted) as any other vehicle (a point which was proved a few months back in a celebrated court case), more so, perhaps, because we were there before motor vehicles. We could, I suppose, use our cars instead and add to the congestion, but is total gridlock really preferable to being delayed for a couple of minutes by a cyclist?

Some pavements are authorised for use by cyclists. These are marked by the appropriate blue signs. No-one is allowed to cycle on any other pavements but those under the age of 12 (I think) are too young to be prosecuted. Those over 40 should know better. Those between 12 and 40 should be knocked off their bikes by passing pedestrians.

As for cycle paths and lanes, most of them were designed by council officials who have never ridden a bike in anger and have no idea of the needs of cyclists. They actually put cyclists in greater danger than if they used the roads (see http://www.cyclecraft.co.uk/digest/cfi_jaf.pdf for more on this).

The biggest problem for cyclists is that the majority of today's drivers have never ridden a bike and haven't a clue what to do when they encounter one. (Mind you, many of them haven't a clue what to do when they encounter another motor vehicle, never mind a bike!) No-one should be allowed to get a driving licence until they have passed the cycling proficiency test! The more people who cycle on the roads, the more used to them drivers will become, as is the case in most north European countries.

Rant over!

Much as I would welcome meeting up with Simon and Ruth, my parents live in deepest Norfolk, so food, shelter, and a bed is never a problem in East Anglia thankfully - hence the reason that I'm heading that way next week.

Thanks Ron
Ihave never relised what pain and sffering cyclists go through you must really enjoy it though.
good Luck with your trip

Thanks for all the answers to my questions on helmets etc, Ron. Most interesting.

I persuaded my hubby to cycle with me into town today as I had to get a few bits of shopping and it was a sunny day. We went so far along the seafront cycle path and then he led me through town (arrrgggh). I'm not a very confident cyclist on the roads but I'm definitely getting better now. He sat on a wall looking after our bikes, armed with a flask of coffee and his copy of Money from the Times, so was happy while I got my shopping done!!

Another question for you Ron, have you had any bad experiences leaving your bike on racks (with locks of course)? My bike is a very old mountain bike (15 years old ish) so I don't suppose it's highly desirable but my children's bikes are new and a good make. My lock is a D-lock which at the time was the best you could get. Lidl had lots of cycle accessories last week as well.

ps It's 40 not 30, unfortunately!

Ron,
Re: numb hands

I have pieces of cushion flooring taped round my handlebars and together with wearing cycle gloves this seems to minimise problems with my hands, but I do find myself changing position quite frequently.

I have worked in a couple of bike shops overthe years so can offer some advice about buying a bike saddle. Firstly if you are new to cycling or if you only ride ocasionally you probably will find you bike seat uncomfortable. Asnwer is ride more often and for longer. If you ride regularly and just cant get used to your saddle. Have a look at the offending saddle and decide what it is you dont like about it. Then go to a good local bike shop and have a look at what they have to offer. Once you've bought a saddle that looks better than the old one wrap insulating tape round the metal rails under the seat then attach it to your bike. Try it for a short ride on a dry day and see if you like it. If not take the insulating tape off and return it to the bike shop and try another one. In general the more upright your position on the bike the wider the saddle you need.

Same thing happened to me Ron, and it hurts. It was a pheasant that took me out though. I ended up with a broken hand, cracked jaw complete with split chin and broken teeth, and badly bruised ribs. I was a total mess, a few hours in A&E getting patched up, and a years worth of dental work on my mouth.

The cushion flooring idea looks worth a try. I do wear cycling gloves but in the past I have found that they can make the problem worse. Specifically, where they pulled down between my first and second fingers they caused those two fingers to become totally numb and devoid of feeling - a situation that took some months to recover.

I'm also thinking about a sizing session as featured in Body & Soul on Saturday as I think I may be tipping too much weight forward onto my hands.

Ouch! Compared to that, I came off very lightly. Just an egg-sized bump on my head, a dislocated finger, lots of road rash, and copious blood.

If anybody's interested in the bike sizing session, find the article on http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/he alth/traineo/exercise/article3814642.ece

Off tomorrow morning for a quick practice ride:

Woking-Banbury-Stafford-Stamford-Diss-London

Not in one day of course.

If the technology holds up I'll put progress reports on this thread as the week goes by.

Well, the practice session has turned into a mini-marathon of its own. After four days I've cycled over 350 miles from Woking to South Norfolk via Stafford., passing through Surrey, Berkshire, Bucks, Oxfordshire, Northants, Warwickshire, West Mids, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk!

We set out on Tuesday just as the rain started and within an hour we were soaked through, but a coffee stop at Marlow gave us a chance to dry off a bit. Then it was into the fairly serious climb to Stokenchurch. Keith did superbly well considering his lack of cycling practice in recent times, while I was delighted to discover how much easier the climb seemed compared with the last time a few months back.

All went well until near the top when we were caught by a violent hailstorm. The vents in my helmet filled up with hail and the top of my head was freezing! Fortunately that was the worst of the day's weather over and we had a good run, one final nasty little hill excepting, to our night's B&B at Sulgrave, near Banbury, with exactly 80 miles under our belts.

Wednesday dawned bright and clear and stayed that way until midday. Fortunately a sudden downpour coincided quite nicely with our need for a lunch stop, so we didn't get too wet, and the onset of another hailstorm later also worked in nicely with the need for a coffee break. We did, however get soaked riding over Cannock Chase and worn out by some substantial hill climbing towards the end of the day. The evening was marked by a failure to find anywhere decent to eat in Stafford.

On Thursday morning Keith and I parted company, he to continue north to Liverpool, me to head east.

One of the aims of this trip was to test out the technology I plan to use on my long trip next month. Unfortunately as I set off from Stafford my GPS was telling me that my next turning point wasn't for 66 miles! It seemed that the route points were all in the machine, they were just linked in the wrong order. Not very helpful. One to investigate when I get home.

In the pre-technology past I used to write out routes in detail, but I hadn't on this occasion, so it was back to stopping to look at the map every few miles, a process that seems to add ages onto the journey. And hanging about wasn't something I wanted to do when all around I could see rain clouds depositing their contents. Fortunately I managed to miss every shower.

I was also surprised to find how hilly Leicestershire is, probably because all the valleys head N-S whereas I was heading W-E. Much of it was rather lovely, with the exception of the bit south of Coalville, where even minor road were very busy.

What with one thing and another - including a puncture about 10 miles from my day's destination - it was 7.30 by the time I got to the youth hostel in Thurlby, Lincs, and I was pretty tired, but still up to walking the half mile to the nearest pub, and after 90+ miles I deserved a couple of pints.

Friday dawned with brilliant sunshine but with a brisk southerly breeze, just what I didn't want for a long ride across the exposed Fens. It made the going quite hard. People think that the flat landscape must be perfect for cycling but you have to pedal the whole time, with no downhill bits for a respite, and with the wind in your face it's even worse. And I got another puncture!

I managed to miss the rain until just before Littleport, when it came on in earnest, but as I entered the town I spotted a cycle shop and dashed in to restock my rapidly depleting collection of inner tubes. The owner took pity on me and we settled down to a coffee and a chat until the rain eased. An hour later I managed to get on my way again!

I finally arrived at my parents' cottage in South Norfolk about 7.30 after a five mile detour to get a bottle or two of beer - they live some way from the nearest pub - only to discover that I'd done 96 miles, so I set off for a ride round the village to bring it up to the magic 100.

Today has been a rest day with my parents, with only an 18-mile ride to Diss to my favourite bike shop for new tyres and brake blocks. Total mileage so far: 374.37 (or 601km). Tomorrow it's back home, a final 130 miles.

Fantastic article in the Times today! We all guessed it was you...

Very interesting to read of your practice session. I am so impressed with your stamina, I struggle with slight inclines - realise I must try harder to improve. Good luck with the journey home and hope the weather is kinder to you.

Enjoyed reading about your practice session cum mini marathon. Will you be able to post logs of your real marathon from Dover to Durness? Actually, I keep seeing it referred to as Dover to Durness but according to this there is another 122 miles to Wick via Thurso and Duncansby Head.

Congratulations on being one of the May THC Members of the Month. You have really earnt your break at Champneys - something to look forward to as you cycle!

Thank you both, Jaki and Jackie, for your comments, and well done to you Jaki on also being one of the members of the month. What I particularly liked about this month's selection of members was the very different approaches people were taking.

Home at last! I finally got back from my trip late (very late) last night. By the time I got into Central London I had covered 112 miles and it was 9pm. I really didn't feel like doing another 30 miles through suburbia to get home so the train won hands down.

It didn't help that I left my parents much later than I'd planned, nor that for much of the day I had a stiff breeze in my face. The first 25 miles, to Stowmarket, seemed to go really well but then it began to drag.

My friend Keith has it about right. Get 25 miles under your belt before a morning coffee stop, 50 miles by lunchtime, and (depending how far you're going) an afternoon break at 75 miles. Because of my late start my coffee stop was after midday, and by 2 o'clock I needed to stop for lunch even though I'd only covered 40 miles.

Five long days in the saddle begins to show up your vulnerabilities, which was, of course, part of the idea of this practice run. My shoulder/neck problem re-asserted itself yesterday so it's back to the physio for some more treatment on that. Both of my index fingers are numb and swollen, which I think is caused by my cycling gloves rucking up and pressing on them. Maybe the gloves cause more problems than they solve.

Five days averaging over 90 miles a day is also a lot with the result that my thigh muscles are as stiff and unyielding as concrete - I must take some baby oil with me for a self-massage or two on the way. At least I'm not planning to do 90 miles a day on my main ride, but what I have discovered is that my route planning software tends to underestimate distances, especially on winding country lanes. I must allow for that and I need to double check my longest planned days. Lincoln to York should be ok because it's flat (provided I have a nice southerly wind) but York to Roker via Northallerton may be rather long at 84 miles.

With the exception of that one day, my GPS worked well. The original route on my PC is fine so the problem must have arisen in the transfer. Moral of the story: first copy the routes to my GPS and then copy them back to the PC to make sure they're the same!



It seems that provided I have a phone signal my PDA is able to log onto the internet and send emails quite successfully, albeit very slowly at times. The THC website is very bad in this respect because downloading a page seems to involve an awful lot of data transfer. (Also some of the functions, like updating my charts, don't work with Windows Mobile.) It's also a fairly slow process typing using a touchscreen keyboard. This time I didn't do updates as often as I'd hoped, partly because I was in company the first two evenings and too late finishing the next two evenings.



This is true. My target is to get to Durness and hopefully on to Cape Wrath, though the latter is dependent on the ferry running (the tides look about right on the day in question) and the firing ranges not being in use (nothing is planned at the moment). The additional trek round to Wick - which might either turn out to be a mere trifle extra or the straw that broke the camel's back! - is because I have to get to a station to get the train home, and Thurso is the nearest(!) to Durness, but if I'm going to Thurso I may as well pop out to Dunnet Head (which I love) and Duncansby Head (to which I've never been) and get the train from Wick. I can also have a look for the pair of glasses that I dropped on Warth Hill, overlooking JOG, back in 2000.



I'm afraid that there's nothing for it but to practice. The fitter you get (and the less weight you're carrying) the easier the hills will become. There are techniques that make it easier too. Make sure you use your gears properly - not so high that it's impossibly hard work, not so low that your legs are spinning around pointlessly - and change gear as necessary to maintain that situation. Try to pedal as smoothly and rhythmically as possible - anything else wastes vital energy - and make sure you pedal with the ball of your foot, not the instep. Sit well back on the saddle to put your weight on the back wheel to give added traction. Try not to look at the hill ahead but focus on the road surface thirty or forty feet ahead.

If you need to stop, then stop. Even a few seconds pause will allow your muscles to recover a bit, but you will need to be in a low gear to get going again. If you need to walk part of the way, do so - walking uses different muscles and helps you to loosen up.

AND NOW FOR THE REALLY GOOD NEWS! I weighed myself this morning and my weight is down to 11 stone 12 on one set of scales, 12 stone exactly (my first target) on the other. That, of course, may fluctuate over the next few days as I recover but, more tellingly, my waist measurement is down from 40 inches in January to 34 now!

Well done on the weight loss Ron - you must be so pleased with yourself. Losing 6" off the waist is marvellous. I've started recording waist measurement every fortnight and have lost 1.1" in a month, so not bad at all.

Thanks for the advice on the hills. I must admit I'm very unfit and put it into bottom gear and have to stand up for some inclines (not very steep, in which case I walk). Sometimes the pedals slip/click but chain doesn't come off and I have to push then. Maybe it's doing my bike some harm. Embarrassing really as 7 year old son quite happily cycles up the inclines - must be all the rugby he plays, more musclular legs.

By the way Ron, have you had many comments about your article? An old uni friend emailed me this weekend and some people in my church saw it, but not been into work yet which is a school. Wonder if anyone will comment!