Lejog day 5 - 6/7/2018

We rode from Monmouth to Clun. It was an short, easy day which was good considering the drama of the previous night. Here's a picture of the ill fated King's Head which was the only room with air conditioning. Shame we couldn't stay there. Note the bright red Peak Tours van, one of two that supported us.

There would be a Peak Tours van at each of the brew stops. We quickly developed a Pavlovian response to red vans.

King's Head Monmouth

There was, as usual, a steep climb out of Monmouth followed by rough roads and rolling hills.

 Lunch was at the New Inn in Pembridge. We had cream of mushroom soup (good), sandwiches, and a strawberry tart. Every lunch was this good, it was amazing.

Old church on the way to Pembridge

The New Inn and lunch

Old church next to the lunch stop

View from lunch

Once we got into Shropshire the road surfaces got better and we had some nice descents and an enjoyable brew stop in the middle of a quiet village.

Afternoon brew stop

We stayed at a riverside B&B in Clun that was the best overnight of them all.The owners were an auto mechanic and a teacher who put us up in their five bedroom, riverside house. How could they possibly afford that? No matter - they were two of the nicest people I've ever met and fed us scones, did laundry for us, and even cooked Martina a wonderful vegan dinner.

Amber and I took our regular after ride walk and found Clun Castle - there's not much left but it was interesting none the less.

Clun  Castle ruins

We found an open co-op and bought even more candy and cookies and ate a decent meal at the White Horse.

We rode 58.5 miles with a mere 4037' of climbing.

Lejog day 4 - 6/6/2018

Today we rode from Street to Monmouth. It was a fairly flat route and we started on a long narrow road following a small river. A pair of swans with cygnets was not happy at the attention they were getting from the riders.

Cyclists and swans

Unhappy swan

After the morning brew stop we rode on a cycle path and through a gypsy encampment.

Bike path

Morning brew stop

We had a lovely approach to and passage through Wells. It has an impressive cathedral.

Wells cathedral

There was a long hard climb out of Wells. We had a superb lunch at The Fox in Easter Compton.

Lunch

Then we approached the Severn Bridge and Monmouthshire.

Severn Bridge

After the smooth roads of Cornwall and Somerset I found the Monmouthshire roads to be appalling. Thank goodness we opted for the 32mm tires.

We checked in to the King's Head in Monmouth which was having problems with its fire alarm. Eventually they decided the only way to stop it from alarming all the time was to shut it off entirely which meant all their overnight guests had to be transported to alternative accommodations. We were all bused ten miles away to hotel back in England, then bused back again in the morning. Despite all this we still started the next day on time!

67.2 miles with 4319' of climbing.

Lejog day 3 - 6/5/2018

Much easier day today from Mortonhampstead to Street.

Lunch was at the Drew Arms in Broadhembury.

Drew Arms

The afternoon ride was even better than the morning.

Afternoon brew stop

Even though the roads were narrow at times, the English drivers were very patient. Here's a line of cars waiting to pass a cyclist.

We stayed at the Bear Hotel. I had a nice ploughman's and sticky toffee pudding. Hobgoblin beer is good.

Total distance was 70.5 miles with 3909' of climbing.

After I got back from the vacation I found my wife had crashed her bike today and broken her arm. She didn't tell me because she didn't want to spoil my vacation!

Lejog day 2 - 6/4/2018

Today is Fowey to Moretonhampstead - the hardest single day on Lejog. We follow the coast to Plymouth then head inland on NCR 27 up and onto Dartmoor.

Here we all are at the pre-ride talk.

The approach to Plymouth was lovely.

Goat track

On the way to Plymouth

On the outskirts of Plymouth

Navigating through Plymouth was tricky and we were lucky to be in a group that included a rider who knew his way around. While we were waiting for a light we were accosted by an elderly woman in a Skoda who felt we were a menace. I couldn't actually tell what she was shouting through her three remaining tobacco-stained teeth but I kind of got the gist of it. I confused her by agreeing with her.

Lunch was at a pub followed by a ferry ride.

After Plymouth we got onto NCR 27 which was amazing. It reminded me of the bike path over the Vail Pass in Colorado.

Two of the more impressive riders were Liz and Mike. Liz was riding an electric assisted hand bicycle and Mike was on a regular electric assisted bike.

Liz

Once we got up onto Dartmoor the view was great. There were still a lot of climbs even on the moor. There were sheep and ponies browsing by the side of the road and it was a bit scary flying down the hills knowing that they could decide to cross the road right in front of you.

This was now the toughest 100k I had ever ridden. Yesterday's record didn't last long. We rode 64.9 miles with 6368' of climbing. Wow!

Lejog day 1 - 6/3/2018

Today is 62 miles from Land's End to Fowey. Here are some of the other cyclists in our 25 rider group.

Eventually David got Amber's brakes working correctly and we set off towards Penzance.

Footpath to Penzance

We had a strong headwind and a spot of rain before we got to Penzance.

Just after passing through Penzance we passed near St. Michael's Mount.

St. Michael's Mount in the distance

Ferry over river Fal

After the ferry we turned inland and started some major climbing. It was probably the hardest 100k I've ever ridden.Tomorrow was supposed to be harder.

There were many interesting things to see such as this miniature horse and cart.

A combination of dehydration, low electrolytes, and extreme exertion gave me some serious cramps. But I did enjoy the downhills. Here is a video of us passing through Par.

I had the nose of my saddle too high and the rivet at the front caught on my pants as I tried to dismount which ripped a huge hole in them.When we got to Fowey around 6 pm I went and found a SportsDirect and bought a new pair of shorts for about half the normal price. They weren't the best shorts I've ever owned, but they did the job. I also dropped the nose of my saddle.

All in all it was a very tough day, but the scenery was wonderful and Peak Tours really worked hard for us. Total trip distance was 65.7 miles with 5179' of climbing.

Day before Lejog. 6/2/18

Amber and I are poised to ride land end to john O'groats (lejog) starting tomorrow. It's 1000 miles in 14 days with lots of climbing. We're currently in st. Just about 6 miles from the start. We had a wonderful cream tea at the cook book cafe today. It was incredibly good and ridiculously good value.

Tomorrow we all ride to land end to start the first day which ends in fowey which is pronounced fow. We're on rented bikes so we ride to  landsend and back today to try to dial the bikes in a bit.

We're off to the hotel across the road now for a pre ride meet and greet. Hopefully we can someone to fix the brakes on ambers bike because they're not very good.

David, the ride leader, rode Amber's bike and agrees the new rear brake pads aren't working properly. He's going to get someone to buy some new ones and replace right before the ride.

Footpath at St Just

Entrance to Land's End

How much external battery do I need?

Like most long-distance cyclists I need an external battery pack to power my navigation device for the duration of some of my rides. I recently lost mine and bought a new one on Amazon. Like an idiot I just went for the one with the largest capacity. When it arrived it was the size and weight of a brick (21.5oz) - much too heavy to lug around with me all day.

So I decided to actually think about it and determine how much capacity I really need. These are the numbers that are relevant.

Ci = Capacity of my navigation device's internal battery
Di = Duration of my navigation device using its internal battery
Dt = Total duration I need

My navigation device is a Galaxy Note 4 which, according to the specs, has a capacity of 3220 mAh
The last time I tested it the device ran the rwgps app for 6 hours from a full charge down to 10%
The longest I can conceive of riding between charge opportunities is 27 hours for the hypothetical 400 km from hell.

Therefore I need an external capacity of...

Ce = (Dt - Di) * Ci / Di = (27 - 6) * 3220 / 6 = 11270 mAh

So that brick, with it's capacity of 30,000 mAh, was serious overkill. It would power my Note 4 for another 55 hours for a total of 61 hours approximately between charges.

Anyone want to buy a brick?