On the 27th July, I’m leaving to ride from Lands End (the most south westernly point of England) to John O’Groats (the most north easternly point of Scotland) on my 36" Qu-Ax.
The total distance of this ride for the route I am taking is around 895 miles. I plan to do this in 12 and a half cycling days, covering more or less 70 miles per day. I will be having a rest day after every four riding days, so it will be four days of around 70 miles, day of rest, another four days of 70 miles, day of rest, then four days of 70 miles plus a last finishing day of around 30 miles.
I have been traing every weekend since around febuary, and I am now at my peak of 70 miles per day, which I will be doing tomorrow and sunday as well. My cycle computer is currently at 1320 miles, from training alone.
The ride is for 3 charities, The Bicycle Helmet Initiative Trust, SouthHampton General Paediatric Unit (where my cousin died from being hit by a car on his bike, without wearing a helmet), and the Queen Victoria Hospital Burns Unit, which is the local childrens ward. So far I have raised a bit of money, which is quite kind of those who have sponsored.
I have a website incase you would like to keep track of my progress, as it is updated regularly: http://www.unicycle-lejog.co.uk
If you have any questions about it, please feel free to ask:)
Good for you, samwii! I will continue to point out the lameness of people doing dangerous unicycle stuff with bare heads.
The Guinness Book used to track the speed record for Lands End to John O’ Groats. I don’t know what the record is offhand, but it might be worth looking into if you want to try to break it. It might take the fun out of the ride though, so make sure you’re doing it in a way that works for you. Going for a record can help attract sponsors though, so you can at least use it in your sales pitch.
Cool. Presumably you’ve spoken to “the other Sam” (Wakeling/redwelly) - he did it a few years ago. I think there might be a flood of people doing it on unicycles in the near future trying to beat the record (at least three people I know of were talking about doing it).
Good luck - it’s a nice ride. I did it on a bike years ago (by a longer route, about 1100 miles). I’m not much into road unicycling, but I do like the idea of finding an all-offroad route (or as near as possible) and unicycling that - I reckon that would be cool. I suspect it would end up very long though, and need more time to do than I could get off work, so I’ll probably never do it…
Don’t ride too close to the coast in Cornwall - lots of silly ups and downs to fishing villages (some 1:3 gradients!)
Hi guys, I don’t know if any of you are interested, but I only have a day and a half left, and I so far have ridden 830 miles, with just over 100 miles left. It has been brilliant, and I should have a full write-up after it is finished.
-Sam
On Saturday they seem to have found the same hill I met when I rode it a few years ago, a couple of miles out of Drumnadrochit - the report mentions “a hill from hell”. Fun times.
That’s fantastic. 14 and a bit days is amazing - only 2 days off the crazy fast world record, and you had some rest days.
The 12 day record is absolutely crazy - has anyone talked to Rob Ambrose at all about how the heck he managed it? I think Roger knows him, but I don’t know any more about his ride.
Congratulations, 14.5 days awesome. It must have been a challenge but also very enjoyable meeting many along the way, hopefully you will share a few pictures.
