Day 6 Tarporley Cheshire to Lancaster

The first Wednesday of LEJOG is done and the stats for this long eventful day are:

Miles: 79.6
Climbing: 2762 ft
Average Speed: 14.0 mph
Max Speed: 30.3 mph
Time Riding: 5 hr 40 mins
Total Duration: 9 hr 14 mins
Steepest Gradient: 10.4%

Day 6 was for sure a long, stressful and hard day. Again the day's ride started out fuelled by a full English breakfast, which put me in a good mood as I headed north from Tarporley to Runcorn, where I would cross the River Mersey on the Silver Jubilee Bridge. Unfortunately or possibly fortunately (see below for events that transpired) I missed the sole sign directing foot and bike traffic across the footpath and ended up in the center of Runcorn. Now is probably time to tell you that Norman has been suffering from a few aches and groans appearing to come from the bottom bracket, so when I spied the Cycle Center, as I wandered around the town center, it was time to get a diagnosis for Norman. The news wasn't good!!! After popping out the pedal crank it was confirmed that the BB30 bottom bracket bearings were shot. Unfortunately they didn't have any in stock but Ian ( I think that was his name) started to phone round a few other stores and found one in St. Helens that had the bearings in stock and would fit them while I waited. So after thanking Ian for his great friendly service a slight detour was in order to get Norman into surgery at Thatto Cycles. I arrived at Thatto and Norman was whisked immediately into surgery, well the mechanics stand and was under the knife for 30 minutes. During these nerve racking minutes I was served a fresh cuppa tea and sat and chatted with the hugely friendly staff. Norman rolled out of surgery and is now running smoothly with no groans from that previously annoying bottom bracket.

So a big thanks to both Thatto Cycles and the Cycle Center for helping an End to Ender.

Whilst the fix to Norman hadn't taken too long I was now feeling the pressure to push on so the picture taking for the day was minimal as I pushed on north through Skelmersdale, Leyland and Preston.  The final 5 miles of my route took me through Glasson Docks, it was here I met LindaB from the CTC Forum who is also riding LEJOG. I have been reading her blog and it was good to meet up and have a brief chat with other end to enders. After bidding goodbye it was a 15 minute ride along a very nice trail along the Lune River into Lancaster for the nights accommodation.

The Adventure Begins

Well after months of planning the adventure, known as LEJOG, is underway. Well not the cycling part, that starts tomorrow, but the journey to Land's End from the suburbs of Washington DC. I am currently penning this blog entry from the Starbucks in terminal B at Dulles Airport.  Not sure drinking a coffee based drink before boarding the RedEye flight to Heathrow is the best thing to be doing, but hey I am off on an adventure. Who needs sleep? And on the redeye I doubt I'll get any anyway.

So without further ado I must announce that my bike "Blue" has a new name. After weighing the numerous suggestions sent to me, thanks to those that submitted names, choosing from the top three, in fact there was only three, was a hard choice. So in fine fashion I have chosen to ignore all of them and the name I have settled on is.........


Drum Roll Please......



Norman











To give Blue it's full name "Norman Norcross".

So Norman and I are off on this LEJOG adventure. The next blog entry should be tomorrow with the 20 miles under our belts.

Countdown T - 7 Days

Yesterday evening I took Blue out for a shake down ride, to make sure the new brakes pads, tires, chain etc. were all working well. Which there were, in fact, this was one of the smoothest, quietest rides since I first assembled Blue. Bet I won't be saying that in 3 weeks time, I'm sure that after 1000 miles and all the wet weather the UK has to offer, the bike will be groaning and complaining, though probably not as much as the rider.

Now I really must come up with a better name for the bike,  "Blue" is just so boring, not the color but the name. I need a cool name for my bike. A favorite bike name of mine is Reggie, this is name that author Andrew Sykes gave to his bike that he rode on his adventures across Europe chronicled in, funnily enough, "Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie". It is a great read about how the author sets out and rides from England to southern Italy, and was in part the final nudge for me to get on with attempting LEJOG.

Andrew's website can be found at cyclingeurope.org

So with less than a week until the off and likely only 2 days until "Blue" is boxed ready to be shipped I need to come up with a "COOL" name for my trusty steed. So if you have any suggestion please drop a note in the comments sections. Thanks.

On another note just a quick shout out to Geoff and David Williams who completed their LEJOG today. Well done and congratulations.  Their LEJOG experience can be found  on the blog roll to the right "Father and Son take on LEJOG"

My Blue Ride

The most important piece of equipment when attempting a ride such as LEJOG, other than the rider is the bike.
Last year when I started seriously considering attempting LEJOG  I had two bikes. My trusty 20 year old chromoly steel Raleigh Pioneer Trail Hybrid and a  2011 Windsor Fens aluminum road bike. I could make the ride on either of these but each has disadvantages.
The Raleigh, which I completed the C&O canal ride on in 2010, is heavy (35lbs), has wide slow tires and is geared for off roading. The Fens is lightweight by comparison, tipping the scales at about 21lbs, whilst significantly lighter the drawback is it is more fragile and not ideal for ANY off road trails, tarmac is preferred the smoother the better especially with 23mm tires. Wider tires would help with off road but the largest the Fens can accommodate are 25mm wide. Based on my size and the possible terrain 28mm tires are a must.

So I drew up a list of my requirements for a suitable ride:-

Lightweight
Accommodate 28mm tires
Rugged Frame
Use road bike groupset
Suitable for primarily road use but comfortable on off road surfaces.

So after exploring the options, and not wishing to spend an arm and a leg I decided on building my ride from the frame up.

The Finished Bike

Here is the finished item.

Blue Norcross SP Cylcocross aluminum frame and carbon fiber forks
Shimano 105 Front and Rear Derailleurs
FSA Compact Double Front Chain Set (50 / 34)
Shimano 105 10 speed cassette (11-27)
Avid Shorty 4 front and rear brakes
Vuelta HD Road Wheels
Continental Gatorskin 700 x 28 Tires
Nashbar 10 Speed Brifters

Having completed the build of "Blue" late last year I have been able to ride on many of the types surfaces I expect to encounter and have experienced no issues. Plus I managed to keep the weight down to approx 24 - 25lbs. The only change planned prior to LEJOG is to swap the cassette from the 11-27 to a 12-30 Tiagra . This is to provide a little lower gearing for some of the steep climbs I know I will encounter, especially in Cornwall and Devon.