From couch to 600km (370 miles)

[graham bowers]

I too was wondering how this was going. I pretty much concur with other comments. Sometimes life gets in the way, that's not failure. There is still the opportunity to adjust, whether that be postpone or do a less demanding trip, or both. Even one day out, overnight and one day back would be a mini-adventure.

 

[stoatsngroats]

Plans should be a guide, rather than fixed and immovable!

Our trip to Paris last year didn’t pan out exactly, and due to various issues, we didn’t cycle the whole route, we used the train on one day. Temperatures of +90 took a big toll!
If you can include ‘bail-out’ options, you’ll perhaps feel less pressure if things don’t follow your original ideas.

My pic on the left confirms our arrival, and the journey was still fantastic and a great achievement for us.

Go with whatever gives you the wonderful feeling of cycle touring, and don’t worry about any set distance.
It’s all about the journey, and you are 5 months into it.... it’ll last you a lifetime

Good luck to you both.

 

[Hunty]

Brand new to the forum and read this entire thread. Brilliant read, well done.

 

[AuroraSaab]

You haven't failed at all. I'm getting back on a bike after 30 years and I've found this thread very inspiring.

 

[MiK1138]

………….. To save money on the trip I thought camping would be a good idea and the touring idea was born. We set the date for this trip as May next year as her mams birthday, and my 45th birthday is also then.

We decided we need new bikes for this!...……..

Late to the party on this but the above quoted sums up Cyclist logic SAVE MONEY BUY NEW BIKES LOVE IT

 

[bcabz]

I am really looking forward to reading your journal. I am a 53 year old couch potato off work long term with vision challenges and depression.
I need something to focus on and am u for s challenge, so am going to do LEJOG using the cycle network’s guide of pathways with no traffic. I am not to bothered about how long it takes me but think it would be a good thing to figure cuts on to do in 2020 and maybe raise money for charity at the same time
I might have a bunch of questions for you!!!

Decided to keep a online journal of my personal journey from complete novice cyclist and over weight couch potato to fit, healthy competent cyclist who aims to complete his first cycle tour.

So best way to start I think is a quick recap of the story so far.

As you may have seen on my other posts, I came to this forum to ask questions for help with how to at first fix my cheap cycles me and my wife bought and how to pick the right new cycles for the tour and how to complete my goal.
This all started around the beginning of Oct this year after we bought 2 cheap second hand bikes, we happily messed around on these for a couple of weeks before joining the forum 23th of Oct.

my first post where to start got us some fantastic advice and with this new knowledge in hand I got my bike fixed up to be road safe and off I went cycling, truly bitten by the bug.

My wife then had this crazy idea of visiting her parents via peddle power since we were both enjoying cycling so much, only problem we live in the north of England ( NE29 ) and they live in the north of Scotland ( AB56 ). A quick check of google maps showed us that was a leg busting trip of 370 miles there and of another 370 miles back, to make matters worse we have only 12 days for the full trip and decided we should try 4 days there, 4 days visit and 4 days back. To save money on the trip I thought camping would be a good idea and the touring idea was born. We set the date for this trip as May next year as her mams birthday, and my 45th birthday is also then.

We decided we need new bikes for this!

This lead to 3 - 4 threads on touring and what bike, where again the fine members of this forum give us some great advice, like get the train!
Joking aside we dropped the camping idea quite quickly and decided the main focus had to be on the cycling, so Bed and Breakfast its going to be.
After a lot of advice we choose the Trek 520 as our new bikes, way over our budget we had planned but you only live once.

Dec 2nd is the start of the structured training or practicing for the trip, our plans are not yet fixed apart from its happening May 2019.

So we hope to go from a non cyclist unfit BMI 30 ( ouch that came as a shock when I worked that out ) to a fit and healthy 45 year old with a normal BMI and able to ride 600km twice in 12 days!

We have 5 months to get ready for this, i expect many ups and downs but I truly believe with help and advice from this forum we can achieve our goals and maybe this thread could help other beginners on their personal journeys.

Decided to keep a online journal of my personal journey from complete novice cyclist and over weight couch potato to fit, healthy competent cyclist who aims to complete his first cycle tour.

So best way to start I think is a quick recap of the story so far.

As you may have seen on my other posts, I came to this forum to ask questions for help with how to at first fix my cheap cycles me and my wife bought and how to pick the right new cycles for the tour and how to complete my goal.
This all started around the beginning of Oct this year after we bought 2 cheap second hand bikes, we happily messed around on these for a couple of weeks before joining the forum 23th of Oct.

my first post where to start got us some fantastic advice and with this new knowledge in hand I got my bike fixed up to be road safe and off I went cycling, truly bitten by the bug.

My wife then had this crazy idea of visiting her parents via peddle power since we were both enjoying cycling so much, only problem we live in the north of England ( NE29 ) and they live in the north of Scotland ( AB56 ). A quick check of google maps showed us that was a leg busting trip of 370 miles there and of another 370 miles back, to make matters worse we have only 12 days for the full trip and decided we should try 4 days there, 4 days visit and 4 days back. To save money on the trip I thought camping would be a good idea and the touring idea was born. We set the date for this trip as May next year as her mams birthday, and my 45th birthday is also then.

We decided we need new bikes for this!

This lead to 3 - 4 threads on touring and what bike, where again the fine members of this forum give us some great advice, like get the train!
Joking aside we dropped the camping idea quite quickly and decided the main focus had to be on the cycling, so Bed and Breakfast its going to be.
After a lot of advice we choose the Trek 520 as our new bikes, way over our budget we had planned but you only live once.

Dec 2nd is the start of the structured training or practicing for the trip, our plans are not yet fixed apart from its happening May 2019.

So we hope to go from a non cyclist unfit BMI 30 ( ouch that came as a shock when I worked that out ) to a fit and healthy 45 year old with a normal BMI and able to ride 600km twice in 12 days!

We have 5 months to get ready for this, i expect many ups and downs but I truly believe with help and advice from this forum we can achieve our goals and maybe this thread could help other beginners on their personal journeys.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

I am really looking forward to reading your journal. I am a 53 year old couch potato off work long term with vision challenges and depression.
I need something to focus on and am u for s challenge, so am going to do LEJOG using the cycle network’s guide of pathways with no traffic. I am not to bothered about how long it takes me but think it would be a good thing to figure cuts on to do in 2020 and maybe raise money for charity at the same time
I might have a bunch of questions for you!!!

Good luck, bcabz. There is something very satisfying about going on a long distance bike tour, especially, I think, when there is no rush. Physically it's good for you, mentally it's good for you and socially it's good for you.

I'd be wary of going down the charity route, though. I've read many, many blogs of cycle tourists and have yet to read one where the cyclist enjoyed the charity aspect. Tolerance and mild acceptance was the most positive vibe I picked up.

Route obligations, social media obligations and similar pressures became very heavy in more than a few cases.

I understand the desire to do something for charity and sometimes it is a really good way to focus, but I'd suggest that you, yourself should be priority number one, at least on your first tour. After all, if it's as good as we say it is, it will only be the first - there'll be lots of opportunities in the future.