Training

Better get started!

Now that we had actually decided to go through with doing the ride, the next step was preparation and my word there is a lot to think about! Here is a rundown of both of our approaches to training for an end-to-end cycle.

Craig

My original plan was to engage with a personal trainer to get me in the correct shape for beginning at the middle of August. It was February and after speaking with one trainer I decided that this was an opportunity to do my own research and put trust in myself to follow it through to the end. By about this time I had been cycling casually (to work, occasional weekends etc) for about 4/5 years and always admired Scottish cycling icon, Graeme Obree. His book The Obree Way, A training manual for cyclists was my go to resource for preparing myself. This gave me everything I needed to get set up for training indoors, diet and interval training.

Kit

Garmin

These powerful cycling computers are expensive but for me this piece of equipment was 100% essential. Training and the actual ride would have been impossible without it. The ability to plan routes, monitor cadence and overall performance is a game changer when starting to train. Since the beginning, speed was never a metric that I cared about as I knew it was irrelevant to being fit enough to tackle the journey. From my research maintaining a comfortable rhythm was a much more important aspect to gain the endurance necessary for each a 10 day trip.

Turbo Trainer

Having a good home setup was paramount for training after work and for those days when the weather didn't play nice at the weekends. Although the best part of cycling is getting outdoors and exploring, the best place that I improved my overall performance was on the turbo trainer. I use the CycleOps turbo trainer. You will see a wide range on offer out there and prices can get close to £1000 for a top of the range model. Stick to the £90-£160 range, one of these will do just fine for an amateur.

Route Planning

As I mentioned in our previous post, I was making up my own route from John O'Groats to Lands End based off of some advice from other people that had done the ride self-supported. There are some famous stop off points such as Okehampton, Bath, Penrith and Fort William. These sort of places gave me nice easy 'flag poles' to use to base my route on. Also starting from John O'Groats, there is only really one way to go as there was no chance of me starting off on the A99! The natural tendency to avoid A roads made it a lot easier to come up with stop off points and create days where I could somewhat 'rest' based on the mileage. Again, the Garmin came up trumps when it finally came to Day 1 although I had my phone as a backup and also a full UK foldable cycle map as my last resort. This was actually a really fun part of organising the ride as it gave me the freedom to stay wherever I wanted.

Diet

For anyone that knows me, I love a snack. Luckily when training cycling burns through a lot of calories. This can be misconstrued to think that you can eat whatever you want however this is a dangerous road to take as recovery and finding the right fuel for your body will pay dividends in the long run. Don't get me wrong, now and again I would just find something quick to eat to satisfy a craving (hello coffee cake!) however I mostly devised a solid routine when it came to eating between or during rides. My typical day was made usually something along the lines of:

• Breakfast - Overnight oats
• Snack - 2 Bananas or any type of fruit
• Lunch - Sweet Potato Curry
• Snack (around 6pm, just after work) - Yougurt and Granola with a touch of honey
• Dinner - Pasta of some sort (Carbonara for example)

Training Routes

Living close the Edinburgh city centre made after work routes difficult but one loop I found really beneficial was the ring road at Arthurs Seat. It was short enough so that you could just keeping going round the loop multiple times and it was a great place within the city that you could avoid being close to cars. It's about 2.5 miles long and I tended to do this about 8 or 9 times to get a quick 25 miles in after work.

Getting up hills was one area that I needed to strengthen before setting off and after bumping into a few cyclists while out and about I heard about the Bathgate Alps. Not an area most people would associate with cycling however the climbs in and around this sort of area set me up in good stead for what Devon and Cornwall were about to throw at me.

Advice

Doing it yourself is hard. From working out what clothes to take to booking accommodation. There was always something that would come up, an Airbnb cancelling and having to find a new place for that night which in turn could mean a change to my route. Although stressful at times, as I mentioned before it was satisfying to plot my own way from one end to the other.

Trust the Garmin. The accuracy of the routes on these tiny computers is incredible. Make sure you follow the route devised as any wrong turns are frustrating especially after you are approaching 90miles in the rain!

Mind over matter. I am not one for superficial motivational hustle porn that seems to be prevalent in the 21st century therefore my encouragement would be more along the lines of, if you think you could do it then there is a good chance you will.