John O'Groats to Lands End - on a TA!

[transwold]

Hi everyone, my name is Adrian.
I am new to this forum but thought you might like to know that I am going for the 'End to End' trip from John O'Groats to Lands End in a day on 30th Sept. I will be riding my 2001 Transalp and my brother-in Law his BMW 1200GS.
My wife has been cured of a brain tumour that was diagnosed in 2005, by surgery, radiotherapy & drugs developed by Cancer Research UK so we are now trying to raise £5000 for Cancer Research UK by this sponsored ride.

Our website is www.justgiving.com/thelongdayout and if you felt you could donate something that would be fantastic.

I am pinning all my hope on an Airhawk cushion to help with the inevitable arse-ache and hope to arrive within 18 hours of leaving John O'Groats!
I will post again with the result when I have recovered!
Cheers!

[cafe650]

Good luck to you on this worthy ride, if you have a paypal account I will make a donation.
and best wishes to your Wife.

[samben]

best of luck with the trip and i hope the airhawk works for you.

[graeme0309]

A lot of the guys here will baulk at my next suggestion but get an iPOD and boogie all the way.

Some say this is reckless, but trust me, with some driving music (driving on the big roads) playing in your ears outside of the city and away from traffic lights and junctions, it will help tide you over and will lift the spirits.

Take great care on the A9. It is well dodgy and full of rally car drivers. Have your lunch once you've passed finsihed the M6 toll road. It's a major goal to reach before you have your big mid-day meal. It's a joy to ride and once it's behind you, you'll feel on the home straight.

Don't camp. Ride light. Fill the bike with super unleaded. Drink lots of water. Caffeine (Cokes/coffee) backed up with regular water breaks keeps the blues/fatigue away.

Stretch at every stop. Don't be embarassed by who's looking. If it's dry, get down on the grass and get stretching!

[transwold]

Many thanks for all your advice - its all happening on Sunday - I will let you know how it goes.

[Steve T]

Heading up north for a run on Sunday, might see you (depends on when you expect to reach north of Inverness).

Best of luck and safe riding.

[Sharribee]

Good luck I found the airhawk brilliant on long trips on Twinkletoes

[transwold]

Well its done & what a fantastic experience! We left John O'Groats at 04:45 and arrived at Lands End at 20:28 - me on my Transalp 650 and my brother-in-Law on his BMW 1200GS & it seems we have raised nearly £6000 for Cancer Research UK! www.justgiving.com/thelongdayout
The weather was mixed with frost and fog in Scotland, bright down through England and heavy rain in Cornwall.
The secret in my opinion is planning; I researched suitable petrol stations no more than 150 miles apart (Evanton, Perth, Gretna, Sandbach, Gordano (Bristol) and Exeter and it meant that the journey was broken up into manageable chunks.
I fitted a GPS datalogger to the bike (Driftbox www.racelogic.co.uk) which recorded the whole journey and it confirmed that out of 15.5 hours we were riding for more than 13 hours. The average speed during moving was 64mph.
Essential kit was an Airhawk cushion and heated grips in Scotland.
I thoroughly recommend the trip and can pass on adresses Petrol stations, hotels and routes if anyone else fancies the 'end-to-end trip.
Cheers

[alpslapper]

Well done mate - glad to hear it went so well and you guys raised a fair whack for charideee

Great work guys

[Mervinh]

Hey nice ride for ya done this (well not quite end to end) many times in the truck from the devon/cornwall border too scrabster regularly every week for several winters. Did you stop for food a t evanton good cafe there.
merv