Many people do LEJOG without training. Usually their stories consist of the first two weeks being very painful, very difficult, and some give up part way through the trip. We wanted to be as comfortable as possible for the terrain and the mileage we would be cycling each day. We anticipated that there would be challenges, but also there would be differences given the type of day.
There are several types of days to train for on LEJOG:
Hilly, up and down all day, steep - 46 miles. Cornwall mostly
Long distance on the flat - 60+ miles. The Midlands
Pass - long climb for a good portion of the day, can be 60 miles (Drumochter Pass)
Consecutive days - for us up to five days in a row
All of the above, fully loaded
An additional aspect to the training is carrying the luggage. Unless you’re on a supported tour with someone else transporting your gear, you’ve got to carry it so another aspect of training has to deal with that:
As you’ll see in the Luggage / Packing section, the heaviest weights are the Captain and the Stoker. There is nothing you can eliminate from the luggage (unless you didn’t carry any of it - not an option!) that would have the impact of reducing the weight of the riders. Part of our training had to consist of getting both rider’s weight down as that would make the biggest impact, e.g., if Steve lost 20 and I lost 10, that’s almost the weight of ALL of our luggage. We were going to have to buckle down and lose weight! Add it to the training plan!
We ride pretty regularly, minimum two times per week. The year we did LEJOG, we even managed to consistently get out over the winter. The rides can be shorter, with less hills, but we were on the bike every week. This meant that our training still had to be done, but the ramp up was less painful.
As Steve says, ‘The best way to train for a cycling trip is to cycle.’ I agree with that, but also have found that we need to train more than just our legs. Pedalling in the same position all day is great for the legs, but we needed to strengthen our backs, abs and arms for the twice daily shifting of luggage and potential lifting of the tandem and its gear over gates and barriers sized for solo bikes only. For that, we did yoga and callisthenics several times a week beginning four weeks out from the start of the trip.
Starting the training 12 weeks out gives plenty of time for the legs to strengthen and get used to hills, the lung capacity to increase and the bottom / sit bones to get used to being in the saddle for hours on end. A couple hour pedal on the weekend doesn’t really cut it here. If you cycle weekly and are comfortable with hills and on the seat for long periods of time, you’ll be ahead of the game here. If not and this trip is important to you, it’s worth spending the weeks ahead of time getting ready.
We had an additional challenge in our training as I’d had an eye operation 12 weeks before our start date which required no exercise for 6 weeks! That threw a big wrench in our training plans! We decided to adhere to the doctor’s recommendations (always a good idea when it comes to your eye) and make adjustments as necessary. We trained up to the day before the operation, I had 2 weeks of no exercise. At the 2 week appointment, the word was still no exercise so we asked a few questions about that - ‘I’m not talking about running or going to the gym, is it okay to go for a stroll, tandem on the flat with Steve handling the bike, gentle yoga?’ ‘Yes, those are fine, just keep your head up, no downward dogs.’ With those guidelines, we recommenced training with gentle rides, gentle yoga and no callisthenics. My final appointment was scheduled for the day before our Shakedown Pedal so fingers were crossed that both the eye and our bodies would be ready.
Training Plan:
If at all possible, cycle a couple of times weekly for the winter before the trip. You will thank me for not having to go through the pain of getting one’s bum used to the saddle in the weeks before the trip! Of course, an indoor bike, spin class or Peloton can be used to do this.
Yoga / Callisthenics on at least 2 non-cycling days (in my case, as allowed)
Week 12 - 10 to 15 miles on the flat, 2 days
Week 11 - 15 miles on the flat, 3 days
Week 10 - 20 miles on the flat, 3 days
Week 9 - 25 miles on the flat, 4 days, add half weight of luggage (20lbs)
Week 8 - 30 miles gentle rolling hills, 4 days, increase weight of luggage (30lbs)
Week 7 - 35 to 40 miles gentle hills, 5 days, full luggage
Week 6 - 35 to 40 miles hills, 5 days, full luggage
Week 5 - 40+ miles, 5 consecutive day Shakedown Pedal, terrain similar to altitude gain and distance of the trip
Week 4 - 50 to 60 miles, 3 days, fully loaded
Week 3 - The Shakedown Pedal - 40 to 60 miles mixed hills, 5 days, fully loaded
Week 2 - 40 to 60 miles mixed flats and hills, 3 days, fully loaded
Week 1 - Off, walking, callisthenics
Week 0 - LEJOG!
Legs
Hills and hills, cycling and climbing hills are great training for pedalling
Lungs
Hills and hills, cycling and climbing hills are great training for pedalling
Bum
There is nothing worse than a really sore backside after a long day, unless it’s getting back on the bike the next morning! Unlike exercising the legs and the lungs, the only way to train to sit on the bike all day is to sit on the bike all day - there are no sit bone training machines at the gym!
This may not be the case for everyone, but it can take weeks for one’s backside to be able to withstand long periods of time in the saddle.
