2012 - Stonehedge rides from Vancouver to Calgary

In July this year I rode just shy of 400 miles with +20k ft from London to Cumbria in three days with Ed Scoble. This was one of the most dramatically rewarding experiences of my life (yes, Ed's company included!). Since then I've been hatching plans for what I'm going to do to support my favourite charity in 2012.

So here it is! After three months of quiet planning and talking to Canadian cycling buddies I plan to ride solo and unsupported from Vancouver to Calgary, a distance of 830 miles with a total ascent of just shy of 50,000ft of climbing in only 8 days.

I'm going to type that again because I just felt a little sick. 830 miles, +50,000ft, 8 days.

Given that training will be starting right now I thought I'd start a thread so that I can tell the story of how trips like these are planned (as I learn myself!). Hopefully the thread should provide some useful info for anybody else planning a long distance fast tour in the future.

So here we go, I have a route to plan, thousands and thousands of training miles to nail, a bike to buy etc etc.

The final reason why I thought I'd start a thread now is that the messages of support and encouragement that Ed and I received before, during and after our last trip meant a lot to us. I have a feeling there will be times in the next few months when I'll need the forums collective love and expertise to get me to my final destination!

I'll post a high level route plan and details of my general approach some time tomorrow.

Much love all,

Dan xx

http://wheelsforwellbeing.org.uk/

Sounds amazing. I may be able to hook you up with someone in Vancouver. Also, one of the chefs at the Wests pub is from there, so I'm sure he can offer some advice.

When I say "hook you up" I don't mean get you a shag.

Good luck, I hope you have an amazing time.

should be an interesting journey even before you get to Canada.. subscribed.

Good Luck.

Dan come up north and we will do training on swains. If my maths is correct you will only need to do 96 ascents of swains which comes to 50,000 feet.

When I say "hook you up" I don't mean get you a shag.

Are you sure? That would be quite nice...

Cheers guys, I'm very very excited.

Awesome Dan. I'm sure I ordered some more t-shirts before I left, so ask Isabelle to bung a few more your way. I'm pretty sure the one you have would be quite stinky after a couple of days!

From FixedMT and myself: We both wish you all the very best. Hope it goes as planned and most importantly have a great time!

P.S. You're fxcking amazing!
P.P.S When you get back, pub's on us :)

Sounds awesome mate. Looking forward to reading your training diary and experiences of the trip.

Dan come up north and we will do training on swains. If my maths is correct you will only need to do 96 ascents of swains which comes to 50,000 feet.

I did 10k feet of reps this weekend. Now you all know why I've been building hill reps into my riding recently ;)

Awesome Dan. I'm sure I ordered some more t-shirts before I left, so ask Isabelle to bung a few more your way. I'm pretty sure the one you have would be quite stinky after a couple of days!

Chears Heather. I'll drop Isabelle a line when I have a bit of time later in the week. I'll probably be riding in lycra...hope to get some WfW long and short sleeve jerseys made up with the logo (obv with permission). I can expect temperature swings of up to 20 degrees celsius over as little as ten miles on this route!

From FixedMT and myself: We both wish you all the very best. Hope it goes as planned and most importantly have a great time!

P.S. You're fxcking amazing!
P.P.S When you get back, pub's on us :)

Nice one lads. Appreciated.

Wow Dan, good luck with it all. Looking forward to seeing this pan out.

Best of luck man! I can't wait to see how this all works out!

Ho hum...looks like another group is doing this at the same time as me although taking 12 days, as a relay team of six and a 300km shorter route.

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Ride-Across-The-Rockies/134033783327675

And it looks very much like there isn't room for the both of us :( We'd water each other's publicity down.

They've already raised 5 grand. What do you think? Could I go ahead with mine and not affect their ride?

Dan, I can't see that Facebook page but, unless the group's from London, I can't see that there'll be a publicity/ fundraising clash. You might encounter them on the road, mind: blocking you on the uphills and buzzing you on the downs.

Cheers John. And I suppose doing it solo unsupported in 8 days on a TT bike rather than relay supported over 12 is totally different.

Coincidentally, the charity they are supporting is my other favourite charity. I'll mull it over but hopefully it'll be ok. Just don't want to impact them in any way. Maybe if I did it in August that would make it even less likely to cause probs.

It is 6 personal trainers who teach spin classes who are doing the other event...they're not cyclists. Good for them.

Although they are only doing about 100mi each over the 12 days...sounds positively leisurely!

And by contrast, you're doing it fixed, right?

unsupported... on a TT bike...

how is that going to work??

16L seat post mounted saddle bag. Small packages waiting at each B&B and hotel.

I'm sure the second sentence above will make some people shout that it wont be unsupported if I have sent supplies ahead but sod 'em quite frankly ;)

In terms of bike, I'm likely to be riding a Pinarello FP2 or Verenti Rhigos 01 with aero bars.

hmmm... it means you also have a very inflexible schedule. but this may be a good thing...

although not so good if you are feeling great, have a massive tailwind and want to keep pushing on one day.

You're right but this isn't a tour. This is 8 straight rides, rattled off consecutively. This is the challenge. Of course, something could go wrong and I add a day but that will feel pretty tough I think. I will ensure that I have contingency plans. You never know, I might get into a ruck with a bear and he could snap one of my cleats or something.

Given the fact that of the 8 days will be in the proper Rockies I think that even with a tailwind I will need to stop after each allocated set of miles.

Excellent stuff Mr Hedge, BC is such a beautiful place. I wasn't aware of the charity so it is a nice way to find out about them. Look forward to the updates.