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After 5 days 21 hours and 24 minutes, Kristof Allegaert finished his
incredible unsupported #LEJOGLE ride. Kristof set himself the task of
riding the iconic touring route from Lands End to John O’Groats and
back again faster than anyone before him. The trip covering the
furthest distance between two inhabited points on the British mainland
is a rite of passage for British endurance athletes and a bucket-list
adventure for more conventional cycle-tourists. Typically cyclists
take 10 - 14 days to complete the journey in one direction, Kristof
completed an out-and-back journey. What makes Kristof’s effort
remarkable is that he did it without any support crew. It was just
Kristof, his Curve Cycling titanium bicycle (that he has named
Natascha), and his credit card. No one else. If you saw him on the
road, he looked like any other cyclist. You needed to be in on the
secret to know his mission. He had to fix his own mechanical issues,
find food and water, locate places to sleep all without any support
car to shield him from heavy traffic. He finished 16 minutes slower
than the fastest supported LEJOGLE ride.

Kristof didn’t carry a tracker for his holiday ride and seemed
surprised by the attention. For him endurance cycling has been in his
life for so long that it is as natural as breathing. For him it was
just another ride. A personal challenge. He let us follow his trip
through a few messages and photos along the way. There are plenty of
other adventures that are purely private to him - we will never know
about them.

Kristof has never been beaten in an unsupported endurance event but
still he seeks new challenges. So who does Kristof race when there is
no one left to race? Himself.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1111541282342378&substory_index=0&id=166262473536935

How do you actually verify a record you've ridden unsupported, do they accept a gps track? WUCA seems to want two officials to be there with you to see it and Guinness would like something like that too, though they seem more flexible if needed.

Haha, well relatively. But indeed apparently he won't sleep anymore. Like in the long bikepacking races, he usually rides the last 800km or so without sleep, while sleeping regularly until that.

So Guinness is the authority, that keeps record of this?
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/91061-fastest-return-journey-from-lands-end-to-john-o-groats-by-bicycle-male

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No I took the bigger official crossing point south of those. But I did write about those earlier in this thread.

!

I think Matt did ride over 1000km without sleep to the finish of TCR4

Damn @skinny, congrats!
It's been inspiring to watch, I haven't even fully recovered from the last race but already can't wait for the next one.

That was my impression with the drivers too, when I raced through the country in North Cape-Tarifa, but some of the smallest roads can be rough. Though I wasn't riding on those exact roads, but very close. A lot nicer roads and traffic than on the Polish side of the border.

Yeah last year usually when I stopped, I drank a 1,5l bottle of something easily, then maybe a smaller bottle of something else, and filled my three bottles to have them empty again every three hours or so. And ate salty things when available.

Well, theoretically, you could also say that one rider needs more rest to cope but has so far been able to compensate for it by riding faster, but that's hard work and he might get slower or injured when pushing too hard. But it's James so probably not a problem.

Indeed the points are usually accurate, but freeroute then just tries to guess the part between those. So on that example, if the points are far enough of each other, the most obvious route might on that bigger road and not where the route is. So you'd have to look at where the tracking points are. So yeah hard to judge and not much gain. And strava is indeed more accurate and the racer might be asked for the gps track if there's something suspicious.

Yes this year there's a rule that you have to ride the CPs in numerical order.

I think that was the one that in TCR 4 the first ones there got through because there was nobody to stop them, but then the authorities woke up and got there and the rest didn't get through and had to reroute to bigger border crossing points. I believe it was actually one of the "locals only" border crossings. There's gravel. But it saved a few hours for the ones that got through, going to Pluzine. I crossed the border at the one near Klobuk, Ilino Brdo or how ever it's spelled.

Thanks all!

Yeah I'll tell more about the ride but it was fucking amazing. The route is really something. It's planned to be a challenge. If you'd planned yourself a route like this for tcr, you could say you've fucked up. The route is not fluent or fast. But that's the thing with a race with a set route, everybody rides the same route so it doesn't have to be the fastest. So there was a lot of bumpy backroads, cycling routes, 200-300km of gravel. But that takes you to some really nice places and through europe on small roads with mostly very few cars. Though it does make it very clear why a race where you plan your own route to suite you is good. And if you're planning to do this, make sure you're familiar with the challenges, even if it is a ready route you don't have to plan yourself. The north has long gaps between services, especially on the Midsummer when this starts, it's a national holiday in Finland, so most places might not be open. I rode for six hours after bivvying looking for morning coffee before finding a place that's open and already at the start it's about 200km before the first place to stop, as it's night and remote. But even in the middle of europe, the roads are often so small that there's no services along them, so you might need to take detours or be ready for long stretches.

Loved it. Now I'm in Tarifa for a week eating icecream.

Some interesting roads too. Some rough gravel/big rocks and a section of asphalt that remonded me of the worst the Balkans have offered. Not quite as violent but enough to keep you entertained.

It's also the Midsommer weekend in Finland, national holiday friday and saturday, shops and gas stations might be open or not, can't trust the opening hours. And camp grounds and hotels can be full as people travel a lot this weekend. Looked like that on booking.com. I got a room though. Which is nice with the rain.

The north was lovely. Cold though. It has been raining a lot. 6C and rain, brrrr. But I've got good mudguards. Headwind today too. But feeling great.

Oh yes.

Thanks!
Yes the Pelago, it will look mostly like this

Indeed yes omg lol with mudguards.

They seem to be the straps that come with the bag, and similar to the ones that carradice uses, if you dont have the quickrelease thing, so that shouldn't be the problem.

Always good to have a spare pump though, if you anyway have to carry the dowel.

Strapping a pump in there would be an option too.

Stupid yes but also kind of fascinating.

There's this new ultra race coming in less than a week. I'll be there. From the northernmost place of Europe to the southernmost point of Continental Europe, Tarifa in Spain.

http://www.northcape-tarifa.com/
http://www.northcape-tarifa.com/live-tracking/

That'll be a bit over 7300km and there should be a few pretty mountains, like Col d’Iseran, Col du Télégraphe, Col du Galibier, Sierra Nevada, Pico del Veleta and then some. Though there's long flat parts too, like a big stretch at the beginning, through Finland and the Baltics. It can be rather cold, rainy and windy, but the wether has been good lately here in Helsinki. The north could be just above freezing at night. The north is also rather remote, long gaps between services, not much hotels.

The riders can choose their finish location, either Helsinki, Nice or the whole way to Tarifa. But you had to tell which one already when you registered, can't change it on the road even if you can't finish what you planned. But while the group isn't that big in this inaugural race, most have chosen to ride the whole route.

There's a couple of places that have a short section of alternative routes. One in Poland, bigger road or cycling routes and just before the finish, similar two options, bigger road or a quiet gravel road. Then Then there's a couple of places that might be closed, so there's a short alternative for those. The route is generally taken to smaller roads, it doesn't have to be the fastest road like in TCR, as everyone has to ride the same route. So there's some really small roads and gravel too, though not too much. Not easy to know how long this will take, as it's the first time and the roads might indeed not be that fast.

It's a fixed route, but there are a few checkpoints, where you have to take a selfie. This is one of them, Pico Veleta:

This seems to be the same

Ridden by Tim Tait in Tabr as we speak.

Not sure exactly, but he posted something about his body totally cramping up without painkillers, and now that his body can't take it, in instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj36CZihnh3/