Page 103 - RSDG Year of 2022 CREST

EAGLE AND CARBINE 111 Land’s End to John o’ Groats (LEJoGs)
As we headed toward summer leave, following a busy period for the Regiment, The SCOTS DG Cycling Team embark on their next challenge, following on from the success of last year’s NC500 cycle. This time the plan would be to double up on our efforts and increase the challenge. Hence, planning for LEJoG began.
The difficult workaround with regards to the Regimental commitments and pre-deployment training resulted in a reduction in numbers, but with that came the advantages of ease of planning and control of the exercise. We planned for a two-week trip with 13 overnight stops, averaging between 65 – 95 miles cycling per day (conservative but unrelenting).
The event started on the 16 July with the epic 630-mile journey south, with SSgt Davy Steel and WO1 Neil Dolan transporting the bikes and tentage and securing the first campsite. This provided the opportunity to shop for supplies, carry out pre-checks on the bikes and set up for the first evening’s camp. The following day the remainder made their way down on the painful journey to the end of the UK, after numerous holds ups due to the infamous M5 they finally arrived in location in the late evening and “carbed up” on, the first of many, fish suppers.
Day 1 started with the pre-requisite photo shot at the Land’s End signpost, adding an extra two miles to the anticipated 943 mile total that we anticipated, we were now on our way. We thought that the first 3 days through St Austell, Exeter and Wells were going to go well and get our legs nicely conditioned to what lay ahead, then we came across the road out of Cheddar Gorge. Things started to get a bit interesting,
SCOTS DG Cycling team photo at the LEJoG SIgnpost)
it transpired that between St Austell and Wells alone we climbed more than 10,000 feet. This led to the first technical casualty with, the PT Corps man, SSgt Liam Baldwin having to swap his poorly maintained bike for the only spare.
The next few stages over Hereford, through Shrewsbury up to Leigh provided a few more technical issues and the mandated road rash on the legs, with a couple of falls and minor injuries. By now we were getting conditioned to the mileage and the regular coffee/cake stops. We hit Kendal and then experienced the typical unrelenting Lake District rainfall, but we were past the halfway point and past caring about the weather. After the 40C of Devon and Cornwall, a bit of rain was most welcome. Week 1 complete.
ASM doing a road side repair. One of many
The journey North begins, the team in their peloton formation