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news
James Davies Wiggo throne (Virgin Money Giving)London cyclist completes John O'Groats to Land's End on a Boris Bike
A London man has spent nearly three weeks riding from John O’Groats to Land’s End – on a Boris Bike. At the end of the journey, James Davies from Camden was able to emulate his hero, Bradley Wiggins, by sitting on a throne – albeit one fashioned out of cardboard – modelled on the one the latter sat on after winning Olympic time trial gold at Hampton Court.
The idea of having a throne waiting was the idea of the 31-year-old’s mother and stepfather, reports the Evening Standard. The ride was in aid of the newspaper’s Dispossessed Fund, which has so far raised in excess of £8.3 million for charities and social enterprises fighting poverty.
Mr Davies, 31, a nuclear medicine technologist at University College Hospital in London, said that it was a “beautiful moment” as he took his place on the throne after completing the 881-mile ride in 19 days and two hours.
On the way, he not only needed to combat strong winds, but also the weight of a bike borrowed for the journey from Transport for London and nicknamed ‘Doris’ that at 23kg is more than twice as heavy as a typical road bike and also has just three gears.
“The patron saint of this journey has been Bradley Wiggins,” said Mr Davies afterwards. “At Land’s End sitting in the throne, I did the victory symbol like Bradley. It was lovely — it was a really beautiful moment.
“My thighs are still exhausted but I loved it and I’m fitter than ever,” he added.
His efforts have so far raised nearly £900 via his Virgin Money Giving page.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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I also live in the area and am not against changes, least of all along Beaufort Road. My objection is to suggestions that the views of people who...
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Well, my aluminium mudguards are looking a little beat up. Might as well make my wallet match them.
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Disk brakes are more powerful and allow to brake later, so take more risks, eg more compact groups at high speed. I had my 1st ever skid of the...
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They don't deserve any payment, but the rebrand was done before Ashley got his stinky hands on it, so they probably did.
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There's a book that can help you with that! I can't remember if it covers traffic jams on the Via Appia specifically but I'm sure there are some...
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7 comments
I'd imagine TFL wouldn't be so keen on the bike leaving the UK to be honest.
Perhaps the LEL next year?
Someone on another forum was going to do London to Paris on a BB bu they refused: did the rider pay the late return fees or were TfL more compliant in this instance?
Hi folks, cheers for your interest and cheers to Road.cc for the article. It was an amazing experience doing JOGLE on a Boris Bike and i had great fun meeting all the people along the way. I was not in anyway an avid cyclist before the journey but have now been converted and my mate at work (who is a cycle nut) is persuading me to buy a road bike and next summer having a go at the box hill route for charity. In response to the above post, I really hope no one else has done the JOGLE on a Boris Bike, I was hoping to be the first
but would love the idea that a trend could be started and for someone to have a go at beating the time. It won't be hard, I didn't exactly burn through the route so sub 10 days is absolutely possible. Have a chat with TFL to see if you can borrow a bike. One thing though, due to strong south westerly winds I had to contend with, I hereby suggest that anyone taking on the route on the iconic bike has to do it JOGLE and not LEJOG, thats cheating 
Good luck with it. If you want to read about my journey then check out my blog at www.blanchflower.org.uk/gingerjim, don't be offended by my sarcastic writing style, its all very tongue-in-cheek but what do you expect from a nut who took on the JOGLE on a 23kg bike?
as far as anyone knows is that the first ever LEJOG on a Boris bike ? Quite fancy a go at that myself , must be possible to go sub 10 days ???
He better get that bike back to a docking station soon, or he'll be paying most of that in late-fees (I'm joking, TFL presumably gifted him the use of the bike, which makes me think I really should set up a Just Giving page for the next time I go to that London on a business trip...)
Doris the Boris....Love it. But to hell with trying JOGLE one 3 gears. Thats insane. Good work that man