Improper thoughts?

[erice 732]

enjoy!

[Black Panther 1,581]

Hey Chris if someone were to find themselves stick in the UK for a few weeks in July and was wondering about a cycle tour but had never done anything like that before any advice?

[erice 732]

cornwall's nice + compact with beautiful little fishing villages

[Guest 000]

Hey Chris if someone were to find themselves stick in the UK for a few weeks in July and was wondering about a cycle tour but had never done anything like that before any advice?

Late reply. Sorry.

But thinking about it,we have cycle toured a lot. In our heyday we usually did 80 - 100 kms a day, now its 60 - 70. I will turn 72 on this forthcoming tour. People comment that we must be very fit but this is not the case, although a little fitness does help. I would say that to tour unsupported on a fully laden bike is 20% fitness and 80% technique. By technique I mean learning to ride which is more than just making the pedals go round. Perhaps the most important thing is to find the cycling cadence that works for you. For me, thats about 60 - 65 rpm. Any slower and I'm pushing too heavy a gear, any higher and I risk lactic acid build up in thighs and calves and this will quickly do you in. For a day at least. Cadence comes from experience but 60 is a good number to start with.

 

Back in the day, road bikes with drop handlebars and skinny tyres were all the go. Nowadays we've got a bit smarter and use mountain bikes or crossover bikes. Not much to choose between them except mountainbikes generally have lower gearing and fatter tires. Practically all European touring is on well formed cycle paths so you can dispense with the slow knobbly tyres in favour of slicks or semi slicks. The fatter tyres on mountain and cross bikes means that you can adjust tyres pressures to suit the terrain without worrying about pinch flats. I generally run mine at around 80psi except in Italy where I reduce to around 60psi because the Italians have a love affair with cobblestones. Big rounded ones! Gearing is another thing that you can customise for little money. My wife has 27, 3 on the front chainrings and 9 on the rear cassette. I am happy with 3/8, 24 gears. The 8 gears on my cassette increase from 11 tooth on the small gear up to 26  tooth on the big gear. Because our forthcoming tour will be over the Alps I will replace the two biggest gears with a 28 and 32 tooth gears respectively to make it easier on my ageing hide. What I'm trying to say with this is that you set your bike up with regard to the intended route. The other thing I would recommend is to get a steel framed bicycle in preference to an aluminium one, if you can still find one. Aluminium is rigid and hard on your bum after a while whereas steel flexes a bit giving a softer ride. Makers overcome this by fitting suspension to alloy frames. Stay well clear of suspension. Its great for around town but not for long distance touring. I am open to correction here but from memory 95% of a cyclist's energy goes into propelling the bike with only 5% or so swallowed up by the transmission. The bicycle is one of the most efficient machines ever invented. With suspension your propulsion percentage drops to around 80%. You don't need that at end of a long day with 15kms still to go to the camping, all uphill, and its raining!

 

Concerning gear, we have a tent not too much bigger that the average doormat. We have good sleeping bags and don't bother with a mattress, just a roll of thin high density foam as thermal insulation. Its amazing how your body can suck the cold out of the ground without it. Lately, my wife has been saying she would like something a little more between her and the cold hard ground, preferably several stories of a luxury hotel, but I digress. Its also amazing how well you will sleep. Fresh air and exercise! We are lightweight tourers, for example we both take our coffee black and without sugar. Therefore we only have one cup and alternate sip and sip about. This may be edging towards the extreme but don't forget that just because you can fit a whole heap of stuff into your panniers it doesn't mean that its going to go up those hills by itself. If its not essential then don't take it. Padded cycle shorts are another contentious issue. They are tight, and you sweat. Because they are tight the sweat doesnt evaporate which means you will have to rinse them out after each day's ride. If you don't then you are at risk of developing saddle sores, more so in hot weather. An of course the ones you washed yesterday may not be dry today so you really need two pairs. I prefer to ride in loose fitting unpadded nylon shorts. Plenty of ventilation to keep your equipment sweat-free and they dry in minutes. I prefer toughening up my butt in preference to padding and this can be done by applying eucalyptus oil daily. An added bonus to this is that give you the most fragrant farts.

 

Now I don't know anything about touring in England but continental Europe is pure magic. In western Europe alone the last total I saw was 140,000kms of good quality cycle paths with more being continually added.On a tour in 2007 we cycled from Amsterdam to Rome by a fairly circuitous route of 4000km and rode on the road for 85km. Most of the cycle paths are old narrow country roads that are maintained purely for cyclists so no traffic to worry about. And the best part of cycle touring is the people that you will meet, especially locals who will really take you to heart. They get a tad annoyed with coach tourists who peer out of the windows of their luxury air conditioned coach at the quaint natives doing whatever it is that quaint natives do, telling each from the travel itininary that today is Thursday so this must be Belgium. But Europeans have a love affair with the bicycle and by default, with cyclists.

Sorry if its a bit long, but I love touring.

One month to go. Can't wait!

[Black Panther 1,581]

Thanks for the exhaustive reply. I take it you camp out - motor camps or freedom? Do you hit a motel on occasion? Food????

I just read that to Angela, she loves the idea of the touring but isn't sure about the cycling.

[erice 732]

b+b gr8 in uk