new to touring.

Mark Alexander

I'm considering doing a serious touring expedition/holiday thing. I have never done touring of any kind before so need to decide on a trip.

I have no idea where to start. Planning's a mystery. routes are a mystery, tic tacs (tac tics) are a mystery.

Any possible advice is welcome please.

Mark Alexander

oh yes, does anyone use a Ridley Crossbow for touring?

xilios

Looks like you need a lot of information, crazyguyonabike.com is a very good source for touring ideas in Europe and the beyond and also on touring bikes, etc...
You can also check out my page below, I got some links there that might interest you,
I would not recomend a race bike for touring unless you plan on towing your gear.

andymiller

At risk of stating the obvious, you need to think about what sort of touring you want to do and where you want to go eg lightweight staying in B&Bs; staying in campsites cooking for yourself; road touring in Europe or off-road/dirt road touring further afield.

The National Cycle Network is a very useful resource of routes and the Sustrans bookshop has lots of guides and maps.

There are some useful books around - eg Lonely Planet guides to cycling in France and Italy. The Adventure Cycling Guide is useful as an overview with sensible balanced discussions about equipment.

My advice would be to start off small: weekends away, or weeks in the UK. This will help not only work out what sort of touring you want to do, but to refine equipment choices and work out what works for you.

For further afield, consider going on an organized, supported, tour with a company like Skedaddle, Exodus or Explore.

priory

just get a carrier and some cheap ,simple panniers (lidl or argos), book a band b in hay on wye and set off for the weekend .
There is every sort of touring and you can spend nothing or thousands on kit and have a good time whatever.
Set off from home at first and go along a railway so you can get back easily.

start with 50 mile days. If you get there early you can drop your bags and go for a circular ride , or if you pass something good you can stop and have a look round.

50 miles in wales with luggage can be hard.
If you can get someone to go along it may feel less gruelling in the hard bits and sharing a rooom is cheaper. Yha are good fun if they are open.

GyatsoLa

A good start would be a good handbook, such as:

http://www.adventurecycle-touringhandbook.com/index.php

andymiller

GyatsoLa wrote:

A good start would be a good handbook, such as:

http://www.adventurecycle-touringhandbook.com/index.php

That's the one I thought I was recommending. Memory not what it was.

GyatsoLa

andymiller wrote:

GyatsoLa wrote:

A good start would be a good handbook, such as:

http://www.adventurecycle-touringhandbook.com/index.php

That's the one I thought I was recommending. Memory not what it was.

Ah yes, sorry, I hadn't noticed you'd mentioned it in your post.

andrew_s

Mark Alexander wrote:

oh yes, does anyone use a Ridley Crossbow for touring?

Cyclocross bikes are OK for light touring, especially if they have rack braze ons. By light touring I mean spending the nights in hotels/hostels/B&Bs. Camping would probably entail too much gear.

andymiller

GyatsoLa wrote:

andymiller wrote:

GyatsoLa wrote:

Ah yes, sorry, I hadn't noticed you'd mentioned it in your post.

I was glad you posted the correct title: my second post was only to to avoid the Mark A searching for a book that didn't exist.