Hadrians Wall route72
velomanmike
Posts: 3
Hi everyone,
I'm planning to ride the Sustrans Route 72 later in the year, anyone got any tips,training ideas, bike to use.
I plan to ride the route in 2 days staying somewhere at the half way point.
The website recommends not to use a Road bike,does it mean my Giant OCR Zero would be unsuitable or is "road" defined as a Full Carbon Dream Machine?
The OCR is a great bike but has no lugs for panniers etc.
Should I be looking at buying a second bike or adapting the bike I have?
My evil eye is looking at Tricross Elite Disc or Cannondales CAADX 105 both with mudgaurd and Rack mounts.
I'm planning to ride the Sustrans Route 72 later in the year, anyone got any tips,training ideas, bike to use.
I plan to ride the route in 2 days staying somewhere at the half way point.
The website recommends not to use a Road bike,does it mean my Giant OCR Zero would be unsuitable or is "road" defined as a Full Carbon Dream Machine?
The OCR is a great bike but has no lugs for panniers etc.
Should I be looking at buying a second bike or adapting the bike I have?
My evil eye is looking at Tricross Elite Disc or Cannondales CAADX 105 both with mudgaurd and Rack mounts.
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Comments
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Did an organised ride with Skedaddle last year. You would probably just about get by with a road bike but I would fit tyres as wide as possible on it as there are some parts where the trail is shingle or hardpack. Not much of it is like that though and the sections are short and not too bad. Most of it is on tarmac and you would be fine. I would personally want something with panniers though. You could fit a rack with p-clips to your bike if you dont want to buy another.
If buying another, I would say a cyclo-cross or hybrid or MTB with semi-slicks would probably be slightly better suited though.
Sounds to me like you are looking for an excuse for n+1 anyway, so why not use this as an excuse!
Just dont expect to see much of the wall - the route travels a fair distance away from it...
I can heartily recommend this B&B in Gilsland if interested: http://www.bushnook.co.uk/ it was superb.0 -
I did that route a couple of years ago. It's pretty nice from Port Carlisle to just west of Newcastle. I'd skip the Cumbrian coast section at the star of the route. It seemed to me that stretch was added on merely to give the overall trail some extra length and to pander to the tourism aspirations of some fast-fading coastal towns. The last stretch, into and thriugh Newcastle is very suburban and industrial.
But as I say, the bit from Port Carlisle onwards to just short of Newcastle is very nice. As is noted above, the route strays quite a ways from Th Wall in places, but you see a fair bit of it in the central section.0 -
Sorry for not responding sooner guys-work and family commitments eh!
Thanks for the honest opinion apreading, yes I do feel like a change. I had a moutainbike all through the winter of 2010-2011 and did loads of training. the road bike just seemed to come out on fine sunny Sunday best type days so I sold the MB to start using the Giant more. Yes, you can tell what happened bad weather came and the bike stayed put in the garage-thus no ride and no fitness.
So I think the Cyclo- Cross would be a fine alternative given pannier and mudgaurd lugs.
The B&B you mentioned is great news as we are looking for a place recommended thanks.
Cheers Hoopdriver for the advice, this is our first big adventure so we will take what comes be it urban, industrial or country. It will be fine as long as we're riding.0 -
