First biggish ride help

guitarhq

Hi There,
In August i will be taking on my First long overnight cycle trip.
I will be starting in Woodville, Derbys. to Portsmouth approx 160 miles.
Ive done many 50 milers so im hoping this will be a good step up. I will look at doing 80 miles a day starting early.
I hope there is someone a lot more experienced that can answer a few questions and/or offer good advice and tips.

1- What bike?
I have a Specialized MTB with Gatorskin slicks or Claud Butler Milano Road. I will put paniers on for kit.

2- what Route?
I did put my start/finish into a site called Cyclestreets.net And i got some options. Obviously a GB map or similar would be useful too.

3- What tools and spares?
I know it seems like a simple question, in the past ive risked taking nothing.

4- should i use my road shoes and clips?

5- I will probably opt for a tent overnight, are there any recomendations for this like i guess as small and light as possible. Should i lock the bike to the tent or to me LOL? What are the restrictions as to where i can pitch a tent.

6- what are my best options for in-bike usb charging (iphone5 posible satnav option) and charging in tent if required.

I hope ive covered everything, but if not please help advise me.
Im excited to get started in long solo trips.
Any help from you experienced cyclists is very much appreciated.
Kind regards
Andy

crescent

I don't have much experience of overnight/camping/cycling trips but can perhaps offer some general advice on a couple of your points.

I would say definitely take the road bike, assuming you are not planning to go off-road at any point in your journey. Even with slick tyres it is not ideal to ride an MTB on the road, in my experience the extra weight and gearing of MTBs is not best suited to road use and becomes quite tiring and tiresome after a while.

Taking no tools and spares is bit risky on a short journey, on a long journey it is definitely a no-no. As a bare minimum you would want a couple of spare tubes, puncture repair kit, pump, basic tools/multi-tool, possibly spare chain links. A good overhaul beforehand would go a long way to giving you peace of mind as well.

Road shoes and clips? Again, a definite for me, can't imagine riding without them now. Assuming of course you are used to them and have good fitting shoes. Spend a bit of time with them to make sure you don't get any numbness or chafing - I've experienced both and it takes a bit of tweaking of the cleat position to get round this.

For USB charging, I would imagine some kind of solar device perhaps - no experience of these myself but very important to have your phone for emergency purposes and any sat-nav/ mapping you may use. Definitely take a good map as well though, it's Sod's Law if you are lost it will be somewhere remote with poor signal coverage.

I'm sure someone will be along to add or correct my suggestions but just throwing my tuppence worth in.

guitarhq

thanks Crescent,
some valuable info for me to take onboard.
Cheers

andymiller

Some quick comments:

- if you're used to doing 50-mile day-rides then 100 miles over two days might be more sensible. Bearing mind that doing two consecutive days is harder than two day rides with a break in between;
- lots of people happily tour with MTBs or bikes with MTB gearing - so go with the bike that you feel most comfortable with;
- lots of tourers use shoes with recessed cleats not 'road cleats' - because they are more practical for walking in. If you don't already use cleats you could happily do a weekend tour without them;
- if you've never camped or cycle toured before, it might make sense to take things step by step: stay in youth hostels or B&Bs for your first couple if outings. Then worry about camping kit;
- if you've never camped before, camp in a campsite;
- the most practical way to charge a device is with a power pack. I have a TekNet bought from Amazon.

EDIT: don't make things too complicated: just think of this as two day-rides back-to-back. So do what you would normally do - the get up next day and do it again. Simples.
It's better to ask only one or two questions - that way you stand more chance of getting more responses.

mea00csf

Hi there,

I've done a few cycle tours all carrying comping kit so might be able to help you out with some of your queries.

1- What bike?
Whichever feels most comfortable. The road bike will probably be easiest and most comfortable but if you have lots of kit in panniers you might struggle up steep hills, the extra weight makes a HUGE difference. Your mountain bike is likely to be lower geared but will generally be slower. Also, which one can you get a pannier rack on? People often have to cobble some Meckano type arrangement to get a rack on but one bike might lend itself more easily to it!

3- What tools and spares?
I'd take a small multitool, pump, levers, spare tube and puncture repair kit. Perhaps a spare split link. Anything else that can't be fixed with those, a small detour to a bike shop would be preferable to carrying more kit.

4- should i use my road shoes and clips?
Use what you usually ride in. If your in proper road shoes i might think about bungee-ing a pair of flip flops onto the rack so you can walk around. Depends really how much non bike stuff you'll be doing whether it's worth it or not though.

5- I will probably opt for a tent overnight, are there any recomendations for this like i guess as small and light as possible. Should i lock the bike to the tent or to me LOL? What are the restrictions as to where i can pitch a tent.

Definately as go as small and light as is practical for you. But this will depend on many factors. How much money do you have? how much use do you think you'll get out of it, ie investment for future tours? How easy and quick is it to setup? How does it pitch? (some tents pitch inner first which is useless if you're trying to pitch in the rain! If it's an investment for longer tours, how much space do you want inside? for instance you'll probably want days off where you may be sat in your tent, so is there enough head height to sit up? Do you want a porch to store kit in? Having said all that, for a one night tour, i'd find a youth hostel or B&B.
Restriction on where to pitch are basically campsite or somewhere you have the landowners permission, everywhere in England is owned by someone. People do wild camp but it isn't legal in this country. In a campsite i just lock the bike to a tree or picnik bench, never had a problem. I have a porch space in my tent so i bring the front wheel and sometimes saddle into the tent porch so no-one could just ride away.

6- what are my best options for in-bike usb charging (iphone5 posible satnav option) and charging in tent if required.
Powermonkey solar charger, the battery can also be charged from the mains. Also you can by "ends" for all your devices drastically cutting down the number of cables and plugs you'll be carrying
https://powertraveller.com/index.php
strap onto your bike as you cycle along!