1st tour/tourer

[david1701]

I was thinking old good racer, but what about a modern hybrid that was pretty cheap new thisraleigh was sub 300 rrp and theres one on gumtree down in Redruth theres also a trek 7200 which seems kinda ball park though I haven't been able to work out if it has rack fittings or not :s

I can work with ride a lot and up the mileage KISS really ought to be my motto

 

[HelenD123]

There's a lot of received wisdoms regarding training and I'd not let yourself get bogged down by the perceived need to stick to a set of rules. I really don't know how authoritative the 5% per week increase is.

As long as you are cycling regularly and upping the miles done you'll be fine. I'd even suggest that for your proposed tour, you don't have to reach your proposed daily milage during training. You'll be fit enough to cope.

I found that once I'd got to about 20 miles I could then increase the distances in quite substantial leaps. I went from 60ish miles to 108 miles in one go without a problem, albeit on a flat route.

 

[Tigerbiten]

The other thing to take into account is what sort of terrain you'll be training over.
Hilly, rolling or flat ??
My take is ...........
Hilly terrain is 1,000 feet of climbing in 10 miles or less, very good for getting fit quick but hard work at the start. As long as you spin up the hills then you'll be fine.
Rolling terrain is 1,000 feet climbing in around 20 miles, good for stamina work.
Flat terrain is 1,000 feet climbing in over 25 miles, good for all day rides but you have to go further to get fit.

At this time of year with my training I'm doing a mix of rides.
Short sharp ones, 10-20 miles, either on the flat or over hills. Both are done flat out to build up my leg mussles.
Or longer ones, 30-40 miles, over rolling terrain to build up stamina.
As the nights draw out I'll throw in some longer rides, 60-80 miles, just to get the body used to riding longer.
By mixing up my rides like this I don't get bored slogging around the same route everyday.

Luck .............

 

[david1701]

I've got my ride into town that I do a few times a week to get stuff or to help out at the shop or to shoot something ect. Then I've made myself a load of routes that have all have a 'hilly' run and a more rolling stretch, between 10 and 40 miles to build up through them and be able to take a shorter one when I have some time but not loads or if I want to go somewhere paticular (eg to practice working with loads I can ride to the town over and fill my panniers with shopping then ride home) ect.

Theres a Giant Hybrid (this one) in the for sale section well within budget would it be a sensible choice that I could replace with a proper tourer if I do the trip and decide I love it and want to do it all the time (atm I'm quite seriously considering the BnB route over the camping route so no front panniers isn't an issue at all). I could experiment with it while I train and add bar ends to give a differet riding position or is upright a terrible idea for a hilly tour.

Thisis someone elses route for roughly what I want to do, but I intend on going closer to the coast as I know some of the coast roads and how pretty they are. Its a bit hillier and longer but should be more enjoyable?

 

[Ticktockmy]

I do think you are worrying too much about everything, I guess it seems quite daunting to you the tour you are proposing, but fitness comes with riding, each and every day you are on the road will make you more fit, both physically and mentally, when you can ride up a hill or walk the laden bike up a hill, with out huffing and puffing too much then you are ok. We all get at some stage the red mist in our eyes when we have pushed ourselves just that little too hard, but again it is good to just push a little hard sometimes, it helps lift your fitness up a notch as the saying goes “ No Pain no Gain” .

Make sure that you eat, eat, eat keep the blood sugar levels up, because the killer of all is to end up with low blood sugar levels (The Bonk) make sure you drink enough water each day and practise this as well on your training ride. If it really is hot and you are working hard, you can easily drink 3 gallons of liquid during the ride and afterwards as you prepare your body for the next day (Butcombe’s best better or Badgers Screech seem to suit me for a evening top up

I find a heavy bike is not such a problem, on metalled roads, with suitable tyres and inflated to maximum recommended pressures they should roll no problem.

Some years ago, about 3 days before I was due to fly to Singapore to start a tour through Asia, I rode over a pothole in the road on my Reveile Romany tourer, and the seat down tube where it joins the bottom bracket just split away.

My other bike at the time was a Raleigh Mirage MTB made of 504 steel (gas Piping) and very heavy, so it got a quick service, new tyres and was pressed into service, we travelled asome 2500+ miles around Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia no problem at all and that included some very steep hills, good wheels and correctly inflated tyres is the answer and better still good bearings.

And at the end of the days riding or before you ride next day just quickly look over the bike and tighten up any screws which might have loosened, and check that your brakes etc are adjusted, check your tyres to see that no thorns or shards of glass etc are jammed into the rubber or treads which might result in a puncture later in the day and check the tyre pressures.

There Hope that helps and not adds further to an overloaded brain..LOL

 

[david1701]

ok so distilling current advice into

ride more

chill the **** out

maintain you and the bike properly

yeah I am freaking out a bit, I started riding into town last year and hadn't ridden almost at all since I was at primary school before then and this just seems very involved But I have 'o **** I've broken something come rescue me cover' for the whole tour and training, everything is planned and I have wiser brains to pick.

Need to concentrate on the chill out advice

 

[Banjo]

Thing I find when cycling purely for pleasure is it doesnt feel like youve gone far compared to a non stop 50 mile training ride.

You do about 20 miles then stop for coffee and cake , another 20 then an hour or two for lunch then a gentle 10 in the afternoon .

You dont need a special bike for short tours, I have done some camping tours on my trek Valencia which is marketted as a town commuter type bike.

I weighed my stuff which added up to 14 kg which was all on the rear rack and panniers, bike rode fine.

Longest day with camping stuff was 75 miles but over a few big hills,

The main things you need is fixing points for a carrier rack and low gears.My lowest gear is a 28 tooth chain ring on the front with a 28 tooth cog at the back.It is low enough but only just,a 32 tooth cog on the baqck or smaller chainring up front would help sometimes.

Good Luck

 

[david1701]

well right now its choosing between repairing the too short mtb and buying something that fits S/H so a lovely commuter bike for £50 quid will be nice to commute of after and not cost miles more than new 2 new tyres, a bottom bracket bearing, a new rack and god knows what else that the mtb needs

 

[david1701]

first training ride done, 10 miles in an hour and a half (but I did stop by the sea cos its pretty) dam that route is hilly

 

[pshore]

first training ride done, 10 miles in an hour and a half (but I did stop by the sea cos its pretty) dam that route is hilly

You've got a have chips or ice cream at the sea, especially if you cycle there. There should be a law enforcing it.
Now you know why we all advise a tripple on a touring bike.

 

[david1701]

I live here, you eventually get over it, I just sat on a rock to have a drink and check my route.

Heading out tomorrow for another (while its sunny) as its raining for the few days after and wherever possible I don't really feel the need to train in the rain

ebay is bad for the soul theres a lovely dawes on there

 

[ZIZAG]

It sound like your getting to Indept with stat's .
Go out and have a go .

Next you will be talking about lightweight one man tent's .
you will get lot's of advice here .
"So get off your rear and get Into gear ".

You will surprise yourself.
Best of luck .

 

[Bodhbh]

Regarding the MTB, you should be able to convert it into a reasonable touring machine without too much problem. Sus forks aren't much use on the road, but not the end of the world either. If you want to replace them, Kona Project 2s will do the job - they can go for as little as 20quid on ebay (okay sometimes they go past 40quid). Just make sure you get the right ones, they come in 2 different lengths, you need the longer suspension corrected ones to replace sus forks (410mm axle to crown length?).

/edit on the clearance issue, you could try one of these:

http://www.tubus.com/en/rear-carriers/logo-expedition

There's probably other racks that do the job. The logo is very solid but not cheap (they're around 80quid iirc).

 

[Barbelier]

The advice already given on building it up step by step is all good.

I would just add the following based my recent JOGLE:

- Include plenty of hill climbing in your sessions (shouldn't be a problem to find a few where you live!). In my experience this is the single biggest thing that will drain your energy.

- Make sure you fit the panniers early on and gradually build up the load in them so that you have several weeks training with a full load. Makes a big difference. That said you're doing a short tour so keep what you take to the absolute minium. One set of cycle clothing, lightweight walking trousers & fleece for evenings and a tube of travel wash. Get the right cycle shoes and they'll do for the evening as well.

- +1 to the advise about eating and drinking on a regular basis. I used to stop at least every hour for a few minutes to have a drink and a snack. Its all too easy to forget.

 

[david1701]

I think I need to do a ball park add up of costs of what I need to do to the mtb to use it and how much a secondhand proper tourer is then I can make a more informed decision as to whether its worth fixing the mtb.