andrew_s
Legendary Member
- Location
- Gloucester
Oxford to Brecon is about 190 km
Brecon to Fishguard is about 140 km
Rosslare to Navan is about 200 km (all based on fairly direct lane routes from http://cycle.travel/map)
If you spend 6 days riding, that's 45 to 60 miles per day, so a moving average of 10 mph (including hills, but not stops) means actually pedalling for up to 6 hours. A 9 am start + 6 hours riding plus an hour for lunch, plus a couple of tea stops and a bit of map reading, means it's quite likely that you may not arrive at your overnight stop until 6 pm on the longer days. I recommend cultivating the habit of not faffing, at least not until after lunch and it's apparent that you have time in hand.
The options for luggage on a road bike with no pannier fittings are:
a) a large saddle bag (Carradice Camper Longflap or Super-C plus an SQR support). These give enough luggage space for a two week hotel/youth hotel/B&B tour, and there's very little effect on bike handling so long as you stay seated.
b) panniers on a rack fitted via the rear wheel QR skewer. Tubus sell a kit for their racks, an you can use either chainstay clamps (Tubus, P-clips) at the top, or a seatpost clamp with rack fittings built in (other sizes available). They are a bit of a nuisance if you get a rear wheel puncture, but otherwise work fairly well.
c) a trailer. These can carry a lot (too much?), and can have a bad effect on the bike handling if overloaded. There's also extra wheel(s) to keep out of potholes, an extra size of spare inner tubes to carry, and they are pretty awkward to deal with any time you might need to lift the bike (eg onto a train).
