oldfatfool
Guru
Not sure if I will be accused of willy waving but what the hell. I am planning a bit of an epic (for me) in 5 weeks (see sig) hoping to climb many famous tour climbs in the Alps and Pyrenees on a loaded tourer.
Up till now I have mainly done the monthly ColinJ forum ride with very little weight on board and the odd 120k with double panniers, the only time I have loaded up fully was last week when I went for a 17km ramble with swmbo.
So with the sun shining this morning I loaded the bike to the gills including more or less all I was planning on taking including a 3ltr bladder on my back and set off.(total weight in the region of 23kg inc water)
Managed 95km in just over 5 hours with 1500m of climbing at an average gradient of 4% and probably topping out at close to 15%.
I have to be honest my shoulders are killing and so is my hip and coccyx. Most of this I am putting down to only taking a 5 minute breather at the top of Holme Moss and stubbornly refusing to drop out of the middle ring (38T) with a 11-34 cassette for the duration, on the basis that if I can do that then I should manage anything the Alps throw at me especially when ridden over a full day ( 80 ~100 km with upto 2400m of climbing)
So to all you experienced tourers does it sound reasonable for me to expect to wander over to France and make a good job of my tour?
Link to my ride today http://www.brytonsport.com/mapTrackView?id=577129
And a couple of pics:
Up till now I have mainly done the monthly ColinJ forum ride with very little weight on board and the odd 120k with double panniers, the only time I have loaded up fully was last week when I went for a 17km ramble with swmbo.
So with the sun shining this morning I loaded the bike to the gills including more or less all I was planning on taking including a 3ltr bladder on my back and set off.(total weight in the region of 23kg inc water)
Managed 95km in just over 5 hours with 1500m of climbing at an average gradient of 4% and probably topping out at close to 15%.
I have to be honest my shoulders are killing and so is my hip and coccyx. Most of this I am putting down to only taking a 5 minute breather at the top of Holme Moss and stubbornly refusing to drop out of the middle ring (38T) with a 11-34 cassette for the duration, on the basis that if I can do that then I should manage anything the Alps throw at me especially when ridden over a full day ( 80 ~100 km with upto 2400m of climbing)
So to all you experienced tourers does it sound reasonable for me to expect to wander over to France and make a good job of my tour?
Link to my ride today http://www.brytonsport.com/mapTrackView?id=577129
And a couple of pics: