Hey,
First of i have been cycling over a year now and have become fairly fit, im 20 and generally cycle about 8 miles a day monday to friday and then a longer ride on sundays (30+ miles).
I live in belfast in Northern Ireland and i want to cycle round Ireland in the summer. This is something i have wanted to do ever since i stared cycling. A rough route i have planned out is about 1000 miles. I haven't done a tour before but i plan to up my mileage and do a few overnight tours when the weather gets better.
So i am here for advice, i have been reading for a few months but it almost leaves me more confused.
I have 2 bikes at the minute, my road bike is a bianchi via nirone with veloce groupset and i also have a commuter in the form of a carrera subway 1.
First question is which one do i take?
I know i cant put a rack on the bianchi and i can on the subway, but i think i would be more comfortable on the lighter faster bike. Should i look into buying a tourer?
Next dilemma is do i use b&bs or should i camp? I know the answer to this could decide which bike i should take.
I keep weighing up all the factors, comfort of a b&b vs cost, weight of camping gear vs lightweight for b&b.
I would ideally like to bring a mobile to phone home once a day just and an ipod to listen to as a i cycle so that would need recharged.
The last thing is im unsure if im jumping in blindly to this, i know i would be probably looking at around 2 weeks to do the tour and i would be doing it alone. Does loneliness affect anyone while on tour or do you not notice it?
Should i try a shorter tour first? maybe Irelands end to end?
Thanks for reading through this and for any advice.
Brendan
First of i have been cycling over a year now and have become fairly fit, im 20 and generally cycle about 8 miles a day monday to friday and then a longer ride on sundays (30+ miles).
I live in belfast in Northern Ireland and i want to cycle round Ireland in the summer. This is something i have wanted to do ever since i stared cycling. A rough route i have planned out is about 1000 miles. I haven't done a tour before but i plan to up my mileage and do a few overnight tours when the weather gets better.
So i am here for advice, i have been reading for a few months but it almost leaves me more confused.
I have 2 bikes at the minute, my road bike is a bianchi via nirone with veloce groupset and i also have a commuter in the form of a carrera subway 1.
First question is which one do i take?
I know i cant put a rack on the bianchi and i can on the subway, but i think i would be more comfortable on the lighter faster bike. Should i look into buying a tourer?
Next dilemma is do i use b&bs or should i camp? I know the answer to this could decide which bike i should take.
I keep weighing up all the factors, comfort of a b&b vs cost, weight of camping gear vs lightweight for b&b.
I would ideally like to bring a mobile to phone home once a day just and an ipod to listen to as a i cycle so that would need recharged.
The last thing is im unsure if im jumping in blindly to this, i know i would be probably looking at around 2 weeks to do the tour and i would be doing it alone. Does loneliness affect anyone while on tour or do you not notice it?
Should i try a shorter tour first? maybe Irelands end to end?
Thanks for reading through this and for any advice.
Brendan