Chapter 2 - Equipment
The Bike
The most important
bit! The bike was custom built around
a Giant OCR "Compact Aluminium frame and forks. Below picture
taken on the road to Tongue, fully laden.
Chainset - Shimano 105 Rear
mech, Front mech and 105 Triple chainrings.
Gearing - Shimano HG70
25-12 tooth cassette and 30 - 42 - 52 chainrings. (We were very glad of those
low gears for some of the hills in Devon & Cornwall especially, and at the
end of a tiring day sometimes just to give the legs a little less stress.
Wheels - Mavic Cosmos
Tyres -
I used Continental Hybrid Bike Ultra Gator Skin 700 x 23c Tyre TYC18357
for the trip,
although I have now changed to Continental GP 4 Seasons Vectran Tyre 700c X 23c, Black
Pedals -
Shimano 520 Spd Pedal
with Specialized SPD shoes.
The Rest of the Kit
Clothing -
As far as cycle jerseys and padded shorts are concerned, their are
plenty on the market and they are worth the money for the comfort and their
quick drying properties. Some other items that I persoanlly find useful are:
Buff Headwear
- These are tubular seemless pieces of material in various
colours, including some with fleece that you can model into various
forms of head and neck wear. Lightwight and worth the money in my
opinion. Quite often I just wear mine around my neck as it helps to stop
drips of rain getting in and they do have fantastic heat retaining
properties.
Cycling Arm Warmers -
Lightweight & take no space in your bag, can add that extra warmth when
you need it without having to pack another jumper. Used inconjunction
with a Gilet
give you lots of options with minimal
space required.
Cycling Leg Warmers
- As above, saves you carrying a pair of long trousers for cycling
meaning you can keep a pair purely for sue in the evening saving them
from potentially getting wet.
Luggage - Travelled
lightweight with just a single Altura Arran Bar Bag
and
Atura rear rack bag (See
picture of bike fully loaded.) The rear bag was carried on a seat post rack as
my roadbike didn't have the lugs to fix a full rack.
Seat post rack work very well but you just have to be careful regarding
the weight carried as seat post bags come with maximum weight limits. We stayed
at YHA's mainly so no bedding was needed and used the excellent compact trek
towel from
Lifeventure to keep
space and weight requirements to a minimum.
Tool Kit - Consisted of
puncture kit and spare tubes, chain links and link tool, spoke key, multitool (inc
allen keys), pliers, spare cables. We shared the tools between us to keep
weight down, although we each carried our own puncture kits and 2 spare
innertubes. Over the course of the trip
repairs between us consisted of the tubes and puncture repair kit, the chain
tool / spare links (as we had 2 broken chains), 2 spare tyres, and one wheel
replacement. Keith and I also had our
spokes retensioned at Chester.
Sundries - Other
stuff we took was the usual such as first aid kit, camera, spare set of cycling
kit, sunglasses
Food and Snacks - Hydration
is very important and you need to keep topping up your fluid levels all the
time. Each of us had 2 bottle carriers each mounted on the bike frame, and
bottles that carried 750ml of liquid each. I carried one bottle of water and
the second one had either water or a carbohydrate drink in it such as Lucozade
Sport, depending on what we could find.
Food snacks were generally made up with what was available and consisted
of either fruit (bananas and the like) or chocolate bars. This supplemented our
refreshments stops at café's or supermarket restaurants which we did at mid
morning, lunchtime and mid afternoon. Little and often is the key.
Mapping - My main source of
mapping was using the
Memory Map electronic maps
based on the OS 1 250 000 road atlas of Great Britain. I printed and enlarged
the bits appropriate to our route. I also had loaded the appropriate 1 50 000
Landranger sections of the route onto my Compaq IPAQ (times have changed since
then!) linked to a bluetooth GPS
so if we really were stuck coming into a city like Carlisle or Chester for
instance where the 1 250 000 map doesn't have enough detail, we could call on
the fifth member of the team, Gladys the GPS!
I have now moved on from the Compay iPAQ and have
Viewranger OS maps
on my Android Mobile phone. This gives me OS maps of the UK and I can buy
the map tiles I need for the whole UK. Failing that you can also purchase a
Memory Map GPS
device that comes with a handlebar mount in the box. You can also buy
Cycle computers with inbuilt GPS
but, I think the mapping maybe a little bit limited although they do give
other cycling related features. If you want a GPS not just for cycling so
that you can use it in other activitities and maximise its use v investment
this may not be the best option for you. The link also shows other
similar devices such as the Satmap. Both are good but have pro's and con's I
believe so make sure you do your research as to which one suits your needs
before buying.
Safety
- We all wore helmets for a majority of the journey, and Keith and I also had
small Handlebar end cycle mirrors which are superb for keeping your eye on whats coming
up behind you. Added with lights (including LED safety lights) reflective
strips and reflective cycle clothing, this formed our key strategy in staying
alive.