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@sidewinder
Enjoying being back home (resting knees) from a week cycling Edinburgh to Nottingham. Went fairly well, thanks for a few bits of advice on the forum. My first tour attempt and I am not good at hills so tried to pick a route with a mix of harder/easier days. Took me a few days to get into touring mode (when hill starts dive into low gear and spin).
In case it is of interest for anyone I have the days and a few details I did below, start and finish (which could easily be changed to Sheffield/Manchester) both easily accesible by train and the route was stunning on very quiet roads (apart from the last 2 hours). If anyone wants the actual routes message me and I will give you my strava details (promise not to laugh at my woefully poor hill climbing abilities, several were done ~1 legged while managing sore left knee)/more pics/details of the days.
Day 1 Edinburgh-Coldstream via ncn route 1 140k, 1200m (I got pretty cold amongst consistent rain/snow, my fault for not putting more of my clothes on)
Day 2 Coldstream-Seahouses, ncn route 1, some fairly full on 'off road' from berwick 75k 600m
Rest day with parents
Day 3 Seahouses (via morpeth) - Ninebanks (near Hayden Bridge) 150k 1600m (repeated hill climbs into head wind and incorrect cleat position caused some left knee issues which I had to manage over next few days)
Day 4 Ninebanks-Brompton (Scotch Corner) 97k 1000m
Day 5 Brompton - Haworth 98k 1500m
Day 6 Haworth - Edale (Queen Stage) 115k, 2300m (off road section just after https://www.strava.com/segments/5234859 pretty full on, pleased I was on a cross bike)
Day 7 Edale - Nottingham (home) 86k 750m (last half was a slog on shitty busy roads, nice to have the satisfaction of riding to my door, but next time would consider stopping at a train station (Sheffield?) and getting the train back).
My set up is in the pic below (also in bikepacking thread) about 6kgs of luggage including the bags (would like to get to 5kgs next time) genesis vapour cx bike (lowest gear 36x30, might be tempted by a 34 next time) with hayes cable discs (worked fine, had to wind in the pads a turn on day 6), 28mm clement strada tyres (3 p*nctures on day one from a stealth flint sat in the meat of the rubber, not protruding enough to easily feel inside/outside) worked well, but would be tempted to go to 30-35mm tubeless next time. Fabric Line Titanium saddle, worked well, slightly sore bum but no more than might be expected. Managed to resolve specific knee issue through cleat adjustment, extra massage and stretching but have got pretty sore knees (I think just overuse and will settle in a day or so) had I been doing anymore I could have done with another rest day.
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