Generic Touring Thread

Spent a week cycling from Paris to Lyon with a bunch of strangers. Did around 600km in total. First time I'd ever ridden for more than two consecutive days. Managed a 10km climb and more, which I never thought I'd be able to dom The french countryside was beautiful. Lucked out with blue skies each day at a max 30°C. Camping in forests or hosted by some wonderful people who let us into their homes.
Roughly the route was

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/21084461

And

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/21084452

And was all to raise money for a refugee shelter in Athens (will be selling some gear in classifieds.) Five of the crew are cycling onto Athens, arriving in 5 weeks time. Check the project out at http://www.thighsofsteel.com

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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idle touring thoughts for this summer........

black forest? bavaria? the thought of massive woods, valleys, castles and of course black forest gateaux + litre of german beer to fuel the legs in the summer sun - anyone know if it would be like this or am i just dreaming this workday away.......

Sounds awful.

In reality, the ONLY advantage ive found for any meths stove is how quiet it is. Ultimately, they are hardly any lighter, take up same/more room, more likely to fail, harder to use, less secure to carry, less economical with fuel... the list goes on.

edit: pointless reply to old post. ha

Another advantage is that they are cheap!

I've got a pair of Carradice Super C rear pannier bags for sale if anyone is interested before they go on the classifieds.
Barely used and in top, top condition. Never used for touring.
£70 pick up in central.

http://www.ridewithgps.com Basic account

Upgraded shortly after posting that :)

thx

Day 26 of Vancouver to Mexican border!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca_lwWlN9tY

Anybody:

Got an idea for rural route for a four-day tour? Planning something for a group to ride, we'll need it to be proper farmer country as we want to find places we can ask for a field and some water.

50m a day max I reckon.

Abergavenny to Bangor?

taking in Hay, Elan, Machynlleth, Snowdonia, Anglesey

Riding up 5 of the steepest streets in San Francisco including 27%, 29%, 32%, 37% and a whopping... 41%!!!

Unreal city.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqxCC9j-Wgs

Does this count? Haha off to North Wales via Download and Derby Velodrome.

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Any of you with adventurous spirits want to buy this micro adventure book?
It’s full of ideas to get you out on little one or two night trips.

Just rode C2C over half term, Whitehaven to Tynemouth with 20 kids and 10 adults. We camped along the way with a rest day in a magic woodland up on the hills east of Kendal. So much climbing, quite a bit of gravel (and worse) as well as an amazing converted railway line for miles & miles around Consett, other great railway paths near start & end too.

One night, after the finish, we 'warmed' ourselves round a fake campfire in a scout HQ... weirdly funny.

It was flippin brilliant. Swam in a Lake and dipped in rivers. Cooked mad cool stuff on fires, and cackled with glee on descents.

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Good work skulls!

That's a road trip that everyone will remember....good memories created!

Yep good job Skully.

I lot of kids I work with are lucky if the bike comes out once or twice a year to the local park. Hopefully your trip will set some kids up for a lifetime of cycling fun.

Was it organised through school?

Nope, a so-called 'woodcraft' organisation, mostly do standing camps but run a few mobiles each year too - walking, canoeing & cycling.

Anyone ever tried one of these...looking like a cheap alternative to dynamo

http://www.bikepacking.com/gear/anker-powerport-solar-review/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anker-PowerPort-2-Port-Charger-iPhone/dp/B012VL20GW

Looks ace, will probably stick to powerbank for now but this is a real option for proper offgrid touring!

I made a mount for an MSC solar panel on my friend's bike. you can see it here, above the front wheel. Works pretty well- enough to keep her Garmin and phone charged on a 2 month tour.

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That's very cool. I've been enjoying following her travels on instagram!

That's totally 531^, love it @Sam_Doman.

Not sure if even having a mobile phone means you can be said to be:

offgrid touring

@Bernhard! But yep being power independent is really ace.

I need to take bikes on a hatchback over to France in August. Currently have a rear carrier, but also have roof bars.

Should I the electrics for a rear light board fitting (or DIY) or try and change my ferry ticket and get a couple of roof racks? Something tells me the roof option will be best long term and least hassle for loading up.

Thoughts?