Touring Equipment

I also believe we can get away with a simple racktop bag, a good sized one like the Carradice one would be idea (cotton = breathable), with wax and I'll be fine, not having any kind of panniers help keep the bike from handling differently, with the original set-up for the London-Cumbria ride, it's a wonderful feeling not feeling any drag from the racktop and handlebar bag, expect on the hill where the weight of the pannier + small wheel + small chainring make it a chores.

With the Moulton, I can just piles stuff on top of it, and because I won't be carrying a huge DSLR like I did to take some portraiture during the London to Cumbria ride, which mean I can finally fit the compressor, sleeping bag and canvas shoes in the racktop bag, leaving just the tent (High Peak Minilite) wrapped with a roll mat.

I don't think I'll part with my handlebar bag, they were extremely useful as a day-to-day bag, carrying the necessary; Kindle, wallet, phone, mp3 player, some food, professional compact camera and the like.

Tools is always going to be on the bottle cage at the bottom, seemed a good place to, especially when I don't have mudguard (really got to fabricated them out of old american numberplate I have lying around).

All I have left to worry about is cooking, and of course the dreaded typical saddle problem - my crotch is still numb.

Someone did a great lightweight tourer, he claimed he's doing a credit card tour, but I can see it's possible to carry tent, sleeping bag and the like with some change;

I loved the use of a Velo Orange front rack and a saddlebag combine;

Whilst we are on the subject of ultralight touring I present to you;

Fitted with 105 triple and shifters. The rack pack can hold 16L but can be expanded to hold 21L. I'm gutted this bag is discontinued (I'm borrowing my mums, hopefully she won't want it back!)

This is the bike I'll be riding the DD on. So look out for me!

Owning full frame camera and using phone to take pictures fail.

Just got back from a 400ish mile ride, land's end to margate. Took, loads of unnecessary stuff and ended uip with quite a lot of weight, but didn't mind too much as the other riders i was with were pretty inexperienced and quite slow anyway. Borrowed Ortliebs were great, and handlebar bag was indespensible. So useful for maps, and other valuables that i could just pop off and take with me when going into a shop/pub, wouldn't tour without one!
I've now properly got the bug and want to do a longer tour next summer, maybe LEJOG or somehere in europe... we'll see!
My Sirrus with drop bar / bar end shifter conversion did the job excellently, especially in the cornish hills, where the road doubles couldn't cope. Only annoying thing is that one of the bottlecage threads has gone, so i'm stuck with one bottle of getting a seat adapter. Also replaced the back wheel with an r500 just before leaving, so glad i did! The freehub on the old one felt like it half of brighton beach inside it, didn't even realise till i rode a new wheel!

I loved the use of a Velo Orange front rack and a saddlebag combine;

I'd be tempted to mount that bag the other way around so you can access it when on the bike

Saw one of these before I left on mine. a local shop wanted £44 for it though so could not afford.
Not as much space as two small panniers obviously. But enough space for a couch surf based trip (only needing spare shorts, socks, toothbrush, tools & cake), and for washing/drying cloths great as you just shove them in the fake little panniers and they can air dry.

Not maybe ideal as having weight up on high only isn't going to be great, but meh, still better than having it in a back pack.

Main lesson I learned from my little 4day tour (200mile, almost flat, maybe just 2,000ft of climbing in the whole thing) is just how much more I have to eat.
Day1 felt just about OK
day2 = zombie, I fell asleep in a sainsburies
day3 = struggled to keep my stomach from eating itself most of the day, at night made mistake of downing a 8.5% pint + chinese = instant sleep
day4 = mighty breakfast + mighty lunch + ate EVERYTHING left in my bag and half of my mates, and felt perfect. The last 10miles I did at race speed (liek a bosse trying to race to the train station), averaged about 19mph, which ain't bad considering it was around the back of houses, stupid tree root buggered cycle paths and trying to get past cycle path cyclists.
But then when I got home, forgot to eat properly, and its taken me about 3 more days to get back to normal.
Lesson 1 = eat liek a bosse. My normal intake is pretty low, maybe 2,200 a day, normal long day of riding i only take about 3,500, guess for touring I need more like 4,500+ ?????

With touring, you need to eat more, a *lots *more.

Even if you're not feeling hungry but feel tired - eat, and drink as much water as possible.

Brickman, what is this cycle path you're talking about?

The more I see things like this the more I'm tempted.

I'm now slowly starting to formulate a plan for doing somewhere (probably in France) to Santiago d'C next Septemberish. I'd like to do it this year, but I think I'd probably need around 2 weeks in total, and I don't have enough holiday left.

I'm not remotely up for full on tent touring. I'd much rather sleep in a half decent bed, carry less weight, and be able to cane it from time to time.

Incidentally, what is a realistically achievable average daily distance? (assuming you want to have a mix of taking in the landscape and grinding the miles out)... and obviously ymmv..etc...etc

With touring, you need to eat more, a *lots *more.

Even if you're not feeling hungry but feel tired - eat, and drink as much water as possible.

Brickman, what is this cycle path you're talking about?

Your right Ed.

1 day rides - like the DD for example you don't really need to eat loads as your not spending consecutive days in the saddle, whereas touring day after day your riding which means burning calories. In my tour last year I was eating an incredible amount every day but still hungry. Got back and I'd still lost weight.

With touring, you need to eat more, a *lots *more.

Even if you're not feeling hungry but feel tired - eat, and drink as much water as possible.

Brickman, what is this cycle path you're talking about?

I guess I just keep piling it in until I feel the same all the time?

Was the 'hadrians cycleway' sustrans route 72. But we added bits to it here and there to go and see people/places/visit bakeries. We renamed it 'A leisurely tour of northern bakeries'. Mostly quiet country roads, with cycle paths through the west coast towns (all worth avoiding really) and the north east (also worth avoiding).

Hugo, I would says 75 miles, relaxed would be 50 miles.

Your right Ed.

1 day rides - like the DD for example you don't really need to eat loads as your not spending consecutive days in the saddle, whereas touring day after day your riding which means burning calories. In my tour last year I was eating an incredible amount every day but still hungry. Got back and I'd still lost weight.

When I start the 3 days tour, I was 13 stone.

Right after the tour finish I'm 13.5 stone, but look the same.

Fast foward to now I'm suddenly 12.6 stones.

You be surprised how often you go to the toliet to rid of excessive fuel after a tour.

^^Cheers Ed.

That leads me to believe that if I start from La Rochelle then I should be able to do it in 2 weeks. Which is a reasonable amount of holiday to sacrifice in one go.

To put it in presceptive, Mark Beaumount, who raced round the world rode an average 100 miles a day.

A typical normal tour is usually 40-50 miles a day, however some people can managed 75 miles a day, especially if they're carrying light (like the red Genesis above), which is why I though 75 miles may be suitable, but make room for 50 miles as you'll encounter some diffcuilites (like the wonderful headwind).

secondly, I cannot recommended this book enough;

Also don't set yourself unachievable goals. If you know you've got some rough terrain coming up don't set yourself the same distance as you would on a flat day.

Exactly, Dan planned the London/Cumbria route perfectly, the flat area we do over a century (From London to Lancaster), but nearing Cumbria, our distance is nearly half of what we used to do but end up taking all day to cover it.

On the topic of ultralight touring...I've convinced myself i need the new Terranova Laser ultra 1 tent. :]

Now THAT is tent porn! New fabric, ridiculous weight for a double skin tent....mmmmm

Now if only I had £65O to spare! :]

watch their clearance sections

http://www.terra-nova.co.uk/Clearance/Terra_Nova_Tents

and expect condensation!

+1 with sweaty terra nova's they never have enough ventalation.

But that 660g laser photon might be worth a try, £220 for even graded stock is a fair old bit of cash, but if I was going for a super light tent, you know with terra nova its going to be a quality piece of kit, sweaty, but still quality. At 660g thats lighter than my summer sleeping bag FFS!

I'm sort of swinging between building up an old mtb hard tail with no-nonsense 7spd triple with some spare burly 700c wheels as a half decent tourer thats not afraid of gravel tracks etc. Superlight roadie tourer is actually more appealing, but the constant fear of the wheels folding, the frame snapping and the relentless shaking on anything other than perfect roads does get a bit uncomfortable.

watch their clearance sections

http://www.terra-nova.co.uk/Clearance/Terra_Nova_Tents

and expect condensation!

It's only just been released and there are hardly any on the planet at the moment.

They added a little clip to hold up the ends for slightly better ventilation on this one i think?

This guy is going touring and currently in Prague.

Epic win.

(not my photo)

thats fucking nuts! wtf do you do when you come to a hill?

Well, I suppose you just need to put pressure on the pedal with your feet as it rotated.

Someone went round the world on a penny farthing you know, even up to Everest base camp, he also doing it in homage for the first cyclotourist in the world, by taking a stone from his grave and put it in his bag, and ride around the world before putting it back.

Joff Summerfield is a fucking hero.

In fact I should put that in the hero pages.

Hugo #scobled.

It's no shame to walk steep parts.

penny farthing tourers = bosses

wtf do you do when you come to a hill?

Well, I suppose you just need to put pressure on the pedal with your feet as it rotated.

t shirt