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Cheers for the suggestion.
I ended up walking into an outdoors shop today at lunch - lo and behold they have a sale! SteriPen Adventurer was on clearance, so I ended up with one of them after all. Will have to report back on how it goes.
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I'm keen for a BigXtop Rando bag, need to get the winter miles in for 12hr prep.
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I took the clickfix one (smaller than the 'proper' rando bag) on a 12 day, long and hilly LEJOG and it was excellent. I would probably advise putting heavier stuff in saddle bag if possible to minimise impact on bike's handling but you get used to having the weight up there soon enough. If you go for this one, make sure you angle the clickfix bracket up more than you expect to, as otherwise the bag likes to jiggle itself loose... I got plenty in mine without stuffing it - standard packing was a down jacket squished in the bottom, bag with all my tools/tubes/pump/gorilla tape etc in, gopro and associated bits, charging/power bits and bobs, kindle, banana and flapjack and if forecast looked uncertain a rain jacket on top of everything else. Sorted. This arrangement (together with a 10L drybag in a wildcat harness) was fine for 12 days on the road.
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just got back from my London to Glasgow tour, from London up to Durham to see friends, then across the Pennines (murdered me, 40kph headwind consistently, with harder gusts. Short periods of it not being a headwind, but during those times it was hitting me from the sides.), and then round the south-west of Scotland and up to Glasgow.
First two days were super flat and relatively boring scenery wise, after that things started to get hillier and prettier. Really great experience for my first tour, had a great time, and it was my first time going north of Durham so good to see a bit more of the country. Wild camped every night except night 3, when I stayed at a friend's place in Durham. Was very lucky with the weather. Only real rain was on day 1 (by real I mean so-hard-it-hurts rain).
A few pictures:
Top of North York Moors
The view from the top of Hartside before I left the Pennines. Was feeling a bit worse for wear at this point so the view was a pleasant pick me up.
What bottle cages were made for. 'Bru in glass.
Top of the last real climb of the tour, after what was probably the best 50km of riding of my life.links to strava for people who care about route:
Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7 -
Here is my handwritten kit list, a bit indecipherable, but I couldn't be bothered to type it out. It basically amounted to Alpkit Hunka XL bivvy and Airo 120 mat, Vango Ultralite 1300 sleeping bag (I need to get a smaller packing bag, so warm, but so big), too many tools which were never needed (no punctures over 1050km, bless the marathon plus), and too much food. Held in Super C panniers and bar bag.
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Generally slept under trees yeah, happens that the more secluded places, good for wild camping, also are generally at least somewhat sheltered. It rained a wee bit most nights but never enough for it to bother me. I mostly just looked for footpaths/wooded areas on my garmin when looking for somewhere to sleep and just headed to one when I wanted to kip.
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It was fine, when I first slept in it I woke up a bit sweaty, but not too bad, just had my sleeping bag open and the mat tucked inside and after that I was pretty grand. I guess it depends on sleeping bag/clothing worn as well? Breathability didn't seem to be an issue for me.
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So tyre and wheel choice for a big guy on a Canyon Ultimate AL riding through Belgium and England: A23 on Hope hubs, R501 or RS10? (Not much difference between the last two...)
The obvious choice would be the A23's, but they are quite hard to mount tyres on. I've been above 130-140 psi, before the GP4000S II's seated properly, which will be difficult with a tiny handpump.
Tyres: I've got some NOS Krylion Carbon in 23/25 and a pair of slightly worn GP4000S II's in 25, where one has a small sidewall cut, that probably needs a boot. I've thought about getting some Durano Plus or something similar, but I'm from the land of flint, so maybe Belgium will be fine without massive puncture protection? -
I presume you're riding 700c? Get Continental Gatorskins, best road tyre I've ever had. Great puncture protection, not too expensive or heavy.
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Just to follow up: I ended up taking the A23 on Hope with a pair of GP 4 Seasons in 25c. No punctures, no problems. Gave away all my spare tubes to locals who were tempting fate (and losing) by riding the worlds shittest tyre aka the Continental Ultra Sport, without tyre liners, extra tubes or patch kits.
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@PhilPub
So I thought I'd write a bit about my trip last summer, less a story, more some facts and tips.
I started in Calgary, went across to Vancouver, then south to Seattle, across the water, around the peninsula and then down the coast to LA.
Firstly, riding on the wrong side of the road was terrifying at first, I arrived in Calgary when there was a huge rodeo on so 99% of vehicles were huge pickup trucks and the roads were enormous. I got used to it pretty quickly though, so don't worry about that.
In a campsite in Canada I was lucky enough to meet an enthusiastic audaxer who lived in Vancouver. We got chatting over some beers and he offered to meet for more beers in Vancouver when I got there. We did so, and he ended up riding with me to the border, and giving me full audax style directions to get down to Seattle! I don't have the directions, but I can show you the route I followed on Strava if you like? I spent my time in Canada on basically a single highway so getting to Vancouver and being shown around dirt tracks and small roads was unusual but refreshing, it was a nice route. Crossing the border was easy, don't wait in the huge line of cars (you need to go inside to the office for your check), and don't wait in the huge line of people in the office either (bikes don't have to I don't think...). South of the border is a nice ride to Seattle. It took me three days. There are a couple of fantastic cycle paths heading south, the Centennial Trail is one. Its an old disused railway, full tarmac, just left for recreational use for cyclists/dogwalkers/whatever. This got me to a place called Floating Lake for the night on day 2. The ride from there to Seattle wasn't much fun, just mostly through suburbs, but you do eventually come onto a ridiculously busy cycle path (I actually asked a guy if there was an organised ride on) which takes you into the city.
It sounds like you're skipping the peninsula, so I'll go on from North Oregon (Astoria). This is where I really started having social fun on my trip. If I could recommend one thing, it's to buy Bicycling the Pacific Coast and possibly even the Adventure Cycling Maps for the Pacific Coast too.
The audaxer from Vancouver gave me his copy of the book, and while I wasn't intending on following it (wanted the trip to be my own, not planned by someone else etc) I ended up using it daily and it was invaluable. The most important thing was that it's practically the bible of touring the west coast and as such everyone who's doing the route uses it, which means everyone stays at the same campsites and you meet some potentially fantastic people. One of the guys I met had the adventure cycling maps and they were really good, with useful information and nicely thought out routes. They're more modern than the book too. A combination of the two would be ideal.
Don't be scared when you pull up to a State Park Campground and the sign says its full, go ahead to the office and they will let you in because you're on a bike. The parks cost $5 usually. I'd planned on wild camping for the excitement and to be in the wilderness etc but for the price of a UK pint, it wasn't worth it, campsites have other people and showers.
The roads are generally good, often with a shoulder easily wide enough to ride on. There are some without shoulders, and American riders get really unnerved by them, but if you're happy in UK country lanes you'll have no problems, I found drivers to be generally considerate.
Weather was great all around, in the US I didn't get any rain at all, but the nights can be cold, especially when near the sea.
Spend as much time in the redwoods as possible, seriously, they're fucking magical. There's an option to do an offroad section at the start of the forests, its right by the ocean. I did this on 35mm paselas, and drop-bars with two others on unsuitable bikes and another on a mtb. We all had to walk up one ridiculously steep but short bit, but the rest was manageable just fine. The reason I recommend doing this is for the road when you get out of the off-road bit, truly fantastic.
If you're feeling strong, get stuck into the lost coast in California, you won't regret it, two of my favourite days of the entire trip. I did this with one other guy, the one with the adventure cycling maps, after a strong recommendation from a german earlier in the trip.
Unless you don't use any technology, take some form of charger, either solar or dynamo, the constant hunt for a socket can be annoying.
I can't think of anything else right now, but this post is long enough either way. I just kinda wrote what came into my head.
Again, any questions, feel free to ask! I should be writing this up in full over time at http://www.strakerwrites.com so check in there if you like too. -
Brilliant, this is golden! I did originally sketch a route all the way through from Vancouver Island -- Seattle -- Portland -- Pacific Coast to San Fran but time constraints mean that it's likely we'll just start with city breaks in Vancouver, Seattle and Portland by train before setting off on bikes to the coast. And the book + ACA maps are definitely on my shopping list, so thanks for confirming. Good shout on the charging; I'm not sure yet just how techy I want to be but I'll have a phone and probably Garmin as minimum.
One thing that would be useful would be to see if my rough itinerary is feasible, needs serious rethinking, or if there are any tweaks you'd advise. Did you have a particular stopping point in mind each day? Or a rough daily mileage target? Does daily mileage vary greatly, based on terrain/how you're feeling/unexpected diversions? Are the camp sites frequent enough to just set off for the day and stop when you see one at the right time? I prepared the following - extremely hypothetical - plan purely based on Google Maps and stopping points where there are place names on the map. (I'm sure these details will change, since the camp sites we're likely to stay at aren't shown on Google.)
Saturday – flight to Vancouver
Sunday – VancouverMonday – train to Seattle
Tuesday – train to Portland
Wednesday – Portland
Thursday – Portland – Rose Lodge (79 miles)
Friday – Lincoln City – Carl G Washburne State Park (70 miles)
Saturday – CGW – Coos Bay (62 miles)
Sunday – Coos Bay (rest)Monday – Coos Bay – Honey Bear Campground (68 miles)
Tuesday – Honey Bear – Jedediah Smith Redwood Park, CA (62 miles)
Wednesday – JS – Patrick’s Point State Park (64 miles)
Thursday – PP – Humboldt Redwoods NP (70 miles)
Friday – Humboldt Redwoods (rest)
Saturday – HR – Westport Union Landing State Beach (73 miles)
Sunday – WU – Anchor Bay Campgrounds (74 miles)Monday – ABC – Tomales Bay (71 miles)
Tuesday – Tomales Bay – San Francisco (52 miles)
Wednesday – SF
Thursday – drive SF – Portland (2 drivers!)
Friday – train, Portland – Vancouver
Saturday/Sunday – fly homeHow's my daily mileage/rest days looking??
That's another thing... I've been mulling over whether to fly back from SF or Vancouver. Since my brother is in Vancouver, I thought it would be easier to fly with proper bike boxes, leave stuff with him and make our way back from SF over a couple of days. Journey back to Vancouver split between hire car and train, because (AFAIK) we can't drop-off a car over the border, and train from SF looks like a faff. OR we do round trip, take everything with us to SF and fly home from there, giving us an extra couple of days to play with. But then, not sure about bike transit/packaging.
I'll definitely have more, but any thoughts welcome! :)
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Recommendation wanted..
A friend and I and possibly more are looking for somewhere to do a 5 day ride across, to or through somewhere in Europe.
I have no preference where, it could be cold & flat or hot and very mountainous. Preferably around 60/70 miles a day to leave some time for eating and drinking but other than that the weirder the better!
All suggestions welcomed...
Philip_J_Fry
root
umop3pisdn
owl
zooeyzooey
Tomo187
skinny
JesperXT
TourientExpress
yoshy
PhilPub
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platypus
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I've been using the life systems drops for a while now, no foul taste, but a bit of a pain though as you have to mix the drops, wait 10 min, stick em in the water, wait 30min more.