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Tips
Bicycles
Bicycle Frame
If you don't have a budget or
you plan a round the world tour, than go ahead and get the top of the
line touring model. But if you do have a budget than I would suggest you
don't get carried away with all the nonsense about specially made
touring frames that cost thousands of euros. Hybrids are very good, well priced
and they will get you there without any problems.
There are many reasons to go out and get a hybrid bike like the ones we ride, and here are a few.
They are cheaper and because of this it wont break the bank to
repair or replace in case of damage or theft, you can upgrade to better quality parts when the originals ware out, in many cases they are even lighter. And if you tire of the model after a few years, go out and get newer one, (just get a frame and switch the parts) again it won't break the bank.
Size is of
paramount importance, it has to fit right and any decent bike shop can help you with that. Here is a link to get an idea about bike sizing before you go there.
http://sheldonbrown.com/frame-sizing.html This will give you an idea of what to look for.
Another very good tip is that when riding the bike unloaded it should feel a bit unstable (or nervous), only when fully loaded a good touring bike (including hybrids) should feel stable.
After doing quite a bit of research, reading a lot of touring journals, checking out many forum posts and reading "Richard A. Lovett: The essential touring cyclist" I have come up with these numbers.
Less than 10,000 kms per year? Than you don't need to spend more than 800 euros on a bike.
Handle bars
We use flat bars with bar ends, we find them just right for the job because of the extra hand
position.
There are also the
butterfly bars which are very good but I think one needs get a longer the "stem" to put the bars further away (or forward). Monique
tried these bars (without the longer stem) on our Barcelona tour and ended up with shoulder pain.
Some cyclists use drop bars, but we don't agree with this, the brakes are not where we want them to be as we ride more upright.
There are arguments going either way but we'll stick with what we are comfortable with.
Saddle
Only one would do and that's
Brooks Champion Flyer. Leather with springs you can't beat it, period. I've heard much about the B17 without the springs but
personally I'll stick with the sprung version, remember being comfortable for hours on end is the object here.
There is also the B67 for people who like a bit wider saddlefor riding
more in an upright position.
Being leather saddles its a good idea
to cover them at night. We use a shower cap that doubles as a rain cover
for over the helmets.
Gears
42/32/22 op front you can go a bit higher than 42 but leave the low 22 it is really needed for those hills.
For the rear cog we recommend 11-32, with this wide range set up you can climb almost anything.
Some people use 9 speed but we find the 8 speed good enough and a bit
more robust.
We will be looking into the 11-34 cassettes when the 32's will need replacing.
Tires and Rims
Schwalbe Marathon Plus, or the XR's, for comfort and reliability there is no other. They are bullet proof.
Use double rims with stainless steal spokes, they are much stronger and
will last. Along with a sprung saddle and 35C tires or larger you will not have any problems.
And don't forget when
installing some tires look for the arrow (on the side) indicating direction.
Maintenance
Change all screws, nuts and bolts (as much as possible) to stainless steel (rust free) and use (blue) loctite on all screws and nuts.
Have the chain measured every 3000kms or so.
Many say that rotating the tires is a good idea, BUT the thing to do is ride
until eventually the rear wears out and replace it with the front. Putting the new
tire up front where you need the most traction.
Racks and Panniers
You want some strong,
lightweight and reliable racks and Tubus is one of the best but also the most expensive.
At first I used cheap aluminum from
Giant
on my bike and they worked well for a while, but after the first few
tours have since replaced them with Tubus, same as on
Monique's bike, cargo and Tara racks.
We both began with the cheap
AGU Ventura's
panniers, they have done a great job (for the price) on our tours.
But after several tours we have replaced them with
Ortliebs roller
classics.
We made our minds up to replace the AGU's in the fall of
2007 when we got rained on for about 5 days in a row. We were really fed up with the hassle of
putting on the water resistant bags every time it rained and most
important the hooking system of the AGU's was really bad, we needed to
secure the front panniers with bungee cords so they would not come off
and hang in the spokes.
I would also like to add that the Ortliebs have been proven for many years and from many world traveler's for being tough, waterproof and with a very reliable hook
system.
There are many other brands of panniers out there but if you want
reliability we recommend Ortlieb.
Tent
Before we set out to buy our tent we had made a list of the things we wanted to have. I think it is the best way to approach the problem.
Comfort, was on top of our list. We wanted to be able to sit out a storm in relative comfort.
Large porch area, it had to have a large porch area to we could store all our bags and be able to cook.
Ventilation, it had to have enough ventilation to keep the
condensation down, and be cooler in the warmer climates.
Weight, it had to be reasonably light.
Price, we needed a tent to fill in all the above and still be relatively
affordable.
Package size, it also needed to be of reasonable size to go on top of the rear rack.
There are many tents out there but the need for a large porch
ruled out most (if not all) dome tents. There are also many tunnel tents but I'm not about to start going through all of them (again ;-)
The
Jack Wolfskin Worlds End RT at over 6kgs and going for 300 euros was our choice. We had to
sacrifice weight for cash, because all lighter tents were way over budget, lighter
material = more euros.
In the end, the large window/entrance on the side of this tent won us over.
It just came down to what we could
sacrifice and we chose the weight.
Inside the Worlds End RT we have spent a few stormy days/nights in comfort, I only had to get out once to tighten the guy lines because when the tent got wet it
stretched a bit. As with all tunnel tents it's a good idea to have the porch area facing the wind for
better stability and warmth. It has kept us dry in some very nasty weather in France, Germany and Holland.
In the warmer weather of the Med. the large window/entrance on the side of the sleeping area (with mosquito netting) came in very handy. It is also very easy to put up, one person can do it quickly.
The porch area is big enough to hold the bikes but we would never
recommend doing so, if a thief got into the tent, it would give him/her plenty of time to work on the locks
unseen. Better to have the bike's locked outside where the other campers can see them.
The only setbacks are the weight but after a while you don't notice.
We will stay with the Worlds End RT for as long as it lasts, afterwards we will
surely be looking for something just a bit lighter.
We believe for
two or more people sharing a tunnel tent (with a large porch) is the way
to go. Counting on four panniers to a bike.
It's also so much
easier and warmer, to just get up and cook something while still inside the porch area.
In the end the final choice is up to the individual and his/her specific needs.
We hope this article will make choosing a tent a bit more simpler.
Planning the Tour
Now there are different ways to go about planning for a tour but I'm only going to explain the way we go about it, as we think it's the most
easiest way of doing it.
We believe being very flexible with the planning is the first step. Just setting a goal with a tight
schedule for being there and doing that at a certain time just isn't going to work. There are many variables that go into a tour and here are a few.
Weather, terrain, daily fitness/mood, mechanical problems and lodging
availability. (I hope I got them all :-)
When I planed my first ever tour I slid the
Microsoft Auto Route 98 CD into the PC and typed in the starting and finishing points. Than I started to type in all the places I wanted to visit along the route.
Update: I now use
Microsoft Map Point Europe 2009 and still find it invaluable in
planning our tours.
After this I divided the route at +/-100km per day sections using the itinerary part of the program. And then I began the long search for camping sites near these points by surfing the net.
Now the route changed a bit along the way as I planned the route going through the areas where the
camping's were most concentrated, in case some were closed for whatever reason. Naturally it is always
easier to find accommodation in coastal areas, but the problem here is that it's difficult to find
camping's within 70kms (inland) of the coast (for obvious reasons).
Now I have read somewhere that once in five to seven days you need to rest, so planning a rest day at least once a week is a good idea, your body will need it. Doing less kms per day and not stopping will not work your body needs to rest, some may not agree but it has worked for us and we highly
recommend it.
Sometimes it is difficult to find a camping, depending on the time of year and area almost impossible at times, but that is touring and one does have to be flexible, bite the bullet and pay for a B&B :-)
It
happened to us in France, but that was due to the bad weather, after several days of fighting strong headwinds, cold and rain we just wanted a warm room and proper bed to sleep in. It did a world of good.
There are some who like to stealth or free camp and it is a good idea if you like that sort of thing but we like our shower at the end of a long day on the saddle so we always try to find a camping site.
At this time I would like to mention a couple of sites we came across that we think are a very good idea and are seriously thinking of joining. One is
www.couchsurfing.com and the other is
www.warmshowers.org I will not get into details about these, you can visit the pages and find out more about them yourselves.
Now back to planning that tour. Maps are needed for the tour and we
recommended they should have a scale of around 1:200,000 a higher scale and the smaller roads are not shown, and with a lower scale you will need too many of them, (for longer tours).
Some say the future is a GPS gadget with maps and if you can afford one great. But one does have to think about if the gadget runs out of juice or breaks than what? I've argued this in the touring forums where some people take along paper maps as a back up, but than again why dish out all that cash for GPS gadget and have to also carry maps? It was also pointed out that when one eventually got lost it would be
easier to find ones way, but than again we have found getting a bit lost once in a while on tour is a good thing, part of the
experience. Getting a bit lost we have seen many nice places that we would
normally have missed.
A must on every tour is a compass, this is highly
recommended.
We have now bought an
Asus 901eee pc for our tours and have tried it out for the first
time in the spring of 2009. It has worked out well with our planning, we
were able to check the weather reports and even watch a movie on night
when bored. It will definitely be coming with us in 2010.
Another idea is to plan your tour using
Google earth, I don't like to use this option because it's just too good. What I mean to say is that I would like to leave something to the imagination, I don't like to see pictures of the whole route (mountain passes, forests, gorges, etc...) before I get there,
we really don't mind being surprised when on tour and actually like it :-)
Following rivers is always a good idea the route is flat and historically many villages and towns have used them for transportation, therefore a bigger chance to visit some great places.
Another good idea is to check out the National Parks of the
country's) your visiting and plan the route through them.
I would also like to mention that asking the locals about the weather and
accommodation for the next days planned destination is a very good idea, we have found that most if not all people we have asked were more than happy to help us out with tips.
We have been planning and continue to plan our tours in this way. It's a step by step process that we think works well and we get to know the whole area we plan to ride through in case we change our minds midway.
The Big Climb
This is one of the most asked questions while planning the tour, how do I get over that
25kms long and 2000m high mountain pass with 25kgs of baggage on the bike?
Well it's not as hard as you might think, there are just a few things you need to keep in mind and you can conquer any mountain pass.
You will need to be a little bit fit, meaning many hours on the saddle, and if there aren't any hills in your
neighborhood many more hours on the saddle. You just cannot fall off your couch and climb the 2770m
Col de I'Iseran.
Some training is recommended, you will enjoy the climb and the whole tour a lot more if you are not
totally spent at the end of a days ride.
You also have to consider your age and weight.
Now I would like to add that no matter how young or old you are
you need to listen to your body.
For example, if your knees begin to hurt, stop, if you hurt them bad, it can take up to several days to recover, and ruin your tour.
Now for the climbing itself. This is where the lower gears come to play. (ideal lowest gear is 22 front and 34 rear for the +10% climbs)
First and foremost when pedaling you need to find a comfortable rhythm and stay with it. This is usually between 75-100 rpm.
You also need to keep an eye on the heart rate, too high and you'll be spent very early on.
Avoid looking up (towards the top) as much as possible, it is
mentally draining when you keep looking at the never ending climb.
Stop often, and always before you're
totally spent. Remember it is not a race, no extra points for being first on top.
Drink often, remember if your tongue is dry you're too late, stop and have a drink. We always try and bring along an energy drink like Red Bull, we don't always drink it, but its nice to have an energy booster along incase the hill gets the
better of us ;-)
If possible, try and plan any climbing at the start of the day,
ideally after about 10kms of flat, gives your legs time to warm up.
On our fall 2006 tour we made the mistake of doing the
Col de la Schlucht after 70kms and we were a bit tired after that ;-)
But is not always
avoidable as was the case on our spring 2007 tour, where after the initial climb we found out we had another even more difficult (5km long) climb to reach the camping at
Montecreto (click on Show, than Elevation profile)
Another good tip is, on the very long climbs (passes) try and plan on doing them over two days by finding
accommodation half way up.
Remember, even thought the passes may look high on paper, you never start from zero, and after you do the first one the rest are much
easier.
Follow these simple rules, take your time and many pictures ;-)
General
Number one rule while touring is that try to have everything you
carry have at least two uses.
In the rain we use cheap shower caps over our helmets to keep our heads warm and dry and at night they double as saddle covers.
In case you
need to put on rain trousers in a hurry use a plastic bag over your
shoes, your shoes will slide a lot quicker through the pant legs.
Carry a mirror. Mirrors can be used to attract attention during the day
if things turn bad and you need help.
Also great for checking your appearance or removing an object from you
eye.
For security reasons not visit a cash machine (ATM) near the
town/camping you'll be spending the night in.
Camping
Most of the batteries we use are rechargeable AA's. We carry a light and fast battery charger that
we use at various campsites to charge them. In case we don't find a
place to charge them we can always swap them.
Purse alarms make great bike alarms. Just place the
bike's next to the tent with a cable lock or two than hook up the +/-120 decibel purse alarm using a fishing line to one of the spokes and run it inside the tent.
Off coarse you need to secure the alarm using a tent stake and also its a good idea to tie the purse alarm activation pin to
alarm casing so you can quickly replace it in case of accident.
Wring
out your washing by winding it up in a towel. They dry a lot quicker.
Use large plastic zip-lock bags to keep clothes
separate in the panniers. In Holland you buy (heavy duty bags) in Grow shops ;-)
Bike
Secure
the lifting handle of the front panniers with one of the straps to stop
thieves from just lifting them.
Also secure the handle bar bag to the handle bar using the shoulder
strap. Again so a thief cannot lift it of the bike and run.
Bungee cords - lots of them. Good for securing your bike on planes,
trains, etc..., good for securing stuff to your bike, good for making a
washing line, good for many, many things that you encounter
Re-torque
and thread-lock every bolt on the bike.
Use (cross cut) pieces of an old inner tube as
rubber bands to hold the breaks tight when stopped, it keeps the bike
from falling over.
Hygiene and Health
Denture cleaning tablets work a treat for cleaning your water bottles on
tour. Just pop one tablet in each bottle with warm water, let it soak
for 15 minutes or so and then rinse thoroughly. Sparkling clean
bottles!!
Sun screen is not good enough when touring you really need sun block,
don't forget your in the sun all day.
When I
get more tips I'll post them,
it's still a work
in progress. |
