I've had a few people ask what I'll be using in terms of the bike and also what kit I'll be taking with me. I'm also aware that this sort of information is invaluable to others who are planning similar journeys so I hope that this page is useful.
Training Bike
My normal road bike is actually more suited to road racing than long distance touring so I'm using it over the next few months to build up strength and stamina but it won't be used for the challenge itself. Perhaps on a different tour where I can be supported by a separate vehicle it would be a faster alternative, but the complete lack of rack fixing points and even mudguards being difficult to fit means that for this challenge it just isn't suitable.
- BMC Streetfire SSX01 (aluminium frame, carbon fork)
- Shimano 105 groupset
- Shimano R500 wheels with Michelin Pro 3 Race tyres (23mm)
Nice, well fitted, pretty light and exceptionally stiff which means that every ounce of power put into the pedals is transferred into forward motion. Very fast and very responsive but a hard ride though which is great for an all out blast for a few hours, but this isn't the right bike for long distance touring.
- Dawes Horizon (early 1990's) 501 steel frame
- Shimano Exage groupset
- Schwalbe Marathon Racer (30mm) tyres
- Tortec Expedition rear rack
- Rear panniers (to be added)
This is a new bike for me. I bought it on ebay in April and have been stripping it down an building it up again. I've fitted new brake and gear cables, new tyres/tubes (a good balance of durability and light weight/speed - I hope!) and a new Brooks B17 leather saddle. Other than that all of the rest of the bike's components are completely original and what was a bit of a punt on ebay has turned into a complete bargain. I've been using it quite a lot as part of the training by using it for half my commute and it's wonderfully smooth and yet still very fast. The down-tube shifters are taking a bit of getting used to after becoming reliant on the ultra rapid STI shifters on the BMC bike, but apart from that I'm very impressed by it.
Next is to find some panniers. I was looking at some Ortleib Classic Roller Top panniers or possibly some Vaude Aqua rear panniers but I'd welcome some recommendations if anyone has got any.
UPDATE: Before I got around to buying some panniers I was generously loaned some front and rear Carradice Panniers and a Carradice handlebar box. Unfortunately the front panniers won't fit but the rears and the barbox are all I'll need space-wise anyway. I've only managed to use them a few times but having the carried weight low down on the bike certainly makes a huge difference to overall stability, compared to strapping a heavy rucksack to the top of the rack. Panniers really are the way to go for this sort of thing.
UPDATE: I've managed to buckle the rear wheel in recent weeks and I've been told it is irrepairable! Apparently it's a weak design which combined with my 90kg, heavy panniers, 40mph downhills and incredibly potholed Hampshire roads has pushed them too far. As the front is of the same construction it's not ideal to keep that on the bike either. Unfortunately that means more expense but at least it has happened now rather than in the highlands of Scotland. The replacements are likely to be some handbuilt wheels possible using Shimano Tiagra hubs and Rigida Snyper rims but I need to talk to the wheelsmith to confirm if this is appropriate. This appears to be just about the cheapest combination that will give me some sort of guarantee of strength and durability.
UPDATE: The wheels ended up being a pair of Shimano 105 hubs with Rigida Snyper rims (36 hole) handbuilt by SPA Cycles in Harrogate. I've been using them for the last few weeks with fully loaded panniers and over some really rough roads and they've been superb. I'd definitely recommend these wheels and SPA Cycles to anyone that's looking from some strong yet relatively lightweight wheels with super smooth hubs.
UPDATE: Before I got around to buying some panniers I was generously loaned some front and rear Carradice Panniers and a Carradice handlebar box. Unfortunately the front panniers won't fit but the rears and the barbox are all I'll need space-wise anyway. I've only managed to use them a few times but having the carried weight low down on the bike certainly makes a huge difference to overall stability, compared to strapping a heavy rucksack to the top of the rack. Panniers really are the way to go for this sort of thing.
UPDATE: I've managed to buckle the rear wheel in recent weeks and I've been told it is irrepairable! Apparently it's a weak design which combined with my 90kg, heavy panniers, 40mph downhills and incredibly potholed Hampshire roads has pushed them too far. As the front is of the same construction it's not ideal to keep that on the bike either. Unfortunately that means more expense but at least it has happened now rather than in the highlands of Scotland. The replacements are likely to be some handbuilt wheels possible using Shimano Tiagra hubs and Rigida Snyper rims but I need to talk to the wheelsmith to confirm if this is appropriate. This appears to be just about the cheapest combination that will give me some sort of guarantee of strength and durability.
UPDATE: The wheels ended up being a pair of Shimano 105 hubs with Rigida Snyper rims (36 hole) handbuilt by SPA Cycles in Harrogate. I've been using them for the last few weeks with fully loaded panniers and over some really rough roads and they've been superb. I'd definitely recommend these wheels and SPA Cycles to anyone that's looking from some strong yet relatively lightweight wheels with super smooth hubs.
Other Technology
My aim is to not only do the ride and raise some money for Sands, but also to try to give something back to those that have been kind enough to donate something and those that are simply interested in what I'm doing. As a result I'm hoping to use this blog as a hub so that I can let people know what I'm doing. I aim to set up a live broadcast of where I am during the ride as well as writing a report each day on the progress. This might also be supplemented by video clips. I'm also hoping to utilise a GPS navigation system and track my performance stats (heart rate, speeds, pedal cadence, elevation, distance travelled etc) at the same time. Trying to find a way to do all of that from a bike with limited space, limited power and often limited communications isn't actually that easy, however I appear to have found a solution which will give me the best trade off between power, weight, cost and functionality.
Navigation and cycling stats: Garmin Edge 800 This gives me all the navigation and performance tracking that I need. I do need to check about data storage space for both the routes and the data/performance tracking but I'm hoping that the SD card compatibility gives me all the space I need. I will of course be taking paper maps as a back up but this will make things so much easier.
Real time position: iphone4. There are apps that allow a regular GPS fix to be broadcast to a central server (google latitude for example). What I'm hoping to do is to tap in to this data stream so that it can be enhanced (added to past positions and future predicted position) before being published to this blog as a googlemap overlay. It's possible that I might be able to add additional info like current speeds etc but I'm not sure if that's of any interest to anyone. The iphone4 allows for multitasking so I can happily have the app running in the background and adjust how often it broadcasts my position so that I can used the available battery life optimally. There's no point in broadcasting every three seconds if the battery is going to be flat after an hour, nor is that concentration of data useful.
Blog and Blog updates: iphone4 and Blogger.com. For the functionality that I was hoping to have in a blog there are many providers and even a few that offered some form of solution for free. What isn't quite so easy however is to find a free blog host that offers all of the functionality I needed that can also receive inputs from the various sources that I wanted (justgiving badges, rss feeds, Google latitude feed, Google map overlays, both photo and video uploads, links out to other social networking sites etc). Wordpress.com offered some of this and was also hugely impressive in it's power and ability to make the blogs look good, however for the full functionality that I was after it required buying fairly expensive additional modules which ruled it out of further consideration. Blogger however initially appeared to be a bit..... childish in appearance but after digging a bit deeper it has revealed itself to be hugely powerful and highly customisable and that the initial templates and designs can be altered completely. It does require a bit of digging around in the extensive help pages and forums but with a bit of guided trial and error with the html code it's possible to do almost anything that you want. It certainly seems to offer everything that I need anyway. The seamless links with the other Google services also helps of course.
The advent of smartphones really has radically changed the way that information can be used and shared and it's ability to take photos, record videos and link to the internet in a single small package make this the perfect solution to travel blogging. The iphone makes this particularly easy, especially since it's multitasking capability ensures that I can also use the same device for the real-time positioning broadcasting. After a bit of testing I've settled on an app called "BlogPress" for the daily updates that I'll be doing. It's compatible with Blogger and can link up blogger, youtube, facebook and twitter accounts in a seamless manner, as well as allowing photo and video uploads. It's a simple app but it works.
Power: TBC. This isn't such an easy problem to solve. The Garmin Edge 800 has a stated battery lifetime of 15 hours but my initial trials with it show that this is a very optimistic figure (my first ride flattened the battery within 5-6 hours!) and probably is only possible with much of the functionality switched off (i.e. no live mapping being shown). I will experiment with the various setting to find a solution that gives me what I need in terms of functionality but also gives me enough battery life. As I might be cycling for 8-10 hours per day I am concerned enough to feel the need to find an alternative solution. Garmin does also sell the eTrex Vista HCx which can take AA batteries which would get around this problem, however it's not a cycling specific product and wouldn't record heart rate/pedal cadence or provide the cycling type info that's so very useful when actually on the bike. A similar story is true of the iphone. I've heard a lot of people complain that using the GPS functionality drastically reduces the battery lifetime of the phone (which itself is barely more that one day anyway), so is it going to be possible to use an iphone to broadcast a live position the entire length of every day? I'm not sure yet but I'm hoping that by not broadcasting every few seconds that I can eek out enough battery life and still keep enough in reserve for the evening's blogging duties. I've been looking at the possibility of a solar charger that I could mount on the bike's rack so that there's a constant trickle-pcharge but this is a rather expensive way to tackle the problem and the size of panels that would be needed to power both the garmin and the iphone simultaneously are likely to be too large for bike mounting. The current solution appears to be a battery extender and possibly one that can also take normal batteries. Something like the Satechi iCel or the New Trent iCruiser IMP1000 appears to offer up to 6 full charges of the iphone so for both devices should mean that I can go for a few days before having to get everything charged again. Even if I was camping the entire time I'm hoping that there will be a pub along the way where I can plug everything in
for a few hours so hopefully this will be enough. Any recommendations on this would be very welcome.
UPDATE: I've been generously donated a AA battery charger that can plug into iphones/USB devices etc, so if the worst should happen I can get things up and running using normal batteries. I've also been given a Solar battery extender that has a 2200mAh capacity, so whilst smaller than the ones listed above I can put it in the bar bag and have it charging constantly. It's also small and very light.
for a few hours so hopefully this will be enough. Any recommendations on this would be very welcome.
UPDATE: I've been generously donated a AA battery charger that can plug into iphones/USB devices etc, so if the worst should happen I can get things up and running using normal batteries. I've also been given a Solar battery extender that has a 2200mAh capacity, so whilst smaller than the ones listed above I can put it in the bar bag and have it charging constantly. It's also small and very light.
Kit
Tent: I've managed to get a Vango Banshee 200 for a good price and whilst I'm yet to test it properly it certainly seems to offer everything I need. It's light at only 1.8kg and it packs down to a small package. that can easily be strapped to the top of the rear rack. It retails at ~£120, but I managed to get a 2011 version for £69 by shopping around..
Sleeping Bag: Vaude Kiowa 500 - 3 season and lightweight. Got it in a sale for £45 reduced from £110.
Clothing:
Camera: Panasonic compact
Tools/parts:
Sleeping Bag: Vaude Kiowa 500 - 3 season and lightweight. Got it in a sale for £45 reduced from £110.
Clothing:
- cycling/bib shorts (x3)
- cycling tights (x1)
- long sleeved jersey (x2)
- short sleeved jersey (x3)
- arm warmers
- windproof cycling jacket and gillet
- cycling socks (x3)
- lightweight waterproof jacket
- Specialized SPD cycling shoes
- cycling mitts/gloves
- Normal clothes for evenings (1x trousers, 2x t-shirts, socks, underwear, lightweight trainers etc)
Camera: Panasonic compact
Tools/parts:
- spare inner tube (x3)
- puncture repair kit
- Parks instant patches
- tyre levers
- Topeak Mini 9 tool
- relevant selection of allen keys/spanners
- Topeak Morph Road pump
- chain lube
