This weekend
- Thread starter drcarlos
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Well we're all done. A final 65 today in the heat again. Less hills today though. Was thinking that things had gone really well and 1.5 miles before the end I got a puncture which I nursed and pumped it up twice to get to the end, I ended up breaking a spoke because of it too. Kind of took the shine off the end a bit. When we get home I'll get some pics up, the route gps guides and some more thoughts and tips for anyone else thinking of taking it on.
Carl
Carl
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Well done. An achievement. Did you camp or b&b or what?
computerbitz
Senior Retro Guru
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Top Man congratulations
Well we got home last night after a stop at baz77's caravan in Bridlington with a fish and chip + cider supper where stories were told and memories recounted.
The general consensus was that it was a great trip, a big achievement and we are all trying to think of a route for next year (even my wife is in again).
Some of our findings were:
Our route was great, but heavy going on day 1 afternoon/evening and day 1 in general was the hardest even though it was the shortest by about 6 miles. We did all agree it was the best way round to do it.
Our stop over on the first night was a bit out of the way (although the B&B was far better than the one used by the other half of the group) but we agreed that the extra 8 or so miles it added to day 1 and 2 totals was worth it as the food was good (and reasonably priced), they had a good range of beers and ciders, the rooms were nice and they had a decent bike store shed (for those interested it was the Tennant Arms in Kilnsey).
For night 2 we went for the Premier Inn (York northwest), this was usual Premier Inn standard with big, tidy and clean rooms. Bike storage was secure as they let you take them to your room. Food was a Beefeater and was good enough and we went for the meal deal which is a decent saving and allows most stuff on the menu inclusive.
On the bike front a low range gear is essential especially with 20kg's in panniers. The hills you are reduced to granny and crawling up them. My Muddyfox could have used a 24/30 ratio on Settle hill and my wifes 22/30 still wasn't low enough for her.
An MTB with city jets makes a quite capable tourer. I personally need a shorter higher stem for next year but if I can't find one it's not the end of the world.
Good brakes are essential considering the long steep downhills, the run Pateley Bridge is quite extreme and we were overtaking cars on that section (with a vmax of 46.2mph) so my Suntour SE cantis with Aztecs were worked hard, but they worked really well.
Saddle choice is paramount, make sure you have saddle that you are still comfortable on (with no pain or rubbing at all) after 20 miles and you should be good to go, my Charge spoon was tops and I was a bit tender after lunch but always settled down within 5 minutes.
Luggage choice is important cheap kit is a false economy as it generally fits badly and often breaks, I had some Deuter Rack Pack Uni Panniers on loan and they are ace (will be investing in my own set), I got a Roswheel handlebar bag and it didn't fit my bike well at all (but it was a decent fit on the wifes bike), I will be getting a Topeak with a plastic bracket mount, along with a second topeak seat wedge pack (wife has stolen mine), these are ideal for all spares needed.
Don't overpack, one of our group had 2 sets of wet weather gloves and arm warmers, they just weren't needed at this time of year, luckily we dropped them into my wifes bag and they went with the support car. Pack light evening clothes (shorts, flipflops, light tee's for the evenings) and economise 1 tee and 1 pair of shorts for 3 evenings should suffice. You have to carry everything.
Spares, take what you need, take things like missing links and a chain breaker, not a spare chain, we are near civilisation so get you going fixes were needed and not wilderness ones. Puncture protected tyres are heavier but we only had 2 punctures between 7 of us for the journey as we were all on things like Schwalbe Marathons or Cityjets.
Food. Take lots of snacks, flapjacks, gels, energy bars and consume something every hour (I took 2 gels and a flapjack in the morning and similar in the afternoon) or so it keeps you going. For lunch, start looking for a shop after 10 miles and buy lunch at the first one you come to you can never guarantee where you will stop for lunch and if there will be anything near, so a couple of sarnies carried 15 miles is no hardship, buy a big lunch, a single sarnie and packet of crisps will be burnt up easily by about 5pm, leaving you in debt for the last hour or 2 which is awful.
Eat as much as you can sensibly manage at breakfast (without feeling queasy) you will need it, eat substantial meals at dinner, you will metabolise it all over night and wake up famished.
Drink. Don't assume that water and squash is enough, take sports drink mixes and use them, my wife made that mistake on the first day, she had bad cramps in the evening and so did her dad. Day 2 and they took sports drinks (she pinched my zero tabs and hi5 mix's) and they were fine, she might listen to me in future. Also I got through about 5 litres of drink on day 1 so taking larger 750ml bottles is needed, if you don't have a camelback fill up a soon as the first bottle is emptied, otherwise I found decanting from my 1.5litre camelback (carried on the top of the rack) to a bottle a good system.
Navigation. The route is well signed but there are a few places were there we either missed signs or there were bushes obscuring the signs so you need to be careful. We had a garmin unit for directions this helped a lot and didn't steer us wrong, infact if you missed sign it went mental if you went 'off route'
Anyway here are our routes:
Day 1 - http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5069274
Day 2 - http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5069820
Day 3 - http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5070343
You can check my tracks of Strava (carl williams) too.
Don't ride on a flat either, I got a puncture 1.5 miles from the end and by trying to limp the bike home with a semi flat tyre I broke a spoke and this would have been a mare on the journey.
Carl.
The general consensus was that it was a great trip, a big achievement and we are all trying to think of a route for next year (even my wife is in again).
Some of our findings were:
Our route was great, but heavy going on day 1 afternoon/evening and day 1 in general was the hardest even though it was the shortest by about 6 miles. We did all agree it was the best way round to do it.
Our stop over on the first night was a bit out of the way (although the B&B was far better than the one used by the other half of the group) but we agreed that the extra 8 or so miles it added to day 1 and 2 totals was worth it as the food was good (and reasonably priced), they had a good range of beers and ciders, the rooms were nice and they had a decent bike store shed (for those interested it was the Tennant Arms in Kilnsey).
For night 2 we went for the Premier Inn (York northwest), this was usual Premier Inn standard with big, tidy and clean rooms. Bike storage was secure as they let you take them to your room. Food was a Beefeater and was good enough and we went for the meal deal which is a decent saving and allows most stuff on the menu inclusive.
On the bike front a low range gear is essential especially with 20kg's in panniers. The hills you are reduced to granny and crawling up them. My Muddyfox could have used a 24/30 ratio on Settle hill and my wifes 22/30 still wasn't low enough for her.
An MTB with city jets makes a quite capable tourer. I personally need a shorter higher stem for next year but if I can't find one it's not the end of the world.
Good brakes are essential considering the long steep downhills, the run Pateley Bridge is quite extreme and we were overtaking cars on that section (with a vmax of 46.2mph) so my Suntour SE cantis with Aztecs were worked hard, but they worked really well.
Saddle choice is paramount, make sure you have saddle that you are still comfortable on (with no pain or rubbing at all) after 20 miles and you should be good to go, my Charge spoon was tops and I was a bit tender after lunch but always settled down within 5 minutes.
Luggage choice is important cheap kit is a false economy as it generally fits badly and often breaks, I had some Deuter Rack Pack Uni Panniers on loan and they are ace (will be investing in my own set), I got a Roswheel handlebar bag and it didn't fit my bike well at all (but it was a decent fit on the wifes bike), I will be getting a Topeak with a plastic bracket mount, along with a second topeak seat wedge pack (wife has stolen mine), these are ideal for all spares needed.
Don't overpack, one of our group had 2 sets of wet weather gloves and arm warmers, they just weren't needed at this time of year, luckily we dropped them into my wifes bag and they went with the support car. Pack light evening clothes (shorts, flipflops, light tee's for the evenings) and economise 1 tee and 1 pair of shorts for 3 evenings should suffice. You have to carry everything.
Spares, take what you need, take things like missing links and a chain breaker, not a spare chain, we are near civilisation so get you going fixes were needed and not wilderness ones. Puncture protected tyres are heavier but we only had 2 punctures between 7 of us for the journey as we were all on things like Schwalbe Marathons or Cityjets.
Food. Take lots of snacks, flapjacks, gels, energy bars and consume something every hour (I took 2 gels and a flapjack in the morning and similar in the afternoon) or so it keeps you going. For lunch, start looking for a shop after 10 miles and buy lunch at the first one you come to you can never guarantee where you will stop for lunch and if there will be anything near, so a couple of sarnies carried 15 miles is no hardship, buy a big lunch, a single sarnie and packet of crisps will be burnt up easily by about 5pm, leaving you in debt for the last hour or 2 which is awful.
Eat as much as you can sensibly manage at breakfast (without feeling queasy) you will need it, eat substantial meals at dinner, you will metabolise it all over night and wake up famished.
Drink. Don't assume that water and squash is enough, take sports drink mixes and use them, my wife made that mistake on the first day, she had bad cramps in the evening and so did her dad. Day 2 and they took sports drinks (she pinched my zero tabs and hi5 mix's) and they were fine, she might listen to me in future. Also I got through about 5 litres of drink on day 1 so taking larger 750ml bottles is needed, if you don't have a camelback fill up a soon as the first bottle is emptied, otherwise I found decanting from my 1.5litre camelback (carried on the top of the rack) to a bottle a good system.
Navigation. The route is well signed but there are a few places were there we either missed signs or there were bushes obscuring the signs so you need to be careful. We had a garmin unit for directions this helped a lot and didn't steer us wrong, infact if you missed sign it went mental if you went 'off route'
Anyway here are our routes:
Day 1 - http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5069274
Day 2 - http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5069820
Day 3 - http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5070343
You can check my tracks of Strava (carl williams) too.
Don't ride on a flat either, I got a puncture 1.5 miles from the end and by trying to limp the bike home with a semi flat tyre I broke a spoke and this would have been a mare on the journey.
Carl.
Re:
Nice trip, will check out the strava route.
If you enjoy this kind of riding, you might be interested in this:
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=301722
Nice trip, will check out the strava route.
If you enjoy this kind of riding, you might be interested in this:
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=301722
Re: Re:
Think I may book mark that one for a training ride for next years event as it's only a 1 dayer. We want to make sure we have a couple of over nighters (we may even consider camping) so we have plenty of chance for chatting and beer.
Carl.
andyz":2t30z74x said:
Think I may book mark that one for a training ride for next years event as it's only a 1 dayer. We want to make sure we have a couple of over nighters (we may even consider camping) so we have plenty of chance for chatting and beer.
Carl.
