Cycling Holiday

Foxx92

Okay, so myself and two friends are planning to cycle over to France for a week during July. Just a few questions:
What are the best ways to carry our stuff on the bikes?
What are the essentials to carry?
And if anyone has done this before, any tips to make it more enjoyable?
Thanks.

IM0

The best way (but ultimately the higher initial cost) is to use racks attached to the bike and pannier bags attached to the racks.

the cheapest way is to just use a backpack if its a short holiday. I WOULD NOT recommend this .
what to carry depends on how long, whether your camping or not and personal preference
oh and if you think you might like doing this sort of thing more in future, its worth getting a certain quality of stuff, nothing mad, but solid reliable gear (racks and pannier bags especially)
I started off with a 30yr old set of panniers, a mtn bike, and ill fitting rack, and other substandard stuff (crap sleeping bag, no matress or most stuff which I now have) and now have a completely seperate touring bike, which is made to racks and panniers and mudguards, and have all the stuff I wished I had after meeting people on tours who have things I didnt know of at the time, now I have LOADS of kit including a few tents

bloomfield

Some friends of mine took the ferry from Rosslare to Roscoff, cycled to Cherbourg and caught the ferry back to Rosslare. I believe that the route was quite hilly in places, which was a bit of a challenge, as one of them was on a single-speed. But they had an amazing time.

Racks and pannier bags are a must - and travel as light as you can. It's much better if you're travelling as a group, because the weight of camping gear can be shared. And you should always allow a bit of extra space to carry food.

Captain Havoc

I plan on carrying as little as possible on my trip.