cycle touring

Harrybelafonte

Shorts or 3/4s made by Endura which have clickable padded shorts inside and a loose-ish merino wool jersey?

clonmahon

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

I thought I'd post this up here rather than the main forum. I have a bit of a confession to make. I dont like wearing Lycra while touring. I prefer to go with more casual clothing than the 'racer' look I am familiar with on the road bike. I have donned the odd jersey now and again bit dont think the skin tight Lycra bib shorts & jersey combo is suitable for a sluggish loaded tourer.
Don't get me wrong, I fully realise that touring is long hard work but I just thought I'd share and see what others think.....

I'm with you on this, I don't really do lycra as sluggish touring is my thing, hiking boots, light cotton trousers, t shirt, sweat shirt and high vis vest is my basic kit. A light jacket if it gets cold and a plastic cape for the rain, completes the kit.

If the weather is OK I'm off to Mayo on Wednesday morning, with my 12 year old daughter, we intend to spend 5 days on the road and cover about 560 kms, including the new Great Western Greenway. We are flexible and will wait a few days to go, if the weather is not good.

On the question of weight I'll be hauling 15 kg and my daughter will have 5 kg. This includes full camping and cooking gear, food, cooking fuel, water and a good tool kit. I've just bought a Kelly Kettle and complete cook set, which will do all our cooking and weighs in at 1.5 kg, I will carry about 1.5 kgs of dry wood for cooking fuel and forage for fuel on the route. www.kellykettle.com

thebouldwhacker

clonmahon wrote: »

12 year old daughter, we intend to spend 5 days on the road and cover about 560 kms...my daughter will have 5 kg.

Thats impressive!

feck sake lads

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

I thought I'd post this up here rather than the main forum. I have a bit of a confession to make. I dont like wearing Lycra while touring. I prefer to go with more casual clothing than the 'racer' look I am familiar with on the road bike. I have donned the odd jersey now and again bit dont think the skin tight Lycra bib shorts & jersey combo is suitable for a sluggish loaded tourer.
Don't get me wrong, I fully realise that touring is long hard work but I just thought I'd share and see what others think.....

i agree i only ware the bibs on the road bike, when I'm on the touring bike i have a pair of mountain bike shorts but the inside are Lycra with a fantastic padding, i bought them from a company in england Corrinne Dennis excellent cycling gear.mind you i still ware the cycling tops .
when i was in england last year at a fell club meet most of the lads were wearing short sleeve shirts, but I'm only a little guy i look stupid dressed like that:D:D
so stick up a photo of yourself there TBW.;)

thebouldwhacker

feck sake lads wrote: »

stick up a photo of yourself there TBW.;)

Ah stop now... you have me all a blush ............. I have a gf you know.

feck sake lads

sorry for embarrassing you :Dbut stick up the photo anyway;)

clonmahon

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

Thats impressive!

It's a loose plan, all depends on the weather. From home its 109 miles to Westport , first day to Ballaghadreen, 60 miles, day 2 to Westport 50 miles, day 3 to Keem Bay, Achill and back to Westport, 80 miles (no load), day 4 Clare Island and back to Westport 49 miles (no load), day 5 Westport to home 109 miles, fully loaded. The 109 miles in one day will only happen if we get a good tail wind, if not we will camp some where in Roscommon and get home the following day.

Its all about pacing, the aim is a cruising speed of 10 mph, we will spend a lot of hours on the bikes, but never push it hard. The idea is to see the countryside. The key things to prevent are a sore arse and sore hands.

I should also add our bikes weight about 16 kgs each.

thebouldwhacker

Does she cycle long distance or back to back days at the moment?

clonmahon

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

Does she cycle long distance or back to back days at the moment?

She cycles a lot but this will be a big jump in distance for her, but she is a very fit, active and mentally tough young woman, who also walks a lot. We will probably cycle for 3 hours and then break from an hour or an hour and a half, then another 3 hours on the bikes, then break again and so on. That the plan, but the plan will change to suit conditions. If she is finding it tough we may shorted the distance planned on the 3rd day and not go as far as Achill.

CramCycle

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

I thought I'd post this up here rather than the main forum. I have a bit of a confession to make. I dont like wearing Lycra while touring. I prefer to go with more casual clothing than the 'racer' look I am familiar with on the road bike. I have donned the odd jersey now and again bit dont think the skin tight Lycra bib shorts & jersey combo is suitable for a sluggish loaded tourer.
Don't get me wrong, I fully realise that touring is long hard work but I just thought I'd share and see what others think.....

I went on a trip down to Carne in Wexford over the weekend and just wore a comfy pair of beach shorts and a jersey. I wasn't hitting any speed at any point but I felt very comfortable, I really only wear the lycra on events. Met a guy from Poland on one of the Audax events last year and he covered the 200+km in a wool jumper and a nice pair of trousers (looked like those Snicker workwear trousers but thinner material) and he was in better shape than the majority of the lycra clad lads.

blorg

You can tour in anything but I always ride in standard lycra shorts and jersey when I can purely for comfort reasons. It is just is more comfortable than anything else, as much so touring as on a road bike. I wouldn't be without the back pockets on my jersey. Plenty of other long distance tourers also in lycra.

I rode in non-cycling clothes with shorts underneath through most of the Middle East for cultural sensitivity reasons. Still technical fabrics just loose. It was fine but I wouldn't do it by choice, it was less comfortable. I felt naked when I got back into the lycra, in both comfort and self-conscious senses!

I did meet other riders in Iran in full lycra kit (including local cyclists) but I just wouldn't have felt comfortable and don't think I would have been able to interact with the locals so well. Not feeling comfortable in lycra in Europe though is nuts, if you are on a bike of any sort it is normal.

I do wear a wool long sleeve when it's cold, which it certainly is at the moment (over 4,000m on the edge of the Tibetan plateau in western Sichuan.)

Cabaal

clonmahon wrote: »

I will carry about 1.5 kgs of dry wood for cooking fuel and forage for fuel on the route. www.kellykettle.com

Seems rather heavy, may I suggest a Trangia for cooking in future

Got one about a month back and managed (just about) three meals a day for two people for a week on about 600ml of fuel (runs on methylated spirits so its cheap and easy to obtain from hardware stores and camping shops)

Unit packs very small and weighs around 900g
This is the unit I bought http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trangia-Non-Stick-Cookset-Kettle-Spirit/dp/B0014BJL1I/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1312872904&sr=8-9

However if you need smaller there's always http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trangia-Mini-Trangia-Cookset-Spirit-Burner/dp/B000LN7HUC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1312872904&sr=8-2

Very hard break it and the fuel would be much lighter then what you have to carry.

If you had the same unit I had and fuel it would likely come in around the 1.5-1.6kg weight total (maybe less)

clonmahon

Cabaal wrote: »

Seems rather heavy, may I suggest a Trangia for cooking in future

Looks good, will maybe invest before next tour.

Vélo

clonmahon wrote: »

Looks good, will maybe invest before next tour.

I have that Trangia also. It's a really good piece of kit. Wiggle sell them also.

Vélo

feck sake lads

has anyone come across a nice plain loose fitting jersey they would recommend for cycle touring

Harrybelafonte

feck sake lads wrote: »

has anyone come across a nice plain loose fitting jersey they would recommend for cycle touring

I wear one of the Shutt Velopide jerseys for more relaxed cycling. It's looser and very comfortable and "airy"

feck sake lads

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

I wear one of the Shutt Velopide jerseys for more relaxed cycling. It's looser and very comfortable and "airy"

thanks can you tell me where you bought it thanks.;)

Harrybelafonte

Bought it off their site: http://www.shuttvr.com/

But someone might have a suggestion from Wiggle/CRC etc, that might be more accessible.

feck sake lads

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

Bought it off their site: http://www.shuttvr.com/

But someone might have a suggestion from Wiggle/CRC etc, that might be more accessible.

thanks for that will take a look.;)

thebouldwhacker

feck sake lads wrote: »

has anyone come across a nice plain loose fitting jersey they would recommend for cycle touring

I have some old kit from aldi/lidl which are simple colours, no design and look like normal tops at first look.
I also buy kit in TK maxx, the 'sports' tops there often are great on the bike/in the pub clothes. They have an eclectic mix, something for everyone!

rflynnr

It's an expensive route to go but I find Rapha's short-sleeve tops are ideal. They're not as close fitting as a racing jersey and they tend to come in fairly discreet (i.e. not logo-covered) colours. But again, they are expensive.

titanan

feck sake lads wrote: »

i'm heading up to dunbrody park in rostrevor in two weeks taking a lad from the fellclub (england) up to see his northern cousins:D
has anyone camped in dunbrody park whats it like.

There is no dunbrody park in Rostrevor, there is a Kilbroney Park and it is a very good and well run site, I might add, in August it is always booked out at the weekends so you should always try to book far enough in advance.

feck sake lads

titanan wrote: »

There is no dunbrody park in Rostrevor, there is a Kilbroney Park and it is a very good and well run site, I might add, in August it is always booked out at the weekends so you should always try to book far enough in advance.

yeah its kilbroney park I'm looking at thanks for that hope now i can get a pitch.

CramCycle

rflynnr wrote: »

It's an expensive route to go but I find Rapha's short-sleeve tops are ideal. They're not as close fitting as a racing jersey and they tend to come in fairly discreet (i.e. not logo-covered) colours. But again, they are expensive.

Lovely jerseys but they are a case of "when I win the lotto i will spend that much on a cycling jersey". Met the Rapha team over in Wales on a long distance photo shoot?!? absolute gents and the gear looks top notch, if only I wasn't so poor

Canis Lupus

Have to give a thumbs up for icebreaker tops (although I have an endura 'baabaa' top as well which is holding up really well) Merino wool is like some weird magical material that you can just wear and wear and wear and it doesnt smell. Brilliant if your on a long haul stealth camping trip. Also it's warm at night and oddly still comfortable in the heat (I've been in 35c temps here in Spain the last 3 weeks) and they dry really quickly.

feck sake lads

just on the subject of gear i bought the thermarest compressible pillow for my trip up north , fantastic bit of kit i finally got a nights sleep while camping:D:D i have tried in vain three blow up pillows but just cant get on with these at all , so if anyone is looking for the perfect pillow get the thermarest you wont be disappointed.;)

Tonyandthewhale

Just back from two weeks cycling across Spain, Andorra and France. Great trip but it was slightly marred by the fact RyanAir smashed the forks on my girlfriend's bike on the way out to Barcelona and one of the lads got a nasty chest infection half-way through France so we had to get a train the last bit. All the same I heartily reccommend Catalyunia for bicycle touring and of course France was good to us as always.

feck sake lads

Tonyandthewhale wrote: »

Just back from two weeks cycling across Spain, Andorra and France. Great trip but it was slightly marred by the fact RyanAir smashed the forks on my girlfriend's bike on the way out to Barcelona and one of the lads got a nasty chest infection half-way through France so we had to get a train the last bit. All the same I heartily reccommend Catalyunia for bicycle touring and of course France was good to us as always.

i cycled the camino route from Bilbao 3 years ago what a fantastic trip it was .anyway did you manage to get your girlfriends bike fixed

Tonyandthewhale

feck sake lads wrote: »

i cycled the camino route from Bilbao 3 years ago what a fantastic trip it was .anyway did you manage to get your girlfriends bike fixed

Yeah, whole new fork, 160e and lost a day's riding, bad buzz. Won't be flying with bikes again any time soon if I can help it, at least not without a solid bike box (which is not exactly practical on tour), bike bag and loads of aero-board is just not enough it seems.