A student of mine has planned to cycle from Oxford to Rome next Summer. She has done little more than occasionally cycle 2 miles into town. How to Prepare for a 1000 miles cycle Tour?
Oxford to Rome is 1,000 miles. But, if you go the scenic way avoiding unpleasant roads, it could end up being another 200 miles, leading to a total of 1200 miles. A big factor in the enjoyment of a cycle tour is finding pleasant roads to use. If you rely on a car based GPS, you will be sent the quickest way for a car – but it could be tortuous for a cyclist. It really is worth preparing route which uses more cycle friendly routes.
How Far to Cycle Each Day?
Even with a decent training program, I would say planning for anything over 100 miles in a day would be too ambitious. If you want to cycle 1200 miles, I would suggest three to four weeks. 1200 miles in 21 days averages 60 miles a day. This is still quite a high mileage to churn out everyday. But, don’t forget that invariably you will feel like some days when you need a break from cycling and so that means you will need to catch up the mileage on other days.
Bike for a Cycle Tour
For this kind of tour, you really need a good touring / road bike. I would suggest starting with a budget of at least £400. You could definitely spend up to £1,000. But, if you go under £300, it may prove a false economy.
There are quite a few different options for cycle tour, but you are looking for a combination of speed, comfort, durability and ease of maintenance. See: Touring Bikes
Training for a Cycle Tour
A tour of 1,200 miles is not to be taken lightly. You do need to acclimatise your muscles to get used to the distances. It’s not just your leg muscles but also other parts of your body which may not be too comfortable from sitting on a bike for several ideas.
If you don’t train enough you will not enjoy the 1,200 miles. You should start thinking of training at least six months before, but preferably straight away. The Primary aim is getting used to completing longer distances. Start off with 20 – 30 mile rides and gradually increase. If you are going to be riding 100 miles on tour, you want to be used to riding 100 miles in a day. By getting used to riding long distances, you will also get a better feeling for what you can enjoy completing on a tour. Bear in mind, when touring you will be carrying more weight which makes it harder.
Essential Accessories
- Good puncture resistant tyres
- Inner Tubes and ability to repair puncture on the go.
- Room for panniers on rear and possibly front.
- Lights for unexpected periods of darkness
- Pannier Bag
- Waterproof kit. On a short tour of Ireland, you realise what a challenge it is to keep dry when you are cycling in the rain. Even with the best waterproofs water manages to seep in somewhere. See: waterproof jackets
- First Aid Kit – Be prepared for issues like skin rash (falling off) and saddle sores (see: dealing with saddle sores)
- Maps / GPS
Support Vehicle
A support vehicle will increase costs and you have to find someone to drive it. But, when I went on a short cycle holiday around Ireland, the support vehicle was tremendously popular for carrying stuff; it was also very popular whenever it rained. If you don’t have a support vehicle, you will need more space in panniers both front and back to carry your stuff. It can definitely be done unsupported, it just means more time and energy to planning what you need to bring.
Nutrition
Cycling 60-100 miles a day will burn at least double the number of usual calories. When you are on the move, it can be a little more difficult to find good nutrition. You don’t want to rely on buying food on the side of the road. Have a good stock of energy drinks and energy bars which you can eat on the move to replace extra calories used.
See: Cycle nutrition tips
Maintenance
On this kind of cycle journey you will probably have more mechanical troubles than just the odd puncture. You really want at least one person who has an idea on altering brake blocks and gears. But, you can also minimise mechanicals by making sure the bikes are in tip top shape before leaving. Choose some good solid puncture resistant tyres to reduce need for repairing punctures. A couple of weeks before the trip check out the other people’s bikes, otherwise you will find someone coming to tour on a second hand bike they found in a skip. Very romantic until you have to stop every hour to mend the puncture.
Conclusion
To some extent you can ride a 100 mile sportive a little unprepared. You may feel tremendously stiff the next day, but it doesn’t matter because you can take as long as you want to recover. But, for a tour you always have to be thinking about the next day. It definitely requires quite a bit of preparation so you are ready for the whole tour.
Related
I suggestion I would make is to undertake a 2 or 3 night uk stop before you go. Use this to test any new kit and make the judgement call “Do I need this/that?”
All good advice here. Reminds me of my hopeless optimism as I set out on a tour of East Africa on a heap of junk and on a real shoe string – but it still remains one of the best things I have ever done. Looking back I was not too well prepared but just about scraped by.
Here’s a brief summary of my wanderlust in 1984:
http://ramblingsofdoug.blogspot.com/2011/02/cycling-in-east-africa-1984.html
Doug.