Search found 18 matches

by sweatpee
14 Feb 2015, 6:03pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: East West C2C Spanish Pyrenees Tour.
Replies: 11
Views: 5458

Re: East West C2C Spanish Pyrenees Tour.

cbreeze -

The unnamed route follows a lot of off-road trails, I met a guy on a hard tail MTB that was riding it and given up. There is up to 3000m of climbing a day if trying to cover normal road distances. I think that the opencyclemap marker for this is slightly misleading but I am sure that if you are prepared properly for it and don't try and force yourself to achieve superhuman goals it would be an amazing ride. The group who were doing it were on unloaded high-end mtb's, their equipment was all carried by a support vehicle that met them at the campsite. Without wanting to be negative I can't imagine it being possible to take it on and enjoy the experience as much as the many quiet road routes.

The Pyrenees were amazing the more I look back on my trip the more I want to do it again and I will I am sure.

Wild camping was fine, although there are rules about it, officially you can't do it but if you are discreet who will know? I abided by the 'leave only footprints and take only memories' rule. I also had the view that if there were no campsites near by and I was tired it was safer to stop and wild camp than continue and I can't imagine any reasonable Park Ranger would argue with that.

In Spain, I found the campsites much better than in France, Spanish campsites usually have a store and a simple restaurant, in France they were either very 'holiday park' with a noisy bar and swimming pool or very, very basic [and cheap] with few facilities at all. However they were usually less frequent in Spain so you had to plan more. Don't underestimate the frustrations that the Spanish siesta can cause, it's not unusual for stores to be closed between 10.30 and 17.30, so pack plenty of light, energy rich foods to cook up in an emergency.

I also felt that the gradients in Spain were less brutal than in France where the climb could go from 10% - 7% - 14% - 18% - 5% and so on. The Spanish roads were also better surfaces. But I was in the Spanish side more than 80% of the time so it may just be that the French side I did cover was worse than the rest.

I would avoid the EV1, it's not very interesting cycling, there must be a more interesting inland route through France although I think if you have a riding partner the EV1 would be less boring and allow yourself extra time to deviate from it, either to go and dip in the sea or head inland.

I missed out San Sebastian and went straight to Bayonne, I regret that, San Sebastian is very beautiful from what I hear and I would definitely head there if doing it again.

You're right not to be scared of the contours, although they are hard work, the rewards are huge.

Here's another picture to further whet your appetite.
by sweatpee
17 Nov 2014, 10:22am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: eurovelo 1
Replies: 5
Views: 2235

Re: eurovelo 1

I can tell you that the section of the Vélodyssée between Royan and Bayonne is very dull when riding solo. I cycled up the coast from Bayonne after crossing the Pyrenees East/West and I was looking forward to some flat riding. After a day of it I missed the Pyrenees with it's climbs and views and life.

Although the route is flat and mostly off-road on dedicated cycle tracks, the landscape doesn't change for the majority of the route and there isn't much infrastructure such as shops or restaurants for large sections. Also I found that although it looked like it would be along the coast there were only a few sections that actually provided a view of it. A few campsites were like mini Ibiza party spots, tacky, expensive and noisy.

I met a guy cycling the opposite way to me and he basically said go inland and take the road, I ignored his advice but in retrospect he was right. Another guy I met on the Royan Ferry who had ridden the same stretch as me said exactly the same thing about the tedium.

I think if I had had a riding partner it would have been a little better but I'd not take on that section again.
by sweatpee
8 Sep 2014, 4:06am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: East West C2C Spanish Pyrenees Tour.
Replies: 11
Views: 5458

Re: East West C2C Spanish Pyrenees Tour.

Incidentally, the opencyclemap route I linked to in my first post is very much an off road MTB route.

I met some guys who were doing it in a week with a support vehicle a day before they finished. About 3000 mtrs of climbing a day. They were all absolutely exhausted and I have absolutely no idea why anyone would want to put such a challenging time pressure on a trip like that. The Pyrenees are beautiful and deserve to be enjoyed. Anyway...
by sweatpee
7 Sep 2014, 9:55am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: East West C2C Spanish Pyrenees Tour.
Replies: 11
Views: 5458

Re: East West C2C Spanish Pyrenees Tour.

I finished my tour of the Pyrenees and cycled up through France and got a ferry from Dieppe to Newhaven. It was by far the most rewarding thing I have done in my life. I thought it might satiate my desire to cycle tour but I can't help but think of the next time I can cycle through a mountainous area and find myself daydreaming about it constantly.

A highlight was cycling between Ochagavia and St Jean Peid a Port which was gruelling but wonderful.

Here's some pics to help inspire anyone else to do something similar. DO IT!

IMG_1091.jpg
IMG_1043.jpg
IMG_1012.jpg
IMG_0988.jpg
by sweatpee
4 May 2014, 7:49am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Off to the Spanish Pyrenees
Replies: 17
Views: 4872

Re: Off to the Spanish Pyrenees

What route are you taking? I was planning on loosely following the route I mention in this thread...

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=85050
by sweatpee
4 May 2014, 7:47am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Off to the Spanish Pyrenees
Replies: 17
Views: 4872

Re: Off to the Spanish Pyrenees

I'm taking on the Spanish pyrenees starting in June. I'll follow your blog and see how you get on. What kind of bikes are you taking?
by sweatpee
21 Mar 2014, 1:55am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: East West C2C Spanish Pyrenees Tour.
Replies: 11
Views: 5458

Re: East West C2C Spanish Pyrenees Tour.

Cheers for the comments.

All of the them are good things to think about, I was worried about the cold, although I prefer climbing hills in cold weather but I wasn't planning on setting up camp and hanging around where there is cold and snow, is it likely that you will get caught at altitude for long periods in the Pyrenees? I kind of assume [mother of all mistakes] that once you climb to altitude you put some tights on get the windproof out and descend to a warmer temperature.

As pointed out in PM the OpenCycleMap route is has a fair bit of off road which does worry me a little, I've cycled the South Downs on my bike loaded, I doubt I'd do it again, plus being solo I don't want to end up too remote. That said, I've always found OCM to be pretty reliable and I was surprised to see the route high lit, which according to the key seems to be a 'National Cycle Route' but there is no route number and little [no] info about it online.
by sweatpee
20 Mar 2014, 12:02pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: East West C2C Spanish Pyrenees Tour.
Replies: 11
Views: 5458

Re: East West C2C Spanish Pyrenees Tour.

Thanks, hilly I can handle but terribly hilly may become tiresome, although if that's the case I would just bail out from the Pyrenees and head into France. What allured you to the tunnel 3 times is it a particularly impressive tunnel?
by sweatpee
20 Mar 2014, 9:53am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: East West C2C Spanish Pyrenees Tour.
Replies: 11
Views: 5458

East West C2C Spanish Pyrenees Tour.

Hi all...

I've spent a while searching for info on this and there is almost too much to narrow down some of the specific questions I have so I'm posting this in the hope that if anyone has any links to threads of use or information they can share that would be great.

I'm planning a coast to coast trip from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees. My route is still rough at the moment, I enjoy climbing but not descending at speed and the significance of conquering Cols is not important to me so I am not intending taking in any Grand Tour sections on purpose but if the are on route that's fine too. I've seen that on opencyclemap.org there is a national cycle route which is basically what I am starting my planning around.

http://www.opencyclemap.org/?zoom=8&lat ... ayers=B000

I'll be wild camping and travelling solo on a loaded Columbus steel tourer with 42c tires that can handle some rough/gravel, I've done week long tours before and plenty of overnighters but this is the first long tour I will have done. I am planning on leaving Barcelona cycling up the coast and hitting the EV8 briefly then taking this route leaving 1st June I have a fairly open ticket time wise and plan to ride on up through France, Belgium and the Netherlands hopefully finishing early/mid July.

Has anyone taken this route either direction, or has any knowledge of it they'd like to share? How epic are the climbs, whats the traffic like and the wild camping options? How long did it take etc? Any good links to blogs other than crazyguyonabike and other stuff thats on the first few pages of google?

Also if there are some good paper maps that anyone can advise on that would be good.

Perhaps a stupid question but can anyone tell me the name of this route linked on opencyclemap?

Cheers - apologies if i've not looked hard enough...
by sweatpee
15 Oct 2010, 4:33am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: New drive train for Russia and beyond tour
Replies: 12
Views: 1406

Re: New drive train for Russia and beyond tour

reohn2 wrote:I would use a Deore cassette, much cheaper and just as long lasting,the only penalty is that its a little heavier.
A Sram 971 chain, longer lasting than the Shimano ones.
For a chainset I'd go with a cheap square taper one such as this:- http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=46025 ,that may seem awefully cheap but they are good, bread and butter hard wearing c/sets with steel rings that won't wear so quickly and Shimano UN53 square taper BB's outlast any of the other outboard ones such as on the c/set you're thinking of fitting.
Hope this is of some help.


not sure how true this is about the un53 square taper bb outlasting outboard ones I've had mine for a year and it's still absolutely perfect but it's too early to make the comparison because they've not really been on the market as long as un53's. i use slx on my touring bike, i like it a lot but the carbon plate on the inner ring gives me some concern. I've done about 1500 miles on it and the carbon is really scratched and has had a few chips taken out of it. I think xt has the same plate so when the time comes I'm going for deore chainset.
by sweatpee
15 Oct 2010, 3:24am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: SRAM X7 compatibility with SRAM TT 500 Bar End Shifter?
Replies: 2
Views: 943

Re: SRAM X7 compatibility with SRAM TT 500 Bar End Shifter?

I've decided to stick with Shimano 9 speed, I couldn't get an answer about the SRAM TT bar end shifters compatibility with X7 rear mech but I found out that they don't have friction shifting mode, which has been a useful feature on the Dura Ace. I have heard reports that there has been chain strength issues with 10 speed and for loaded touring I see this as a potential problem. It's a shame, I'd like to experiment with a different set up but I think what I had in mind is a non starter.
by sweatpee
10 Oct 2010, 3:53am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: SRAM X7 compatibility with SRAM TT 500 Bar End Shifter?
Replies: 2
Views: 943

SRAM X7 compatibility with SRAM TT 500 Bar End Shifter?

I'm looking at kitting out a road touring bike with SRAM as it's cheaper for me, I like the look of it, and fancy a change from Shimano so I've been looking at 10 speed SRAM X7 front and rear mech.

I would like to carry on with Bar End shifters so the SRAM 500TT are what I've been looking at, however the compatibility seems to be limited to the road groups and not mountain. I don't really under stand the technicalities but I am guessing the the spacing of 10 speed road cassettes differs from mountain and this puts the shifting out. I'm not sure that the TT500 offers a friction mode like the DA shifters which can be useful at times.

Anyway this is really me just thinking of being different and I would like to know what the thoughts or experience of others are on this, particularly compatibility between X7 and the TT500 and also the wisdom of using SRAM over Shimano for loaded road touring given the parts availability of each. Also are Shimano cassettes/chains/hubs all compatible with SRAM?

The TT500 is made with aluminium and plastic which kind of makes me slightly concerned about strength, I use DA 9 spd bar end shifters at the moment and they have stood up well over the last few years.

Anyway I'm just toying with this idea for now, if anyone has any ideas I'd be pretty grateful of them.

Cheers.

EDIT: forgot to include links here they are...

http://www.sram.com/sram/mountain/produ ... 0-crankset
http://www.sram.com/sram/mountain/produ ... derailleur
http://www.sram.com/sram/mountain/produ ... derailleur
http://www.sram.com/sram/road/products/500-tt-shifter
by sweatpee
18 Jun 2010, 5:23pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Heavy duty rim choice
Replies: 9
Views: 707

Re: Heavy duty rim choice

I just posted a thread earlier asking about Halo Aerowarriors rims and their suitability for touring.

The things that are putting me off them are the non-machined braking surface and no eyelets, I'm not sure about the aero profile on a tourer, although I guess it will do no harm.

Let me know if you find anything out.
by sweatpee
18 Jun 2010, 10:51am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: 700c Wheel Build Advice
Replies: 4
Views: 1277

Re: 700c Wheel Build Advice

Hi thanks,

Yeah, I plan to replace the freehub body and continue with this wheel set on this bike until the rims wear out but I am getting a new custom frame and want to start fresh with all new components.

My temptation is to get the Halo Aerowarrior rims although I am concerned about their suitability, no eyelets, no machined braking surface, aero profile etc. I guess this is what I would most like an opinion on, is there a good reason not to use these rims for a touring wheelset over Alex Rims.

When does the jury return the verdict on the XT hubs by the way?

Cheers.
by sweatpee
18 Jun 2010, 7:51am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Bontrager Race Lite Hardcase - any opinions?
Replies: 7
Views: 3056

Re: Bontrager Race Lite Hardcase - any opinions?

They ride pretty similarly to Armadillos but last half as long and aren't quite as puncture proof, I use Armadillo Elites on my road bike and they are really good. Worth the extra cost to me but I can see how the Hardcase is worth the saving too. Is that too dualistic?

The Marathon Plus is a very different tire it's not a good comparison, I would happily commute on a Hardcase but I wouldn't tour on them. Armadillos also fall apart in the same way but not so quickly and you don't have to maintain Armadillos as much. By that I mean you don't have to pull out the flint, glass etc that works its way in so regularly when using an Armadillo.