Cycling UK Forum

If you're going to Avignon you should really do Mt Ventoux as it's very close. Don't believe the scare stories, you won't die as long as you're not racing, not on drugs and don't have a pre-existing chest infection! It's not as steep as the famous British climbs, it just goes on a bit. It's also fan...

A friend and I toured Caen to Marseilles a couple of years ago, you might like to read our report. The TGV back from Marseilles to Paris was really good. We improvised some basic bike bags on the way back and we could have got away with even less, but most of the trains (just not the one we caught) ...

You'll be passing by Mt Ventoux, which one highlight that you definitely shouldn't miss. It's not nearly as hard as people think it is, or at least it may be when it's blowing a gale, or when you're tired from a day's racing, have taken the wrong drugs and are racing up in the heat of the day. Ridin...

Differences: The Scott is 3kg lighter. The Apollo has a threaded headset. While threaded headsets still work fine in themselves, they are obsolete, which means that the only ones you see on new bikes are cheap headsets fitted to cheap bikes - this doesn't bode well for the rest of the bike's compone...

For £400 you can get a lot of bike if you buy secondhand. You really want something on the road-touring spectrum, and for a tour where you're hostelling rather than camping (commonly known as a 'credit card tour') I'd recommend more of a road bike - it'll be lighter, easier and faster. If you do buy...

We toured France last year, from Caen to Marseilles. Read about it here . When planning the route, I took us to a reasonable sized town each day - it didn't have to be huge, just big enough to support a couple of cheap hotels. Each evening we'd head to the office d'tourisme and ask them to find us s...

You may like to check out Ben Rockett. Last year he rode LEJOGLE in sub 6 days, in a supported and sponsored attempt. He was a postgrad student at Bath University at the time. There's a good video of his ride here which should be informative!

Someone did Paris-Brest-Paris on a BMX a few years ago, though they did give it a longer seatpost.

On our French tour last year, we bought some rain covers for bikes in a Decathlon store for 20 Euros each, a couple of days before the end of the tour. A haberdashers supplied some velcro, needles and thread, then on the last night of the tour we used a couple of strips of velcro to seal up the tops...

Finishing my lejog in June 2010 there was a sort of, "What next?". Then what next, Mont Ventoux! Just joking. Don't joke. Since quitting a LEJOG 3/4 of the way through, I've ridden Channel to Med via Mt Ventoux. It was a warmer and shorter trip than LEJOG and if you go up at touring pace ...

Yes, it's suitable. If you're doing a fully laden camping tour, it's not ideal. You'll want rear pannier rack, which means that since I doubt this bike has eyelets, you'll need to use P clips to fit it. If you're doing a very lightweight camping trip, or are staying in any other form of accommodatio...

Get yourself down to your local bike shop. They'll have some decent quallity but basic shorts by a brand like Altura or Endura. The bottom rung will be at £20, go for a level up at £30 so you'll get a better pad for your bum. These will be good quality shorts and you'll be able to try them on before...

All you need to do is get a bar mount, cut off the bottom and file it into a curve to fit on the stem. Then drill a couple of holes through it sideways, so you can fit a couple of cable ties through it and round the stem. That's how mine's mounted and it's perfectly secure - it's survived a tour acr...

How long do you intend to take to do the tour? Will you be camping youth hostelling, staying with friends or what? Will anyone be supporting you along the route? If you're doing a fully loaded camping expedition, you'll need eyelets to fit a rack and panniers. If you aren't carrying all that, you ca...

My offer is the same as before. Add me to the mailing list please.