Cycling UK Forum

Hi

I started touring at the age of seven with my father and my sister joined us once she was 7, we used youth hostles to reduce the amount of luggage we were carrying. At your sons age we were looking to do 35 to 40 miles in a day, with my sister and I carrying a saddlebag and my father carrying four panniers to do a 10 day trip.

We would ride for five or six days and then have a rest day, chosing somewhere where there was an attraction to keep us kids from being bored.

Matthew

Sorry if this is a long one but this info comes straight from an expert in reply to a "Which gps do I need for cycling" question.
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"The basic requirement of a GPS system that all hill walkers have is that the unit will give you information on your current location. This will typically be in the form of an Ordnance Survey Grid reference, a Lat long or one of 100 other different types of map datum used around the world.



The good news is that all of the handheld units such as the Magellan and Garmin will do this and by spending more money, you do not gain anything in the way of improved accuracy etc you simply add more extra features.



So having said they all do the same basic job the decision really is on how many extra features you need or how many you want (usually 2 different things). The basic Garmin Etrex has most things people need, it will tell you where you are and can store 500 waypoints to help you along your route.



Simply, get the grid reference out of the unit, put finger on map and say in a loud confident voice “we are here” (always always always carry a paper map and compass of course).



The next model up is the etrex summit, add an electronic compass, a barometric altimeter and the memory storage to store 20 routes (a route is a sequential string of waypoints you have put together) and you have the summit, everything else is the same as the basic etrex.



The legend is a basic etrex but it has 8Mb of internal memory for road mapping downloads from Garmin software (the roadmap is not good enough to drive the car by, but also bear in mind there are no roundabouts up mountains… so do you need a road map?!?!?).



The vista is a combination of legend and summit.



Magellan, are more geared toward the loading of software into their units, they have 2 main series: the Sportrak and the Meridian. The Meridian uses SD memory cards to allow memory expansion so you can store more road maps (see comments above on road maps) and the Sportrak has a fixed amount of memory.



Magellan do offer topo type software which gives a very very basic osgb type map on screen (see note above about carrying a paper map), they also do software which will give very basic in car nav software, but again, do you need a unit for the hills or for the car? The money spent on converting a walking GPS to a car GPS would be better spent towards a GPS for the car, which does the job far better then a hill-walking unit converted.



Both Magellan and Garmin offer units with colour screens as you move up the range, and Garmin also offer wrist mounted units for hiking, cycling, water activities etc.

It is difficult to find a GPS receiver that works as a walking device and an in car nav device, the only real way to do it is with a pocket pc. A pocket pc will be able to run in car nav software such as tom tom navigator 3, giving auto routing, address and points of interest location with voice guided turn by turn directions.



On a pocket pc, you would also be able to buy OSGB mapping software and display your location on the pocket pc as you walk around. Limited battery life though.



Alternatively, look at a handheld unit such as the garmin Etrex for the hill walking, use this product with a paper map.



As a handheld device the etrex will be more rugged and waterproof, it will readily display speeds, grid refs and bearings etc.



Add to this a unit like a pocket pc system for the car, or a dedicated in car unit such as a Tom Tom Go.



You would then have a dedicated in car unit and a dedicated walking unit, my point is such that the individual units designed particularly for 1 job would normally be better than a unit which does both but is also a compromise on how well it does both.



The one Exception to this rule is the Garmin Quest which has all the functions of a street pilot and a handheld Garmin Etrex, its downside is that its memory will only store a maximum road map of an area the size of France. Cost about £360. "
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Hope that helps, it made my mind up.
The only one suitable for cyclists ( long battery life, waterproof, lightweight) with truly trustworthy and accurate mapping of minor roads and enough memory for a long tour, is the Garmin Quest - at £360 -ish
I've decided to stick with paper maps!.

Paul.

hi fif,
in such situations its the natural thing to instinktivly put your foot on the grownd.to parry the blast.mayb you were just too casual,which i am sure wud not b the case if the wind was blowing into the trafic.its just one of those things,yul learn from the experience,and b prepared for the next time it happens.(it will!)

Hi. First, are you intending starting your tour from home on bikes? About how far do you think you will manage in a day and how many days have you got? PW

Being new to this, I haven't bought a helmet yet, I'm still excercising my freedon of choice. So far I just wear a bandana or nothing. Mind, nothing means a shaven head, very cold sometimes but great for aerodynamics, I digress... one thing I have noticed is that I seem to get frowned upon by most cyclists - especially the ones that aren't going fast enough to cause any fractures or damage from a stray branch whizzing past - for not wearing a helmet. Forgive me I digress further;

I have heard that wearing a helmet is compulsory. I'm in the process of thoroughly eating up the Whitehaven to Ennerdale and onto Keswick cycle route, its a belter, but does anyone know where there is a compulsory requirement to use a helmet ?? like on the roads you sometimes have to brave when sometimes wish you had a spare helmet tucked away in your third water bottle? What about Europe?

Shade eyes with one hand and wobble alarmingly toward centre of road. Since you can't see anything else, use the offside headlight as your mark and aim to pass about one metre to the left of it. That way you'll at worst miss the car whilst also remaining on the road.

However I invariably find that my blinded cyclist pantomime causes the oncoming driver not only to dip his headlights but also brake sharply, sometimes slowing down so much that he's actually moving at a safe speed for the conditions! Thus I am normally able to lower the shading hand and resume normal progress.

nusteve

I ackowledge your budget, however the venerable old tourer the Dawes Galaxy is available for £490 from Spa Cycles.

Marc

It's not hte Raid but the folowing was a great route:

Route Destination Comment
Day 1 Stanstead Ryan Air
Biarritz St-Jean-de-Luz
Day 2 St Etienne Michelin starred restaurant
Day 3 St-Jean-Pied-de Pont Larrau via Spain
Day 4 REST Walk to gorge
Day 5 Isaba
Roncal
Anso Hecho Amazing valleys
Day 6 x-country to: Jaca half day - avoiding main roads
Day 7 Sabinanigo Torla half day
Day 8 Reconnoiter on foot over pass to Gavarnie dump unnecessary kit, empty out half toothpaste
Day 9 Carry bikes over pass to : Gavarnie not much cycling this day - some ice fields (in June)
Day 10 REST Visit Cirque de Gavarnie can rent ice axe & ropes - or just eat at restaurant
Day 11 Luz
C. du Tourmalet Arreau easy day
Day 12 Luchon Viella
Day 13 Llavarsi Alins Small town at end of road
Day 14 Ordina Continue up rough track into Andora
Soldeu Go x-country to avoid Andora la Velia
Day 15 Bourg Madame Font Romeu
Day 16 REST
Day 17 Mont Louis
Villerranchhe du Confluent Vernet Arrive early to walk up to monastery
Day 18 x-country to: Ceret Cannot remember route - v. small roads up from Vernet
Day 19 Colioure Easy half day to Michelin starred restaurant
Day 20 REST
Day 21 REST
Day 22 Perpignan Stanstead Ryan Air
Day 23 Your on your own

Inver Mill 1k west of Dunkeld is an excellent site. Local forest walk to the Hermitage,2k,is a perfect antidote to a day on the bike! Chip shop in Dunkeld provides good grub for hungry cyclists.You may find some wild"sauvage"sites on the Insh road east of Newtonmore Kingussie. Good luck with your trip, a.rob.

Alastair Sawday (spelling is correct) for French B&B s that are consistently good and inexpensive (has a web site). If you go via Calais then use the Eurotunnel Cycle Service (Cannes to Calais direction) and they will help you bring back lots of wine (the saving could pay for a substantial lump of your trip). Never had trouble with dogs - all bark (lots of it!) but no bite. More important that you take something to help the derriere! Read Tim Moore's 'French Revolutions' or at least take it with you as it will keep you laughing when you may be feeling a little down after your fifth day of continuous rain (it happens, believe me).
Make sure you take a digital camera (see www.geocities.com/cyclefrance2004 for the reason why). Clothes crease less in panniers if packed neatly in lots of twos or threes inside supermarket carrier bags and then these go in the panniers. Best maps to use are the old Series Vert, now renamed carte de Promenade as give contour lines and all 'd' roads. If you can afford it a Garmin portable satnav alongside your map will save you getting lost and eating up miles/lkilometres unnecessarily.

Probably some more tips that can think of given time

Good luck!

John AC

Lots of other tips

no. NO. BAD IDEA. laser surgery still hasn't been around long enough to be 100% ok and indeed what the doctors/opticians dont tell you is that there is about a 5% complication rate such as worse eyesight then you start with. and forget about joing the police, fire brigade or train driving because if you've had surgery the companies will turn you down due to reduction in night sight that somewhat more than 5% of patients experience. Ok I know that you know that cyclists have suprior eyesight to car drivers anyway but no need to throw it away.
soak the glasses with water. a thick ( relatively speaking ) film of water on glass produces less distortion than blobs and specksof water. and you'd be suprised how much rain a peak cap can keep off your glasses. I speak from first hand knowledge.

they can only filter out large particles i.e soot and grit, make you look like a terroist and actually could be bad for you. heres why. any filter reduces air flow which means you have to breath harder, but that enevitably means breathing so much harder you end up taking more air in each time then you would anyway. also greater stress on your cvs which tires you etc

erm how about this for a idea, when looking mentally consider all the road to be like a plate of tasty chocolate sponge cake and that your job is with your eyes to eat every bit of it and not just a narrow car width section of it in the middle. so if theres a obstruction you automatically move. you can tell the experienced truck/van driver from the idiot at slanted junctions because they square their vehicle up on final approach so they can see, the average idiot car driver just lines up with the road and so has to look through the rear windows or ask their passenger.

I am cycle camping down the Danube this year but I am already outline planning my cycle camping trip round ( anticlockwise ) the Nother Sea Cycle Route.
I have already decided that on arrival in J o'G I shall veer off the NSCR and cycle down to Lands End. And I shall camp all the way ( as I did last year on my pilgrimage to Santiago)
To be honest you have to enjoy camping since it is an integral part of your trip but I have camped all my life and last year was my first long distance cycle camp ( at 66/7 yrs old) and it was fun ( well most of the time!)
Time is not of an essence!

Trevor A Panther
In South Yorkshire

blazin d

Sorry just noted your dad is meeting at the end of ecvry day! So you can travel light, bar bag etc and the budget can go on the bike, so look at the Galaxy.

Marc