Bike & Kit

It goes without saying you wouldn't ride the Grand National on a lame donkey (although if you did I'd probably back it) so the same applies to the piece of kit that is going to transport you nearly 1000 miles. I pondered over buying a new bike for this trip but a combination of John constantly telling me it was just an excuse to get a new bike and ultimately the cost of doing it put me off a bit so I persevered through training with the 4 year old Boardman Team that had reliably taken me from London to Edinburgh and has about 4000miles on the clock.

John is also riding a Boardman Team but it's a year old so a bit more recent. Both bikes have been serviced in preparation for this trip, new cables, bottom bracket, greased bearings and brakes checked. New tyres will be fitted a few weeks before the ride (Continental Gatorskin Hardshell) a few miles to run them in and make sure the tubes are fitted nicely and the bike is ready to go.

We both spent a little bit of money prepping the bikes to make sure we don't fall foul to mechanical failure or at the very least can say we did all we could, but without a shadow of a doubt the best money we spent was on a 'Bike Fit' by a good cycling shop. If anything else it gave me confidence I was on a bike that was the right size for me and it was optimized for my riding position. I had an adjustable handlebar stem fitted to raise my bars a bit higher, they were 130mm from the saddle but after fiddling they are now 105mm which is doing my arms and neck no end of good.

The other important purchase I made was a saddle that fitted my backside. This as everyone will know is just trial and error, I had 3 saddles and they were all like sitting on a sack of spuds but then I gambled after reading the internet and bought a second hand Brooks Narrow saddle for £55 off ebay (it was in good condition). After 100 miles in the saddle, problem solved it transformed my long distance riding overnight. Don't get me wrong, it's not like sitting on the sofa with a bag of marshmallows but I can get off after 100 miles and then sit down without looking like I have an acute dose of piles.

Finally how do you fit panniers to a bike with no pre drilled attachment bolts? I was worried about this I have to admit, John was less worried but to be fair he doesn't really worry about things like that until they break. I looked at all options, drilling was a no-no and the universal fit pannier racks were pretty crap really. So before we did a 3 day training ride to the Isle of Wight I bought a Top Peak seat stem pannier rack, I was a bit wary. I guess the first thing to make sure if you go down this route is you don't clamp it to a carbon seat post! but I didn't have that worry so i fixed it on, put on the pannier bags and trialed it. All I can say is brilliant, i take every word back, solid as a rock and will take about 15kg no problem at all. So that was that sorted.

I have attached a list of kit that we are taking with us, the plan is minimalist, if we smell then so be it, it isn't a fashion parade. The plan would be to either ask nicely of the B&B owners if they can wash our kit overnight or on night 4 we have an apartment we can do it ourselves. It's tempting to load up with a stack of kit which you probably don't need but avoid doing that. The 3 day practice run we did (220miles) was the ideal event to realise you don't need much, so if you don't need it, don't take it!

It also pays to lay out all of your kit on the floor at least 2 weeks before the ride, this is to make sure you can throw anything you really don't need and it also gives you ample time to order anything you quite obviously don't have. Remember non obvious things like a handful of cable ties and a small roll of electrical tape (for emergencies). And a top tip is don't ask your partner to help with the packing as you will end up with 7 pairs of shoes and a couple of hand bags for the evenings ........