I did the ride on my old Trek 850 mountain bike which is a bit heavy to be honest. On the plus side, I had good road tyres, new wheels and the transmission was brand spanking new also. Many thanks to John’s Bikes in Bath for doing a service on the bike at short notice before I left.
I carried a spare inner-tube, puncture kit, multi-tool and spare cables with me. My plan was that if anything major went wrong, I’d find a bike shop en route. In the event, nothing did – not even a puncture.
I’d fitted the bike out with mudguards and a rear rack and I had a pair of Ortleib Back-roller Classic panniers and an Ortlieb handlebar bag with map case. These were great, though a couple of extra inner pockets on the handlebar bag would have been useful – with only a single pocket, all the little things (cash, keys, paper, etc.) had to go in the same pocket.
I had two water bottles and holders, one for water, one for hi-carb/energy drink.
I’d pre-booked all my accommodation, so no need for a tent, sleeping bag, etc. That really helped keep the weight and bulk down.
As to clothes and shoes, I traveled as light as possible. One pair of cycling shorts (I know I should really have had two but one pair was fine and I washed them every few days!), another pair of shorts, a cycling jersey and helly-hansen top, cycling gloves, a fleece (for the evenings), pants, socks, a hi-viz waterproof and waterproof trousers (my only long trousers). I cycled in my trainers rather than proper cycling shoes, partly for flexibility and partly because I wasn’t used to the cycling shoes and was worried they would aggravate my left knee.
I had a strap for my knee and my wrist (don’t ask!). Cycle helmet and pink cycling glasses. Plenty of plastic bags for stuffing things into (including my hands and feet if it got wet and cold! This worked OK, though after the ‘freezing rain’ episode in Glencoe I found a bike shop and bought some waterproof overshoes).
Oh, and I had a small medical kit, washbag and travel towel. The towel was fine, though once I realised that YHAs rented proper towels for a quid I started using them instead.
As for technology – I originally decided to only take my iPhone and my small camera. Because I didn’t have a laptop I couldn’t guarantee to be able to upload the camera photos until I got back. In the event, I used the iPhone camera most of the time – it’s crap quality but I was happy to blip that way. After the first 3 days, I posted my camera and charger and some additional extra clothes home to save weight.
I think that’s about it… my only other clothing purchase en route was a bright yellow cycling jersey to make me more visible on the A road stretches thru Devon on day 3.
