Advice for a long distance cycle trip?

[Maxnaggle]

evening! i've got a 700km trip coming up in 8 weeks from Rimini (Italy) to Munich, was just wondering if anyone here had done anything similar and what they had done to prepare for it? It's going to be spread over 2 weeks, so about 60km a day.

thanks!

[biggarlogs]

Buy a car......sorry I am just jealous of your stamina.good luck mate

[Hobbsurf]

Vasaline

 

Or modern day equivalent. :-)

 

Russ

[Phillip]

Yeah hobbsurf is right, it's called chamois cream- get some and some padded pants. Prepare by spending time in the saddle to get used to it and to get your fitness up a bit. Enjoy and good luck mate

[Paul Barton]

Get a good bike shop to set your bike up so it fits you perfectly. After a few days even small things like the angle of the saddle or the handlebar stem length can cause niggling problems.

[Stevedavid43]

Check out warm shower forum for loads of advice on long trips

Good luck

[johnanderton]

You could message this guy dan he's doing uk - Rome , he and his brother are both climbers here in northwest uk , there away now I bet they will have come across everything that goes with such a long cycle

[Marc Lewis]

The distance wont be a problem, it will be saddle soreness. Get a good saddle and decent pair of padded cycling shorts.

And as others have said, dont forget the cream!! Good luck.

[D A Tree Surgeons]

Hi Max

for the last four years ive done long rides around 1000 miles 8 days

this year we are doing calais to Croatia in 8 days in june

my big training rides have just started, i was away in belgium over the weekend to complete the liege bastogne liege sportive. the hardest part for me is finding the time to get saddle time! but any saddle time is good , good luck with your ride, the other thing about long rides day after day is that your body soon gets use to it and it becomes very natural to ride every day

[Aicchalmers]

If you do a bit of cycling regularly I wouldn't worry too much about 60km a day, I'd say a reasonable pace for me is 50 miles/ 80km a day fully loaded with camping gear and food, having plenty of time to stop at nice views and set up camp. Up to 100 miles in a day really pushing it but that gets a bit silly.

Any bike will do. Just check the obvious things, put a decent set of tires on. Loctite up pannier mounts etc.

Have spares of anything you can think of, plus lots of nuts bolts and jubilee clips. Things will fall off.

Prepare to eat like a machine, think at least 4-5000 calories a day. Handlebar bag with snacks in for while you're on the move. Lots of nuts and fruit and dense stuff, make sure you've got plenty of water with you.. if it's hot long sleeved loose fitting clothing, make sure it wicks the sweat away and lots of suncream. If it's wet get drenched as long as you have a dry set of clothes in a dry bag.

In terms of fitness, never really prepared for long cycles as I do a fair bit already. First day will be hard, second day you'll be barely able to get out of bed, third you have to pump yourself out of bed with a bottle jack and then it only gets easier.

Never really had saddle sore issues badly, just try and get clothes that wick sweat away and go for a well shaped hard saddle, soft saddles seem to be a lot worse for me ..

Edited April 27, 2015 by Aicchalmers