Over my years of cycling and backpacking one thing that I have learned is that any plans made need to be flexible.....very flexible.
To be honest, it is probably best to limit the plans to nothing more than a start point and a finishing point and you even have to be prepared for those to alter as well....
My recent South Downs Way ride is a very good example......
The whole ride was to be a bit of a learning curve. Although I have been road riding in all it's disciplines, from club time trials in my younger years right through to the long distance rides that I have completed more recently, mountain biking has been something that I have not done in anything like a serious way.
My thinking was that with my cycling experience and my experience of backpacking stretching back to the late sixties, combining the two on a cyclepacking trip might be something worth trying........
I met up with Howard at Winchester train station as per the plan...so far so good...
Knowing exactly what our priorities are...and doing first things first.... we then spent about an hour drinking coffee......
I hadn't seen Howard for quite a while so we had a lot to catch up on... mind you..we would have spent an hour drinking coffee even if we had seen each other the day before...
After we had caught up on all the gossip and had finished our coffee we finally set off on our SDW ride.....
We passed the Old Mill in Winchester where some years ago there used to be a Youth Hostel and after some initial route finding checks we were on our way on the correct route....
The one thing that I noticed immediately, was how much slower you tend to travel on a loaded MTB, compared to the average speed that I would be looking to achieve on my road touring bike even when it is fully loaded with panniers on the rear as well as the front....
On my road tourer I normally achieve an average speed of anything between 12-18 mph fully loaded depending on how lumpy the terrain is..... on the MTB we were only managing an average of 7.5........
On the really steep sections our speed plummeted and although we managed to keep going on most of the hills, on some, loss of rear wheel traction at low speed saw us having to end up pushing the bikes.
Pushing the bike is something that I never have to do whilst road touring and I must admit that I was heard to say "what's the bl**dy point in having a bike if you end up pushing the bl**dy thing."
Still...the scenery was good...the rain that was forecast had managed to hold off....and we were managing to laugh at our efforts.....
Before we knew it we had arrived at our first campsite......
Our first day was to be just a half day ride due to us both having had to travel by train to our start point, so we wanted to ensure that we kept the first day just under 25 miles.
With this in mind our first nights camp was to be at the Sustainability Centre near Mercury Park formerly the HMS Mercury inland naval base.
There is a Cafe..Campsite..and a Hostel at the centre and they have Yurts and Tepees set up for those who would like to experience an alternative form of camping....
One of the first things Howard and I did on arrival of course was visit the cafe.... while we were enjoying our pot of tea the rain that had been forecast for earlier in the day finally caught up with us...
Pitching the tents was completed in the rain which promptly stopped the moment we had finished....mind you it wasn't long before it returned and this time it set in for the rest of the evening........
So far everything had gone more or less to our very loose plans......
The following day..........Well!!
I will tell you about that in my next post.......
To be honest, it is probably best to limit the plans to nothing more than a start point and a finishing point and you even have to be prepared for those to alter as well....
My recent South Downs Way ride is a very good example......
The whole ride was to be a bit of a learning curve. Although I have been road riding in all it's disciplines, from club time trials in my younger years right through to the long distance rides that I have completed more recently, mountain biking has been something that I have not done in anything like a serious way.
My thinking was that with my cycling experience and my experience of backpacking stretching back to the late sixties, combining the two on a cyclepacking trip might be something worth trying........
 |
| Our bikes at the start.. |
Knowing exactly what our priorities are...and doing first things first.... we then spent about an hour drinking coffee......
 |
| Howard getting the priorities right...first thing coffee.... |
After we had caught up on all the gossip and had finished our coffee we finally set off on our SDW ride.....
We passed the Old Mill in Winchester where some years ago there used to be a Youth Hostel and after some initial route finding checks we were on our way on the correct route....
The one thing that I noticed immediately, was how much slower you tend to travel on a loaded MTB, compared to the average speed that I would be looking to achieve on my road touring bike even when it is fully loaded with panniers on the rear as well as the front....
On my road tourer I normally achieve an average speed of anything between 12-18 mph fully loaded depending on how lumpy the terrain is..... on the MTB we were only managing an average of 7.5........
On the really steep sections our speed plummeted and although we managed to keep going on most of the hills, on some, loss of rear wheel traction at low speed saw us having to end up pushing the bikes.
Pushing the bike is something that I never have to do whilst road touring and I must admit that I was heard to say "what's the bl**dy point in having a bike if you end up pushing the bl**dy thing."
Still...the scenery was good...the rain that was forecast had managed to hold off....and we were managing to laugh at our efforts.....
 |
| Setting up our first camp... |
Our first day was to be just a half day ride due to us both having had to travel by train to our start point, so we wanted to ensure that we kept the first day just under 25 miles.
With this in mind our first nights camp was to be at the Sustainability Centre near Mercury Park formerly the HMS Mercury inland naval base.
There is a Cafe..Campsite..and a Hostel at the centre and they have Yurts and Tepees set up for those who would like to experience an alternative form of camping....
 |
| Yurt at the Sustainability Centre |
 |
| View of the rain from my tent.. |
So far everything had gone more or less to our very loose plans......
The following day..........Well!!
I will tell you about that in my next post.......
6 comments:
The Yurt looks very nice, but I'd hate to try to carry one on a bike tour!
Great to hear of your travels once again. Why did you try overnighting by mountain bike as opposed to your usual touring bike? Did the route necessitate knobby tires?
*Steve A*
Ha..Ha...Your right Steve....you would need a truck to carry one of those.
*anniebikes*
The route is very much an off road route Annie, so a bike suited to that sort of terrain was required....anyway I am always up for trying things that I've not done before lol
*Steve A*
I meant to write- You're NOT Your -in my reply to your comment Steve....that's annoyed me now, a silly error!!
Trevor,
So nice to see your on the Mountain Bike, bike packing and all. Boy, you sure know how to have some fun :)
PS. With the modern conveniences of spell checkers, it is quite easy to make unintended typographical errors. It is okay, I reckon, if it happens in blogging. But, I see it on resumes these days, which bugs me.
Now, I have to wonder; if you will get a bag that fits in your frame (within the diamond), like many a bike packer.
Peace :)
Post a Comment