We’ve been back home for just over a week now. No ill-effects apart from a bit of numbness in the hands from gripping the handlebars, and that’s pretty much gone. No after effects on the legs at all. Been thinking about things we learnt from the ride.
Equipment:
Having the spare wheels was useful in the first 3 days as it’s quicker to swap a wheel than change a tyre, but after that we never used them. In fact none of us ever subsequently had a puncture.
The cut-price tyres I bought from Decathlon (the blue ones in the “camp” photo) both failed (not punctured) within a day. They were Hutchinson tyres which are a good make, and I have used others for 000’s of km on my bike with no trouble. The ones I bought must have been seconds. Moral don’t buy bargain tyres. I changed back to the Continental Grand Prix’s which are my favourite and had no further problems at all. Even though there are two quite serious looking holes in the tread on one of them, the reinforcement must really work.
The Mavic Aksium wheels on my bike were defininitely the most free-running of all those on the bikes we had. I could always freewheel faster than the others.
If you are going to get a casette with a lower gear than your usual especially for climbing hills, then make sure it actually does have a lower gear. Guess which idiot didn’t ? The only way I could probably get a lower gear is to have a triple chainring. Up to 14% gradient I managed without. I think losing some more weight would be the better option.
Cleats. Paddy and I both wore out one of the Shimano SL cleats we use. I am particularly heavy on my right foot and nearly wore out another. Definitely worth having spares. Frankie uses Look cleats and didn’t need to replace any, but that could be because he’s about half my weight.
Nutrition / Health:
Both Frankie and I had bad days with stomach problems brought on by dehydration. It probably didn’t help that we both enjoyed spending time in the Sauna and Steam room. Whilst this certainly made my joints feel good, it probably is not a good idea after a long hot ride. Maybe we should restrict this to rest days, or at the very least be careful to keep hydrated. Even the jacuzzi can draw a lot of moisture out of you.
Our eating patterns were very different. I tended to stick to normal meals of breakfast (cerials), lunch (bread and cheese or ham) and dinner (everything), and take an energy gel if I need a quick boost. When it was very hot I used an electolyte energy drink all the time. Other days I had the odd bottle of this, but otherwise stuck with water. Over the course of the ride I lost about 7kg.
Frankie didn’t have breakfast, or use any energy supplements at all. Instead he munched (constantly it sometimes seemed) muesli bars all day. I’m not sure if he managed to put any weight on doing this, he certainly didn’t start with much to lose.
Paddy found all the days he did just normal days, so didn’t take any extra food at all. I think he may have used some of the electolyte drink when it was hot.
Packing energy drinks and supplements is like packing clothes. Work out what you need, and leave half of it behind.
Route Planning:
I think the routes in France were probably too complicated. We spent ages sometimes trying to navigate down very small lanes, which were no easier to cycle along than some of the larger roads. It was nice to cycle the canal towpaths and in particular the wonderful cycle paths in the Adige valley in Italy. It’s definitely worth researching these, as they can add a lot to the ride.
