Summary:
An article aimed at leisure cyclists who want to do a cycle touring holiday for the first time. Tips and hints for preparing for your first multi-day cycling trip.

Details or Sample:
Cycle touring – preparing for your first trip

You like cycling, and you have been on day trips, but now you want to go further and spend several days on a tour. How do you prepare yourself to make sure you enjoy the trip?

You
Obviously you need to be fit enough to ride the distances you plan on covering each day in your trip. However just because you can ride 40 or 50 miles in a day, doesn´t necessarily mean you can do 40 miles a day for several days together. If you haven´t already done so, try going for a long ride on both days of a weekend. Stretching exercises before and after each ride will help to reduce stiffness.

Something that seems to afflict women far more than men is getting saddle-sore. If you have only ever done day rides this may not have been a problem, but you will notice that soreness in your rear sets in earlier and earlier on successive days when you do a tour. The trick here is to have the right saddle and clothing (see below), but also to ´train´ that part of your anatomy as well! Cycling for both days of a weekend will help with this as well as with leg muscles.

Route planning
If it is your first trip, don´t be over-ambitious! Remember that a 50 mile trip on a nice day is a very different proposition to the same trip when it is wet and windy. If you can, try to find a route that has a few possible short-cuts that you can use if the weather is against you. And don´t forget to look at the hills you might encounter – reduce the mileage on a day when you will encounter lots of ups and downs.

Find out about the weather in the area you are visiting. In some places the wind often comes from the same direction – so plan to ride with the wind behind you if you can.

Accommodation
Think about where you are going to stay overnight. In some ways camping is more satisfying – you feel self-sufficient and you often have more choice of where to stay as campsites do not always have to be booked ahead. However carrying a tent, sleeping bag and mat, and probably a stove as well will add considerably to the weight you are carrying.

If you stay in Bed and Breakfast accommodation or similar, you will have a comfortable night´s sleep and a good breakfast to set you on your way the next day, and you will be carrying far less weight. Depending on the place and time of year, you may need to book ahead. On the minus side, once you have booked accommodation along your route you are committed to that route. On the plus side, once you have booked accommodation along your route you are committed to that route! This isn´t as daft as it might sound – once you are a couple of days into your trip you may find your enthusiasm flagging a little as leg muscles and the saddle make themselves felt, particularly if the weather is bad, and having a booked room with a guaranteed hot shower at the end of the day should reduce the temptation to give up or cut things short.

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Downloads: 1
Written by: Penny Johnson
Available File Types:Text
Words: 1100