Essentials for Long-Distance Cycling

Cycle touring can be done in so many different ways. One of the joys of travelling this way is finding out the routines, gear and approaches that suit you.

All the cyclists I met had different priorities for how they travelled – for some, the need to be light and fast guided every choice in equipment and style of travelling. Others had particular comforts that took precedence – the ability to cook certain types of food, or to have music. Others had side projects that required consideration – photography, collecting stories, world record recognition and the regulations that went along with that. Some people wanted to travel the fastest route from A to B. Others were after the beautiful and wild scenery that comes with dirt tracks and out of the way places.

Given this diversity in priorities, there is no way to accurately recommend how others travel by bike. However, equipment-wise, this is what worked for me:

Rig

• Bike. I went with a hybrid bike, since I was told it had the best of both worlds of being lighter than a mountain bike but sturdier than a road bike.
• Trailer.  There is some debate when it comes to trailer vs panniers. People say that a trailer will cut down wind resistance and make it easy to move your gear. (My opinion is that Trailers provide much better company and conversation than panniers which, after all, just fancy bags.)
• Attachments – odometer, lights, bar ends, time-trial bar, handlebar bag, metres of reflective tape.

Bike Maintenance

• Bike pump.
• The right size Allen keys and screwdrivers to tighten and loosen the main parts of your bike.
• Puncture kit to fix a puncture and change an inner tube.
• Hose clamps. Coming in a range of sizes, these adjustable metal rings can temporarily secure almost anything. I would be confident setting a broken arm, or treating a snakebite with one as well, if I had to.
• If you’ll be a long way from bike shops, you might feel better carrying a spare tyre in case you wear through one unexpectedly.
• If you are confident with repairs you may also want to have a complete set of spare parts such as spokes, brake pads, gear cables. For a lot of these things, there’s only a small chance you’ll need them, and if you do, you’ll probably have time to make it to a bike shop before your bike stops functioning.

Fashion

• Knicks, ie riding shorts with padding in the backside. NB you are not allowed to wear undies underneath.
• A set of warm clothes.
• A set of smart clothes you could wear if someone asks you to dinner.
• Clothes that will cut out the sun – gloves, legionnaires hat for under the helmet, sunglasses, second-hand men’s work shirts are ideal, especially if they are so secondhand that they’ve worn thin and soft.
• Riding shoes with cleats – I found some that I could wear off my bike as well as on it. I wasn’t able to go on long hikes in them or on a catwalk, but it minimised shoe packing space.
• Something waterproof that won’t make you cook inside.
• As much fluoro as possible.

Food

A big question for any cyclist on the road is whether to cook or not to cook. If you value travelling lightly and can psychologically withstand the tedium of eating nearly the same thing every day, then not cooking might be the way to go.

Tins of food are ideal. Bread can last a good few days if you don’t mind it getting a bit misshapen. Powdered milk is easy to add to muesli or other cereal.

My culinary breakthrough was with cous cous. It is of course most delicious soaked in boiling water, maybe even vegetable stock, and probably then fried with some butter, raisins, caramelised onion and other vegetables and served with a tagine. However, if you don’t have a Moroccan larder and cupboard full of cooking equipment, pouring some cold water over plain cous cous and letting it sit for ten minutes does create an edible (and only slightly crunchy) carbohydrate to eat with a tin of baked beans.