Equipment and tech stuff

If, like me, you think nothing of holding an hour long conversation with a friend, or even someone you have met in the street, on the subject of gear ratios, then this section of the blog is for you.

Bike

I was very clear when I started to think about riding LEJOG that I needed a bike with mudguards, as the thought of riding for 85-100 miles in the rain was a real no-no. At the time, my winter bike was a Kona Honky Tonk, a lovely ride but a tad on the heavy side, so I looked at what was on the market and applied the following criteria:

• steel frame (for comfort)
• fittings for mudguards and rack (the latter if necessary)
• carbon fork
• proven pedigree
• sensible geometry

Having done the research, it was a simple decision to go for a Condor Fratello frameset. I already own two other Condors, and the geometry on the Fratello was broadly the same so off to Condor I went and bought a 52cm Fratello in slate grey:

http://www.condorcycles.com/Audax-Commute-Touring/9457-Condor-Fratello-Frameset/flypage.tpl.html

The plan was to build this up using the components from the Kona in late summer 2013 and then spend a pleasant autumn, winter and spring getting the miles in. This plan was derailed a little just after I bought the frame as I suffered an injury at the end of August requiring emergency surgery, which meant that I could not ride a bike until late October. Anyway, I built the frame up, and managed to get out half a dozen times before Christmas, which was enough to know that the frame was a good choice.

The frame was built up using the following kit off the Kona: Deda bars & stem, Campag (not Campy!) Centaur front & rear mechs, 12-25 Veloce 10 speed cassette, SRAM chain, and Mavic Open Pro rims on Campag Veloce 32 spoke hubs, Campag Veloce shifters plus unbranded deep-drop brake calipers. Winter tyres were 25mm Continental Grand Prix 4 Season. Time RXS pedals from the Kona completed the build.

I swapped the Kona's FSA chainset for a new SRAM Rival 50-34 compact chainset on the grounds of better availability of replacement bottom brackets and ease of maintenance.

I also changed the Specialized Toupe saddle on a Kona-branded seatpost for a Brooks B17 (bought used on Ebay) and fitted a carbon seatpost to help take the sting out of poor road surfaces.

Once I started training seriously, I also swapped the old Elite Ciussi Inox bottle cages for new Elite Custom Race cages, as these held the Elite Nanogel bottles very securely. I purchased the Nanogel bottles specifically for cold winter rides and they were very much fit for purpose in that they kept hot drinks warm for a couple of hours.

For the last few training rides and the ride itself, I swapped over the Veloce wheels for a pair of Mavic Open Pro rims on Campag Record 32 spoke hubs, again shod with 25mm Continental GP 4 Season tyres. The Veloce wheels went in the car as spares, and were thankfully never needed. Both pairs of wheels were hand built for me at Condor Cycles.

Other equipment

For navigation, I used a Garmin Edge 705 plus AA maps and a Cateye Strada computer as back up; the Strada was invaluable as I could keep an eye on the mileage whilst using the Edge to navigate, and I did not have to keep swapping screens on the Edge.

The Strada was not fixed to the bars, but instead I kept it with my route cards in the map pocket of my Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative handlebar bag:

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/products/revolution-adventure-bar-bag-3l?bct=browse%2faccessories%2fbags

This bag was invaluable on the ride; it not only kept my route cards in clear sight and dry, but also kept my supply of snacks easy to hand, and accessible on the move. It also contained my Goretex rain jacket, plus my cafe lock and a second spare inner tube, all of which otherwise would have had to go in my jersey pockets.

I also had a small Specialized bag under my saddle, containing a spare inner tube, multitool and tyre levers. I also had a few pairs of nitrile mechanics gloves tucked away, an absolute essential if you want to ride with clean hands after fixing a puncture.

Gear ratios

During my training, I had ridden the bike fully loaded around the Surrey hills, and had climbed the likes of Leith Hill in 34x25, not with ease but certainly feeling like I did not need anything lower. Having said that, there were a couple of times in Devon and Wales where 34x28 would have come in useful. I did find myself in 34x25 just about every day, and that was on a relatively lightly loaded bike; take a look at my Garmin HR readings and decide for yourself whether or not you need a lower ratio. If it helps I weigh about 180 lbs/82kg.

Equipment wear and tear

During the build up to the ride (January-July), the weather was on the damp side, with record rainfall in a couple of months. I destroyed two pairs of tyres (replacing each time with GP 4 Seasons) as a result of the gravel washed onto the roads, went through a couple of sets of brake blocks, and replaced the bottom bracket bearings after a particularly wet ride when I was forced to ride through a flood which came over the bottom bracket. I changed the gear and brake cables before I started LEJOG just to be on the safe side, and also swapped the pedals, which needed the bearing replacing after the rigours of the winter, for an identical pair off my track bike.

On the ride itself, the bike did have one off day, when everything was making clicking and grinding noises; this was my fault, as the bike has got drenched on the back of the car on the way to Cornwall and I had failed to dry it off properly before I started LEJOG. I lubed the wheels bearings, chain, and front & rear mechs, and regreased the bottom bracket, and everything worked as it should do.

The other replacement I made was to change the handlebar tape for Fizik bar tape with gel pads underneath; this made a real difference on the rougher sections of the ride , and spared my hands from taking a serious amount of punishment.

Riding position

I did think about getting a bike fit before LEJOG, but after 40 years of riding a bike reckoned that I could probably work it out for myself, which I did. The changes I made to my normal riding position were very simple; I fitted a 1 cm shorter stem than normal, added 1 cm of spacers under the stem to raise the bars and rotated the bars very slightly to make riding on the hoods more comfortable. I finished the ride with no neck strain, which had been a real source of worry to me, as I suffered a serious neck injury many years ago and I wanted to minimise any negative impact in that area.

I will cover clothing, shoes etc in the kit list section of this blog.