Wet feet must stay dry - success for all for the first 5 days
Finish the day by 3pm - this didn't always work out. But we decided starting at 8am would give us plenty of time to relax and recover in the evenings.
At least 3 lunches a day needed to be consumed.
Training
Definitely a good level of fitness is needed, specific bike fitness would help. To make it even more comfortable for yourself, getting a few 6+ hour days under your belt would be an idea. As would some consecutive days of long rides. None of us did the later two points and still found it fine however!
What I would highly recommend is taking the bike bags and kit out for a spin. Helen found it she couldn't lower her saddle with the bag on making the downhills difficult. I had to use a fair amount of gaffer tape on the handle bar bag to prevent it rubbing whole is the bag.
Mapping
There are various different C2C routes documented, whether that be on blogs, commercial cycle holiday websites or a book. A road map of the whole of Scotland provided a good overview to work out the day to day route. For the more fine details of the daily plan, the hikebike site is a great resource for making maps, getting an elevation graph and by using a combination of 1:50 OS maps and Google maps an accurate distance can be gained too. It is also possible to upload the maps onto your GPS. We downloaded the routes found on this site and used the Locus Map app - Matt did all the work uploading it to his phone so I don't know any techy details of how this worked!
Accommodation
We had a couple of realistic options for accommodation. One was to camp/bothy - we could carry everything but after doing this on the Trans Cambrian the thought of it seemed horrendous for this length of time. On reflection, with some additional bike bags, the freedom of this, with the weather we had would be amazing. We did think about having a support crew, but this really would have taken something away from the adventure.
We went for the hostel option. We only booked the hostels a couple of weeks in advance, this did result in a lack of options in the ideal spots, but it all fell in to place after a day of organising/working out the jigsaw. As the route neared the east coast, the options for hostels disappeared, but being more populated meant there were a surprising amount of people offering couch surfing.
Day 1 - Caravan at Corran arnisdaleferry@gmail.com
Day 2 Morag's lodge at Fort Augustus
Day 3 Strathspey hostel in Newtonmore
Day 4 Aviemore bunkhouse
Day 5 Smugglers hostel in Tomintoul
Day 6 Couch surfing at Aboyne
Day 7 Couch surfing at Brechin
Kit (needed or not)
Group kit:
Emergency group shelter (not used but essential)
Pump (used)
Shocks pump (used)
2 x inner tubes per bike (used all but 2)
Puncture repair kit (used)
2 x mulitool with T25 torx, spoke key, chain tool (allen keys used)
Spare derailleur hangers (not used)
Tyre levers (used)
Wet lube (used)
Quick links (not used)
Gear cable (not used)
Lighter (not used)
Cable ties (used)
Gaffer tape (used)
First aid kit (used)
Bike lock (used)
Sun cream (used)
Insect repellent (not used)
Chami cream (used)
Phone battery pack (used)
Shampoo (used)
Tupperware box (used)
Personal Kit:
Emergency ration pack (not used, but feel it is worth having)
Head torch (not used)
Back light (not used)
Batteries (not used)
Cycling glasses with changeable lenses (used)
Waterproof jacket (used)
Shoes (used)
Long and short gloves (used)
1 fleece (used)
2 cycling shorts (used)
1 short sleeve base layer (used)
1 long sleeve base layer (used)
sealskin/neoprene socks (used)
1 walking socks (used)
Buff (used)
Pants x2 (used)
Thin socks (used)
Flip flops (used)
Light weight trousers (used)
1 evening base layer (used)
Phone charger (used)
Water bottle (used)
Camelbak (used)
Helmet (used)
Carrying devices:
Jo - 10 litre rucksack and Alpkit Joey with Airlock handle bar bag
Matt - 40 litre rucksack (not filled), saddle bag, bar bag for phone and snacks
Helen - 10 litre rucksack and Alpkit Koala
Bikes:
We had 2 full suspension bike and a hard tail amongst us. There are pros and cons of each.
I had a Giant Liv Intrigue. Being a full sus provided a smoother ride for the down hills of course and overall I personally feel it really helped with reducing saddle soreness and lower back pain. Matt who had a full sus Sunn found there is more to go wrong, when his rear shock needed regular injections of air. With the combination of a Brookes saddle, Matt had the least issue with saddle soreness.
Helen's Trek hardtail was naturally, much easier going on the road and could easily take a large saddle bag. Whether it was coincidence she suffered the worst saddle soreness, who knows.
I won't say the route is suited more to a hardtail or full sus, just personal preference.
Food
We found that eating regularly was needed. We didn't go much more than an hour and half without consuming something. Matt made a kilo of chocolate fudge which lasted the whole trip and was a great energy and mentality boost. Peanuts and crisps were a good salty snack. 2 sandwiches provided some good substance, as did pork pies. Helen made a pasta and egg thing, which for egg lovers would work a treat. Other snacks consisted of chocolate bars, cereal bars, fruit, carrots
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