Preparation

When you start a trip it is not necessary to have extraordinary fitness, this will come over the weeks in which you are touring.  It is necessary to be thoroughly familiar with you bike, and for it to fit you.  Don’t put up with a sore back or shoulders.  Go to your bike shop and get it fixed.

Obviously, if you bought your bike at Kmart, you cannot expect much in the way of expert after sales service.

Do lots of miles, but do them gently and comfortably.  In doing so, you will tune and adjust your bike so it works for you.

You will also develop your touring fitness.

Perhaps most importantly, you will learn how to ride a bike.  There is more to this than you might think.

You can probably hop on and ride down the street; chances are you learned this as a small child.  This is only step one.

The trick for bicycle touring is learning how to get into the zone.

You need to learn the cadence that works for you, that is, the rate at which you turn the pedals.  To do so, you need to learn how to use your gears effectively.  If you ride at too low a cadence you will end up with burning legs and you will be extremely uncomfortable.  You also have to learn how to pace yourself so that you can ride comfortably for a full day.

I cannot overstate how important this is.

Most people who are not riding distances tend to ride at too low a cadence.  You can buy cycle computers that will give you information about this, but it is probably not necessary.

You should be riding at a cadence of at least 60 revolutions per minute.  Higher is better.  Keep changing gears to make this happen.

As you gain experience, your cadence will increase.

When you first start, you must force yourself to use your gears to maintain your cadence.

Never, never, push against the gears going up a hill, change down.  If you can;t change down, you may need to go to your bike shop and buy another cassette, that is, the rear gear cluster.

Saddles can be an issue. For some reason, bikes are often sold with saddles that are something of an after thought.  Even with the world’s best saddle you may be a bit uncomfortable at the end of a long day, but you should experiment with different sorts.  Saddles are different for men and women.

The aim of your preparation is to ensure that a day’s ride leaves you with no surprises.  You should be able to go to bed, not uncomfortable, not exhausted and looking forward to the next day.