It’s coming round fast… when I say “it” I am of course referring to our Annual cycle trip.  Last year… we did the The Devon Coast to Coast cycle – a popular and well known, well signed route, and as our my first cycling trip of any real length also bought about a few lessons…

1. Choice of Bike
2. Choice of Saddle
3. Accommodation
4. Trailers

The bike I had used for the Devon Coast to Coast was my only bike (at the time) a 1999 Cannondale Super V 700 Freeride. A full suspension mountain bike with massive tubeless knobbly tyres. On parts of the trip it was truly amazing (namely the longer down hill off road surfaces), unfortunately the tyres weren’t best suited to the roads and heading up the hills.

The saddle was also a mistake… lesson.  Just the day before we were due to depart my gel saddle cracked, split and got thrown out so I had to quickly find a replacement. Most would have gone for something sensible… I on the other hand decided on a super slim racing saddle – Lightweight, covered in pretty tan leather and bloody unbearable for all 100+ miles (Day 2 Dave was punished with it… so we shared the pain). It took  only a couple of days after getting home to burn it so no man may ever have to suffer again.

Accommodation – We found ourselves staying both nights in tents… at places where there were options to stay in rooms or Yurts… but since we’d been dragging tents and sleeping bags along with us it would have been rude not to use them. The first night we stopped at http://www.yarde-orchard.co.uk a wonderful little place… homecooked food, hot shower, toilets, clean and warm and there was a film night in the cafe. £6 a night per person camping and then reasonably priced meals in the evening. Staff so helpful that we were late for breakfast but still they managed to find us toast and a big pot of coffee. The second night was quite the contrast…  http://www.foxandhoundshotel.com – what a shit tip. Tried to inform people we had arrived… no one interested… the shower and toilet block was up some very ropey steps,  dirty, without power, hot water, toilet roll or privacy. We used the pub for a meal… it was nothing special… after a full days cycling a cream cracker would have been special. (Just saying) Owner/manager was rude and uninterested in anything other than shutting early. After packing up in the morning no one again was interested in taking our money or otherwise… so we left… and when I got home I left reviews for them, truly disappointing… and all because we bought tents along…  next time they can stay at home… that way we won’t need the…

Trailers. Bloody Trailers. Stuart was equipped with a single wheeled axle mounted cargo trailer, requiring him to keep all his weight over the bars for the most part. I had opted for the 2 wheeled seat post mount trailer… The “CT Adventure 2″ ideal since I could easily swap it between mine and Dave’s bike in minutes… providing I had checked they both had the same size seatpost. Bugger. Stuarts trailer, despite the weight seemed to survive quite well. Mine on the other hand…  It looked a little more substantial than others available and was purchased for £73 from ebay – Local pickup too! I discovered a warning sticker once I got it home… “Do not exceed 10kg and 12mph”… what kind of adventure is that? Well it took all of about 10 minutes to load 20kg of luggage into it and after crawling up the 1st hill out of Ilfracombe with it I soon reached 20mph+. By the end of the 1st day the we’d had 1 puncture and the wheels were looking a little heavy on the camber… I wheeled the trailer up next to the tent… make that 2 punctures! On either day 2 or 3 we hit quite a bumpy bridleway… Trailer wasn’t keen and at a fair speed decided to make a break for it. The wheels by this point were pointing totally different directions. I loaded the bearings up with grease and bent them back as straight as I could. It got us home… but went straight back on ebay… I got £45 back on that. Money that this year is being spent on B&B’s.

As you can imagine… The bike… those tyres, the trailer and the saddle made for quite an uncomfortable experience. This year will be different. Since cycling to work twice a week last year as well I have a better idea of how to prepare myself. The Cannondale Super V will remain in the garage… the Cannondale Bad Boy will be coming along… More on that soon.