My first tour (I didn't make it)

[RickH]

If you don't like drinking plain water (or can't train yourself to at least tolerate it neat) then a powdered energy drink (my personal preference is Torq Energy Drink if I want more than plain water for a hard &/or hot ride) or a concentrated cordial would save significant amounts of weight. Getting tap water to replenish bottles is hardly ever a problem in this country and you are already carrying spare water (maybe more than you need already).

Rick

[OnYourRight]

People not wanting to drink water is a uniquely British problem in my experience. It’s probably caused by parents giving their children sweetened drinks such as squash throughout their childhood.

Since you were trained to dislike water you can probably train yourself to like it. It is after all just about the most natural thing in the world!

[pjclinch]

.....
16 bottles of lucozade (figured 4 per day) - I can't drink water while cycling it makes me feel sick
.....

Lucozade is just empty calories and bad for you, esp if you are over weight at all. I wouldn't touch it at all, least of all carry 16 bottles of the stuff!
I'd deal with your water problem - just get into the habit of drinking water you will get used to it in no time! Just normal quantities i.e when you feel thirsty (and tea, coffee, beer etc.)- there's been a load of nonsense about "hydration" mainly coming from companies selling drink products.

I think that's fair. Water is pretty fundamental stuff, and also neutral. You might not particularly enjoy it but if it makes you sick then there is something very wrong. I doubt that there is, or you wouldn't be lugging big loads on a bike, so I suspect it's more of a mind game thing which is well worth your efforts to overcome. You can usually get water so you don't need to carry much (which helps with your total load), and it won't do you any harm. But if you're really having trouble then a mix of water and fruit juice with a little salt (no more than a teaspoon per litre) is a reasonable DIY energy/hydration drink. But really, get used to water.

Avoid an excess of refined sugars (i.e., sugary drinks and sweets). Lots of refined sugar (i.e., glucose syrup in Lucozade) is very easily absorbed and that gives you a quick energy rush... which sounds like what you want but the body reacts to the sudden increase by a surge in insulin production which tends to overdo matters and you subsequently get an energy crash. Energy is usually better going in using stuff that takes a bit longer for your body to work on, like fruit and cereals. If you're sweating a lot you'll maybe want a salt top-up and then something like crisps give you both salt and starchy carbs. I'm not a nutrition expert, but I'm 99.9% sure that this advice is better than several bottles of Lucozade!

The Tarp is not really a tarp, didn't know how to explain it, it's a big green cover with eye holes from either Wilki or Poundshop. I got it for putting under my tent if the ground didn't look perfect. Forgot all about it and ended up just tiring it over my bike. Probably wouldn't bother taking it this time.

Groundsheet protection is generally only worth it if you're on really rough stuff. Any commercial camp site is unlikely to need one.

The Pump is same make and has no weight at all.

I've found over the years that once I've added a small pile of "this weighs and bulks basically nothing, what's the harm?" stuff I've got a moderate chunk of both bulk and weight. It is worth being at least moderately ruthless with this kind of thing.

I fancy Spd pedals but the shoes put me off. Will look at some kind of clip if I can keep my shoes/sandals.

You can get SPuD sandals. great things, and for warm weather it means no need to take anything else as well as your pedalling getting more efficient.

I didn't mention clothes as I didn't really take any apart from spare shirt. I had shorts on under my track suit bottoms and that is easy enough for a few days. I don't wear any cycling clothes at all, can't stand it. Much prefer to ride in what am wearing everyday.

Have a look at more general outdoor pursuits stuff. A great many people wear cotton Ts everyday, but a cotton T absorbs moisture very easily and takes an age to dry. A wicking base-layer top is usually lighter, more comfortable (especially on a hot day) and much quicker drying. Doesn't pong so much after a few days either! With that last point in mind, if it's a few days consider some extra shorts too. Typically worth having a full dry set so if you get monsooned you don't have to spend the evening in damp stuff. They'll take up much less space than 16 bottles of Lucozade, and probably be more useful too.

Pete.

[theDaveB]

If you don't like drinking plain water (or can't train yourself to at least tolerate it neat) then a powdered energy drink (my personal preference is Torq Energy Drink if I want more than plain water for a hard &/or hot ride)

How much drink does one of them make ?

Seems expensive, I only buy Locozade Sport when it's on offer and stock pile it.

Going to keep trying water while doing day rides this week and see how it goes. It's not a recent thing me feeling sick, remember walking up Snowdon years ago and only having water and every time I drank it I felt sick.

Dave

[OnYourRight]

Going to keep trying water while doing day rides this week and see how it goes. It's not a recent thing me feeling sick, remember walking up Snowdon years ago and only having water and every time I drank it I felt sick.

Perhaps you could try drinking less but more frequently, just taking a sip here and there.

Lucozade probably doesn’t do much harm in small quantities (though aspartame gives me an instant headache), but it’s not healthy in the long run as a substitute for water. And just as importantly, it weighs a lot!

[pjclinch]

Going to keep trying water while doing day rides this week and see how it goes. It's not a recent thing me feeling sick, remember walking up Snowdon years ago and only having water and every time I drank it I felt sick.

Perhaps you could try drinking less but more frequently, just taking a sip here and there.

Beat me to it! Little and often is usually the key.

If you're touring and are running low on energy/salts (lost through sweat) you can stop, rest and have a bite to eat: no need to get it all out of a bottle, but if you do want to drink it then a powder is a much more bulk/weight effective way to cart it about. One of the things about a sports drink designed to replace salts is they tend to taste pretty dire unless you need salt (in which case they're great!), and of course when you're trying them out for taste the first time you typically don't need the salt because you haven't done anything yet...

Good quality sports drinks are reasonably expensive, and while they will help you replenish energy and salts more effectively than plain water, unless you're going at it pretty hard then it's not that much of a win.

Pete.

[mjr]

I don't think anyone suggested those zero tablets yet? Still expensive but it might flavour the water enough for you and at least you could just add it to water obtained during the tour and wouldn't be carrying 4kg or more of sports drink.

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/product ... lyte-drink

[Aikon]

I've got 20 of the SiS version of these hydration tablets for my ride across France, enough for 3-4 bottles a day, I used them on JoGLE and coped fine with them & occasional bottles of water.

[theDaveB]

Yeah I had some free samples of them with a product I bought (charge spoon I think) and they where nice but as you say expensive.

Edit: been packing my trailer without the lucozade and lots more space

Dave

[thidwick]

When I were a young lad (many,many moons ago) a friend & i used to tour on a tandem. We had little money, and the tandem was built from bits (3 speed hub on the back!). We didn't take water at all, bottle cages were far too fancy for us..... but we became experts at extracting clean water from mains-fed cattle troughs near wherever we were camping, usually a wide & quiet road verge. (Once on a roundabout, and once on a nice flat grassy space which we discovered in the morning was a cricket pitch).

Ah, the simple life....

[wearwell]

I've got 20 of the SiS version of these hydration tablets for my ride across France, enough for 3-4 bottles a day, I used them on JoGLE and coped fine with them & occasional bottles of water.

Done heavily laden Lejog and several long traverses of France and other countries without ever feeling the need for these supplements. Water is fine (and free everywhere if you ask nicely so you only need to carry 2 half litre bottles to refill) , plus a varied normal diet (with extra salt sprinkled on if you feel the need, and as much tea, coffee, beer, as you feel like). We do tend to have packet soups as back-up and these tend to be very salty.
OK so if you were a super fit competitive racing cyclist working at the extreme of your ability then some careful nutrition science might make a difference, but for ordinary tourers like me it's unnecessary and probably a rip off.

[Aikon]

I do quite like the added flavour but am happy to get my calories from food, I've never been a fan of empty calories so to speak.

[Slowroad]

Prompted by this and a couple of other topics, I've started a topic on equipment lists. Hope it's useful. viewtopic.php?f=42&t=90160&p=818392#p818392

[nmnm]

Sounds like a successful trip - over the mountain and the best-tasting coffee ever!

You'll no doubt be intrigued to try the route again but with some packing ammendments, maybe one bottle of diluting juice rather than all the lucozade.

I agree with others, the pushing on foot will have given your legs an extra battering. You could do worse than taking stairs rather than escalators in everyday life, in training for your next lucozade-vs-mountain challenge!

[graymee]

I've toured with 4 loaded panniers and with a similar trailer (Edinburgh Bike Coop) and prefer the trailer.

I reckon you were carrying too much kit, this is my set up



but this is camping kit for 2 of us for a week plus.

Get rid of the Lucozade, you can fill up bottles with water almost anywhere and add squash, it's much less weight to carry and would last much longer than 16 bottles of lucozade.