Bicycle Info

By Robert Earle Howells

Years ago, I was on a group bike tour riding through France. We’d regularly hear an exhortative: “Allez LeMond! Allez America!” How had they spotted us as Americans? Didn’t we look like any band of Euro club cyclists out for a training ride? Then I heard my answer from a bystander, who added: “J’aime vos casques!” (”Love your helmets!”) Of course. Helmets were rare in Europe a decade ago, and they were good-naturedly poking fun.

I mention this to illustrate a truism of bicycle touring anywhere. When you ride a bike in a strange place, you become part of that place. Sensory memory, much more than physical exertion, is the powerful allure of bicycle touring. That is, if all goes well. Here are some tips to make sure it will.

Can You Handle It?
Novice riders can manage 20 miles a day with very little advance training, if you have a baseline level of fitness by way of walking or jogging. Far better, of course, is to start riding several months before your trip, at least a few days a week on an indoor bike. If your trip exceeds 40 miles a day, you’re in for a challenge. But if you’ve been doing your training, stepping up to those slightly longer distances won’t be difficult. In any event, nearly everyone welcomes one mid-trip rest day. And remember, the institution of the sag wagon is nearly universal.

There is one dirty little secret involved here: Bike touring is hard on your butt if you’re not used to riding. Utilize those advance months in the saddle to develop the necessary butt toughness.

Essential Skills
As the saying goes, learning the skills necessary for an extended cycling tour is as easy as falling off a bike. Luckily, once you achieve good balance atop your two wheels, the falling will not be such a problem.

After that, there are only three other areas to focus on: pacing, gears, and braking. Cycling tours require several hours in the saddle, and you won’t want to burn out your quads in the first few hours, so learn how to pace yourself to go the distance. It is equally important to know when and how to use your different gears. Keep in mind that you should avoid changing gears as you push full steam up a hill. It’s just about the fastest way to break your chain. Finally, touring demands you know how to brake effectively, slowing yourself down without coming to a complete standstill. Otherwise your pace will be broken.

Gear Up
Most tour operators generally offer a bike-rental option, saving you the headache of transporting your own bike. Make sure, however, the bikes have a triple chainwheel, which means it has a range of gears that’ll get you up those ubiquitous “rolling hills.” Also preferred are drop handlebars rather than mountain-bike-style bars: Drop bars let you vary your hand position and tuck down out of the wind. Of course, if you have become attached to your own set of wheels, you usually have the option of bringing your bike with you. If you’re traveling by plane, ask a local bike shop to box your bike and prepare it as checked baggage; the whole thing should weigh less than 70 pounds to meet typical airline limits. Once you arrive, a guide on the tour should be able to help reassemble it.

Then, of course, you’ll need something for carrying incidentals like a camera and snacks. Some companies offer handlebar bags for just this reason; you may find fanny pack works just as well.

Finally, remember that there’s a darn good reason why cyclists wear that odd-looking synthetic clothing: It dries quickly, and the padded shorts prevent chafing in your nether regions. Bring two or three sets, plus a water-resistant windbreaker (made of a breathable microfiber) and tights if the weather might be chilly. You’ll also need gloves and a proper helmet.

Speak the Language
Drop bars: Old-fashioned curlicue-type handlebars, like the ones on your old 10-speed. This is the preferred configuration for road touring because it lets you get down out of the wind and provides a number of different hand positions.

Triple chainwheel: A three-cog setup in the front that provides a wider range of gearing than a two-cog chainwheel. Such gearing gives you a fighting chance of getting up long, hard hills.

Peloton: Any tightly packed group of riders. Also known as a paceline. Riders in a peloton can work together against the wind (generally a far more formidable foe than hills) by alternately tucking into one another’s slipstreams and taking brief turns fighting the wind at the front of the group.

Spinning: The key to both riding long distances and burning fat. Experienced riders “spin” at higher rpms in lower gears, allowing them to ride for hours while maintaining a moderate heart rate and suppleness in the legs, rather than pushing hard in high-resistance gears, which burns out knees and leg muscles.

Sag wagon: A van or car that sweeps a bike-touring route, providing bike tourists with sustenance, maintenance, and–if need be–a ride.

Honking: Refers not to what rude motorists do, but rather what you do to get up a very steep section of road (i.e., stand on the pedals and maintain a steady cadence).

Robert Earle Howells is editor of Outside magazine’s annual Buyer’s Guide.