charity bike Ride South to North Wales

[baddy13]

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum.  This is my first multi day trip where I am trying to carry all my gear (albeit perhaps cheating slightly and staying in Youth hostels and B and B)  As in the title i am doing a charity ride (on my tod) in September from South to North Wales, trying to do mainly off road and certainly quiet roads if offroad/good singletrack not readily available.

As i don't have a tent/sleeping bag i thought it's be easy to carry all my stuff but the rucksack I'd originally designated seems too small.  I don't want panniers (just a personal preference) as I'm used to cycling with a rucksack for long day rides (70 miles ish) and I'm not bombing it so distance per day will be 50 ish miles.

Any tips on essentials/stuff not to go without.  I have a seat pack for tools and a triangle bag for energy bars/gels etc.  any other advice would be welcome.  If this is successful I hope it will lead to longer tours (hopefully for charity) but also for challenge.
I'm not one to pack loads anyway which is why i was slightly frustrated at not being able to minimize equipment enough.

Cheers, Lydia
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/28927960

http://www.justgiving.com/LydiaFranklin1

[Blackhound]

You probably don't need to carry much more than you would for a day ride.  An extra set of clothes and perhaps something for the evenings and a few toiletries.

Rucksac's do hurt my back after a while and I prefer to get my weight off my back.  You can use a rack with a dry bag on it or Alpkit have a nice drybag you can rig up with some straps to your handlebars.  Alpkit, if you have not used them,are excellent.  I have lots of their stuff.

http://www.alpkit.com/shop/cart.php?target=product&product_id=16469&category_id=250

As you are UK based there is a massive thread here with advice:

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/sick-as-a-dog-so-show-me-you-bivi-bikepacking-adventure-racing-gear

You will enjoy it, some lovely quiet tracks through mid Wales where you can ride ages without seeing anyone.

Wales has the trail centres which all have good cafe's and bike shops if anything goes wrong.

[baddy13]

Thanks for the advice.... Did a trial packing and the designated rucksack is too small, or rather my kit is too large... time to get strict with myself!  Will certainly check out the links...thanks!

[s8tannorm]

Everything Blackhound has said is spot on. If you need any specific advice about kit or routes (mid Wales can be a bit of a struggle at times) then feel free to email me stuart@forestfreeride.co.uk and I'll do what I can to help out.

[DoctorRad]

Best of luck Lydia, and if you think your route 'works' then why not add it to the "UK Routes" thread?

http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,335.0.html

I for one will be taking a good look at it to use as a long distance route. What do you reckon @s8tannorm? Any bits in there you think should really be avoided?

[baddy13]

Thanks for your e-mail re route...  I did actually plan it using paper OS Explorer maps and will double check but as far as i can see it does stick to rights of way...will take another look but maybe it didn't translate well onto map my ride...will try the site you suggested, it does look good to have the different views at the same time. 
Re prep..am going to the Peak district for a trial kit packing/biking..very much looking forward to that!

Thanks for taking the time to look at the route, it's appreciated!

[DoctorRad]

Lydia: it's possible that your Explorer maps are more up to date than those on the website I was using, so there may be new rights of way on your maps. However, there were sections of your route where there was very little sign of a trail on the Google aerial photography.

For those interested parties out of the loop, I suggested to Lydia that she took a look at the GPX of her route on http://www.bikehike.co.uk/ where you can compare Ordnance Survey mapping and Google Maps / aerial photography side-by-side. http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm provides a similar and possibly better service, but it's GPX upload / overlay seems a bit more broken to me.