Just volunteered for coast-to-coast; what have I done?
Discussion
Here at school, the rugby teams are organising a coast to coast ride to help raise money for their tour to South Africa. They weren't sure how many more people they needed so my mate, who is in one of the teams, suddenly shouted 'Adam will do it!'. Now I didn't say no because I thought it might be a good idea to give it a shot. Thing is, I'm far from the fittest guy around and only do mountain biking as a hobby and also ride to my weekend workplace, nothing serious. Have I just volunteered for something I have no hope of surviving? I'm keen but keep thinking it might take a lot of training.
Any comments/advice greatly received, thanks.
Any comments/advice greatly received, thanks.
Parrot of Doom said:
Well you'll need a proper road bike for starters.
lol! you've not seen the c2c track in the north east then? I certainly wouldn't want to do it on a road bike. I've done it many moons ago, whitehaven to sunderland on a bastid heavy downhill bike (marin team DH with Monster T's on). Ideally I'd do it on a hardtail XC bike. It's really not that bad provided you pace yourself and don't try too hard. I spoke to a few people who did it when I was asked to do it, and the best advice I was given is plan your stops and don't try and do it faster than you're comfortable with, it's far less fun when you've knackered yourself on the first day.
Also, I'd be weary of the track around consett way, especially if you're on a nice bike as there's a few rogues around there.
Otherwise it's a great ride and well worth doing, especially if there's a decent crowd of you. I'd also suggest buying a VERY comfortable seat, and annealing your undercarriage with a mallet to desensitize it
the selle royal razor blade I had certainly left me a bit sore for a few days after. R1 GTR said:
Stu R said:
Parrot of Doom said:
Well you'll need a proper road bike for starters.
Ideally I'd do it on a hardtail XC bike. 
Will probably invest in some road rubber though. Not everyone has road bikes so shouldn't be problem really.
Depends which route you are doing, there is a tarmac route, a mixed surface route and an out and out off road route across the peaks and fells which is very demanding 
and best completed on a hard tail MB with suitable XC tyres.Good luck, I'd like to fit the C2C in next year.
How many days are you doing it over? The May eddtion of WMB has an article on the C2C done mainly off road. One had a HT, one a FS and the other a Rigid. Worth a gander I'd say - I don't work for the publisher - it might be up on BikeRadar.com by now.
How many days are you doing it over? The May eddtion of WMB has an article on the C2C done mainly off road. One had a HT, one a FS and the other a Rigid. Worth a gander I'd say - I don't work for the publisher - it might be up on BikeRadar.com by now.
mk1fan said:
Good luck, I'd like to fit the C2C in next year.
How many days are you doing it over? The May eddtion of WMB has an article on the C2C done mainly off road. One had a HT, one a FS and the other a Rigid. Worth a gander I'd say - I don't work for the publisher - it might be up on BikeRadar.com by now.
It's over 3 days and pretty sure its on road. Although off road sounds fun! How many days are you doing it over? The May eddtion of WMB has an article on the C2C done mainly off road. One had a HT, one a FS and the other a Rigid. Worth a gander I'd say - I don't work for the publisher - it might be up on BikeRadar.com by now.
As long as you're comfortable riding your bike for say five hours then you won't have any problems. Just pace yourself, it's only 120-mile odd. Over three days that's 40-miles a day which is easily doable in 4-hours. The 'hardyness' of your bum is going to be your limiting factor.
ETA: Where's the sponsorship link? Can we donate?
ETA: Where's the sponsorship link? Can we donate?
Edited by mk1fan on Sunday 13th April 15:52
I'm resurrecting this thread as I've just had a call saying I've been drafted back in (was declined due to limited places). I'm getting most of the details tomorrow but what I do know now is that the route is:
Day 1: Whitehaven - Penrith
Day 2: Penrith - Allenhead (sp?)
Day 3: Allenhead - Tynemouth
Anyone done this route or anything similar? Whats it like?
Suppose I should start getting some road miles in and see how (un)comfy it's going to be. Seems like I'll be using my standard Hardrock, shouldn't be too bad?
Day 1: Whitehaven - Penrith
Day 2: Penrith - Allenhead (sp?)
Day 3: Allenhead - Tynemouth
Anyone done this route or anything similar? Whats it like?
Suppose I should start getting some road miles in and see how (un)comfy it's going to be
. Seems like I'll be using my standard Hardrock, shouldn't be too bad?We did it in three while i was at school.
- One of the guys was mahooosivly properly unfit, and asmatic, and made it ok!
- We where just on hardtail XC's (cromo 01 hardrock comp for me) doing whitehaven to sunderland.
Three days is proberbly a better time frame. And it should be a good ride.
Daniel
- One of the guys was mahooosivly properly unfit, and asmatic, and made it ok!
- We where just on hardtail XC's (cromo 01 hardrock comp for me) doing whitehaven to sunderland.
Three days is proberbly a better time frame. And it should be a good ride.
Daniel
You'll be fine, as long as you get some decent cycling shorts and take plenty of energy food and liquids.
The worst bit for me was climbing up to Hartside. A very welcome chocolate cake at the top, I can tell you!
Check out http://www.c2c-guide.co.uk/ for more details and, most of all, enjoy it.
edited to add... I used my Hardrock too, pretty good choice for the ride, overall.
The worst bit for me was climbing up to Hartside. A very welcome chocolate cake at the top, I can tell you!
Check out http://www.c2c-guide.co.uk/ for more details and, most of all, enjoy it.
edited to add... I used my Hardrock too, pretty good choice for the ride, overall.
Edited by NeilBeforeZod on Saturday 7th June 00:14
I did support vehicle for a team of six from my workplace. carried all the tents / bags etc in the ambulance, cooked the bacon butties and made tea. Really enjoyable.
The climb up to Hartside was a pain even in the ambulance as it appears the van is scared of heights.
The guys found the climb after Hartside worse, we did Whitehaven to Sunderland marina in three days. first leg was 52 miles, second leg was a bit less, Last leg I have no Idea as they all bypassed Consett while I sat in a carpark waiting for them! Not a paticularly nice area.
We had a camera on one of the bikes running most of the time and the whole thing is preserved for posterity on my works PC.
Whichever route you choose, good luck.
Do plenty of roadwork training as one of our lot didn't and found it very hard going despite going to the gym every day for three months prior to the trip.
The climb up to Hartside was a pain even in the ambulance as it appears the van is scared of heights.
The guys found the climb after Hartside worse, we did Whitehaven to Sunderland marina in three days. first leg was 52 miles, second leg was a bit less, Last leg I have no Idea as they all bypassed Consett while I sat in a carpark waiting for them! Not a paticularly nice area.
We had a camera on one of the bikes running most of the time and the whole thing is preserved for posterity on my works PC.
Whichever route you choose, good luck.
Do plenty of roadwork training as one of our lot didn't and found it very hard going despite going to the gym every day for three months prior to the trip.
I did the (an) offroad route with 3 friends when I was 17, carrying all kit for camping in a total of 5 days, setting off from St Bees Head near midday on the first day and arriving in South Shields midday on the fifth day. We were relatively fit but it wasn't too strenuous, so the road route should be fine.
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