Offroad Touring

There is plenty written about cycle touring on road, not least from the excellent CTC. However advice about how to undertake multi day cycle trips offroad is much harder to come by. Find below my thoughts on the subject from my limited experiences under the headings:

Where to go

What type of bike to use

What to take

How to carry your kit

Where to go

There are several recognised offroad long distance routes. In the UK these are:

• Sea to Sea (C2C) cycle route. Runs across the North of England from Whitehaven or Workington on the Cumbrian coast to Sunderland or Tynemouth on the North Sea coast.
• Great Glen Way. Fort William to Inverness crossing Scotland; 73 miles mainly offroad.

In addition there are a couple of unofficial coast to coast routes that regularly get attempted by intrepid bikers. In England you can roughly follow Wainrights walking route from St Bees to Robin Hood’s Bay. North of the border I can highly recommend Kyle of Lochalsh to Montrose/Aberdeen which I did in 2005.

Further afield you could try:

• Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. The longest offroad route in the world. 2490 miles from Canada to Mexico.
• Munda Biddi Trail, Western Australia.
• Queen Charlottes Track, NZ.
• Tour de Mont Blanc, the Alps. By following the lowest walking route it is possible to complete a 3-4 day circumnavigation of the highest peak in the Alps passing through 3 countries in the process.

I am sure there are plenty of others. If you know of any, please let me know as I’ll probably want a go.

In addition you can make your own route up. This is harder work, more risky but much more rewarding. It is a matter of stringing several days worth of goof offroad cycling into a tour, sorting out how your going to get to the start/finish (always easier on a circular route) and doing it.

Crossing the River Pattack with a heavily loaded bike

What type of bike to use

The hardy types of the Rough Stuff Fellowship take road touring bikes into the hills. For some routes on well made up tracks, such as the Sustrans C2C, you can get away with this. However, as the name suggests, the most suitable bike to use is probably going to be a mountain bike.

The most simple type of mountain bike is the fully rigid frame. Whilst these are perfectly adequate a pair of suspension forks will take a lot of the sting out of the trail and allow you to travel, particularly downhill, at much faster speeds. Modern suspension forks are light and more upmarket models will have some kind of active or passive lockout so you don’t lose energy on climbs or road sections.

In many ways full suspension cross country bikes, such as the Specialized Epic, Trek Fuel or Giant Trance, are ideal for covering long distances. The suspension will mean that you don’t get rattled to death all day and will thus tire less. However all that fancy suspension comes at a cost, both financially and in weight. Even the best full sus bike is going to be heavier than the equivalent hardtail. If you are thinking of using a pannier rack you may also have problems fitting it to a full suspension bike.

Downhill bikes are not suitable for touring due to their weight.

Disc brakes have probably been the greatest recent development in mountain biking providing better braking, especially in wet and muddy conditions. I would certainly not be without mine. However, if you are doing a tour to somewhere remote particularly or if it is a dry country I would strongly consider rim brakes. These are easier to fix and to get parts for. As with full suspension frames, disc brakes complicate the use of pannier racks, although not insurmountably, as you will see below.

In terms of gearing, if you are going on a very long tour and are feeling flush it might be worth investing in a Rohloff hub gear. The enclosed gears will need no maintenance (except an oil change every 10 000km). This will not be true of a conventional derailleur set up.

What to take

I will not prescribe a specific kit list here, only detail a few essentials. Chances are you will be visiting a remote and possibly mountainous area and you should be prepared accordingly.

• Map and compass and know how to use them.
• Survival blanket and whistle. I have carried these for years, and thankfully never used them.
• Bike tools and spares. Probably a minimum of a good multi tool with chain tool, spare inner tube/s, puncture repair kit, pump and some form of tyre gaiter. If you are not familiar with how to perform basic repairs and maintenance on your bike learn before you leave.

What else you take depends on how long you are going for and where you are staying. For a short tour staying in B&Bs of hostels I would take little more than a light change of clothes and my waterproofs. The same would not be true if you were camping along the Great Divide.

How to carry your kit

As I have already alluded to, this is not as easy as with a specific road touring bike. Disc brakes and suspension get in the way and very few modern production mountain bikes come with the braze-ons to fit a pannier rack. If you can fit a rack, chances are it will be shaken to bits by the rough trails anyway.

If you are on a short trip, say a week of less, and not camping it is possible to easily carry all your gear in a small rucksack. This has the added advantage that it won’t effect the handling of the bike but can make your back and shoulders sore especially on duller road sections. The use of water bottles (also easier to refill) instead of a hydration bladder and putting heavy items in a tool wedge under the saddle can help ease the load on your back.

Choose a rucksack with a chest strap and belt. This will stop the rucksack riding up your back, particularly on steep downhills. It is worth sitting on your bike with your fully loaded bag and your helmet on to check that the two don't get in each others way and that the set up is comfortable.

This solution is not going to work if you are planning to be away for longer or carrying camping gear. Cycling with a large rucksack is difficult and uncomfortable and will raise the centre of gravity of you and the bike making you unstable. Some method of attaching kit to the bike is needed.

One solution is large saddle bag. Experts in this field, Carradice, make a 16 litre expedition bag, the SQR Tour. This bag attaches to the seat post via a quick release clamp. A certain length of seat post is thus required. This bag is only 16 litres big - no bigger than a small rucksack so is probably not the answer for all your camping gear.

I would warn against beam racks that attach to the seat post. In my opinion these are not strong and durable enough for taking heavy loads offroad, especially the side frames – your panniers are likely to end up in your spokes.

I have always used Blackburn racks and found them to be excellent. Other highly recommended brands are Tubus and Old Man of the Mountain. Both of these manufacturers provide solutions for using racks with disc brakes and in the case of the Old Man of the Mountain Sherpa rack (pictured) even full suspension frames. Carradice are the UK importer of Old Man of the Mountain.

If you do use a rack choose a strong one and do the bolts that hold it on up tight as these shake undone easily. Consider using locktite on the bolts and take spares (cable ties can be pressed into action if necessary).

I am not an expert on panniers. I have one excellent small set I bought inexpensively from Halfords (I have upgraded the clips) and a larger pair of Karrimor, which are perfectly functional. Some people swear by Ortlieb which are 100% waterproof. I find them heavy, expensive and a faff to close. I prefer to keep my “dry” kit in a waterproof canoe sack within the pannier.

As with racks, there is a very real likelihood that the vibrations from cycling offroad will shake your panniers from the bike. Choose ones with strong, secure clips and consider taking spares with you.

Posted: 12/03/06