The bike
If you plan your biking journey with national and regional bike routes, the most convenient will be the cross bike. The terrain is mostly wide and paved, thus having a mountain bike is more of a disadvantage than advantage because the wide tires will rather slow you down on well-paved roads. Similarly, if you plan to bike iin the mountains through walking trails, you cannot do without a solid mountain bike and a good suspesnion bike fork, preferably with a speed lock so you can lock your bike fork for uphills from your handelbars.
Luggage
I highly recommend buying good luggage. I wanted to save some money and bought a very cheap set for 50 € that did not hold very well and was not water resistant. The best luggage for long trips is similar to this - just one bag on each side in which you have ample space for everything you need is the simplicity itself.
Gears
Obviously, you need some repair tools for fixing the flat tire and dismounting the bike. It goes withouth saying that a good front and back light, reflection straps, biking helmet, and a bike bell are a must. In a separate article, I give a few recommendations on some useful products for a very reasoanble price.
Clothes
Try to avoid taking too much and rather follow this famous travelling quotation: "When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money.” It is true, indeed, I can only confirm this with ym own experience.
Bear in mind that you do not need a complete garderobe because you can (and you should!) wash your things on the way. It is advisable to keep your clothes in plastic bags: it is nothing worse if you get soaked to the skin and you find out that your clean socks got wet, too. Basically, you should do go with 3 pairs of socks and some underwear for any longer trip (2 pairs of cycling socks + 1 pair of warm socks), 4 T-shirts (2 for cycling, 1 for sightseeing and 1 for travelling by bus, train, etc), a hoodie, a light and water-proof sport jacket, shorts and cycling shorts and sport trousers (against cold and mosquitos). This does not sound much, but believe me, you will not need more and you can buy a cheap T-shirt practically anywhere. I do not recommend taking jeans because they are not comfortable for biking, are quite heavy and take up much space in luggage, and do not protect you against the cold weather as the sport trousers do. Waterproof trousers might be useful, especially when it pours heavily for days, but you hardly need them when it reains only for few hours because you trousers get dry on your while cycling. Your legs can withstand some cold, it is much more important protect your upper body from the rain.
Also, do not save money on good cycling gloves. I did it and it caused serious troubles with the ulnar nerve (usually comes "hand in hand" with longer biking).
Washing your clothes
There are several options open to you. You can either go to a campsite where you can wash your clothes in a wash machine for a small fee, or wash it by yourself.
For that you will need either laundry detergant, or simply just some shower gel that can do the business euqally well. Just look for a nearby clean water source, take a clean garbage bag, put some clothes and the cleaning agent in it, pour enough water and wash it inside. If you want to be a profi traveller, you can also buy a special wash bag like this one.
Food
It is a foregone conclusion that keeping a balance diet on travelling is a tall order. I myself could not keep a balanced diet all the time and I am certainly not an expert on this topic, therefore, all I can give you is a few recommendation that can serve as inspiration for you.
First of all, be ready for a higher caloric intake because your body will crave for calories. It is out of question to go on diet during high-intensive exercise. You will simply exercise more and therefore need to eat more, that is quite clear as a crystal. If one of your goals is also to lose weight, be aware of the fact that this will probably not happen due to several reasons. You will definitely get fit, but it might not show on the scale. Why? Because your body will not only burn fat, but also build muscles during intensive exercise, and as muscles are much heavier than fat, your body weigh may remain the same. Thus, you will get fitter, but it will not necessarily show on your bod weight. But do not worry about it, the scale can be very misleading when the fitness is concerned. In the end, getting in shape, forming your body, and kicking on your metabolism and cardiovascular system are far more important than losing your fat that says not as much about your health as the common belief is.
Some people recommend eating beans for their high protein content, but I personally preferred cheese and ham that you can even snack withotu bread. It is a good idea to split your food rations among 4-5 meals per day. Thanks to this, you will not get tired due to digesting and will still have enough energy for biking.
Travelling to a foreign country also brings a unique opportunity to taste the local food. Make sure that you do not miss this opportunity because that is also what travelling is about.
A camping stove is a a good thing, but you might not need it in the summer when you enjoy better cold food. Of course, there as situation in which you would greatly appreciate it (a cold night, rainy days), but consider if it is not better to go an have a warm meal somewhere in a cantine or a restaurant in such cases.
Bear in mind that in the morning, your body is capable of exercising for 40 minutes without any food intake before it starts to "swallow up" your own muscles (catabolic effect due to lack of nutrition). We surely do not want to burn our own muscles, but burning fat is usually desired. Therefore, if you start biking and have breakfast after 40 minutes, you will be just fine. Moreover, you will also enjoy much more your breakfast after some morning struggle than if you take it right after you wake up.
In the summer, you will have to provide your body with a fresh supply of vitamines on a regular basis. Some vegetables and fruits can cover that and they are also healthier as vitamin pills, whereas vitamin pills are the easier way out - it is your choice.
Here are some more useful ideas:
- Take some olive oil with you. You can put it on practially anything (baguette, bread, toast) and it provides you quickly with needed calories. There is nothing healthier you can put on bread than olive oil, it will not go bad if it goes warm, and can be stored very easily. Besides, have you tasted a fresh baguette with few drops of olife oil? Pure luxury - if Hilton serves that as an appetizer, you do not need to be ashamed of putting it on your bread during your lunch break, either.
- Should you need excessive amount of calories and need to prolonge your morning exercsie routine before breakfat, be sure that you drink some coke or an energy drink. Coke in particular has an incredibly high sugar content and I am wondering why it is not used as a sport nutrition drink by itself. The simple sugar in sugar sirup used in Coke has the uncanny ability to bypass you digestive system and goes straight into your blood. Good for sportmen, ominous for general public... .
- Mozarella, sasuages, bread, potato salad, boiled eggs and quark are a good alternative to bigger meals on travelling and can be found in every supermarket.
- Iron ration. This originally millitary terms stands for your last backup that you use only in exterme situations when nothing else is available. Nowadays, we can consider as iron ration various energy gels and bars that can help you to see through the difficult times. They are supposed to kick you up when needed, but are certainly not intended as a substitute for normal nutrition. Therefore, in the best-case scenario, the iron ration should not be used at all, but brought home intact. You should actually forget that you have it in order not to be tempted, but definitely remember that you have it when the right time for it comes. It should be just enough for you to have 2-3 energy bars/gels as your backup.
- I guess it goes without saying that a wise traveller never drinks all water when he or she is not quite certain that it can be replenished soon.
niečo aj o iron backup
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