Cycling from London to Shangahi

MickeyFinns · 26 Sep 2013 at 17:17

groen said:
No GPS? lol you will take one for backup though? Just not a car gps? like a hiking gps or handheld gps.

Nope no GPS. Once you get to the more remote places there's so few roads it's hard to take the wrong one. I'm not going to be going over any plains or steppe.

Hank_Marvin said:
Look forward to reading it. Good Luck.

Someone else posted a link to a blog of someone they knew cycling to russia about 6 months ago and also to a guy cycling to india I think it was, that was an excellent read, young guy who grew a propa dirty beard haha, i need to go back to that one and see if he finished the blog.

For the India one I guess you mean this guy?

englandtoindia.com

Yeah he finished the trip recently and then developed Typhoid! He's back in the UK now. Spoke to him a while ago for some visa advice.

BuZ · 26 Sep 2013 at 20:06

MickeyFinns said:
Unfortunately this has been done many times before! And I'm not in the same league as the people who have the records (They do 200+ miles a day, I'm going average 50).

The plan is;

UK
France
Luxembourg
France
Germany
Austria
Slovakia
Hungary
Croatia
Serbia
Bosnia
Croatia again
Montenegro
Albania
Macedonia
Greece
Turkey
Georgia
Armenia
Iran
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Tajikistan
Kyrgyzstan
China!

You could have a different route:

London (UK), France, Germany, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and then CHINA!

I hope you're aware that you'll be passing through a desert in China.

Risky choices - you will need lots of processed food and drink items.

If you complete this, you should get some kind of award from it. The motivation you have is immensely amazing.

100% supporting you! Hope and wish you a safe and happy experience. When the going gets tough and you're tired - take rest and sleep well. Don't over exercise yourself. Keep within a certain limit, you'll survive it longer. Don't rush - take your time!

MickeyFinns · 26 Sep 2013 at 21:42

BuZ said:
You could have a different route:

London (UK), France, Germany, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and then CHINA!

I hope you're aware that you'll be passing through a desert in China.

Risky choices - you will need lots of processed food and drink items.

If you complete this, you should get some kind of award from it. The motivation you have is immensely amazing.

100% supporting you! Hope and wish you a safe and happy experience. When the going gets tough and you're tired - take rest and sleep well. Don't over exercise yourself. Keep within a certain limit, you'll survive it longer. Don't rush - take your time!

I've visited Belarus, Russia and Ukraine all before so wanted to focus on the Balkans which I've never visited. Also the Russian Georgian border is a political, and literal, minefield!

The Taklamakan desert is probably my biggest worry. Ultimately if I think it's a really bad idea near the time once I see what the weather's like when I reach Kashgar I'll just grab a bus to other side and then take a longer route in China to make up the miles, I'm not trying to kill myself!

AGD · 26 Sep 2013 at 21:54

Will be an amazing trip but you will be impotent after it due to all the cycling.

Glaucus · 26 Sep 2013 at 21:56

You should so get a gps tracker and track the whole route. Find an energy effecient one. Carry more than just one back up battery, why only 1200mah. And how about a dyno on the wheel.
Would be awesome to see the entire route.

willhub · 26 Sep 2013 at 21:59

That's something amazing fo sho. I'd love to do that, 100 mile a day with the odd rest day, exploring the countries.

MickeyFinns · 26 Sep 2013 at 22:06

Glaucus said:
You should so get a gps tracker and track the whole route. Find an energy effecient one. Carry more than just one back up battery, why only 1200mah. And how about a dyno on the wheel.
Would be awesome to see the entire route.

It's all money really, I'm on a super low budget (£3k to live off the whole year, that has to pay for visas and the return flight too). GPS trackers are about £100 plus £100 a year (Spot 2). The battery is 12,000mah not 1,200mah, it can charge my phone up 4 times.

Wheel Dyno is expensive and I'd have to have the wheel rebuilt. The solar panel was £40 and should be simpler once the weather picks up a bit.

MickeyFinns · 26 Sep 2013 at 22:08

AGD said:
Will be an amazing trip but you will be impotent after it due to all the cycling.

I should alright, I've tuned my saddle position! I sometimes get numbness in my right toes but that's about it.

Just need to get out of the London commuter mindset of having to keep up with traffic and rushing, need to learn to drop my pace a lot if I want to complete this!

Craterloads · 26 Sep 2013 at 22:15

What you going to do about pictures? Assume you will be documenting along your travels.

Edit. page two!!

Is the 12000mah going to be enough for phone/camera.

MickeyFinns · 26 Sep 2013 at 22:20

Craterloads said:
What you going to do about pictures? Assume you will be documenting along your travels.

Edit. page two!!

Is the 12000mah going to be enough for phone/camera.

Got a couple cameras and my MBA which I'll be taking. Should be able to update various bits of online stuff every week or so.

Should be fine keeping at least one battery going at any time!

Craterloads · 26 Sep 2013 at 22:25

MickeyFinns said:
Got a couple cameras and my MBA which I'll be taking. Should be able to update various bits of online stuff every week or so.

Should be fine keeping at least one battery going at any time!

Cool will be amazing to see. Guess you will get plenty of opportunities along the way to charge up your battery packs too.

MickeyFinns · 26 Sep 2013 at 23:21

Yeah should be able to charge up, using WarmShowers.org and Couchsurfing.com for accommodation along the way.

MickeyFinns · 29 Sep 2013 at 19:46

Did a short 15 miles to test run the setup fully loaded today. Not too bad at all, although steep hills are pretty brutal. Only just made it to the top of Broomfield hill in Richmond Park, getting a cassette with a granny gear fitted tomorrow which should help. I've swapped out the stock saddle with a Brooks Flyer leather saddle, once I'd broken this in after about 200 miles it feels great!

A pretty big spanner also got thrown in the works on Friday. On my last day at my job (also payday) the company went in to administration, meaning no pay. This has savaged my budget for the trip but I think I might be able to still get it to work.

Anyway, I thought I'd write a bit about equipment for a few people who were interested, first a couple of pics;

The bike is a Roux Etape 250. The main features that make it suited for the trip are a steel frame (easy to weld in developing countries) and disc brakes (the bike and luggage are very heavy, I need as much stopping power as possible for mountain descents and in the wet.)

The bike comes with a rear rack and I added a front one too (Tubus Duo steel rack). Luggage wise I've got Ortlieb front and rear panniers (the most popular by far) as well as an Ortlieb large Handlebar bag. On top of the rear rack I have a Sea to Summit 65litre dry bag.

Each piece of luggage is a different "room";

Front left pannier: Kitchen;

Trangia alcohol stove
Fuel
Vegetable oil
Aluminium pots
Cutlery
Food stocks
spices
500ml thermos

Front right: Workshop;

Spare chain
Spare rear derailleur
2 spare tubes
3 pairs brake pads
tools (Bicycle Multi tool + Gerber multi tool)
some more food stocks

Both rear panniers: Wardrobe;

1 set of casual clothes
2 sets of cycling clothes
1 set waterproofs
1 set thermals
Macbook Air
Kindle
Solar Panel when not mounted on top of 65litre dry bag.

Handble-bar bag: The safe

Camera
GoPro
Battery pack
Documents
Wallet etc.
Fleece used as packaging for camera

65 litre dry bag: Bedroom;

Jack Wolfskin Gossamer 1 man bivvy tent
Sleeping bag
Thermal sleeping mat
2 x Camping pillows (my neck locks up without both of them)

Should be doing the first real day on Tuesday or Wednesday so will update on how it goes then! Any questions let me know!

VeNT · 29 Sep 2013 at 21:47

Google Danny Brent -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Youve-Gone-This-Time-ebook/dp/B004L62DJU
basically the same thing
how many tyres you taking?

MickeyFinns · 29 Sep 2013 at 22:08

VeNT said:
Google Danny Brent -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Youve-Gone-This-Time-ebook/dp/B004L62DJU
basically the same thing
how many tyres you taking?

Not seen that one, probably read blogs of about 30+ people who've a similar thing so far.

One spare tyre. Will probably swap to off road tyres in Tehran, plenty of good bike shops there.

tres · 29 Sep 2013 at 22:29

I would highly recommend a Spot tracker - find a company to sponsor you and provide one, that's what we did for the Mongol Rally. It takes 4xAA batteries, which lasts a month, and is completely weatherproof. To have your full route with 15 minute checkpoints would be amazing!

MickeyFinns · 29 Sep 2013 at 22:37

tres said:
I would highly recommend a Spot tracker - find a company to sponsor you and provide one, that's what we did for the Mongol Rally. It takes 4xAA batteries, which lasts a month, and is completely weatherproof. To have your full route with 15 minute checkpoints would be amazing!

I had a look at those but got put off by several reviews where the device malfunctioned and triggered search and rescue operations!

LiE · 29 Sep 2013 at 22:43

Might be worth taking a Lifestraw, look it up

MickeyFinns · 29 Sep 2013 at 22:54

LiE said:
Might be worth taking a Lifestraw, look it up

Going to pickup a Lifesaver bottle later in the year. Not worth carrying it at the start.

LiE · 29 Sep 2013 at 22:58

That will do the job