Technical

John based his route on that shown in "Bike Britain" by Paul Salter from www.epicguides.co.nz (or check out www.amazon.co.uk).

For the ride, John used:

A Coventry Eagle bike with Shimano Ultegra and 105 components.

He used High Energy bars for supplementary nutrition and Power Bar Mix for his liquid intake during the day.  After each day's riding he drank Rego.

The 'breathable' Asenda jacket could not cope with large amounts of perspiration but was waterproof. Only useful in short heavy downpours therefore since sweat build up inside left John wet anyway.

The Neotherm thermal over-shoes were good, but got soggy in the rain.

The Blackburn quick release rack originally fitted couldn't take the weight so a standard Blackburn rack was modified to fit the racing bike.

The Raceblade mudguards proved excellent.

John had a 39 tooth chain wheel fitted before the trip and it proved a real blessing on hills!

The Polar heart rate monitor worked well - see the progress page for heart rate details.

For downhill, he uses a 2003 Kona Stab Primo frame with various components.