The C2C Cycle Route. Jeremy Evans

price.

       Very good brakes. Either V-brakes with wire cables or hydraulic disc brakes. The latter are most efficient, but can interfere with fitting racks and mudguards, as well as being considerably more difficult for DIY maintenance.

       A wide range of derailleur gears, with triple chain rings at the front and eight or nine cogs at the back, will tackle any hill on the C2C with ease.

       A good set of full mudguards is vital for riding through mud, puddles and rain. Make sure they are securely fitted, with good clearance, so that mud and crud do not clog up inside.

       A strong, secure rack mounted over the rear wheel is extremely useful, so that gear can be carried in two panniers with space for a rack bag on the top. Front panniers allow even more gear to be carried, at the cost of making the bike more cumbersome to handle and very heavy to pedal or push uphill.

       Horizontal, flat handlebars, which may be a little swept back, help provide a dynamic riding position. ‘Riser’ handlebars, with the ends lifting upwards, make it possible to sit up and enjoy the view. It’s just a matter of finding the right compromise for your kind of riding. Comfortable grips are important. If they feel hard, wear a pair of cycling gloves with padded palms, which also take the shock out of a bumpy ride. 90° bar ends can be useful for changing riding position.

       Riding 225km (140 miles) makes it important to have a reasonably comfortable saddle. They range from squidgy gel saddles that promise to be soft on your backside to hard leather – the choice is yours. Remember that for maximum pedalling power and comfort the saddle must be at the correct height, with the down-stroke leg almost (but not totally) straight at the bottom of the circle.

       To achieve maximum pedalling power, use clipless pedals. However, a pair of simple ‘bear trap’ pedals suits this kind of ride very well, enabling cyclists to wear trainers or sandals and still storm up those hills.

       Fitting the bike with lights is sensible, even for cyclists riding the C2C in mid-summer. You may get delayed and still be riding as dusk falls or get caught by thick mist on the high hills. In either case, it is important to be visible on murky roads. Except for cyclists who expect to ride in the dark, flashing LEDs provide an ultra-bright, low cost, lightweight solution.

       A handlebar-mounted cycle ‘computer’ is optional, since the C2C map provides a very effective ‘mile counter’. It’s useful to be able to record your mileage, and it may be interesting to log average or maximum speed, but a significant disadvantage of using a computer is that it’s easy to get transfixed by those little numbers clicking off the miles, when you should be enjoying the views.

      A bike with back panniers and a front rack bag outside the Cyclists’ Barn, Greystoke (Stage 2)

      Bike hire

      What if you don’t have a suitable bike or are flying in from overseas? No problem – you can hire one. For instance, Haven Cycles provides a dedicated hire service from premises in Whitehaven within 500m of the start of the C2C. A choice of alloy hybrid or mountain bikes is available for adults or children, fitted with mudguards, rear racks and a basic toolkit. Prices (in 2013) are £40 for up to three days then £5 per day thereafter. The company can also provide secure parking, baggage transfers, en-route cycle repairs and recovery service, cycle collection and transport back from the finish, and a minibus service with cycle trailer for Newcastle or Manchester airports.

      Pedal Power offers a C2C bike-hire and baggage-transfer service from Amble in Northumberland, Ainfield Cycles of Cumbria offers a cycle-hire service that allows cyclists to collect a bike at the start and leave it at the finish of the C2C, and Darke Cycles provides cycle hire at the eastern end of the C2C in Sunderland. See Appendix C for contact details.

      THE C2C ON FOLDING BIKES

      Si Trickett and Steve Brindle, both aged 34, commute to work on Brompton folding bicycles with two-speed gears designed for city cycling. For a change of scenery, they decided to unfold their bikes and ride the C2C…

      The Brompton is a unique British-manufactured bicycle, mainly used by commuters in combination with trains. Many cyclists consider them to be some sort of a joke bicycle, suitable only for slow riding on very short journeys. In fact, in spite of their small wheels Bromptons have a long wheelbase coupled with rear suspension to give a good ride. They can be used by the tall to the very small, have a range of gearing options from single to a wide-range six speed, and are fitted with an excellent luggage system. They also fold small, so fitting them into cars and onto trains is a doddle, including services where cycles are not permitted (such as the Metro at the end of the C2C in Tynemouth). We both have the Brompton S2L configuration designed for city commuting on fairly level roads, with flat handlebars and two gears – one for getting away from the lights and climbing fairly easy hills and one for zipping along the flat. The ratios are not entirely suited to powering up steep hills in Cumbria and the Pennines!

      When we told people our plan to do the C2C on our two-speed Bromptons, we heard many a story about evil hills to climb along the route. It has to be said there were some very long and very steep climbs, sometimes both steep and long. We would also be first to admit that we needed lower gears, but still managed to grind up all the C2C climbs and carry our luggage with a decent amount of zig-zagging – with the exception of the very steep 200m stretch coming up out of Garrigill. Zig-zagging on this bit meant that we were just going back and forth across the road and not getting anywhere, so we got off and pushed! However, we both got a great sense of achievement from grinding past a group of mountain-bike riders, who were pushing their bikes uphill in spite of their low gears, having earlier taken the mickey out of us for doing the C2C ‘on giant kids’ bikes’. It’s not what bike you have, it’s what you do with it! Our next challenge is doing the Land’s End to John O’Groats route on the Bromptons, aiming to take eight days to complete the 1000 miles!

      THE C2C ON UNICYCLES

      A group of eight riders rode the C2C in August 2010, but cycling on two wheels wasn’t enough of a challenge. Peter Haworth outlines the challenge of unicycling the route and shares some tips…

      An average 35 miles per day might not sound a big deal to many two-wheeled cyclists, but unicyclists generally ride a lot slower, with pedals driving the single wheel directly at a low 1:1 ratio. My comfortable cruising speed on the flat is around 9 or 10mph, so taking the fairly hilly terrain of the C2C route into account, this meant at least 5hrs in the saddle every day, with no chance of freewheeling, even on downhills. But, thanks to an amazing support team and a lot of perseverance, we did it, overtaking two-wheeled cyclists on the steep climbs but struggling (and, very occasionally, getting down) on the downhills, and raised a few thousand pounds for the British Heart Foundation on the way.

      Tips for one-wheeled success

      The best thing you can do to prepare is to check your equipment before you set out. Carrying sufficient spares and having the skills to use them was vital to our success, but a bit more preventive maintenance in the weeks before the ride would have made things go a lot more smoothly.