Monday, June 16, 2008

Consider A Cycling Trip? Don’t Forget These Essentials!

A friend and I started small with our first cycling trip, just taking a 4-day trip around the local areas from our hometown.  However, this summer, we are embarking on the trip of a lifetime and have decided to do a cycling trip in Europe.  Based on a lot of research, we choose France due to the wonderful variety of countryside and scenery that’s in store for us.

As we were making our list of essentials for the trip, I thought it might be useful to others, hence the blog posting.  Since we will be carrying everything ourselves, it is extra important that we pack wisely, and lightly!
Here’s what we’re planning on bringing – if there are any cycling trip veterans out there – I’d love to hear your comments or advice!  Our trip includes 10 days of cycling (and a side tour booked through Virgin Vacations) but I’ve concentrated this list on what we need for the cycling portion of our journey.  (We also plan on doing laundry along the way).

  • Five sets of socks and underwear
  • Three sets of cycling clothing (1 pair pants, 2 pair’s shorts, 1 long sleeve and 2 short sleeve shirts).
  • Rain poncho (my cycling pants are waterproof)
  • One outfit for evenings out
  • Two water bottles (we’ve been told to fill them every chance we get!)
  • Small flashlight
  • Cycling repair kit for tires and bike (we’ve both taken bike repair courses so that we’ll be prepared if anything happens)
  • Sunscreen and chap stick
  • Toiletries (travel size and only what’s absolutely necessary)
  • Small, soft cooler bag for snacks and lunches
  • Maps and itinerary

Everything I’ve read says not to worry too much about forgetting something as all the small towns and villages will have shops where we can buy anything we need. 

On a side note, the Tour de France is running during the month of July, so we’ve put it into our schedule to catch one of the stages of this unbelievable event.  These amazing athletes cover an unbelievable 3,500 kms in a variety of terrains so it will be a really exciting addition to our cycling adventure to see them in action!

We are both counting down the days until our journey and cannot wait to post all about it when we return!

Posted by 2 Wheel King on 06/16 at 01:33 PM
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