Equipment

Bike

The bike I intend to use is a 2007 Trek 1200 road bike. I bought it on the Ride to Work scheme and use it almost every day to get to the station. It has a brushed aluminium frame with carbon forks. As this bike is used in all weather, I’ve added some mudguards. I’ve also added a lightweight rear rack.

2007 Trek 1200

Wheels

Until 10 days to go, I was going to use a pair of handmade wheels which Parker International made for me in 2003. The hubs are Shimano Ultegra with Mavic CXP30 rims, straight laced with DT Swiss Stainless Steel spokes. These were beautifully put together and after thousands of miles, were still as true as the day they were made. However, being my winter wheels and not having been serviced recently, I found that the rear hub bearing surfaces were so badly corroded that I really couldn’t use them. At short notice, I ended up buying a pair of Miche Reflex Road wheels from Evans Cycles for £121.

MICHE Reflex Wheelset

Tyres

Continental GP4000s. Click here for full details.

Continental GP4000S

Panniers

Altura Dryline 56ltr Panniers – I bought these in 2007 when I went on a week long camping/cycle trip with my son, on the Avenue Verte, just outside Dieppe in France. They are quite big but still manageable and totally waterproof. Highly recommended.

Altura Dryline 56ltr Panniers

Garmin Edge 800 GPS

Originally I had the Edge 305 which I found really good but the screen broke and bought the top of the range Edge 800 with full European maps. The idea is that for riding the stages themselves, I’ll load the GPX files into the 800 and getting abut, such as to hotels, I’ll use it as a conventional GPS by entering the addresses.

Garmin Edge 800 Cycle GPS

ContourHD 1080p Helmet Cam

This is a very recent purchase. I thought that this, being a once in a lifetime trip, I should record it for future reference.

ContourHD 1080p

HTC Desire HD Mobile Phone

Click here to find out why it’s coming with me.

I’m actually taking my old HTC Hero as well. When I get to France, I’ll use the Hero with my UK Sim and in the Desire HD, I will have a French Orange Sim with unlimited data.

HTC Desire HD

Aspire 1410 laptop

This is a great little laptop. 11.6″ screen and very thin. Great battery life including WiFi. Ideal for blogging back at the hotel each evening.

Aspire 1410 laptop

Odds’n’sods

• Passport
• TDF Map
• Chargers for Garmin, ContourHD Helmet Cam, HTC Desire HD and Laptop
• Europlug adapter
• Short quad extension lead
• Reading Glasses
• Pump
• Multitool
• Inner Tubes
• Chain Oil
• First Aid Kit
• Chamois Cream
• Shower Gel
• Sun Tan Cream
• Deodorant
• Washing Gel for Clothes