Читать книгу The C2C Cycle Route. The Coast to Coast bike ride онлайн

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 Lightweight road racer These have lightweight frame, drop handlebars and skinny 23 or 25mm tyres. They are very fast on well-surfaced tarmac roads, but uncomfortable and bumpy on all but the smoothest traffic-free paths, with potential for punctures or the nightmare of a buckled front wheel. Many road racers have double chain rings, which require more physical effort to ride uphill than the triple chain rings fitted to most mountain, touring and hybrid bikes. The bikes are no good for carrying an overnight bag, and would have to be carried on rough tracks. If there is rain, expect to get very wet and messy without mudguards.

 Mountain bike A lot of people appear to choose mountain bikes for the C2C, but maybe that’s simply because they only own a mountain bike. Nevertheless, these are a reasonably good choice, and perfect for riding on rougher surfaces – particularly super-rough tracks like the Old Coach Road out of Keswick, which will provide lots of fun on a full-suspension mountain bike. They are much slower than the road racer on smooth tarmac, due to greater weight and rolling resistance, with wide, knobbly tyres and smaller 26in wheels. For cyclists who choose to keep off the roughest tracks, it may be worth buying a set of smooth road tyres for a faster ride. A mountain bike should be easy to pedal uphill, with lots of gears, and easy to control downhill, thanks to a sit-back position with straight handlebars. It’s advisable to fit a mudguard over the front and rear wheels. Fitting a pannier rack to a mountain bike can be tricky, reducing the amount of gear you can carry. A single-wheel mountain-bike trailer would solve that problem, but pulling one wouldn’t be much fun on the C2C.