The 6 P’s for a smooth ride
Prior Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance.
We are 3 months away from the Quest Journey departing and in that time it’s really important you have yourself organised so that everything runs as smoothly as possible.
If you have joined up for any of our Journeys you will receive a Welcome Pack explaining these points in more detail, but today we are going to give a brief overview of what you need to organise before you leave.
Bike
Now this doesn’t necessarily need to be the one you intend to do the Journey on, but if you don’t have a bike training time in for the Journey will be a lot harder! Ideally you want to be practicing on the bike you intend to use for the Journey, so hopefully you have a good idea of which bike you will go with.
If you are struggling on which bike to use check out our simple bike buying guide we have made. Personally, I would go for something similar to a Marin Gestalt. You could also go for something without the drop handle bars and I would remove the luggage rack before you go on the tour, as we will be carrying your kit for you.
Training
So you’ve got your bike, simple thing now is to progressively build up the time you are on it. A realistic goal we recommend if that you should be able to ride 3 consecutive days of 80 km on undulating terrain with relative ease. If you can do this you will have a decent base for the demands of the Journey. With full time work, social and family commitments, it’s almost impossible to mimic the demands of a Journey, but you want to get as close to this as possible. If you’re unsure of how to progressively load your training to reduce any injury risk, send us an email and we’ll sort out a programme for you - benefits of going with physios and personal trainers 😉
Kit
Similar principle to buying the bike, making sure you have the right kit as early as possible just takes the stress away and avoids rushing around the shops the day before as you try and find a decent pump for the trip. We’ve made a suggested kit list of what needs to be taken, so if you start collecting this now it will allow more testing time and spread the costs of accumulating it all.
Documentation
This has quite a few sub catagories and unless you are quite geeky like me, most people do not enjoy this section.
Passport: Ensure your passport is up to date.
Visa: Check you have the necessary visa to pass through the countries on your Journey
Insurance: Take out appropriate insurance to cover any medical mishaps and also to insure the bike specifically, as most policies will not. It needs to include “bike touring” as an activity.
We recommend having this documentation printed out and carried with you, sent to us and also saved on an email you an access when abroad. This is just in case you lose the originals. We also suggest emailing the Embassy of the countries you will be travelling through before you arrive.
It's not about the destination, but the Journey.
Now with any adventure there is an element of the unknown and risk. If it was all plain sailing and there were no surprise's along the way it wouldn’t be much of an adventure. Nailing the 6 P’s before your departure helps to reduce these risks and in the event that things do go wrong, the consequences are reduced.
During a Journey you may have a pretty miserable day. If your kit breaks, the hill is long and steep, it’s raining and the paella you ate last nigh just isn’t sitting right - don’t worry. Adapt and overcome, flexibility is key. Just roll with the punches and you will be a better person at the end for overcoming this miserable day!
If you sign up at a later date for the Quest and worry you can’t get this stuff done in time – fear not! We are here to help, this won’t be an issue at all.
If you have any questions on these points send us a message or leave us a comment below.
As I said earlier we will go into more detail in the Welcome Pack but hopefully gives you a little insight of what’s needed.