Ultracycling

UK train travel with bikes is a pain - other than maybe going to Scotland when you have bike reservations lined up. And it takes more time both to plan a train journey and to do it - so it simply doesn't work for some people or for some trips.

But I do have a thing about doing long journeys across Europe by train - in many ways its at least as much fun as doing it by bike. Sure it takes more research and preparation, but it is fun in a way that travelling by plane never is.

I got hooked on it after I had to quit the TCR in 2019. The train journey back from Austria was both fun and a good opportunity to spend time reflecting.

Going to Zagreb and back last year worked well - 24 hours each way including a sleeper. Highlights included bantering with football fans from Slovenia and Serbia, and the scenery: the Vosges, Strasbourg, Sava Valley through Slovenia - some places I've cycled through and some I haven't.

Having rinko sorted makes it less stressful as I don't have to do the bike reservation element, which adds too much complexity. I find spending an extra hour taking a bike to bits is less tedious than spending the same amount of time researching bike reservations.

Lovely film, well made, quality sound too! Makes me want to ride there. Nice to see my friend Nienke featured in an optimistic pose - although she scratched shortly after 😅

I do like trains, it's just when you add the bike it's stress/hassle. There's rarely special space for it so the whole journey is paranoia about people damaging or nicking the bike.

I took trains to RATN which was cool and I trained back from the last TCR I raced (had a Scherrit to deal with my bike which made it much easier) so I'd still use them for sure if I could make it work. I do like a train trip. I came back from Bedford today on the train and it was £18 for a 3 stop train instead of £30 for stopping all stations so I was pretty happy with that.

Oh, we used train to/from An Turas Mor in Scotland and Deano's audaxes. The Scotland train is cool coz your bikes are in their own spot, relatively safe.

How did you get to Zagreb and what did it cost? Were they much possibilty damaging the bike in a Rinko bag?

On Eurostar, TGV, ICE etc it just goes on the luggage racks with the normal suitcases. I discovered that Eurostars have bigger racks at one end of the carriage than the other. Some people take bungees to stop a packed bike falling over but I didn't need that.

On my sleeper it was more of an issue as there is less space. I had to take the wheels out so the frame would fit under the bottom bunk and had wheels, which were in cling film, cable tied along the side of my bunk. I'd booked a 2nd class sleeper which was shared as I had no idea what to expect but would go for a 1st class one next time to get more bike space.

How did you get to Zagreb and what did it cost? Were they much possibilty damaging the bike in a Rinko bag?

I just did what he said:
https://www.seat61.com/Croatia.htm#london-to-zagreb-by-train

It all worked more or less to plan.

Also got a local train from Zagreb to the Bosnian border. Croatian trains are excellent for bikes.

I could have damaged my bike if I hadn't packed it up properly, dropped it, etc - but no-one else touched it, so all risks were under my control. My biggest concern was losing a critical bit when rebuilding on the platform at Zagreb, and I think I managed to leave my (cheap) watch there.

If I was doing it again I would get an interrail pass, but didn't think of it this year so probably paid slightly more - can't remember exactly what.

Not sure if this is the right place for this question, but I’m looking for a hardtail capable of taking on the Highland Trail 550 in May, and am overwhelmed by choice. asking on a forum like this will no doubt overwhelm the options further, but here we go.. I’m looking out for a few models second hand - any thing else you’d add to this list?

• Fairlight Holt (I love my Secan, so this’d be my preferred option)
  
• Sonder Broken Road Ti/Signal Ti (several pals have raced the HT on these frames, so also high on the list. Are there any similar frames out there - ie I know there’s a lot of similarity with Planet X/sonder in terms of geometry)
  
• Specialized Chisel (again, pals have raced on ‘em, but prefer the idea of a steel/ti frame for rigidity)
  
• mason raw (again, dreamy bike, but absolutely out of budget - anything similar)
  

Stanton Sherpa (cheap, steel, I own one) or literally any other bike out there that you can strap bags to and won't fall apart.

I'm sure you already have but maybe worth scrolling through the bike lists from the last couple years for inspo.

https://bikepacking.com/bikes/2023-highland-trail-550-rigs/

https://bikepacking.com/bikes/2024-highland-trail-550-rigs/

Molly Weaver needs a bit of route planning help through London for her round the UK thing, thought one of you lot might be able to help:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DEpFL-fOcD1/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Volunteered.

How do people evaluate which tyres to run on multi surface events? These tend to be 60/40 road off road….

Same question but is there a point where you’d change from battery lights to Dynamo, depending on length and time estimate?

@frank9755 know you love this sort of calculation ;-)

Experience and analysis. Also length and time aren't the only variables for dynamo, perhaps not event the most important ones either.

Care to elaborate a little further…?

With the detail you've provided it's not possible to provide any direct analysis, route and time of year are needed. Plus goal, ability, risk tolerance, experience etc. It's a really holistic decision.

But for dynamo or battery light things like; sleep strategy, budget, current products, terrain type, power/speed ability, time of year, are all some relevant variable to consider in the equation.

For tyre I was thinking more the parameters or guiding principles for racing…
It seems to me at least you are better to sacrifice some speed off road, ie a tyre with a slick centre than a tread on the basis of you are going slower anyway so any % loss will be outweighed by % gain on road…

I’ve got good kit options but I’ve not raced with a Dynamo and given limited racing opportunities I have don’t want to much on the job learning

Depends on the route obviously. You're going to go one way if it's full-on MTBing connected with roads compared to a road event that has a little bit of champagne gravel.

I'd always run dynamo if I had one but also almost always supplement with battery lights in some way. Dual power systems if one fails, plus for slow moving stuff and/or looking around corners, looking for bivvy spots, etc a helmet light is awesome.