42 Bikes

So I had my first ever solo camping tour this last week.

In total I rode just over 270 miles on my Bullitt Cargobike. Today I weighed the load I had been carrying at about 37kg

Yesterday, the return run was the longest day with a strong headwind and I caught too much sun so was exhausted when I go home. It was nearly 75 as below:

It was a good trip, although I would probably keep the maximum distances under 50 miles per day in the future.

I was interested to read a review of touring bikes in a cycling magazine when I got home. It described how you needed low gears on a touring bike because standing up to pedal with heavy panniers is not good. In response I can say that I tackled several hills (for example up to Lincoln Cathedral) be standing and grinding away in 1st gear. The Bullitt was stable and easy to ride while doing that. Of course these were not Alpine slopes (the route tracker on my phone claims a max incline of 8.8% on that route home) and if I were going touring in a hilly area I would need lower gears on the Bullitt, however, I feel it did a good job.

I even took the worst photo ever of my Bullitt outside Lincoln Cathedral as proof I got up the hill (steepest portion leading up to the Hospital, National Cycle Route 1). I was also glad of the disc brakes coming down the very steep cobbled streets to the High Street.