Hi there.
The warm weather of summer and early fall has once again gone.
I had a fantastic tour of Northern Ontario (Canada) this summer. Some
riding was on paved roads, some was on on loging roads and some was on
very sandy and loose surface unused logging roads.
The bicycle I used was an old hard-tail rigid front fork mountain
bicycle converted to drop handlebars with Campagnolo Mirage 9 Speed
Brake/shift levers with Avid Shorty 4 Cantilever Brakes. The bike also
has a Radical brand adjustable quill stem. It has both front and rear
luggage racks.
The trip was planeed to be 14 days in duration from the time we got
off the train to when we returned to the train depot.
Since we knew we would be riding on a lot of loose surface and or
sandy (deep sand) roads we packed folding 2.125 in tyres and tubes for
when we got off the paved portion of the trip. After getting off the
train we spent 2 days riding the paved roads to the area where the
logging roads started. For this riding the bikes has 1.5 slicks on
them and were very comfortable.
After the first day of riding the logging roads we got to the are
where the road surface deteriorated drastically. Since the road
surface was loose gravel and or sand in many places and we did not
want to have to push the bicycles up any hills if we could help it we
switched the tyres and tubes that evening. We also raised the stem to
almost straight up so that we could sit more upright more comfortably.
The rest of the trip ridden on the 2.125 full knobby tyres was
fantastic. Some of the roads were more like a grassy trail. Some roads
were like a rail-road without the ties and tracks and some were mixed
surface gravell stones and sand. Many times the tyres would skip a
fair bit before gaining purchase again but it sure beat trying to push
a laden bicycle up these hills.
If I had to have only one bicycle I think it would be a mountain bike
with drop (cyclo-cross bars are fantastic) bars and Campy Ergo brake
levers/shifters.
It is so versatile and not much heavier than a touring bike.
Cheers from Peter