Messages

1

General Discussion / Re: Do I ship stuff to my starting point or buy it there?

« on: June 13, 2013, 08:51:41 am »

If you are taking the train to Maine, then using Amrtak to ship your bike makes sense.  If Amtrak has a freight service then that is news to me.

Greyhound Bus has a freight service that was pretty reasonable last time I looked.  You box up the bike, and they ship it from bus terminal to bus terminal.  It was much cheaper than UPS/FEDEX/DHL.

Southwest Airlines is pretty bike friendly.  I used them last summer.  You put the bike in a case, hand them $50, and it shows up in luggage pick up.  I think they have raised their rates since them so you would have to check and see.

As for your "stuff".  I think there is a argument for buying it in Portland and trying it out before you go.  If you know what you need, then you could also buy it in Maine.  I would want to try stuff out first, but you might not care.

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General Discussion / Re: Need Help With Shifting on Climbs

« on: June 08, 2013, 09:11:26 pm »

Jennifer,

I to would like to congratulate you on you weight loss.  Job well done.

I looked up your bike.    You have a short wheelbase, zippy fast road bike (sometimes called a critereium bike).  Fuji specs it two ways,  105 or Tiagra, but both come with a 34/50 front and a 12/28 rear.  These are not climb friendly gear choices, so please don't beat yourself up.  105 and Tiagra are nice groups.

I could not gleam if you are targeting an al day event ride or a tour with panniers or a trailer.  Your Fuji will do fine on a day ride, but it will not be a great bike to tour on.

What are you plans for this bike?

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General Discussion / Re: Need Help With Shifting on Climbs

« on: June 07, 2013, 09:43:21 am »

This is one of those things where better components make a difference.  If are able to anticipate your shifts, any component group will work.  This is easier said than done sometimes, and more expensive components seem to handle this better than cheaper ones do.  It is one of the reasons why they are more expensive.

That said, venerable bar end shifters may make a difference.  If your derailleurs can shift, then these bad boys can shift them.  You have not said what kind of bike and more importantly, what you have for shifters and derailleurs.

As the previous post said, although I will word it differently, the best thing you can do is anticipate your shifts.  If things are so screwed up that you have to stand on the pedals to make them barely crank, no shifter on the planet can deal with that much force and pressure.

I might disagree slightly with John's climbing strategy, but it is only in the name of diversity. 

Once again there are two kinds of people on this planet: mashers and spinners.  John is a masher, and I am a spinner.  I never get out of the saddle, except to get off the bike.  I maintain a pedal cadence (fancy word for revolutions per minute) of 80 to 90.  Always.  When I drift above 90 I up shift and when I drift below 80 I down shift.  I have mountain bike components (including a compact drive front crank) as this favors being a spinner.  My touring partner is a masher and it works for him.

Either strategy works, and you can decide which one you want to be.

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Gear Talk / Re: SPAM: New 12mm thru-axle for BOB trailer...finally!

« on: May 30, 2013, 03:20:37 pm »

I am really feeling out of it.  I can see the purpose of your axle, but there seems to be a link missing that I do not know.

Humor me if you will...

I thought rear wheels had ~9mm axle, when was there a transition to 12mm.  Is there some other innovation I missed out on?

If you can't tell I have grown complacent with my bicycles and stopped frequenting bike shoppes!
OK, I go in for little stuff, but I have not looked seriously at a new bike in years.

5

Gear Talk / Re: SPAM: New 12mm thru-axle for BOB trailer...finally!

« on: May 29, 2013, 02:50:47 pm »

I really need to get out more.  What the heck is a 142 x 12 axle and what is it supposed to do. 
I did not know that the classic rear skewer technology was broke?

6

General Discussion / Re: Who's driving the increase in Cassette cog numbers?

« on: May 23, 2013, 10:40:25 am »

I have owned a cycle computer from just about any company that has ever made one.  Pretty much they are all crap.  I personally only want cadence.  The weakest link is usually the wiring harness, where spending $0.03 more in manufacturing cost would result in a harness that would last a lifetime. 

These days I am using my GPS as a bicycle computer.  Yes it is bigger and bulkier, and does not do cadence, but besides speed I get a visual on terraine.  Sometimes knowing that you are almost to the top is a great motivator to keep riding and not chuck your cookies!

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General Discussion / Re: Who's driving the increase in Cassette cog numbers?

« on: May 20, 2013, 09:11:51 am »

I run 8 speed on two of my 4 bikes, and I think that really good 8 speed is no longer available in cassettes.  I can still buy 8 speed cassettes, just not really nice stuff (XT/XTR).  Low end stuff is still available, and I would have to look and see about the middling stuff.

My answer is to just take really good care of what I have.  I replace chains early, as soon as they start to stretch.

8

General Discussion / Re: Tents

« on: May 02, 2013, 09:49:22 am »

I always travel with a solo tent, but I go for a roomier solo for comfort.  I would not knock the dual door tents as the cross ventilation possibilities look attractive. 

Personally, I see the vestibule as being the overhang that allows you to exit the tent while it is raining and not get water in the tent.

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Gear Talk / Re: Thermal/Base Layer?

« on: April 22, 2013, 09:51:46 am »

I always think multi purpose.

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General Discussion / Re: Bears

« on: April 22, 2013, 09:49:33 am »

All:

It does not matter if you are in bear country or not.  The techniques for camping in bear country should be practiced everywhere.  There are other more likey varmints that you will encounter, and hanging your food up in a tree is just as effective against them.  Besides, just because a camp site was not in bear country last year is not guarantee that there are not bears nearby this year.

11

General Discussion / Re: Do we need to do any training?

« on: April 22, 2013, 09:40:22 am »

It sounds like the question that you are asking is are the two of you in good enough physical shape?  It sounds like you could be, and you have the youth thing working for you.  Lots of people just ride and harden up along the way.  When you run out of time, and there could be lots of reasons why you run out of time before getting as far as you meant to--you just come home.

The question that I don't think you asked, is are the two of you ready for this?  That is best answered by trying out your team and your equipment, in some test trips.  Do some overnight or weekend trips.  Start modestly and increase the difficulty.  I think you can figure out if the two of you are ready for this.

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General Discussion / Re: Getting hungry too fast while riding

« on: April 12, 2013, 09:47:15 am »

No I don't drink pure olive oil, but I do enjoy a tub of Duncan Heinz cake frosting each day I ride.  Just kidding! 

In all honesty, I have the same riding style as you do and have experienced the very same issues.  I've resigned myself to simply accepting that if a Snickers (or your favorite candy bar) can't fix it, then nothing can.

You need to set your standards higher.  I find a cold beer with a pretty girl really fixes it all.

13

General Discussion / Re: touring without "eating out"

« on: April 12, 2013, 09:40:42 am »

Our original poster's trip is only 11 days long.  I guess if he had to, 11 days worth of freeze dried stuff could be carried...

Sounds like we have turned him on to real food. 

I have read tales of backpackers going for a week on just macaroni--I hope I never have to eat like that.  Since his trip is only 11 days, I would think he could research his route and determine where he can resupply and where there are restaurants.  I don't love peanut butter and jelly, so I try to eat lunch in some small town, but I do carry the stuff in case I need it.

He mentioned burning a hole in aluminum.  I have a different argument for stainless steel.  Ti and aluminum cookware is generally so thin walled that it is only of use for boiling water.  Stainless steel cook gear is pretty thin too but there is some heat integration going on and you are less likely to burn whatever you are cooking.  But if all you want to do is boil water, it is hard to beat aluminum.

As for carrying both a white gas stove and an alcohol stove, I would just settle on one.  Just carry one kind of fuel.  We used to take white gas stoves, I had a Whisperlite and my buddy had a Dragonfly.  We converted to alcohol because we found the stoves to be easier to use and we found their lower temp cook flames to be more friendly for food prep.  I also like that if the alcohol fuel bottle leaks  it is no big deal where as if the white gas leaks that could be a big deal.   It is hard to knock the Tragia as it out performs the Super-Cat stoves I used to make.

I think you need to make some test meals at home using your cook gear.  Evaluate how bulky the food items are versus how tasty they are.  See how you feel about food prep and clean up.  Do some test meals with freeze dried stuff and see how you feel about that.  You have not mentioned MREs.  I hear about people buying them and using them.  Our military uses them in field, after the boys field strip them and discard excess packaging before sticking them in a back pack.

I think you got some experimenting to do.

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General Discussion / Re: touring without "eating out"

« on: April 10, 2013, 10:10:39 am »

I have not done freeze dried since my back packing class, but back then they all tasted the same, salty.

My buddy and I do week long trips and eat pretty good.  We always carry an extra days worth of food, in case we cannot resupply.  If you want to explore the wonderful world of real food, here are some brief tips.

1. Aluminum and Ti cookware are great for boiling water, but real cooking takes stainless steel.  We use an MSR Alpine 2 pot kit, and a small GSI teapot.
2. 2 stoves are great, one for cooking and one for heating water.  We use a pair on Trangia Alcohol stoves (but not with their pots).  There are other stoves out there, just read the threads...
3. Foil pouch chicken is great.  You can also get salmon and that is not bad.  You can decide about everything else, but we found canned shrimp to be wretched. I was raised Roman Catholic and I am permanently scarred by canned or foil pouch tuna fish (my Protestant wife loves the stuff).
4. You can make a great marinara sauce from a small tin of corned beef, just know that the sodium is high.  Maybe just as high as freeze dried food.
5. You can do a lot with whole wheat pasta and whole grains.
6. Oatmeal, grits, and cream of wheat are the staples of breakfast.
7. Peanut butter, jelly, and tortillas travel well.
8. Condensed canned milk and canned parmesan cheese is the basis for great white sauces.  You can get a couple of days out of the parmesan cheese before you have to toss it as garbage.
9. Plan to resupply regularly, maybe even daily.  I once resupplied from a party store on Cape Breton Island that mostly sold beer, but I made a fabulous dinner from Rice-A-Roni, canned peas, and canned chicken, and promptly exhausted their food section.

Regardless of what kind of food you carry, practice bear bagging.  It works for varmints too.

15

General Discussion / Re: Getting hungry too fast while riding

« on: April 09, 2013, 10:01:10 am »

I am in hunger mode on day 2, consistently. 

I would not worry too much about getting caught in a vicious protein cycle.  Note that I said add more protein to your diet, not go caveman. 
I usually try and use the protein enhanced pastas and oatmeal.  Whole grain stuff if pretty good too, and I try to use alternatives to white rice and white flour.

I also find it helpful to tear down camp and pack before I eat breakfast.  On day 2, I will be ravenous 2 hours after breakfast, so I prefer to get 2 hours of riding in before stopping for my first snack.

Count your blessing that you don't get muscle cramps.  I usually go through 2 small bottles of G2 a day, and that seems to be enough for me.  I only mentioned it in case you are a water only guy.