Messages

1

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

10

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.   

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General Discussion / Re: Getting hungry too fast while riding

« on: April 08, 2013, 09:18:02 am »

I believe that have faced the same demon.  Your metabolism is getting skewed, and without getting technical, you just need to eat more protein.  You can decide how you want to do that, but protein will take more time to digest, hence you will not get hungry as quickly.  It sounds like you are just gorging on carbs, and in your hopped up metabolic state you are just going to burn right through carbs.

You might have a secondary problem of trace minerals.  There are supplements (I call them dirt pills), but my personal answer is to drink lots of Gatoraide G2.  G2 has all the minerals and less sugar.  Besides the skewed metabolism, I also get muscle cramps, and those are caused by depleting my trace minerals.

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Gear Talk / Re: Tail Bone Pain

« on: March 26, 2013, 09:59:20 am »

There is a lot of variation in the leathers that Brooks uses.  I have had a saddle break in after a days worth of riding (black Brooks Conquest), and one that took all summer (black Brook Team Pro).  From the tanning community comes that black is one of the harsher leathers, and natural or white one of the softer leathers. 

I suggest reading the sister thread on Titanico saddles.

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Gear Talk / Re: Camping Gas/stove

« on: March 26, 2013, 09:55:50 am »

The question of stove type is based on the fuel you want to burn and that decision is often based on the type of the cooking you plan to do.

If you are a spendid cook and enjoy a well-kitted out kitchen, you will want the stout burner controller available on cannister stoves.
If all you do is boil water for tea and dried or freeze-dried meals then you can do alcohol or tabs wood or just about anything else.
If you are traveling with companions, you can split the load so weight is not a valid qualifier. 

I suggeest you explore alcohol stoves but there is also an interesting variety of battery-powered forced air stoves that will burn wood and other combustibles. Soot on the pans? You're camping!

Acohol stoves are efficient, ultrlight, and ultrasimple. There are many deisgns for do-it-yourselfers or thhere is the venerable Trangia that has been making tea for trekkers for at least a century. The fuel supply is easily predictable for spirit stoves. The fuel is easily and readily available across the States. But alcohol stoves have no finesse. They boil water. You're not making fluffy omelettes or unburned pancakes on a Trangia.

See backpacking online resources for thorough reviews of cooking systems.I just got a copy of the Adveenture Cycline catalog and they've settled on a particualr model. Should be a reliable testimonial.

I fancy my self to be a culinary snob, and I prefer cooking on my venerable Trangia.  The flame front is spot on perfect for cooking and then there is  that marvelous simmer ring if you need it.  I have not done omelettes as there is that whole eggs not packing well thing,  but I am pretty sure I could if I wanted to.  I have not done pancakes either but I will try that on my next trip.  I do marvelous grains and pasta with hearty red or delicate cream sauces. Are you sure you are not thinking about white gas stoves?  As I recall my Whisperlite had two setting, off and incinerate.

14

Gear Talk / Re: Selle Anatomica Titanico X

« on: March 21, 2013, 10:08:55 am »

We all have reasons for why we get leather saddles. 

My touring partner that I have previously mentioned ended up with a Titanico because his sit bones are not symetric.  On a Brooks saddle, if he could survive long enough to break one in, their would be two dents, with one being much larger than the other.  So he is counting on stretch in a Titanico saddle when he breaks one in.  He gets about 18 months out of a Titanico before the amount of stretch that can be taken up is exhausted.  This pattern is pretty consistent for him, but your experience should be different.

I find that my cut out equipped B-17s stretch some too.  I expect that I will have to lace them at the bottom, similar to how Brooks laces an Imperial B-17.

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Gear Talk / Re: Selle Anatomica Titanico X

« on: March 20, 2013, 08:59:44 am »

Last time I checked, Monarch Leather, the leather vendor to SA was charging $100 to cut a Brooks, so buying a Brooks saddle and sending it to Monarch Leather is an expensive way to go.

I did see on the SA site it is around $100.  I hate to do that to this Brooks I have been trying.  The black B17 Special with the copper rivets really is a thing of beauty but not why I got it.  Brooks gets great reviews but I ran into some issues with my, well you know.  No matter what way I adjusted it I just can't get it to be comfortable on my soft areas.  I only have about 22 bike trainer miles on it but just feel its not for me.  Even my Doctor suggested a switch.
Anyway, thanks for the comments and will consider the SAT saddle.  I will be calling them with a few questions and I have heard they have great customer service and a 30 day guarantee.
Joe

The founder passed away a year or so ago.  He could be surly to deal with, but I hear that control of the company has passed through the family to someone that really cares about the business.  Monarch Leather is really committed to the product.

I would not feel guilty about sending your B-17 to Monarch Leather for carving out a cut out.  They will do a beautiful job, and you will end up with a prostrate friendly saddle.  But feel free to try out a Titanico.  You may still want to send your Brooks saddle to Monarch Leather at some point.

For what it is worth, the softest Titanico leathers are white and natural, and the hardest leather is black.