Messages

1

General Discussion / riding and camping in thunderstorms

« on: June 12, 2013, 02:42:07 pm »

As my trip gets closer the one thing I get nervous about is thunderstorms.

The first question is what to do if one is approaching and I'm biking in the middle of nowhere?  If it gets bad I'll look for a bridge or culvert to hide under, but what if there is none of that?

And then what about camping in a thunderstorm?  I know to stay away from big trees, but what if there is no safe haven to run to?

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Gear Talk / Re: do I have too much crap?

« on: May 02, 2013, 11:51:02 am »

Yeah, the first day that I tried riding to work with front panniers on I scraped them on the ground twice.  Since then I've been more careful.

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Gear Talk / Re: do I have too much crap?

« on: May 02, 2013, 11:05:14 am »

Scraping my panniers on the ground when you lean it over too much...

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Gear Talk / Re: MTB tires

« on: May 02, 2013, 08:23:56 am »

I went tubeless last year after tons of flats on the Great Divide.  I'll never ride tubes on a mountain bike again, it's that much better.

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Gear Talk / Re: do I have too much crap?

« on: May 02, 2013, 08:22:23 am »

Thanks for all the replies, I think I could easily get everything in to my T-42 rear panniers.  I have about everything loaded and front and rear panniers only seem half full.  I also don't like how much I have to watch the bike in corners with the fronts on.  I was thinking I'd need the fronts for the extra food I'd need on my first few days, but maybe I'll try to keep them off.

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Gear Talk / Re: ACA & Smartphones

« on: April 23, 2013, 09:27:45 am »

To the OP, I know you said you weren't keen on dynamo hubs, but have you seen the Luxos U?  USB charging integrated in to the headlight.  People have commented that they've used it to charge their phone while being used for navigation and their phone was at 100% when done riding.

I still can't be sold on using a phone for navigation on tour.  I like using my phone over our car's nav system because searches and manual entry are a lot easier, but once on the bike with a set route I'd rather use my Edge 500 over the phone any day.  Sure I dropped my Samsung S3 from 7 feet up twice and it didn't break, then it fell out of my pocket a foot off the ground and cracked.  Battery life on it is ok, but no way it's going to last a day of navigating with GPS on, the Edge will last about 14 hours.  Worrying about charging something while riding that I "need" while riding isn't a worry I want.

That said, I know there are some people that love it, why not have a section on tips and tricks for using it.

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/b&m-hl.asp

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Gear Talk / Re: do I have too much crap?

« on: April 21, 2013, 03:22:29 pm »

I live in Denver.  Calculated out that's only a cumulative average of 1.4% grade over 10.5 miles, but it's not a sustained climb and has some flat sections?  Most of the actual "hills" on my ride to work are 4-6% when I calculate them out, which I was hoping were good tests.  The one bummer is that I don't have the up and down rollers on the ride that you find in the midwest.

You can see the elevation profile at the link below.  I was thinking that for cruising across Nebraska that heading up Lookout Mountain with my panniers might be overkill and not quite the same.  I want rollers vs sustained climbing for the type of riding that will be.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/295157214

I planned on riding east out of Denver to Strasburg a few times for some overnight camping, and also down to Chatfield for some overnight camping.  The road to Strasburg by Aurora Reservoir has some nice rollers.  I rode that with a friend when he did his TransUSA trip.

Honestly, my biggest concern is that my typical rides to work and back are 10 or 12 miles each way.  I'm only putting in 24 miles a day at present, 34 if I get crazy and take a different route.  Sometimes I feel like I hit a wall right past the 25 mile mark as that's what my body is used to.  I've done 150 in a day before, but that was a long time ago and my typical rides were 60 to 80 miles at a pop before doing it.  I know the solution to that is to get my butt out there and ride.

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Gear Talk / Re: do I have too much crap?

« on: April 21, 2013, 02:14:25 pm »

Thanks for all the replies.

I weighed the bike alone today and it's 36 lbs. That's with stainless fenders, front and rear racks and a dynamo hub.

So I guess 27 lbs isn't awful for two sets of panniers and a large handle bar bag loaded.  That said I'm not at 100% load yet either on the list I had.

My typical ride to work route is a good test of weight.  It gains about 800 feet over 10.5 miles.  I've also done lots of century days, although on a nice light road bike.  I'm not so worried about the fitness portion of it, I just don't want to be plugging along at 9mph hauling a bunch of stuff I don't need.  Everytime I go out on the road bike and see the huge speed difference I start thinking I have too much stuff on the touring bike, I have to change my mindset more than anything.

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Gear Talk / Re: ACA & Smartphones

« on: April 19, 2013, 08:01:09 pm »

I use my phone a lot for navigation when riding around town.  That said, the battery life on my phone isn't conducive to relying on it out on the road.  I have my days planned out as GPX files.  I'll just convert them to TCX and upload them to my Garmin Edge for navigation.  I've also done that around town and it works great.

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Gear Talk / do I have too much crap?

« on: April 19, 2013, 07:58:12 pm »

I decided I'd start loading the bike up more on my ride to and from work to get ready for my 11 day tour in June.  I went about 3/4 loaded today.  I was missing just my tent (5 lbs), sleeping pad (2.5 lbs), sleeping bag (1.5 lbs) and food and miscellaneous toiletries.

I weighed my bike tonight, 63 pounds!  I'm guessing it will be more up around 80 pounds with food and tent and such.  For being 63 pounds it really didn't ride that bad or even that slow.  I think my hour commute only took a couple minutes more than usual.  I guess I'm ok with the weight, I just had no idea it would be that much.

Was anyone weighed their bike fully loaded for commuting?  Is there a sweet spot to shoot for?  Obviously I know carrying extra crap just for the sake of carrying extra crap is not a good idea and the lighter I go the happier I'll be to a certain extent.  That said I want to cook (stainless pots) and be comfortable (sleeping pad) and such as well.  I guess I could leave out stuff like the first aid kit, etc.

For the ride to work I'll probably just keep loading it up heavier and heavier to get ready, no harm in doing that, it's only 12 miles of moderate hills.  It will be nice to be "lighter" come tour time.

11

General Discussion / Re: touring without "eating out"

« on: April 13, 2013, 12:43:46 pm »

Thanks everyone, for all the replies.  Have definitely turned me on to real food vs the freeze dried stuff, and also convinced me to at least do a few stops in local diners.  I planned on making a lot of test meals, including some of the Mountain House ones just for fun.  I've made a lot of meals with the same items while car camping before, but then you have a big duffel bag full of camp gear with you and things like a bottle of dish soap and all utensils are no big deal.

I posted my route on another thread awhile back.  I have the route down and have also researched the towns.  Google Maps has a nice street view that you can read store names from in the towns.  Quite a few of these towns are near ghost towns and don't have much beyond a gas station and steakhouse.  Many grocery stores have gone out of business along the corridor as bigger towns are half an hour away by car.

Here's my route for fun...

http://www.motate.org/riders/scottdeleeuw/trip/trip.php

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General Discussion / Re: touring without "eating out"

« on: April 11, 2013, 07:32:18 am »

We were talking about it and, like a lot of you mentioned, eating at mom and pop diners is part of the fun.  Maybe a better option is to try and eat out only once a day and use the great ideas here to make camp meals the rest of the time.

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General Discussion / Re: touring without "eating out"

« on: April 10, 2013, 02:23:16 pm »

Ahh, thank you.

For stove I do have an MSR DragonFly (can run on unleaded) and was planning on also making a soda can stove, so the two combined might be good for cooking and water.

I have a stainless steel pot set that I wasn't planning on taking, but you make a good point about real cooking.  It's been awhile since our mountain bike trips to Moab, but it's a real bummer to burn a hole in the bottom of an aluminum pan and be stuck with none.

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General Discussion / Re: touring without "eating out"

« on: April 10, 2013, 01:49:48 pm »

These are all great suggestions and I appreciate them.  What is a foil pack of chicken?  Is that something you can buy at the grocery store or something that is made?  Apologies for the dumb question, I want to try some of these out ahead of time.

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General Discussion / Re: Training: Schedule Critique Needed

« on: April 10, 2013, 09:26:13 am »

As everyone said, just ride lots, get nutrition down.  Even just look at ways you can take the bike to the grocery store or whatever.  I remember being 22, my first "century" was 150 miles.  Even being young your knees can really complain if you haven't prepared coming up to the adventure.