Messages

16

Gear Talk / Re: ACA & Smartphones

« on: April 21, 2013, 07:02:54 am »

Thorough, practical, real world experiences relying on various phones for navigation, communication, photos, journaling and entertainment would, indeed, make a series of great articles.

Confirming the battery issues but I think they are more complicated. My iPhone 4s in GPS mode, running MapMyRide, takes the battery from 100% to under 40% in less than four hours, much more quickly below 45F. A good day of touring can be eight to twelve hours between overnights so the phone will be dead long before camp is reached.

The expense and mass of auxiliary battery packs are not trivial. You need at least two aux battery packs, one hooked to the phone and one to charge the phone at the end of the day's ride. But two packs are not really adequate; you need three battery units: one to run the phone on the bike, one to recharge the phone at night and one that is either topped off or that is being recharged by mains or solar either on the bike or in camp. If you have only two packs, you cannot safely assume you will be able to recharge the other one so, when you get into camp, you can easily have two depleted battery packs.

Solar is not yet viable if you depend on your phone for everything, just do the math. A panel that can fully recharge a pack of 4-AAs or a li-ion pack while riding is both big and heavy. And solar is not magical. The panel requires lots of direct sunlight to do its job.

A bike-powered generator would be my recommendation but I don't like the idea of a power hub. I have no experience with bike generators yet. 

My Goal Zero Guide+10 battery pack (4-AAs, heavy duty case, circuitry and LED lamp) is seven ounces. CArrying three of those, plus the big Goal Zero #7 panel, is more than two pounds. My experiments are conducted just riding around the valley but I can tell you it's a hassle to keep the batts in proper rotation and the solar panel fully exposed on the bike. My recumbent has more places to rig the panel than conventional bikes but the thing is not small and, no matter where I put it, it's always in the way. Also, even in Idaho, insolation simply is not reliable as a power source.

17

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

« on: April 21, 2013, 06:29:55 am »

The topics of loads and equipment lists come up often. You can spend several happy hours researching them here and I suggest you take a looka thte ultralight backpacking and bike camping communities. Wehn I was backapcking, I went from a load of 45+ pounds to less than 20 and still felt secure. It was a tranformational event, completely changing the nature of the sport.
Minimalism comes at a price, though. You might need some expensive replacement gear (a sil-nylon tarp and bivvy bag instead of a tent, for instance) and you need to practice under a variety of weather conditions to make sure you can rely on your equipment and your competency to keep you warm and dry.

You can also forget all the numbers and just take off. People do that all the time and they enjoy themselves tremendously. 

For training, check your local charity bike event calendars. Even if you don't sign up for the rides, you can download their route maps and they can make excellent training runs because they are always loops and usually take interesting backroads. Charity routes tend to avoid hills, though.

18

General Discussion / Re: Getting hungry too fast while riding

« on: April 13, 2013, 05:33:10 am »

Thanks for all your answers.

Concerning proteins: As already suggested plenty of times, this is the way to go. However as paddleboy mentions, they take more time to digest: I read somewhere on the internet that proteins need to broken down to carbs in order to fuel the muscles. This break down process (break down before they get available as fuel) requires energy. And that energy is taken from 1st hand carbs (like pasta, potatoes etc). Thus, it should be an "evil" cycle where valuable carbs are used for processing protein instead of being used as "fuel" right away.
I was always told that Tour de France racing (and alike) cyclists eat carbs alone.
I do drink Gatorade, however cannot remember if it is the G2 version - I just pick whats in the fridge. Or Powerrade. I like the stuff and could easily spend 10 dollars each day on "gas station Gatorade/Powerade". Alternatively I tried buying Gatorade powder (which is more economic) but that is a bit messy and tastes more chemial.
I never experience muscle cramps.
Lucas

Umm, digestion is far more complicated and everything you read on the interwebz is doubtful at best, dead wrong at worst. And there is a huge difference between these three states: hungry, depleted and empty. Hunger is often about satiety. Depletion is dangerous. An empty stomach is not necessarilly associated with either of the previous states. To be satisfied, you need to eat what you like and what you know works for you under the stress of touring. To avoid depleting your system, you must know what supplements and micronutrients you must maintain. The feeling of an empty stomach can just mean your last meal is successfully moving along.
You cannot make a direct comparision between yourself and a TdF racer unless you are a professional athlete. If that were the case, you'd have a nutrition specialist on your staff. Their diets are designed for their metabolisms and their riding requirements.

You can start with any of the several bicyclist nutrition books that are on the market. Adventure Cycling sells a great book written by their former nutrition columnist. Then you start the long process of experimentation, trying to find what foods and consumption schedules work for you.

Cramps are different from muscle spasms and they are caused by many factors including muscle strain, dehydration and trace element depletion.

19

General Discussion / Re: Stanley, Id -93-loop?

« on: April 13, 2013, 05:15:03 am »

Ron, so you're riding a mountain bike on this trip? I don't mtn bike any longer; pretty sure the many ooff-road route options between Ketchum/Sun Valley and Stanley are thoroughly documented.

20

General Discussion / Re: Stanley, Id -93-loop?

« on: April 13, 2013, 05:11:02 am »

"Exciting" is relative, of course.
Challis, Arco, Mackay, Craters... wind and sun and desert are  interesting features when I'm riding.

See Ride Idaho's pphoto gallery site for our 2011 route:
http://rideidaho.org/past-2011.asp

21

Rocky Mountain / Re: Ride Idaho 2013, coming soon

« on: April 13, 2013, 05:01:30 am »

SOLD OUT.
You can get on the waiting list, though.

22

General Discussion / Re: Stanley, Id -93-loop?

« on: April 08, 2013, 08:32:23 pm »

Yeah, that's my backyard. Where you from?
We did that stretch and circuit with Ride Idaho a couple years ago. Lovely ride although it can be wicked hot. It's a wide canyon, mostly exposed.
You might try to contact the route director at Ride Idaho (rideidaho.org) to see if they have any suggestions or comments for you.

Idaho's towns are strung together by two-lane highways that have been built over a seventy-year span. The maintenance is done by committed but terribly underfunded state departments. As cyclist, you will deal with debris, potholes and the simple fact that everything moves on the same roads you are pedalling. But if you've never been to Idaho, please take a few extra days to either layover on your route, go rafting or hiking, or stay a few days at either end of the trip. Idaho is a delightful place.
If you're staying in Boise coming or going, drop me a note. We'll get a beer or sushi or ribs or chinook.

Idaho is crosscut by fabulous mountains. These mountain ranges are separated by long valleys. Most of the valleys have beautiful rivers in them but the roads along the rivers are NOT flat. You can climb straight up and over the mountains or you can ride your bike around them along the rivers. While the mountains are spectacular from the river valleys, you only see the foothills from the highways. You must hike or mountain bike or horse pack a day or two to really see Idaho's mountains.

I run American and POW/MIA flags on my recumbent when I'm touring my home state of Iderho—pre-emptive political positioning.

You're going to enjoy your trip tremendously.

23

General Discussion / Re: Getting hungry too fast while riding

« on: April 02, 2013, 06:15:07 am »

Nutrition for endurance activities is a fun research project. There are several books on the topic that cover marathoners, triathletes, long-range cyclists and the like. Lots of theories out there.

Here's what I know from practical experience:
Calorie consumption does not have a direct relationship with calorie intake at breakfast.
I need a variety of textures and flavors.
I follow The Zone as a nutrition plan (and I do not recommend it for anyone else) with 30/30/40 ratio of low fat proteins, good fats, and low glycemic carbs.
I carry cashews, dried cherries, bars that provide protein, an energy drink mix, sometimes hard cheeses.
Breakfast, no matter how big it is, only lasts about an hour as the food gets moved along the tract. Most of the nutrition is being processed in the lower tract so I just feel hungry and want something interesting to eat.

24

Gear Talk / Re: Shaving Creme

« on: April 02, 2013, 06:05:21 am »

There was a thread here many years ago about minimalist shaving equipment. The young man used a Feather (or Dovo) Shavette, a folding holder for single edge blades that simulates the experience of a straight razor. Only needed a drop or two of olive oil, which he was carrying anyway for cooking.

http://www.straightrazor.co/c=MI1Awt9Xn43Wk8I94aQHiX3nN/category/dovo_shavette/

25

Gear Talk / Re: Camping Gas/stove

« on: March 27, 2013, 06:04:34 am »

>>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. <<

Point taken, thanks for adding your experience. Reinforces the need to research these things carefully. You pointed out features and capabilities of the Trangia I had not considered.

I never really tried to actually cook on my Trangia. By the time I had gone ultralight for backpacking, I had decided cooking was a bit of an affectation for my hiking goals: walk till I didn't want to , set camp (5 minutes), heat up some water, read-write-chores, bed. Same in reverse in the mornings.

After watching dozens of different people use lots of different stoves (most with comic or near tragic results) I concluded the type of cooking one aspires to should be the deciding factor when shopping for and investing in a stove. As you say, many stoves have two modes, off and jet. One cannot cook without some kind of predictable flame attenuation. For that, many of the cartridge-style units seem to excel. There are several cansiter stoves designed to only boil water, though (off and jet), so one must still shop carefully.

26

General Discussion / Re: A desire to do a bicycle tour, but no motivation

« on: March 22, 2013, 08:31:45 pm »

Nonsense.
Would you attempt a marathon or ironman event without preparation and training?
Find a local bike club that advertsises "no drop rides." Contact the principal by email. RRide with them. Every week. Go to the post-ride burger fests or beer swills. Talk equipment. Spend some money on good gear but spend it wisely.
Start slow and build up to doing a couple of metric centuries or full century charity rides this summer. See if you can take it. See if you like it.
Then start training for next year's riding season in October by joining a gym and train with determination for a new goal: to do at least three centuries and to take a five-day, fully supported tour across your state.

GGo to your local library and check out everything they have on the topic of bicycle touring and buy some books. Obtain bike route maps for you location. Look for a 40-60 mile trip you can make on your own that ends at a comfortable motel. Have a nice shower, Get up, have a nice breakfast, return.

27

Gear Talk / Re: Shaving Creme

« on: March 22, 2013, 08:22:33 pm »

You kno, there are many online forums dedicated to the manly art of the classical wet shave? Badger and Blade comes to mind.

I shaved wiith my great grandfather's solid brass injector when I was a kid and then descended into displosables. Now I enjoy my shaving ritual a great deal, ten minutes of zen every morning, and I have treated myself to some nice tools for the job including a Merkur double edge razor, several dozens of international blades and a selection of exquisitely luxurious shaving soaps rom England, USA, Italy and Scotland.

But when I'm on a bike tour I usually take my rechargable electric. If I knew I'd be unable to recharge it, I'd instead take my whole kit but I'd use a lighter razor and probably forego the badger hair brush and steel mug. Shortcutting the pleasures of a proper shave to save a few ounces by using inferior blades and razors would be a shame.

28

Gear Talk / Re: Camping Gas/stove

« on: March 22, 2013, 08:12:24 pm »

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.

29

General Discussion / Re: recumbent steering tiller versus linkage

« on: March 15, 2013, 05:07:24 am »

Thank you for the info. but I was not thinking of USS .Lightfoot has an option for linkage steering that eliminates the tiller .See there web for a picture . It's expensive but I will get it if it is a big improvement.

Sorry I couldn't address this esoteric option of Lightfoot's. Tiller is as much a misperception of newbie
s inability to handle a 'bent as it is a literal effect of how the geomotery of the handlebars  pivot the fork. Never heard of linkage as an option to counteract tiller and I've ridden a lot of 'bents though never had a chance to sit on a Lightfoot.

If you get it figured out, please ocme back and tell us what you decided.

30

General Discussion / Re: recumbent steering tiller versus linkage

« on: March 10, 2013, 01:46:03 pm »

I have a Lightfoot Ranger recumbent that I find very hard to handle on slow speed climbs . Would changing to linkage steering( a $300 option ) give me a big improvement ??

You mean converting to underseat steering? That's known in the 'bent crowd as USS.
Probably not. The bike's center of gravity and your ability to make microcorrections to the steering that affect slow speed handling on most recumbents. Other factors include the contents of and location of panniers and bags, width of the front tire and forward velocity.

I usually run a bodyskin on my Tour Easy when I'm touring. The springy Lycra provides a huge steering damping effect. But I've 40+thousand miles on her and I really enjoy climbing so I train on hills.

YOu mgiht want to visit the site known as Bent Ride Online There you will find some other Lightfoot owners, plenty of climbing adviace as well as comparisons between USS and ASS.