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Messages - Colorado.Michael

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1
Thanks. As a certified social media manager and a background in IT, please make your site mobile friendly rather than put expectations on others to find a bandaid approach. It's better for traffic to your site in general, if you care about such a thing.

Thanks for the info on how to use your site.

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Gear Talk / Re: Dynamo - What are you using for a light?
« on: October 23, 2019, 07:59:41 pm »
"And if my SP hub fails (a not so uncommon situation)..."

Oh no. Gosh I hope not :(

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That's super helpful! Thank you. Have to get some Johnny Cash on iTunes going while I go check out Folsom ;)

I just need a start and will figure things out as I go. Have something to do now. Thanks!

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I was wondering if I could get some suggestions on where to go when I arrive. I am arriving into Sacramento with no touring experience, and the plan is to spend some time on the west coast acclimating to touring/camping.

I am on a very fixed income and relying on camping a lot, minimalist approach, and would like to obviously stay safe.

I don't have a specific agenda other than indefinite touring at the moment, have a lot of experience in the saddle now, just not actually touring full time.

When I arrive in Sacramento, I am going to try and find some cheap campgrounds for the night and figure things out from there. Probably head over to San Francisco from there, and then the sky is the limit...

Any ideas on where to go? Good place to start? Places of interest I should see as a cyclist? Survival tips or advice on places to go that is affordable and worth checking out? Any advice?

P.S. please make the site mobile responsive friendly.

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Gear Talk / Re: Dynamo - What are you using for a light?
« on: October 23, 2019, 04:47:27 pm »
Not sure if weatherproofing really works in rain, I have been in dry climates. Sinewave and other articles claim its waterproof from getting inside and doing damage. I have been I dry climates. That's about to change as I am arriving on the west coast so I guess we will find out. I questioned its validity too, but from speaking to manufacturer directly, they told me not to worry about it.

If I was to sell off the sinewave, I would probably just get a Luxux U at that point so I get the light from B&M with a USB port in it.

I wish there was more distributors state side for this stuff and it wa ssd's more widely available. And yes, I am familiar with Peter White cycles but I would rather find what I need at cheaper prices as just about everything is a premium with Peter Whites stuff.

Cost is always a factor for me and I already have a S&P hub, so it doesn't have to be SON ultimately if I can get a good price on some lights. $300-400 for lights seems to be a bit obnoxious when my bike ed frame didn't cost much more than that.

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Gear Talk / Re: Dynamo - What are you using for a light?
« on: October 23, 2019, 04:15:58 am »
If I remember correctly, those are more like flood lights and don't do well with dazzle cutoff. They are great for off road, but from what I read, they can be blinding to oncoming traffic if I remember correctly. I hate when people blind me with their lights coming at me, so I try to be conscious of it.

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Do you think most of the information in here is still valid a few years later?

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Gear Talk / Re: Dynamo - What are you using for a light?
« on: October 21, 2019, 11:11:14 pm »
Well then God's speed to you and I hope it's wonderful for you!

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Gear Talk / Dynamo - What are you using for a light?
« on: October 21, 2019, 11:00:57 pm »
If you have a dynamo setup...

What are you using for a light for touring and why?

I bought a Busch and Muller IQ-X used on ebay and it's failing right out of the gate. Feels like a faulty switch, but I did get enough performance out of it to know what to expect from it now. It's my first real headlamp of this magnitude, and I don't want to go backwards again on lighting. I am running a Shutter Precision Dynamo hub. I have a Sinewave revolution already installed, so I don't need a USB charger in the mix. So I am thinking another IQ-X or going with the Son Edelux II instead so I have something to compare it too. I also have the B&M tail light that pulsates when stopping. Regardless of the pulsating, I like how bright and big it is and let's people know I am there for sure. What I don't like about the IQ-X is there is a cache battery in the tail light that doesn't go out for the first couple of minutes that you stop. If you suddenly had to go stealth for any reason, it's not the most ideal get away vehicle metaphorically speaking. But the lights work nice when they do work for the most part.

Should I just do the Edelux instead? Seems to be the best selling headlight in that class, although I think that has to do more with them just naturally being sold with Son hubs as well and by default that is why they probably sell more naturally I am guessing.

Thoughts?


10
General Discussion / Re: Help getting out of the Rockies (time sensitive)
« on: October 21, 2019, 01:51:54 pm »
Thanks John. This thread was helpful and I did end up booking a train just now to Sacramento. I can lighten my load now also.

Looks like I will be on the west coast by Thursday afternoon trying to figure this out in warmer weather.

Thanks for the assistance. Sometimes folks just need to process stuff openly and see what comes out of it.

Even got the ticket for $50 bucks less than what I was looking at so I am happier. With bike fee and ticket, $158.

See you out there some day ;)

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General Discussion / Re: Help getting out of the Rockies (time sensitive)
« on: October 21, 2019, 12:37:46 pm »
Plus if you take the ST, if you have a passport, check out Puerto Penasco in Mexico about a days ride south of the Arizona border.  Nice, warm, and cheap. Well, that is most all of Mexico anyway.

Tailwinds, John

I don't have a passport, but I was under the impression if you are a U.S. citizen, driver's license is fine to get across the border. Is this true?

I also really don't have much of a desire to go to Mexico. Would rather go north when it warms up. Not south.

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General Discussion / Re: Help getting out of the Rockies (time sensitive)
« on: October 21, 2019, 12:34:48 pm »
The car rental doesn't work for me and/or some folks, especially folks that don't have economic stability. You can't rent a rental car without a major credit card, and I only use my banking ATM card for everything. Most places won't let you rent form them that way because of the massive problem with car theft from rental agencies that there is a massive cover up about because people and corporations don't want you knowing the truth about what is REALLY happening behind the scenes. So ghetto people go into local car rental places all the time with limited funds in their account on purpose, to steal the car or joy ride it and not care about the outcome. So now that takes away from all the other folks that are good and wouldn't do that, and they take it away from the rest of us because of all the actual real degenerate American 's that the massive fraud is covered up about. So this takes away from the good poor folks and less options for us. It has gotten so bad in the last couple of years that it's just about impossible to rent a car that way, even at places that I have established time and trust with on car rentals today.

The other problem with car rental is that folks that use bikes as primary transportation and don't have cars, don't have car insurance coverage. Without it, they charge $31 a day, which is mandatory insurance, to get the car. So the car you claim is so cheap, is suddenly hundreds of dollars more expensive for this alone for folks like myself.

Car rentals is for the 5% elite (that's generous) of the world, especially more so for the elite capitalistic businesses of the world that use them more than anything. I don't fit in those categories and not as blessed as others in that category sadly.

Sorry, I need for poor cyclist folks to think outside the box on this one. I don't have many of those luxuries as others have in life. Bad choices, cursed, raised in poverty,  whatever...could care less about the reasons or excuses at this point in life. Just not options for me though.

That's the downside about being poor and asking for advice on social media platforms that are geared at image more than factual or totally helpful. Then the help or advice you receive becomes a matter of dissociation based on image, judgement, or accidental grouping of people.

So it's either a $200 train that eats up half my funds for the rest of the month and try to make it on $200 survival for 10 days in a place I know nothingor nobody until I get more money at the end of the month, or ride it out with the extra $200 for food, water, and security I would have there because I know I can survive on that money if I don't use it on a train no matter where I am. I have all the gear to survive outside. Right now it's a matter of financial decision. If it was 2 weeks from now when I had more money, I would just take the train at this point. But for further disclosure, pride is messing with my head saying, "I got this and can do it!" and have the mental notch in my bed post when it's done. But I can come back when it's warmer and nicer in Colorado like I plan to, and get that notch on my bed post metaphorically speaking anyway.

If we really got technical, I am a Colorado boy now for a long time. If I had to, I can survive in anything. Period. I bike and ride in the Colorado Rocky mountains every day, 24/7/365 days of the years, for a decade with no car. Most people on the planet can't handle the terrain I ride normally, never mind if I will make it or not. I also know that if I really wanted to, I can go get real tires for my bike with knobs, and ride out of the Rockies just fine if I avoid major white out storms or deep snow kind of stuff. I can ride in bad weather just fine if I have to with the right gear. I am strong enough, smart enough, and experienced enough to do it. I just haven't personally done it to the mass level I am talking about at this time of year, solo, with noting to fall back on if something goes wrong. At the same token, I don't need pride to mess with my life or an aging body to prove anything, when I can reserve my body for better places to see and visit that I haven't yet if the train is the best option. It's a matter of computing all the variables and what makes the most sense with the due diligence on those variables at play, so I know it's a tough thing for others to advise about because we all have different variables in play about how to go about this or even why we are doing it.

So rental car is not an option for me.

It's text so it sounds crude and prideful. Not trying to come off that way, but everything I said is reality and honest.

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General Discussion / Re: Help getting out of the Rockies (time sensitive)
« on: October 21, 2019, 12:06:25 pm »
So a couple of things come to mind...

OP is new tourer, but not new in the saddle or expectations, and also very familiar with the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, but not west of them until I get to the coast.  I don't know what to expect.

John - Yes, I understand the difference at 10 mph as I put 50+ miles in daily often in the Rocky Mountains. I know what to expect and what to see, and why I want to do it full time. At the same token, that path that you mentioned with all the birds and bee's worth seeing, also means going through Indian Country and having to see the utter segregation and poverty America is historically know for, and I have done that once before via car. And to be honest, that was 8 years ago, and I am still devastated down into my soul that I can't shake that we still live like this in 2019, and that humans live like this at all In America. Quite frankly, my soul can't handle it again, and I just don't want to see it. Along those same beautiful routes that you mentioned, is also riding along roads that are the most littered that I have ever seen also, which also leaves a feeling of hopelessness towards humans in general when I see it. So those are reasons 99.9999% of people will never openly talk about or say, but to be quite frank, my soul struggles deeply with seeing stuff like that as I just ride past into white privilege utopia struggling as a human as to what is happening all around me, and further, if you are honest or talk about it, then you will be branded, disrobed, and tar and feathered for being honest.

So "boring" was a politically correct way of not having to say what I really feel. Too late for that now. Then that starts bringing up issues of how people will help you or not because now they have a reason to hate or not like you. Then you get kicked off forums and websites for being honest, bla, bla, bla...

So I was trying to be nice about it without getting branded.

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General Discussion / Re: Help getting out of the Rockies (time sensitive)
« on: October 21, 2019, 02:33:15 am »
Looking at an Amtrak map, I can also take the same train to Reno, get off their, and then take a slow ride the rest of the way.

Is Reno doable through to the coast with weather? I see Tahoe national Forrest...is that like Colorado Rockies out there? Snow? Doable?

If not, I can take the train for an extra $30 to Sacramento and then figure things out from there.

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General Discussion / Re: Help getting out of the Rockies (time sensitive)
« on: October 21, 2019, 01:21:26 am »
I love Route 66, but you may want to go all the way down to the Southern Tier. It'll still be cold in spots, but not as bad.

Knowing what you know, based off the little bit of context, what are you doing for sure?

I think since this is my first step off the bridge into the void on a leap of faith, that I should go out to California and work out the kinks of getting acclimated to it where I know camp grounds are open, the weather is still warm, and I can acclimate for the winter is what I am thinking.

Or I can just head up to Oregon from Sacramento, and then find a room to rent for the winter while I check out Oregon.

I am wanting to stay on the west coast more than I am wanting to get off it right now or take the southern tier through the south.

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