Messages

1

General Discussion / Re: Is Long Distance Touring Really a Healthy Endevour?

« on: June 28, 2013, 11:46:54 pm »

"nothing is really good for you, including breathing so might as well enjoy it"

That's right. Life is a terminal disease. Nobody gets out alive and it could end tomorrow. So make the most of it while you've got it.

2

Gear Talk / Re: Selle Anatomica Titanico X

« on: March 21, 2013, 12:03:34 am »

There have been a few comments on Selle Anatomica saddles "stretching". I haven't experienced that, and I've been using one of them for at least 5 years. What does happen is the tension screw on the nose tends to loosen up, due to the rocking back and forth of the nose that is one of the functional aspects of the saddle. This happens over a period of time and might be mistaken for stretching. But you can tighten the leather right back up with the tension screw. I've installed a set nut on the tension screw on all of mine now, and this doesn't happen anymore. I don't believe that stretch is a significant issue with the SA saddles. It's just a design deficiency that can be easily corrected.

3

Gear Talk / Re: Selle Anatomica Titanico X

« on: March 19, 2013, 03:18:21 am »

Best saddle made, IMHO. I have them on every bike I own, and a couple of spares, just in case they go out of business. Very comfortable right out of the box, once you have them dialed in. You need to pay careful attention to the tilt and tension. I rode for many years on a Brooks Professional, and have gone through many other saddles since, before settling on the SA. That being said, saddles are one of the most individual choices on a bike -- that's why there are so many choices out there, so YMMV.

4

General Discussion / Any Experience With Amtrak's Capitol Corrider Train?

« on: January 08, 2013, 06:49:56 pm »

Has anyone ever taken a loaded touring bike onto the Amtrak Capitol Corrider train (between Auburn, CA and San Jose, CA). This is a commuter train. They allow unboxed bikes, but those bikes generally must be stowed in racks that stand the bike up on the rear wheel, which means the load would have to come off the bike (see http://www.capitolcorridor.org/on_board/bikes_on_board.php). Carry-on luggage is limited to 2 bags, 28” x 22” x 14” each, plus a purse, or something of that nature. 4 panniers would exceed this limitation. I was just wondering if anyone had any real world experience.

Jim

5

General Discussion / Re: Bicycle tourism route mapping advice and examples?

« on: December 19, 2012, 11:05:38 pm »

NO! No rumble strips!

6

General Discussion / Re: Crazyguyonabike site down?

« on: November 09, 2012, 10:12:03 pm »

It's back up again now.

7

Routes / Re: Santiago de Compastela

« on: June 26, 2012, 10:30:14 pm »

There is a cyclist's guide to the Compostela, called "The way of St. James, a Cyclist's Guide", by John Higginson. I found it on Amazon, I believe. It's quite detailed.

8

Routes / Re: Recommendations Route from Napa to Martinez Ca.

« on: May 25, 2012, 06:21:04 pm »

When are you going to be here? I might ride it with you, just for the hell of it, if I'm in town.

Jim

9

Routes / Re: Recommendations Route from Napa to Martinez Ca.

« on: May 25, 2012, 01:20:18 am »

Sadly, there's no really great way to get from Napa to Martinez. This would be my recommendation for the least trafficky route: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1216392. There's no getting around riding on Hwy 29 for some of it -- very trafficky, but fairly wide shoulder. I've routed you off of 29 where possible.  The bike path along the south side of Hwy 37, in Vallejo is a bit tricky to find, but it's there. The Scenic Drive portion along the south side of Carquinez Strait is beautiful, though hilly. There's about a 100 foot section of single track there, and some of the pavement is iffy, but most of it is closed to cars. This is the way I usually go to Martinez, except I usually stay on Hwy 29 through American Canyon. I would do it a little differently coming from Martinez to Napa, so if that's the direction you're going, let me know.

Jim

10

General Discussion / Re: Bridge travel San Francisco area

« on: April 12, 2012, 07:50:15 pm »

I can confirm that -- I've ridden it. It is a fairly recent thing, and very nice.

11

Gear Talk / Re: 700, aka 29er, aka *-622

« on: March 24, 2012, 07:08:17 pm »

There's a couple of useful comments near the end of this thread (http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/forum/board/message/?o=1&thread_id=259435&page=1&nested=0&v=v).

Jim

12

Gear Talk / Re: 700, aka 29er, aka *-622

« on: March 22, 2012, 08:50:52 pm »

You might ask the same question over at crazyguyonabike.com. I think it gets a lot more action than this forum.

13

Gear Talk / Re: Tire recommendations

« on: March 14, 2012, 09:54:54 pm »

+1 for the Marathon Racers.

According to Schwalbe, the Racers are the fastest rolling tire in the Marathon line. I have one on my LHT with over 6,000 miles on it, about half of that loaded, and it still has plenty of wear left. I'll probably take it on this summer's tour, at which point it will have over 7,000 miles on it. It started on the front, then got swapped to the rear at about 4,700 miles. It still looked almost new at that point. The original rear Racer had about 4,700 miles on it when I replaced it with a new Racer. I did that only because I was about to start a tour and it looked a little worn, although it still had life left. I still carry it as a spare. In all that time, I've had had two flats -- one on each tire -- 1 from a Michelin wire, and one from glass in wet weather.

Jim

14

General Discussion / Re: Communications on tour

« on: February 15, 2012, 10:34:12 pm »

I agree with pdlamb. About 50/50 between netbook and cellphone

15

General Discussion / Re: Must have iPhone apps

« on: February 14, 2012, 08:52:28 pm »

TrackMyTour and warmshowers have pretty good ratings. The warmshowers app, in particular, looks quite useful. It would seem, from the ratings anyway, that OpenMaps needs some work.