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Messages - JayH

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391
General Discussion / Whadya mean, dead last AGAIN!?
« on: August 13, 2007, 02:26:36 pm »
"beautifully hilly course"

I don't know if you were commenting on the hills or the capital of New Hampshire but if you are noticing the countryside in the middle of a bike race, then perhaps you are not concentrating on pedalling faster than the person in front of you. And perhaps you should remove the rack and panniers full of camping supplies next time?*  

Jay :-)


* :-) Yeah, like valygrl says, this is a bike TOURING forum, so I couldn't resist the last jab.


392
General Discussion / Small planes and Tandems
« on: July 23, 2007, 09:53:03 am »
Have you tried to rig an airplane carrier tow behind your bike friday so you can bring it along? :-)

I had to ask... :)

Jay


393
General Discussion / Hurting Feet
« on: July 08, 2007, 08:49:55 pm »
Good luck!

What you may try too perhaps and this is from the aspect of being a hiker/backpacker/mountaineer as well as a cyclist and bike tourer:

You might want to try a new insole, which is the removable pad that shoes have, including bike shoes that you can take out and you can replace. Perhaps something like this might help, if not, I think a qualified podiatrist that perhaps bikes would be helpful.

I have some Spenco insoles in some shoes that I backpack with and I love them, at first, I was really like why spend more money on hiking boots but these insoles, for me anyway, work well and are very comfortable, more so than the usual cheap insoles that come with hiking boots anyway.  Might be worth a shot anyway...

Jay


394
General Discussion / Hurting Feet
« on: July 06, 2007, 08:27:13 am »
I haven't really heard too much of problems with SPDs as mountain bike pedals typically have a bigger contact pattern with the shoe (and your feet) than road pedals. I use Time ATAC pedals for commuting and touring and they are great for me.  Have you tried to move the cleat fore and aft, if you move the cleat towards the back of the shoe, perhaps just a bit, you will perhaps relieve some pressure on your balls of your feet. It's worth a shot anyway.

As far as shoe goes, perhaps if the cleat position isn't helping, you might even want to consider either

1)A road cleat/shoe

Why: Because road shoes tend to have a very very stiff sole which will help distribute the force of the pedal over your entire foot, versus a small area

or

2)a different MTB compatible shoe that has a stiffer sole.

I can't recommmend any because I'm not familiar with brands other than my own which I've been using forever.(an old Diadora Jalapeno II) but if you can find a store that has a bunch, you can do some basic tests to see how flexy they are when you grip them and try to bend them... This might help you without your need to buy a different pedal.

Jay


395
General Discussion / camp food
« on: July 06, 2007, 08:29:17 am »
What kind of MSR stove, the whisperlite?

The whisperlite has a known problem for simmering...i.e. it doesn't simmer well.  MSR came out with a simmerlite which supposedly helps but IME, my old whisperlite was either full blast or off. The one way to control the flame is the pressure of the fuel canister, reduce the pressure, simmers the flame but YMMV...

As far as varied, I'm no chef!!! I can eat freeze dried crap for days on end. :-)

Jay


396
General Discussion / dangerous winds
« on: June 07, 2007, 11:03:17 am »
I dunno, looking at Google Maps, there is a Claire Municipal Airport in Claire, you could meander over and watch planes take off and land!

Play some golf at the "firefly Gold Links"

Ummmm, check out "the ideal theater" right across from the Doherty hotel in downtown.. first theater in Clare county.

Maybe with the wind, buy a kite and go fly it!

Jay


397
General Discussion / Seeing in the rain
« on: April 24, 2007, 02:10:45 pm »
Yup, the old glove wipe! :)

I will use one of those cyclin caps for when I'm commuting in the rain, it's small enough just to do an OK job of keeping the rain off but not too big to block visibility. Doesn't work too much if you don't have a front fender though or it's really windy or really coming down..

Jay


398
General Discussion / Asiemut (2007 Banff Film Festival tour)
« on: March 02, 2007, 10:48:02 am »
I had a non-cycling friend mention it's length... I dunno, I thought it was the best flick of the bunch this year. We had short films, one on Mergensers ducks, a short comedy flick with Lego, A skiing one by TGR, a basejumping flick in Africa, and some others..

As far as the camera mound, I'd study the design of this:

http://www.pedcopods.com/up3.htm

I have this and it mounts to any round diameter tube (including handlebars up to I think 2") and any flat surface.  However, you could certainly with some machining skills or access to copy the clamp design and then weld the arm and custom mount on top. Shouldn't be too expensive if you get friendly with the local autobody. Usually they'll do custom welds for a small fee...

Jay




399
General Discussion / Asiemut (2007 Banff Film Festival tour)
« on: March 01, 2007, 10:31:34 am »
If anybody gets a chance to catch the Banff Film Festival road tour, see if you can catch this 56 minute film on two (french) Canadians who biked from Upper Mongolia through China/Tibet and into India.

---
Asiemut

Peoples Choice Award and Special Jury Mention
Canada, 2006, 56 minutes
Directed and produced by Olivier Higgins, Mélanie Carrier
Focus: Cycling/Culture
In 2005, Olivier Higgins and Mélanie Carrier went on their first cycling expedition  8000 kilometres across Asia. In six months they pedalled from Mongolia to Calcutta, India, travelling through Xinjiang, the Taklimakan Desert, the high Tibetan plateau, and the jungle of Nepal. Why? Not only to discover the world, but also to discover themselves.
------

It's a fun show, doesn't go into any of the logistics that much or the bike touring details, but both seem to be on Kona MTBs with Serratus panniers and have a custom video mtn on their headtube so they can have self videos of them biking...

The film selection is particular to each tour, so it might not be in every showing of the Banff films but check it out if it is..

Jay
 


400
General Discussion / Camping gas canisters
« on: February 27, 2007, 11:47:20 am »
Whiteblaze.net says this much better than I (Whiteblaze is a big Appalachian Trail (AT) website:

---
 Q: Is there more than one type of canister adaptor?

Yes. There are two different attachment fittings. The vast majority (including all US manufactures) of canister stoves use the EN417 Lindal valve, while in Europe, several use the Camping Gaz canisters which are very similar except that the valve is smooth instead of threaded like the Lindal valve. At least one stove, the MSR Superfly, will work with either type of fitting.

In the US, the Lindal fitting is by far the most common. In fact, it is difficult to even find canisters for the Camping Gas fitting.
-----

I believe all the iso-butane gas canisters I use for my JetBoil is basically the Lindal Valve or EN417. I do know that to mount my canisters to the burner, you simply have to thread (std English thread) the burner to the canister and this would be the same for the MSR PocketRocket or the JetBoil or the Primus brand stoves.

We can also interchange canisters although of course, MSR will want you to use MSR brand canisters.

As far as finding them..... I would not really want to count on them as a sole source of fuel if you need to say boil water, a white gas stove would be more ideal. White gas or Coleman's Fuel can be found in many grocery stores and bigbox stores like Walmart and Target, and camping stores, but you may not find the iso-butane canisters for fuel. You should be able to find propane canisters but most of them are for car-camping type stovetops.  

However, I know I can go for 7-8 days on my little 4oz JetBoil canister so long as I don't have to use it to boil drinking water and using it just for breakfast (instant oatmeal) and a freeze dried dinner.  Knowing that in a pinch, you could probably plan on trying to keep a 2 canister minimum carry and then supplement that with bought food when possible to stretch the usage.  I would only rely on finding those canisters in camping/hunting type stores which I am not familiar the frequency you'll find them on the Northern Tier.  

If this was in a very very remote area, I would stick with a White Gas stove, like a whisperlite int. or similar which can run on gas, propane, even auto fuel in a pinch.  

However, you might want to look into an alcohol stove, or "esbit" stove, they are super small and can run on denatured alcohol and use that as a backup. It's slow but works and isn't too big or too heavy to carry.  You can google that and you can make one fairly easily. Just definitely practice with it before you go.

Or think about mailing yourself canisters to select Post Offices on the way so you can guarantee you will at least have known sources for them....

In other words, anything is possible, but for true self-reliable methods, white gas stoves would be more flexible.

Jay

P.S. the rest of the canister fuel FAQ on whiteblaze.net:

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?p=97824&postcount=1


This message was edited by JayH on 2-27-07 @ 7:48 AM

401
General Discussion / Expedition touring
« on: February 27, 2007, 09:05:33 pm »
Hi Paul, thanks for sharing your report. I haven't yet checked it out but I will in my spare time.

Keep on spinning!

Jay


402
General Discussion / solar chargers
« on: February 12, 2007, 10:53:47 am »
Check out the Brunton line of solar chargers... they make some fairly costly chargers from a roll of solar cells. I've seen them at STP before (sierratradingpost) but I would talk to Brunton first about the feasibility of them. I have no personal experience of using them and if they work as Badger mentions.  Best bet would be to talk to Brunton...

Jay


403
General Discussion / ACA TOURs - Sign in
« on: January 18, 2007, 12:56:24 pm »
If you're cycling in Alaska, also plan for construction, with the short thaw season up there, once the sun comes out, the construction crews come in, especially on the parks highway.  So the gravel experience and tire choice is good, especially when you're busy looking at the mountains and not paying attention where you're riding! :-)

Jay


404
General Discussion / Searching the web
« on: January 02, 2007, 09:26:14 am »
Park tool has some repair and info on their website. Sure they are an advertising tool for them but it is there:

http://www.parktool.com/repair/

Jay


405
General Discussion / Merry Christmas
« on: December 20, 2006, 02:46:20 pm »
Happy holidays to all and may all your wheels spin true. :)

Jay


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