Archive for 'Gear + Product Review'
Product Review: Canon PowerShot S95
Sunday, March 18th, 2012 Posted by Rachel. Published under Gear + Product Review. No Comments.
Back in Florida, our way to Tallahassee, you may remember that we ran into a couple from Nebraska who were biking the Southern Tier. We spent a large amount of time chatting with them and learned that Khara was a professional photographer. When she pulled out her camera to take our picture, I was astounded. It was tiny! Just a little point and shoot camera from the looks of it. She was quick to correct me and sang its praises. I then decided to look this camera up.
She owned the Canon Powershot S95. It is a very small and unobtrusive (read light in weight) camera that packs a punch. It’s the only point and shoot sized camera that shoots in RAW. This is a format that any photography geek will recognize. It’s the only format to shoot in if you plan on seriously editing or blowing up your photos to large sizes because it records the most amount of image data. JPEGS just don’t cut it for color and pixel resolution when it comes to serious photographers, professional or amateur.
In addition, this camera has nearly all the manual functions of any DSLR camera. It has two rings that can be set to change any function from exposure calibration and shutter speed to aperture. One ring is around the lens just like a DSLR, one is on the back of the camera near the menu options. Both are easy to access and use when shooting. In addition, pretty much any setting change a person can do on a DSLR through the menus is available here as well.
The only downside is the lens. As per any point and shoot camera, it has a small lens. Comes with the territory. This means I can’t get up close and personal with that bird 50 feet away, but since I’d only really done this while in the Everglades and not while sat on my bike for a quick shot, it’s a sacrifice I was willing to make. The lens is also very slow. This means that it doesn’t have many aperture choices, only 2.0 to roughly 8. This means long landscape like photos won’t look like Ansel Adams’ photos. Again, not a look I was ever going for even before making the switch, so something I could live with. In fact, in my photography, I almost always shot in a low speed lens because I like having blurry photos (when I want that effect) and only one object in focus.
The price tag was also completely within what I was willing to spend on a camera. B&H Photo (the only store I buy my electronics from) had one listed for just under $300 with all the accessories. For a point and shoot camera with so much going for it, this price was quite frankly astoundingly low. Jessica is even jealous of the camera after we’ve both gotten the chance to play with it! Thanks to Khara, I now have the only camera I will ever travel with! It’s small, light and pretty advanced and I’m quite happy with the photos I’ve gotten out of it so far!
Restarting with Renewed Spirits and Gear
Sunday, March 4th, 2012 Posted by Rachel. Published under Bike Tour Preparations, Gear + Product Review, How to..., Riding. 2 Comments.
As of last Saturday, March 3, we’re back on the road! We spent the month of February in the Midwest with Rachel’s parents, a visit to Jessica’s parents and a visit to a friend in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Jessica will be writing more about what we did this past month, so I’m going to focus on what we’ve changed about this next leg of our trip.
As our first leg stretched out over the last five (now six but we don’t count it since it was off the bikes) months, it became clear to us both that being on the bikes permanently was not the lifestyle we wanted after all. In planning for our bike tour, we had originally assumed that traveling endlessly, promoting women’s empowerment, filmmaking and our website would be the best kind of life. This however is not the reality we found. Therefore, we have made the decision to end the trip this coming summer. There are many reasons for this, some of which we’ll share with you now, others will be shared later. One of the biggest reasons for ending the trip is that we have bigger plans for Against The Grind and the mission to inspire women to “do something that scares them” as Jessica said recently. We need to be off the bikes to make this happen because it will involve lots of paperwork and a permanent address that doesn’t rely on friends and family to open our mail. Another reason is that I just can’t live without jeans!!
This is the biggest change we’ve made so far to the second leg of our trip. Another big change that had to be made was where we’re headed and for how long. Initially, we were going to spend months traveling up and down the American West, seeing the continental divide, the Pacific coast and lots of cities and people along the way. This has to be curtailed in order to meet our summer deadline, so we’re going to take the following route. (If you or someone you know is along this route or you wish to join us for a portion, please let us know, we’d be happy to meet up!!)
Austin, TX > San Angelo, TX > Brownfield, TX > Roswell, NM > Socorro, NM > St. Johns, AZ > Flagstaff, AZ (with a detour up to the Grand Canyon) > Bullhead City, AZ > Mojave National Preserve, CA > past Sequoia National Park and Death Valley National Park (there’s a highway that runs through them) > Yosemite National Park > Stockton, CA > Sonoma, CA
Once we’re in Sonoma, we’ll probably head to San Fransisco, Redwood National Park, Crater Lake National Park and hopefully Los Angeles too. Please let us know if you have any advice for this route as it is, of course, always in the works and never set in stone. Any advice is welcome.
Other changes are to gear. I’ve bought 2 new pairs of Smartwool socks to replace two pairs that got pretty gross and am exchanging another pair I didn’t bring along before. I bought 2 shirts to replace two that I left in Austin (and am now just getting rid of) because again, they were pretty gross. I have bought a pair of nylon pants but they are no longer converter pants with zippers and they are grey instead of tan. Jessica also bought a new pair of pants that look a little more like everyday fashion instead of keeping her converter pants. The nice thing about these pants is that they have little snaps to keep them rolled up if it gets hot. So they are basically converter pants without the hideous zippers.
I’ve also decided to leave one of my padded bike shorts in Wisconsin. This was a decision based on the times I rode my bike in regular pants after my seat was broken in. It was actually more comfortable than in the padded shorts. I’m assuming this is because my converter pants were looser and didn’t have seams running along my bottom just so that it created nasty saddle sores. The pair I’m leaving behind are pretty torn up by now too, so the exchange for a pair of nylon capris was an easy one. I’ll still have one pair of padded shorts to change out to and in case of rough roads or something else, but I’m pretty confident in these new pants to do the job well.
We’ve also purchased a compact, camping specific clothesline that REI sells because the rope we’d bought for the tarp and clothesline is huge and smelly. After being out in a few rainstorms and packed away wet, it’s really not ideal. This clothesline also has little beads to act as pegs instead of having clothespins, but we won’t ditch the pins just yet. We have to be sure the beads work!
We also picked up a waterproof sack to keep the tent in. I’ve had a few too many times where the entire contents of my pannier ended up completely sopping wet because the tent was wet when I packed it away. Osmosis works a little too well, so I’m hoping the dry sack will keep the wet contained. (Although who knows how much more wet we’ll deal with since we’re headed into the desert!)
I’m also going to be leaving my day pack behind for a smaller travel satchel. Since I don’t wear my day pack with a water bladder anymore, it’s just taking up so much space when all it’s holding is my wallet, phone and iPod. It doesn’t even hold all that when it rains either since I have room in my front panniers and the day pack isn’t waterproof. In addition, I’m going to be leaving several creative projects behind. At Christmas time, I had already switched out my big DSLR camera and lenses for a smaller Canon (will review soon!). It means I don’t have a nice lovely zoom lens to shoot wildlife with, but the weight and space I’ve gained from this switch is priceless. I’ll also be leaving my drawing kit behind. I have certainly drawn a lot with the kit over the months, but it’s bulky and reading/ journaling can keep me just as relaxed and occupied at the end of the day. It might get me to edit photos more often too (but probably not)!
It’s hard to put into words exactly why we’re making these changes because I’m sure that as our reader, some may seem like small and strange things. It really just boils down to experience. As I wrote many months ago about how advice doesn’t always work out in the end, this is just another example of how bike touring has taught us both to simply go with the flow. We’ve had to learn to roll with the punches and change our expectations every single day. Making these changes is simply an extension of this philosophy.
It’s all a matter of opinion.
Monday, October 24th, 2011 Posted by Rachel. Published under Gear + Product Review, How to..., Riding. 1 Comment.
When Jessica agreed to let me come on this bike tour with her well over a year ago now, I immediately attempted to soak in as much detail about how to go about doing a trip like this. But now, as I sit here in Savannah, GA, I wonder how much sunk in, and how much was really all that important to begin with.
In this last leg of the trip from Atlanta to Savannah, we were really pushed to our limits. As it would turn out, Georgia is incredibly hilly. I’m assuming it’s the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains that trail off well into the state, but it highlights my point exactly. (Now, a caveat here, I am not writing this to be mean or undercut people’s advice. I have and always will appreciate hearing advice from anyone and everyone, but I am now taking it with a grain of salt. Okay, back to our regularly scheduled programming.) We had been told to ride down in the valley to the west of the Smoky Mountains through Atlanta to get to Savannah in order to avoid riding the Appalachians in South Carolina. And this turned out to be sound advice through until about Acworth, GA (about 30-45 minutes north of Atlanta). We hit this hills anyway. I’m not saying that I regret taking the advice given. Not at all. In fact, Atlanta turned into such a joyful and wonderful place that I will never regret going there before Savannah. But I learned that advice only goes so far before it starts to falter.
When it comes to bike and camping gear, this is an even worse game of cat and mouse. For instance, Jessica has Schwalbe Marathon tires on her bike. They are built with incredibly thick rubber, have Kevlar inside and are an overall great tire. She rode two years in Boston (and Boston potholes) without getting a flat. And she tried pretty mightily to get me to switch from my high pressure Bontrager tires because she’d heard that the Marathons were the only tire to tour on. That is until she got our first flat in the Oconee National Forest. Again, the advice was good to a point. We made it well over 1000 miles before either of us got a flat, but we can’t prevent life from happening to us, and there we sat changing her tire.
Or how we’ve done really well so far with titanium cookware when everyone has told us we’d need a heat dispersal mechanism or prepare for burnt food.
Or how we have been scoffed at for carrying so much weight (or told it wasn’t enough.)
Or how we have been told to be wary of every person in the next county over only to be greeted just as nice and warmly as in the previous county.
Or how we have been told 1000 different versions of what riding in Florida will be like. Most of it has been negative, but each person has hated riding in Florida for a reason. Some hate the drivers. Others are bored by how flat it is. Others found it too expensive. Maybe we’ll feel the same way, but we decided to find out for ourselves.
How about how I was told we wouldn’t need to drink Gatorade until the afternoon, but in reality, I need to drink it all day, while Jessica never hasn’t hardly touched the stuff?
How about how I was told I’d hate not having more aerodynamic handlebars, when really someone should have been telling me I’d hate my shifting system?
How about how people can’t believe Jessica doesn’t ride clipped in (myself included on this one sometimes)? I actually can only ride half clipped in anyway, so again, kind of a moot point. (Half clipped in means my right foot is attached to my right pedal via a cleat, but I have to leave my left foot free because I get horrific knee pain.)
How about how every other bike tourists says we’re going the wrong way across country and we’ll only have head winds if we head from east to west? I have yet to experience this. We’ve had our nastiest headwinds come from the east as we head from west to east… and our best tailwinds came from when we were headed due south. Not to say we won’t have this all switch on us once we head due west, but the weather systems just don’t seem so regular!
I could keep spouting all the different ways we’ve gotten advice that we then have had to alter based on experience, but I’ll shut up now. It’s clear to me that the best way we all communicate with each other and deal with strangers is to give and receive advice. It’s a great conversation to have. It’s also ended up with some real success stories, like the guy in Chicago who told us to bellow out “GO HOME!” to chasing dogs. It really works!
So I know that someone might be reading our blog, thinking about how they’d like to do this some day, looking at our product reviews and pondering the choices. And I’m happy to give advice to anyone who wants it. I just have to say, you will have your own opinion about what’s best in the end, so don’t listen to me or anyone else. Get the gear you want, go the route you want, eat what you want and trust that everyone will be kind and wonderful along the way. (Except maybe logging truck drivers. They never get over.)
Book Review: Hell on 2 Wheels
Sunday, October 9th, 2011 Posted by Rachel. Published under Gear + Product Review. No Comments.
Last night I finished a book called Hell on 2 Wheels. It was introduced to me by our wonderful Chicago host, Heidi. She’s a big cyclist herself, more of the racing/ exercise type, though. It was sitting on her shelf and I was intrigued by it before she’d even mentioned it herself later. Needless to say, it’s a pretty catchy title!
It’s a non-fiction story about the most difficult ultra-cycling race in the world, the Race Across America (RAAM). What’s ultra-cycling you may ask? I didn’t know either! Apparently, there’s a whole subculture of cycling in which a person rides for as far and as long as possible, usually without the cushy breaks that the Tour de France bequeaths upon its racers. Instead of getting off the bike at 5pm, going and having a massage, socializing, eating a lush dinner and getting a good night’s sleep, all while the race clock is stopped, these ultra-cycling races don’t stop the clock. Therefore, the riders don’t stop either. This race in particular starts in Oceanside, CA (just south of San Diego) and ends in Annapolis, MD. That’s a far ride at a killer pace!
So how was the book? Well, if you can overlook the horrific copyediting (so bad a person who hasn’t taken an advanced English class ever noticed it all over the book) and the extraordinarily simple prose of the author, it’s a gripping read. The author describes in somewhat lacking detail the race and what happens to the human body when it doesn’t get a break. These riders are on their bikes for a minimum of 20 hours a day, riding on maybe 2 hours of sleep for upwards of 12 days (that’s the race cutoff time). They can succumb to a condition known as Shermer’s Neck. It’s named after one of the co-founders of RAAM, Michael Shermer, who in his second year of the race, experienced complete failure of his neck muscles. Yep, that’s right, they couldn’t hold up his head anymore. Just thinking about the limp neck and swinging head makes me get the goosebumps.
I also didn’t really like the focus the author put on the male riders, to the detriment of her coverage of the female riders, but as she writes in the end of the book, it’s nearly impossible to cover every rider all the time. Each rider can be upwards of 500 miles from one another and the author had to go without sleep herself as it was just to cover what she could. It was a disappointment, but it just makes me want to find one of the amazing women who’ve done this race and interview them for our documentary instead.
What I loved about the book was the emphasis on how these riders really have to dig deep within themselves in order to even finish this race. The author talks about how the cyclists cope with the pain they experience, how they withstand utter exhaustion and how they keep pedaling for well over 2500 miles. While Jessica and I might not be going at this cutthroat pace, I can certainly relate to this all. In fact, I have found it comforting to read about their struggles. It has helped me to understand that I might just hate each hill we go up, but I shouldn’t look at it as a reason to give up. I should consider each challenge, each drop of sweat as a gift. I am blessed to be able to push my mind and body to an extreme I never thought I could handle.
Overall, I highly recommend this book. I had never heard of this race before, I will never partake myself, but I might just go to the finish line someday just to see these amazing athletes conquer the most difficult challenge that they have set before themselves.
Product Review: Garmin GPSMap 62s
Thursday, September 8th, 2011 Posted by Jessica. Published under Gear + Product Review, Riding. No Comments.
Caveat first: In the last few days, I’ve gotten loads of advice (some of which I will discuss below) about how to better navigate with our GPS, but the follow is pretty definitively my view about our chosen navigation system.
If you’re a regular reader, you may remember my post from a few months ago lamenting that trying to find a GPS system for a bike tour is a difficult process. Well… Jessica and I still feel that it is even though we settled on the Garmin GPSMap 62s. We did this after reading a ton, deciding not to get one right away (at least until we’d ridden a few hundred miles), but then did end up getting one when REI had a sale this past spring/summer and it was a real deal.
The pros are that it’s waterproof and light and it runs off 2 – AA batteries that are very tightly seated (so no popping out if dropped). It didn’t come with street navigation loaded but the software wasn’t unaffordable ($80) and easy enough to load. Even when I had a bit of trouble the tech support was friendly, patient and well spoken. Once the City Navigator software is loaded, you are, in theory, able to just plug in an address and it will do turn by turn on city streets, so it then basically becomes a car GPS as well, but more on the in theory part in a sec.
The cons, which took a while to really suss out, are a few, but one might consider them big. First of all, in the age of touch screens it really takes a fairly long learning curve to figure out how to access each function. The manual is useless, so I had to learn it from doing. Eventually, I got it all down pat, but there were a few times in which I was just pushing buttons at random with no knowledge of how to repeat what I’d done. It’s possible that a person coming from another hiker friendly GPS will find it easier, but I had only previously had experience with car GPSes that are pretty intuitive and simple.
Another major con, that took us until very recently to figure out, is that if you are traveling through many states (long distances), you have to load waypoints for much further along the route if you want it to work all that way. To explain a bit clearer: On Wednesday night before we left last week, I loaded a route through the City Navigator software to get us from Madison, WI to Johnson Creek, WI. It worked great. It re-routed when we veered off track and followed us along. The next morning though, I tried to simply enter in the address to take whatever it suggested to Delafield, WI but it couldn’t find it. It also couldn’t find Milwaukee. Strange, but I couldn’t be bothered to work it out just then because it was taking precious early morning/ cool riding minutes.
Turns out that since I hadn’t loaded a waypoint or a route for further along, it didn’t see that part of the world as existing. I turned the GPS on to track our miles because the trip computer is very nice, but halfway there and suddenly it was just a pointy blue arrow floating in a checker board screen.
Lesson learned: load more than just a day’s worth of routes or waypoints in and it will load the maps and you can make changes along the way!
And lastly, the other big con is that since there is virtually no Garmin software out there that takes bikes into consideration, there is no way to route along a bike path. Now, we’ve gotten great advice on other programs to use and we’ve confirmed that Adventure Cycling Association routes will load on as well, but we have yet to try anything else. I think we’ll try Map My Ride or something else here as we head out from Evanston, IL towards Carmel, IN at the end of this week because the only way to get through Chicago is going to be on bike paths. I’ll update my review at that point, but as of today, it’s a frustrating point.
In the end, it has great functions and I don’t regret it. I think it’s the most adaptable device for what we need. I love that it’s water and shock proof. I love that it’s light and runs off simple batteries. I love that it can do turn by turn and that it re-routes you even if you’ve programmed a route with the software and downloaded it. I love that it’s pretty easy to download the routes once you get the hang of it too.
BUT, both Jessica and I really wish that it just had 3 or 4G capabilities and ran Google maps instead. If someone were to just make a low power (ie: last forever), waterproof device that ran off Google bike routes instead, we’d immediately return this puppy without a second thought. It’s better than pulling our phones out every turn and again, I think it’s the best choice for a bike tourist right now, but it just isn’t cutting it as an easy to use, fool proof router. Anyone want to make that other device?
The Handlebar Dilemma
Sunday, August 7th, 2011 Posted by Rachel. Published under Bike Tour Preparations, Gear + Product Review. 8 Comments.
After riding nearly 50 miles this past weekend near my parent’s lake house in northern Wisconsin (Lac du Flambeau for those who want to Google map it), it was clear to me that I really couldn’t continue to ride with my bike with the drop handle bars (road bike bars). Since I bought the bike used off Craigslist, it wasn’t fit perfectly to me. The seller said the bike was too short for her and after trying to lengthen it with stem changes and whatnot, she just didn’t feel right on it. Whether or not that’s true, I don’t know because the price was such a good deal I sometimes wonder if she was selling off her ex’s bike, but hey, it’s my bike now.
These are Drop Handlebars
The roads in northern Wisconsin are rough to say the least and the bumpy ride of about 20 miles exacerbated what was already a concern for me. The bike was just too long of a reach for me and I was leaning too heavily on my hands. Every time we hit mile 40 or so in the past months, I’ve started getting a sharp pain in my shoulder muscles going up to my neck. On this past ride it went so far as to go down my right arm, causing the entire arm to ache. I woke up the next morning with such sore palms and wrists that I knew I could no longer hope that the short and tall stem I’d found, or twisting up of the handlebars, or double wrapping with cushy tape was enough.
So on Sunday morning at noon, Jessica and I headed to my hometown of Verona’s lone bike shop, Atkin’s. All I can do is sing their praises! Dan, the owner, is incredibly sweet and energetic. After a conversation in which he tried to see if I would possibly be interested in going with aero-bars (absolutely not), he showed me to their back store room and left me to dig through the bucket of spare handlebars they had lying around. I picked out 5 or 6, nearly all of them albatross style to play with on my Bianchi.
Turns out we were there for 90 minutes testing, screwing, unscrewing, finding tape and gel pad, and waiting around to be checked out because they were pleasantly (for them) busy! I was a bit worried at first chat with Dan that he’d be a bit snobbish like many bike shop workers are, but in the end he wanted me to feel as happy and comfortable as possible on my bike and allowing me to do my thing without feeling rushed was wonderful.
These are Albatross handlebars.
I rode my bike real quick just to test it out quick before spending the time wrapping it with tape and I’m very happy. There are many schools of thought on how one should ride. Dan felt that riding on the aero-bars was best for touring because it’s aerodynamic and completely relieves pressure from your hands while still not putting the full weight on your bum. I feel, and Jessica too, that it’s still possible to be aerodynamic with a more upright handlebar set. My neck and shoulders will likely agree with me. I didn’t buy a Brooks Saddle to not reap the benefits of it, after all.
Overall, I think it just boils down to body and preference. You can’t tour incorrectly because everyone has different issues. I clearly can’t lean so hard on my hands and shoulders, but am willing to sacrifice speed and wind resistance to achieve that. Maybe I’ll gain the core strength and shoulder strength so it won’t matter. Maybe I should have just invested in gloves. Maybe I did the right thing. The only way to know is to test it out and I’m about to perform one really big test.
Update: As Jessica and I were about to head out for a nice ride into town it became immediately clear to me that there was a major problem. My handlebar bag is too wide for me to install it while also keeping my cyclocross brakes in place. I really am going to have to research how to fix this problem for myself because my front rack does not have a place for a top bag, nor do I want to keep my camera, wallet, maps, etc further than a short arms length away. Anyone heard of a handlebar bag extender?
My gear is piling up!
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011 Posted by Rachel. Published under Bike Tour Preparations, Gear + Product Review. No Comments.
We still have quite a while until we leave (2.5 months) but now that I have all my panniers, I figured it might be a good idea to collect all the gear I have so far into one big pile. Then I can assess what I still need as well as pack it all up to start some training rides with packed panniers. Since I’m the least in-shape of our duo, any and all practice will help me. (Despite my loving Just Dance for the Wii, somehow I just don’t think it will cut it as a training workout. Heehee.)
Here’s the gear I have so far. Much of it Jessica and I will share, other parts are mine and mine alone.
Clothes:
3 nylon short sleeve shirts, 2 long sleeve base layer shirts, 1 fleece (which I can’t find), 1 rain jacket (which I also can’t find), 1 pair of rain pants, 1 pair of nylon convertable (they make shorts) pants, 1 pair of long john pants, 1 sports bra (still need another), 1 bathing suit, 3 pairs Smartwool (or off brand) socks, 3 pairs liner socks, 1 pair waterproof gloves and socks, 2 pairs bike shorts (one pair is capris), 1 pair sandals with pedal clips, and 1 pair of hiking boots.
I haven’t given much thought to underwear since one doesn’t wear them while wearing bike shorts, but I’ll need to bring a few pairs for the day hiking we’ll be doing. Smartwool makes some, but they’re expensive, so I might just bring some nylon ones if I can find some at the mall. I also need to assess what kind of pyjamas and campsite clothes I want to bring, but this will likely just come from my current stash. Other than that, I think I’ve got the clothes settled!
Camp Gear:
1 Big Agnes Lulu sleeping bag and matching pad (it fits inside the bag in a special pouch), 1 Exped air pillow, 1 nylon sleeping bag liner, 1 large and 1 extra large compression sacks, 2 aluminum plates which will also serve as a skillet, 1 folding spatula, 1 egg holder (Jessica LOVES eggs and I’m sure I’ll crave the protein), 1 bathroom trowel, 1 first aid kit and 2 emergency blankets, 1 MSR 10 liter water sack, 1 Steripen, 1 set of iodine tablets, 1 emergency firestarter, 1 Energizer headlamp, 3 water bottles (which I also can’t find 2 of, but I think I might trade them for a Camelpak reservoir anyway), 1 Goal Zero solar charger, 2 journals, 1 pair prescription sunglasses, 1 pair reading glasses, 1 pair regular glasses, 1 REI camp towel, 1 compass, 1 Canon Rebel DSLR camera and lenses, and 1 REI day pack backpack.
Jessica has more cooking gear like our stove, the tent and other items like that. She also has a small point and shoot camera that also shoots HD footage that we’ll use as a second camera. Our video camera and all the editing equipment for the documentary is still being assembled because we’re currently raising funds to purchase it all, so that’s why you don’t see it pictured here.
Bike Gear:
1 tire pump, 2 – 17.5 liter rear panniers, 2 kitty litter bucket panniers, 1 Garmin GPSMap GPS with the CityNavigation plugin.
These are the only items pictured here since I haven’t attached them to my bike yet. I still need a front rack, but I do already have a Tubus rear rack. I also have bike lights although we don’t anticipate biking at night much. My sister gave me a compass/bike bell that I’ve already attached as well, but due to the fact that the compass always seems to point south no matter what direction we’re going, I don’t think I’ll be relying on it! I’ve also switched out my Brooks saddle recently to the B17S Imperial because the saddle that came with my bike originally came with was a men’s racing saddle. It wasn’t really broken in yet as far as I can tell, but my toes still went numb after about 30 minutes of riding, so I needed to try something different. So far, I love it and will be writing a full review soon!
All in all, I’d say I’m getting pretty close to being all set for the trip! We try very hard to purchase all our gear at REI too because their return policy means if I don’t like something, I don’t have to put up with it because otherwise, I’ve wasted money. And of course, please stay tuned for reviews!
Product Review: REI Stroke 19 Day Pack
Friday, June 3rd, 2011 Posted by Rachel. Published under Gear + Product Review. 1 Comment.
I know it’s Friday, not the best readership day. but we’ve negleted posting all week! We must wake up a bit.
We’re in Baton Rouge and New Orleans this weekend for a wedding and were able to try out our new day packs from REI as luggage. Turns out they are surprisingly roomy! Since its a wedding with many othe day and evening activities I needed many outfits. Not only did they all fit snuggly inside but I got my full toiletries, my Vibram 5 Fingers and my pjs inside. I barely even had to struggle to zip it closed!
In addition, it has hip strap pockets for easy access to things like my id for flying or snacks when hiking. The chest strap is adjustable and even has a whistle too.
My one beef is that the water bottle pockets aren’t big enough for my camelpak bottles. Just means I have to get a water resevoir instead. Jessica and I both think it will be perfect for riding and hiking this coming year. Overall I’m. Very pleased with the REI Stroke 19 day pack!
PS- Sorry for no links! I posted this from my phone!
Adding hiking to our bike trip
Monday, May 23rd, 2011 Posted by Jessica. Published under Bike Tour Preparations, Gear + Product Review, Mini-Adventure. No Comments.
After taking the Boston Appalachian Mountain Club hiking class and going on the weekend trips, Rachel and I have realized that we need to stop thinking about our bike trip as simply a bike trip across the country, and more as a biking AND hiking trip. In accumulating gear for our trip over the past year, we read up on other bike touring blogs for what to buy. One of the first purchases we made were Keen cycling sandals, thinking they’d be great for both cycling and hiking. Rachel learned the hard way on one of our hiking trips that while they’re a great trail shoe, actual hiking provides the fun of slippery-sweaty feet and no ankle support. Neither of us want to risk hurting ourselves on the trip in exchange for lighter panniers, so now it looks like we’ll be bringing these sandals AND hiking boots.
Going on day hikes also requires bringing some sort of pack for you to carry your lunch, rain jacket, headlamp, etc in. I bought the tiny 9-liter REI Stroke 9 backpack, figuring it was small enough to fit in a pannier or even wear while biking for extra hydration, since it can fit a 2-liter Camelback bladder; but also big enough to stuff a rolled-up rain jacket and trail food in. So far on the hikes I’ve been on I’ve definitely had the smallest pack on the trail, but I’ve managed to fit everything that I needed in it. Rachel’s purchased the slightly larger 19-liter REI Stroke 19 backpack, figuring she can stow it across her rear bike rack while she’s not hiking. Rachel has yet to pick her’s up from REI (since she ordered it online and had it shipped to the store), so I’m not sure yet if I’ll be jealous of the extra space she’ll have or be glad that I can wear mine as a hydration pack comfortably while cycling.
Other than the shoes and the backpacks, the rest of our gear is roughly the same for biking and hiking. Smartwool socks are excellent for both, and I’ve learned while hiking that my cycling jersey does the job at wicking sweat on the trail as well. We both have a pair of convertible trail pants, figuring they’ll be handy on and off the trail while we’re not hiking. Layering while avoiding cotton works the same as well at retaining warmth. Rain jacket, rain pants, gloves, all the same. Who knew bike touring and hiking could go hand-in-hand so comfortably?
Product Review: Expresso Stationary Bikes
Thursday, February 3rd, 2011 Posted by Rachel. Published under Gear + Product Review. 2 Comments.
About a year ago, I joined a gym off of a very good deal and the feeling that I needed to work on re-building up my quads. I lost significant muscle mass on my quads when I had my snowboarding accident and whaddyaknow, simply walking around and going snowboarding a few times a year didn’t bring it back.
But it turns out, I don’t really like anything but riding the bikes. I like it enough to keep going though, and the steam room and whirlpool always helps. But I switched locations last week because a new branch opened.
To my surprise, I spotted these cool looking bikes while on my first ride there. On Saturday, I sat down on one of them and signed in as a guest. Yes, they have the ability to have accounts.
They track your progress and you can race against yourself or others. There are programed tours in lots of different landscapes and even computer bunnies and squirrels. Best of all, there’s mechanical gears and steering, so I was definitely engaged.
I signed up for an account Saturday night on my home computer and went back Sunday. And I can’t wait to go back again and again. What better way to prep for a bike tour than on a virtual one? Especially on a bike that challenges me to do better and work harder. My race times were significantly slower than the top numbers, but hey! I’ve got to start somewhere!
If I had to complain about one thing, it would be the seat. A Brooks saddle it is not. I’ll be breaking out the padded shorts my parents for Christmas gave me asap.
So, if you’re a bike tour enthusiast but stuck indoors this winter or in a location that doesn’t offer long rides often, the Expresso bikes could be a great alternative. I’m pretty sure I saw a century in the programmed tours! Their website offers a “Find a Bike Near You” option, by the way.
Here’s to enjoying the gym! (When you can’t get outside that is.)
