Equipment Check

Equipment Check

The start of the ride is less than two months away. We have been having great weather and with it, the opportunity to get in training miles. On a couple of rides I have ventured out fully loaded just as I will be when we dip our tires in the Pacific on June 4 and head east. What we will take on our trip is what we can carry. We are going “un-supported.” In other words, we will have no vehicle carrying our luggage, and we will take only the necessities plus a few other items that we deem essential, like a small laptop, a camera and cell phone. We will be camping along the route most of the time opting for a hotel or friend’s along the way once or twice a week.

OK go ahead and call me a bike geek, the following is the how I will be equipped for the ride and a list of what I will carry in the 4 panniers on my bike:

My Bike: An HP Velotechnik Speed Machine recumbent. It is equipped with a 14 speed Rohloff transmission on the rear, a Shimano Ultegra front derailleur to shift between two chainrings of 46 and 42 teeth respectively. It is equipped with Avid BB7 disc brakes and Alex DA16 Aero rims and Schwalbe Marathon 100 PSI tires. The bike has under-seat steering with a grip shifter for the Rohloff and bar-end shifter for the front derailleur. The mid-ship panniers are Arkel T-28s, the rear panniers, Arkel RT60s an Arkel Tailrider sits atop the rear rack. A Planet Bike Blaze 1 watt and CygoLite ExpiLion 350 for lighting. Camelback 100 oz. Unbottle for hydration.

Clothing: -(3) Sets – Nike Tech Shirt, Cycling shorts, socks, and briefs

– (1) Long Sleeve Nike Tech Shirt

– (1) Fleece Jacket

– (1) Fleece Pants

-(1) Columbia light weight pants with zip-off legs

Rain Gear – Bike Nashbar Rain Jacket – High vis yellow.

– Pearl Izumi Rain Pant.

-Arkel Rain Covers for the listed panniers.

Shoes: – Shimano MTB20

Tent: -Big Agnes Fly Creek UL2 w/footprint.

Sleeping Bags*: – Kelty 20 degree and Eureka 60 degree.

Sleep Pad: – Pacific Outdoors Ether thermo6 2/3 length.

Stove: -MSR Whisperlite International w/ 11 oz fuel bottle.

Cookset: – Generic light weight aluminum cookset.

Rations: -(6) Wise & Co. two-serving meals – dehydrated (for emergency only)

Toilet Kit: -Toothbrush, toothpaste, Nivea 3- Shave, Shampoo & Bodywash, Schick disposable razor, anti-perspirant/deodorant, misc. over the counter meds in small pill case, 1 bottle Glucosamine-Chondroitin, 1 bottle generic Aleve. Medium micro-fiber tech towel, 1 roll TP.

First Aid Kit – Stocked with misc supplies.

Tool Kit: – Park cyclist multi-tool, (6) metric hex wrenches, spoke wrench, cassette tool, chain whip, crank puller, vice grip, tire levers, patch kit, extra patch glue, Pressure guage, frame pump, 4 spare tubes, 1 folding spare tire, presta valve adapter.

Misc: – HP Netbook and power supply, Verizon 4G Pantech Breakout, Delorme PN 60 GPS, I-pod, PowerFilm 10 watt fold-able solar panel w/ battery charger, 8 AA rechargeable batteries, USB card reader, Panasonic video/still camera, ContourHD pov camera, spare memory cards, Giegerrig 100 oz hydration bladder (spare). Bic lighter, SPF 50 sunscreen, Insect repellent, ACA Northern Tier et. al map set, 4oz bottle of detergent.

It seems to be quite a bit of “stuff” to load in 4 relatively small bike bags. The truth be told some of it is “shared” equipment that I will split with my son, Joe. I actually have a bit of spare room. After we get East of the Rockies and the temps climb during late June and July, I will send home the 20 degree sleeping bag.

The Powerfilm solar panel will provide the power for recharging the phone and battery powered accessories and cameras. It weighs about 11 oz and outputs enough power to easily charge multiple devices.

I have been in contact with fellow riders who will share our journey. I will provide an overview of my riding companions in my next posting. We have had four committed cyclists since last Fall. In the past few weeks we have added a few more.

The next thing on my to do list is to get some bike boxes fabricated for our Amtrak trip to the West coast.