Waypoints 8 mechanical advantage 56 Open road gallery 63

Adventure Cyclist GO THE DISTANCE. april 2011 www.adventurecycling.org $4.95 The Second Annual Cyclists’ Travel Guide inside: 2011 Touring bike Buyer’s Guide | Keeping the kids Happy GPS and e-mapping | The mirror legend SHARE THE JOY GET A CHANCE TO WIN Spread the joy of and get a chance to win cool prizes

n For every cyclist you sign up through a gift membersip or who joins through your referral, you score one entry to win a Verita (rei.com/ product/807242) valued at over $1,100. The winner will be drawn from all eligible members in January of 2012.

n Recruit the most new members in 2011, and you’ll win a $500 Adventure Cycling shopping spree.

n Each month we’ll draw a mini-prize winner who will receive gifts from companies like Old Man Mountain, Cascade Designs, Showers Pass, and others.

n The more new members you sign up, the more chances you have to win!

Adventure Cycling Association adventurecycling.org/joy

Adventure Cycling Corporate Members Adventure Cycling’s business partners play a significant level of support. These corporate membership funds go toward role in the success of our nonprofit organization. Our Corporate special projects and the creation of new programs. To learn more Membership Program is designed to spotlight these key support- about how your business can become a corporate supporter of ers. Corporate Members are companies that believe in what we Adventure Cycling, go to www.adventurecycling.org/corporate or do and wish to provide additional assistance through a higher call (800) 755-2453.

TITANIUM GOLD

SILVER BRONZE

3G Mobility Hike & Bike Italy Rocky Mountain Print Solutions Anderson ZurMuehlen & Co. PC

2 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 3 4:2011 contents April 2011 · Volume 38 Number 3 · www.adventurecycling.org

Adventure Cyclist is published nine times each year by the Adventure Cycling Association, a nonprofit service organization for recreational bicyclists. Individual membership costs $40 yearly to U.S. addresses and includes a subscrip- tion to Adventure Cyclist and dis- counts on Adventure Cycling maps. The entire contents of Adventure Cyclist are copyrighted by Adventure Cyclist and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from Adventure Cyclist. All rights reserved.

M ac metca lf Our Cover Touring cyclists meet up with a roadie in Montana’s Mission Valley. 10 Find your way to the perfect touring by Stephen Lord Photo by Chuck Haney. Adventure Cyclist’s annual guide to finding the right touring bike for you. (left) The Metcalfe clan takes a break on the side of the road. From commuter to tourist by Brendan Leonard 18 One man’s journey from to the freedom of bicycle travel. MISSION The mission of Adventure Cycling Association is to inspire people of all bicycling with children by Mac Metcalfe ages to travel by bicycle. We help 24 cyclists explore the landscapes and A bike-traveler recalls the many memorable experiences he’s had while touring with family. history of America for fitness, fun, and self-discovery. Checking out GPS by Tim Perrin 32 Global Positioning System, e-mapping, and how they relate to traveling by bicycle. CAMPAIGNS Our strategic plan includes three major campaigns: the mirror man of gambier by Greg Siple Creating Bike Routes for America 40 Adventure Cycling’s art director tells the tale of the legendary mirror maker. Getting Americans Bicycling Supporting Bicycling Communities

How to Reach Us departments LETTERS To join, change your address, or ask questions about membership, visit us online at www.adventurecycling.org 07 companions wanted 04 LETTER from the ediTOR or call (800) 755-2453 or (406) 721-1776 email: 08 waypoints 05 LETTERs from the readers [email protected] Subscription Address: from the 38 road test – Voodoo Nakisi 06 LETTER DIRECTOR Adventure Cycling Association P.O. Box 8308 48 geared up COLUMNS Missoula, MT 59807 Headquarters: MARKETPLACE/CLASSIFIEDS cyclists’ kitchen / Nancy Clark Adventure Cycling Association 58 36 150 E. Pine St. Protein and cyclists: How much do you need? Missoula, MT 59802 63 OPEN ROAD GALLERY 46 curves in the road / Jill Homer Comparing different ways to carry your gear

56 mechanical advantage / Jan Heine Types of brakes and their implementation

2 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 3 Adventure Letter from the Editor Cyclist second around April 2011 volume 38 number 3 Another crack at the Cyclists’ Travel Guide www.adventurecycling.org

editor michael deme mdeme@ adventur ecycling.org art director greg si ple When we made the decision to quit publish- gsiple@ adventurecycling.org technical editor ing a book version of the Cyclists’ Yellow Pages john schubert schubley@ aol.com in 2009, we felt like we had to create a vehicle FIELD editor michael mccoy for what we fondly call service pieces, by which we mean mmccoy@ adventurecycli ng.org contributing writers they offer practical information, advice, and resources. With dan d'ambrosio nancy c lark willie weir joe kurmaskie that in mind, last year story of how he finally jan heine we published our first became a convert to Copy Editor phyllis picklesimer Cyclists’ Travel Guide: bike touring after many Editorial assistant Bikes, Resources, and years as a commuter, dan schwartzman advertising director How-To, the lead article something I hope hap- rick bruner of which was the annual pens to many more from 509.493.4930 advertising@ adventurecycling.org “Touring Bike Buyer’s the urban cycling set. Guide,” and that’s the Mac Metcalf relates STAFF plan going forward, to his many years of bike executive director jim sayer lead this nuts-and-bolts travel with family and jsayer@ adventurecycling.org issue with our annual friends, focusing on chief operations officer sheila snyder, cpa at what bikes are how to keep the chil- membership & Development available for traveling cyclists. It seems to dren and young adults involved without julie huck amy corbin thomas bassett joshua tack me that the options for cyclotourists are causing a backlash against the very form media greater than at any time since I’ve been of travel they’re being involved in. winona bateman michael mccoy involved with Adventure Cyclist, yet still, Tim Perrin adds a discussion of GPS publications michael d eme greg siple for every bike sold for practical and com- and a roundup of some of the models derek gallagher fortable extended travel, there’s probably available to bicycle travelers. This is a it department john sieber richard darne 50 super-delicate road bikes purchased. subject that many have requested we matt sheils This year’s buyer’s guide is written by cover over the past few years and one tours rod kramer mo mislive ts Stephen Lord, author of The Adventure that will continue to be important going sam hall paul hansbarger Cycle-Touring Handbook published by forward as electronic devices and ser- routes and mapping carla majernik jennifer milyko Trailblazer. I owe Stephen a great debt vices are being embraced in every facet virginia sullivan kevin mcmanigal as he stepped in and wrote this guide of human life. casey greene nathan taylor sales and marketing on very short notice and did a very nice Also included, there’s a road test of teri maloughney job, especially considering the time con- the Voodoo Nakisi by Patrick O’Grady, cyclosource straints he was under. If you’d like to the first of many to come during the ted bowman sarah r az office manager get deeper into what makes bike travel remainder of the 2011 editorial volume, beth petersen such a great activity, you should pick a discussion about cyclists and their pro- board of directors up a copy of his book, which you can tein needs by Nancy Clark, a compari- president purchase from our online store (www. son of panniers and frame packs by Jill carol york adventurecycling.org/store). Part 1 covers Homer, and much more. vice president jennifer garst the practicalities of long-distance bicycle Now that the 2011 version is in the secretary travel; Part 2 popular and challenging books we’ll start planning for 2012 so if andy baur treasurer world-wide routes; and Part 3 consists of there are subjects you’d like to see cov- andy huppert 10 first-hand accounts of bike trips from ered don’t be shy. board members all over the world by various bicycle- jason boucher todd copley george mendes jeff miller travel luminaries. Michael Deme donna o'neal wally werner In addition to the “Touring Bike Editor, Adventure Cyclist Buyer’s Guide,” Brendan Leonard tells the [email protected]

4 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 5 Letters from our Readers

Keep the flame alive, Florida Keys deserve better in favor of bright colors

Mr. Hostelling trail for the length of the Florida Keys, Screaming Yellow jerseys that fill our clos- I enjoyed reading “Bill Nelson: Mr. and that 60 percent is now completed? A et provide a measure of safety in traffic Hosteling” by June J. Siple in the bicycle trip along the Keys will provide by attracting attention from motorists. We February issue. As teenagers vaguely the riders opportunities to experience, have been told so many times by members aware of Bikecentennial in the summer of historical sites, wonderful parks, beauti- of the public that we meet on rides. They 1976, two friends and I loaded our bikes ful vistas, interesting stores, and diverse have often thank us for being so visible. for our first multi-day bike tour from eating establishments. None of this infor- On a recent club ride, I noticed three rid- Long Island to Massachusetts. We spent mation was relayed in the article. The ers nearly a mile ahead of us. Thinking of our first night at the Bantam Lake Youth photograph of the Florida fauna was also your article, I noticed I could not see their Hostel in Connecticut. Little did we know misleading since iguanas are not native to bikes at all, but the lime green jackets were we were staying at a hostel started by Florida but are an invasive species. clearly visible. I was not able to see the someone who was already at the heart of Cameron Hintzen riders themselves until we were closed to the burgeoning bicycle-touring boom in Big Pine Key, Florida about one quarter of a mile. We have some the U.S. I’m still riding and touring today, club members who favor dark clothing and and the article reignited a desire to use Editor Reply: The article wasn’t “billed” are all but invisible at a distance. my experience and passion to encourage as anything but was a story about two A letter writer in the local newspaper and inspire others in the community to people taking a bicycle tour of the Florida chided cyclists for wearing “clown suits.” get out there and experience the thrills Keys. Also, I believe it’s called Florida Keys This justified my belief that my clothing that come from traveling by bicycle! Overseas Heritage Trail and is managed by does just what I want: attract attention. Greg Hoffman the Florida Department of Environmental You certainly have the freedom to Ozark, Missouri Protection’s Office of Greenways & Trails wear what you please, but I believe your (www.dep.state.fl.us/gwt/state/keystrail/ article should have at least mentioned Expecting something different default.htm). safety concerns. The article about cycling the Florida Keys Michael Grimes was a disappointment. It should have Safety trumps preferences Englewood, Florida been billed as a person discovering the I just read your rant against colorful outfits Your letters are welcome. Due to the volume of mail fun and adventure of , in the February issue. I feel you are doing and email we receive, we cannot print every letter. because it did not relay any useful infor- a disservice to the safety of cyclists who We may edit letters for length and clarity. If you do mation about the actual trip and route. I use the roadway. My wife and I ride many not want your comments to be printed in Adventure live in the Florida Keys and have biked it thousands of miles every year almost Cyclist, please state so clearly. Please include your name and address with your correspondence. Email on previous occasions. Did you know that always wearing “racing suits.” We do not your comments, questions, or letters to editor@ the Florida Heritage Trail Association is in do this to look cool but to be visible. adventurecycling.org or mail to Editor, Adventure the process of building a separate bicycle I have a strong belief that the Cyclist, P.O. Box 8308, Missoula, MT 59807.

4 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 5 Letter from the Director Tours Long and Short This summer, try a bike overnight or a wide-open, week-long adventure

As the ice thaws, I have finally enjoyed a few rides of more than a few miles — a 20 miler with my daughter Samantha, looping around the Missoula Valley, and a delightful roller-coaster ride through the hills and hollows of Northern Baltimore County with Adventure Cycling supporter Susan Immelt and Bike Maryland board member Michael Sonnenfeld. And it’s got me thinking of bigger things this summer. I’ve got a real yen for doing some bike

From short bike trips overnights — one or two night trips mend them: Cycle Montana (which this to a sublime menu of from my front door or close by. If you year goes practically car-free through haven’t seen it yet, Adventure Cycling the high alpine meadows of the majestic longer tours — from is field-testing a new website (www. Pioneer Mountains), Cycle the Gorge Montana and Vermont to bikeovernights.org) that celebrates this (which takes in the Columbia Gorge and short form of bike touring. These trips the red rock Klickitat Gorge as well as the Columbia Gorge and are known by many names (including several iconic Northwest peaks from Katy Trail Grant Petersen’s moniker, Sub-24 Hour Mount Hood to Mount St. Helens), and Overnights or S24Os) but we wanted the C&O Canal (with a wonderful family to establish a simple label that anyone option and a “grown-up” option later in could understand. We especially want to the fall). encourage those millions of day riders — I have my eyes on several different who have never done a bike tour of any tours, including the Katy Trail Relaxed kind — to take advantage of this “gate- (what could be better than a car-free way drug” to bike travel. Please check river-bluff ride?), the Freedom Flyer out the site and let us know what you from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to think — and let us know if you have Washington, DC (which starts during some great bike-overnight experiences. the festive Bike Philly ride and traverses At the website, I shared one of mine: a some gorgeous, historic countryside), and rollicking dirt and pavement tour from Cycle Vermont (starting in Burlington the edge of Silicon Valley over the Santa along Lake Champlain and riding deep Cruz Mountains to one of the nicest hot into the verdant Northeast Kingdom). tubs and best pieces of pie on the Pacific Right now I’m leaning toward Vermont, Coast. which, in mid-August, will test my hill- Summertime cycling in Montana — with This summer in Missoula, I hope to climbing (and maple syrup-imbibing) the rivers swollen from this year’s massive ride up Rattlesnake Canyon and camp abilities. snowpack — will be wonderful. overnight in blissful, wild solitude 10 As with any bike trip, no matter miles from my front door. In addition, which one you choose, it’s hard to lose. I I’ve got my sights set on the Maah Daah hope you’re enjoying a beautiful spring Hey Trail in North Dakota, swerving — and I look forward to seeing you on through the buttes and grasslands along the road or trail! the Little Missouri River. Riding those skinny little country Jim Sayer roads in Maryland also whetted my Executive Director appetite for longer road rides. I have [email protected] done some of the best that Adventure Cycling has to offer, and I highly recom-

6 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 7 Companions Wanted

Providing partners for tours, domestic and abroad, since 1978

Pacific Coast Route Self-supported bike tour age or sex, and I would prefer a small group of Cross Country — Diagonally Join a group of 21 from Seattle, Washington, to Carpinteria, four to six. Leaving the second week of June, experienced cyclists — male and female, ages 52 California. 60 to 80 miles per day. Camping, free 2011. If interested email crushking66@yahoo. to 79 — looking for a single male to join them camping, staying with family and fans of bike com. on a 82-day, cross-country tour from Astoria, touring along the way, and a few hotels too. I Oregon, to Jacksonville, Florida. Starts June have done several multi-day trips, but this is the Wendy’s Ride May 19 through July 19 2011. 3 and ends August 22. Daily mileage approxi- longest tour so far. I’m in good shape and have We’ll start in San Francisco and ride the Western mately 65 miles — go at your own pace or find no problem with the mileage, but really want Express to The TransAmerica Trail in Pueblo, a few to ride with — it’s up to you! Vehicle with to enjoy the trip. I’m planning to leave in May Colorado. Self-contained with a vehicle for emer- luggage trailer; motels/B&Bs/lodges. Double 2011, but can be flexible with dates if others are gencies. Camping and outdoor cooking. 15 to 17 occupancy (i.e., you will have a roommate to interested. miles per hour, 50 to 75 miles per day. Motels with whom to share lodging costs). Group happy when needed. Serious inquiries only please. Call hour each night. Rest day each week. We will Biking in Swaziland Anybody interested in Wendy at (717) 763-1711 or (717) 756-5032 or smell the roses! If interested email fleoa1@juno. cycling south to north in the high veld of email [email protected]. com. Swaziland? I’m planning to do this trip June 16 to 23, which is just before the Big Five Northern Tier West to East Summer 2011. I’m Western or Eastern Europe in 2011 Seasoned Marathon I plan to run. I’m a 61-year-old looking for one to three riders who are inter- male cyclotourist seeking an intrepid outdoor guy who wants to revisit the places I lived ested in a semi-supported ride this summer from enthusiast (age 36 plus) to join me on a two- to and worked at the other end of my life — my Oregon to the the East Coast. I’m a 49-year-old four-week trip this summer in either Normandy/ 20s. Start in Piet Retief, South Africa, then to married female, enjoy a 16-to-20 MPH pace, and Loire Valley of France; Ireland and Northern Nhlangano, Mbabane, Piggs Peak, Hlo Hlo, and enjoy taking pictures. I’m currently flexible on Ireland; or Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Nelspruit, South Africa. I plan to stay at hotels start dates, however, I would like to depart by Slovakia, and Poland. B&B overnights. Rural but will have a tent just in case. If interested mid June at the latest and would like to aver- back roads, 40 to 50 miles per day at 10 to 12 email [email protected]. age 75 miles a day. My husband plans to travel MPH. Interested in photography, local cuisine along in an RV and would be available to trans- and brews, historical sites, and traditional music. Florida to West Coast Summer 2011. I plan to port limited gear. If interested email ks_woogie@ Willingness to bike in varying weather condi- enjoy five to six days at Disney World Orlando yahoo.com. tions important. Washington, DC-area residents and begin my trip from there — from the preferred. Email [email protected]. Disney Hotel directly onto the open road. I Northern Tier July 2011 West to East. 55-year- hope to pass through Casper, Wyoming, to visit old male retiring on June 28 and leaving on the Adventure Cycling Association assumes, but can- a friend, then finish somewhere on the West Northern Tier eastbound on June 29. Mostly self not verify, that the persons above are truthfully Coast. I’m not looking for speed but a comfort- supported with 50 percent camping. I plan to representing themselves. Ads are free to Adventure able pace with rest days as needed. Camping/ average 75 miles per day. My wife will be driv- Cycling members. You can see more ads and post new ones at www.adventurecycling.org/mag/comp hotels (60/40). I’m a 43-year-old male who’s ing some support with some gear transport pos- anions.cfm or send your ad to Adventure Cyclist, looking for relaxed, laid-back partners of any sible. If interested email [email protected]. P.O. Box 8308, Missoula, MT 59807.

specialist for bike tours in Central Europe Visit Central Europe – a paradise for cycling Surprising density of ancient castles Vienna to Prague Greenways & fairy–tale chateaux Salzburg to Prague Beautiful and varied countryside Vienna to Krakow Amber Trail Excellent network of paved backroads Budapest to Krakow Amber Trail Quality accommodation

Easy and convenient self-guided tours Passau to Vienna Danube Trail Guided tours with local guides Vienna to Budapest Danube Trail 8-day to 10-day tours Prague to Dresden

Visit www.topbicycle.com for trip descriptions, dates and prices. For a free brochure, email us [email protected]

Czech Republic Slovakia Austria Hungary Germany Poland

6 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG inzerat_Top_bicycle.indd 1 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG15.2.2008 16:51:31 7 News you can use from the world of bicycle travel by Michael McCoy WayPoints

The return of el dorado Some months back, Waypoints received this message from reader Jackie Neau: “Have you heard of the El Dorado Trail? It’s a Class 1 bike path we’ve built in Placerville, California. We have eight miles done so far, and now we want to extend a total of 28 miles down to Sacramento and connect up with the American River Parkway.” Jackie added that her group, Friends of El Dorado Trail, needs help in the form of emails showing support for the trail, emphasizing that people

really will ride a trail with a N ic k K r a u s three-percent uphill grade. Intrepid cyclists overcome all obstacles to keep the wheels spinning. “Some folks here just don’t think people will do that,” she WOUNDED WARRIORS HIT THE ROAD said. The opening sentence of Project announces 2011 Soldier Rides the group’s vision statement The idea for the Wounded our nation’s wounded warriors ning Soldier Rides throughout goes like this: “We envision Warrior Project’s Soldier Ride who battle the physical and 2011 in various cities around that the future of El Dorado was born in 2004 when civil- psychological damages of war, the U.S. County will include an alterna- ian Chris Carney completed and give the public a chance Each non-warrior cyclist tive transportation and recre- a coast-to-coast bicycle ride to ride alongside and honor is responsible for raising a ation corridor of hiking, biking, in support of the Wounded the men and women of our minimum of $125 to support and equestrian trails that will Warrior Project (WWP). military.” Veterans of all ability WWP programs and services. attain local and national popu- Carney again cycled coast to levels participate in the Soldier Supporters receive an official larity due to its generous and coast in 2005, this time with Rides, with state-of-the-art Soldier Ride National Tour expansive connections with several combat-wounded vet- adaptive hand cycles, trikes, T-shirt as well as an invitation our modern-day gold.” You can erans of Iraq and Afghanistan. and accommodating to the community picnic imme- find out a lot more about this Today, WWP organizes those with various injuries and diately following each ride. To world-class trail in the making a series of day-long cycling disabilities. WWP provides the find out where Soldier Rides at www.eldoradotrail.com. events aimed at helping equipment and support at no will be happening, to learn wounded servicemen and cost. more, or to register to ride, women “restore their physical In addition to February and visit www.soldierride.org. and emotional well-being, [as March events that have already well as to] raise awareness for happened, WWP will be run-

8 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 9 BICYCLING THE GEOTRAIL GREAT SCOTT! The June 1996 edition of A ride that really rocked Adventure Cyclist featured an article titled “Origins: The Thanks to a member Genesis of the Great Divide named Carl from Richland, Route.” The Washington, for passing along story details the 1975 Lolo Ruff information about a bicycle Stuff Ramble, Bikecentennial’s adventure that took place last first-ever organized tour. Odd year in the South American though it may seem, it was Andes. “Eos is a newsletter an off-road bikepacking trip, a published by the American 10-day outing that took in the Geophysical Union (AGU),” singular Lolo Motorway — as Carl wrote. “The January described in the 1996 story, 2011 issue had an article “a narrow dirt road running the about students who were roller-coaster ridges high above learning about geology and the whitewater of the Lochsa carrying out research from River” that was hacked through the seat of a bicycle while the wilderness in the 1930s by exploring the Andean Geotrail. a Civilian Conservation Corps

Professionally, it was a fasci- (CCC) crew. nating article, but I think [non- The oldest member of the geologist] Adventure Cycling 1975 group was Scott Brewer members might also enjoy it.” of Maryland at 53. 21 years Access to Eos is limited to later, when we were putting AGU members but via an A ssociation G eo r o u te together the 1996 article, he Internet search we did turn told field editor Michael McCoy: up georouteandine.fr/English/ 2010, they wrote on their the very slow motion of the “The trip was the first tour I’d the_project/the_geotrail_proj website: “We have chosen to geological phenomena and the ever taken. I’ve taken many ect.php, where a wealth of travel by bicycle at a pace that rapid extraction of the natu- since, but it remains as the information can be found. allows us the time to observe ral resources, leading to the best one. I still tell of the time The riders, it explains, were our environment and easily depletion of the reserves.” that I paused to look at some a pair of French geologists meet local populations. In addi- The pair also partnered wildflowers and a hummingbird named Caroline Sassier and tion, we will highlight the con- with schools in Oslo and landed on my handlebars. In Olivier Galland who were liv- trast between the slow motion their native regions of France, another moment or two, it flew ing in Norway. Before their of our journey with respect whose students came along away as I continued to sit on trip, which took place between to fast modern transport, to vicariously for an in-depth my saddle mindful of an event November 2009 and August illustrate the contrast between study of Andean geology. that only could happen in the

N ic k K r a u s wilds where we were the only humans for miles around.” The Rush of Cycling in West Africa Flash forward yet another 15 years to early 2011, when Drummer extraordinaire cycles the tracks of the sub-Sahara we were elated to learn that Scott, who’s been an Two of my favorite things are it before. It boggles the mind Peart’s masterful and precise Adventure Cycling member music and riding people-pow- how many books I receive that drumming, you might be sur- about as long as a person ered machines with wheels in no way relate to bicycle prised how casually and elo- could be — he’s member attached, and when I come travel, or even bicycling for that quently he’s able to describe number 850 — is still at it. across something that relates matter, but I’m glad I did as the unexpected surprises that Consider this sentence from to both of these, I get pretty this is a tome which beautifully bike travel reveals so won- the home page of the 2010 excited. So it was with David relates a man’s thoughts about derfully to those open to its Sea Gull Century, a popular Byrne’s Bicycle Diaries and so a bicycle journey in a place many and various charms. But October ride organized by it is with Canadian power-rock most Westernized people can’t maybe you won’t be, as Peart Maryland’s Salisbury University trio Rush’s drummer, and invet- even point to on a map (which, is also Rush’s main lyricist. that attracts more than 8,000 erate traveler, Neil Peart, whos before reading this book, sadly, For those unfamiliar, a read- riders: “The youngest regis- book, The Masked Rider: included me). ing of his book will still be a tered rider was six-year-old Cycling in West Africa, tells The Masked Rider is worthwhile endeavor, and then Tyler Lewis of Bethesda, the story of his 1988 bicycle Peart’s first book, and through maybe you’ll check out Rush. Maryland; the oldest was journey in Cameroon. its pages it becomes obvi- For more information 88-year-old Scott Brewer of When I first came across ous that he took to bike travel about The Masked Rider, visit Gaithersburg.” this book while using the almost as perfectly as he took ecwpress.com/book/masked- Ride on, Scott, and may the Google machine, I wondered to a drum kit. rider-cycling-west-africa or call wind be always at your back. how I’d never seen or heard of For those familiar with (416) 694-3348. -MD

8 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 9 FIND YOUR WAY TO THE PERFECT ADVENTURE CYCLING’S 2011 TOURING BIKE BUYER’S GUIDE BY STEPHEN LORD GREG SIPLE

Bike touring is the ultimate expres- but every touring cyclist will have this gage handlers. It means sacrificing light sion of self-empowerment. Have bike, will experience. Understandably, we all spend weight in favor of thicker tubes and welds, travel. Carrying only what you need, you a lot of time and money eliminating every stronger hubs and bottom brackets, and become self-sufficient for a few days at a possible source of discomfort because a stiffer seatstays and chainstays to reduce time with an exhilarating feeling of inde- well-equipped comfortable machine allied the tendency of the bike to shimmy when pendence that comes with mobility. with your own fitness knows no limits. carrying heavy loads on a rear rack. And The best moments, perhaps fleeting for The longer the ride, the more important it means running heavier, stronger wheels many of us on shorter trips, are when you comfort becomes because what are minor than those found on road or mountain bikes. Road and mountain bikers may choose something lighter with an eye for Jamis speed but for the touring cyclist heavier rims mean less trouble on the road and lon- ger wheel life. Expect all this to add up to a bike that’s a few pounds heavier than you may be hoping for. Once the bike is loaded, however, you won’t notice the difference. Stability Touring bikes don’t have a monopoly on stability but you can safely assume the best of them have it designed in. It’s all about striking a balance between a bike’s responsiveness to rider input and its ten- dency to continue in the direction its head- ing. A degree or two less head-tube angle on a touring bike compared to road bikes kicks out the steering a little further while keeping the front wheel and panniers away feel you’re living life exactly as you want pains on day rides can develop into serious from your feet. Adding a front rack and to — such is the appeal of bike touring. back, knee, neck, or wrist trouble over a panniers will add to that feeling of stabil- Your touring bike will become your close long haul. ity, though if you attach a high-mounted companion for weeks, months, or perhaps It’s easier to find the right bike if you get rack, follow highly-regarded bike builder years at a time, so it’s vital to find one that’s measured up beforehand — even if you’re Bruce Gordon’s advice and make sure the suited to your unique traveling style. not going for a custom or made-to-order panniers sit well back, as close to the steer- Whatever your fancy, it must, how- frame — so you know the frame dimen- ing axis as possible. On the road, you’ll ever, have the same virtues as a good tour- ing bike: comfort, strength, stability, and load-carrying ability. There will always Kona Sutra be options for bike buyers with $2,000 or more looking for a made-to-order touring bike, but there are far fewer choices for someone on a budget who might well be planning a much longer tour. If you find a ready-made touring bike that works for you, that’s great, but ultimately these are someone else’s conception, albeit drawn from an established tradition of what a touring bike should be. Cycling has a long history of evolution by adaptation, and if you’re attracted to a hybrid, urban, mountain bike, or a recum- bent, give it a spin, it could be the best bike you ever had — something only you, the rider, can ultimately decide. Comfort sions to look for. Good bike shops offer occasionally see touring bikes with rear On the road, you’re likely to be on bike-fitting services, as do some bicycle racks mounted on the front wheel — a bad your bike for up to eight hours a day, and builders, often using computer programs to idea. Keep frontal loads as close to the steer- comfort and posture are as important on draw your ideal frame measurements. ing axis and as low as possible to reduce a bicycle as they are in the workplace. Strength the inertia which can compromise steering. It’s asking a lot of a bike to be comfort- Strength in a touring bike is not solely There will be plenty of occasions when able for extended riding, day after day, about a frame that can survive clumsy bag- you’ll need to dodge a hazard quickly.

12 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 13 Load carrying The ability to carry heavy loads is where touring bikes excel. A mountain bike, which passes other tests, may struggle here. Touring bikes have all the rack mounts you need and space for panniers. Not having eyelets for racks doesn’t rule out a bike for touring, although, if they’re missing, loaded touring is clearly not what the bike’s designer had in mind when it was built. It’s all about improvisation and taking the words “it can’t be done’” as a challenge! A touring bike, or a bike for touring? I doubt many people ponder overlong whether to tour on a mountain bike or a touring bike. Most cyclists are drawn to one or the other and it’s only those with a garage full of bikes who worry about which one to choose. These days, you can find a drop-bar touring bike built just as strong as a mountain bike, with the same low gearing and able to run tires almost as wide. Alternatively, mountain bikes ride perfectly well on roads just as SUVs do The evolution of . and, while you’re unlikely to travel as Superflash Turbo many miles in a day on a mountain bike, it’s your vacation and who’s counting? If you’re leaning towards a mountain bike, BETTER BICYCLE PRODUCTS FOR A BETTER WORLD planetbike.com ask yourself if it ticks all the boxes to do the job. If so consider a conventional diamond- frame model, most likely designed for trail or cross-country riding; forget full-sussers, downhillers, and the rest. Select a conser- vative design and make sure it has at least 32-spoke wheels in a conventional pattern, and swap out the knobbies for something from Schwalbe, Vittoria’s, or Nokian. For those with big feet it’s hard to find racks and panniers that leave enough room for heel clearance on a mountain bike, which have shorter chainstays to maximize traction by keeping weight over the back wheel. Building a touring rig that works is no easy task, but there’s always the option of pulling a trailer for those who can’t find room between pedal and pannier. If you’re interested in bikepacking, as has recently been discussed in Adventure Cyclist, that’s an exciting subject but off topic here, instead head over to www.bike packing.net. Recumbents can make excellent touring bikes with a comfortable sitting posture and a very aerodynamic profile that makes them ideal for long stints on the road. Many can carry huge amounts of gear, too. But there are downsides, among them cost, weight, off-road and hill-climbing ability, and the difficulty of lugging them up stairs into hostels. But it is my view nonethe-

12 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 13 less that someone keen to ride a particular kind of bike should be encouraged as long as they can see the pluses and minuses and decide with an open mind. Riding a recumbent is a very different experience Surly LHT from a diamond-frame, but many have gone round the world in style. If you get a chance to try one, you‘ll see why recum- bent owners enthuse about them, as will be discussed in the June issue of Adventure Cyclist. A metal frame The choice of frame material for a tour- ing bike is sometimes seen as critical and it certainly is — once the decision is made, there’s no going back. My advice is to choose between aluminum or chromoly steel. If you can afford titanium, you’ll have a bike that is light and lively when far from home. Steel is the easiest frame whose Rockhopper had finally seized up. you take the panniers off, but fully loaded material to repair abroad and, at a guess, He’d never ridden a drop-bar bike until may feel very similar to everyone else’s a village welder is less likely to wreck a that moment. A few years later I switched loaded touring bike. Ultralight tourers generic chromoly or aluminum frame than back to drops on another adventure tourer sometimes choose a carbon-fiber fork for pencil–thin exotic material. Even then, — and crashed within 200 yards of my its ability to soak up road chatter, but there a field–repaired frame may regain only a home, so unfamiliar had I become with is a risk of breakage or damage which a fraction of its former strength without the riding them. I came to love drops again on tourer can do without, and it precludes fit- heat-treatment techniques that are used to a long, hot cruise through Turkey, Syria, ting a front rack, though you could change build frames these days. and Iran, but when I headed into the out the fork for a more suitable steel one So how do you choose between alumi- mountains, I found the lack of control the with eyelets. High-end chromoly, such as num and steel? Go back to basics and pick narrower drops offered made for very hard Reynolds 853 or 953, is another luxury whatever bike appeals to you. The frame work on rocky tracks. In addition, braking material is secondary but you’ll tends to require more effort on long, wet, probably develop a personal off-road descents necessitating frequent preference between thicker- stops to rest my hands. diameter aluminum frames or The choice between straight and drop more slender chromoly mod- bars should remain a personal one, as com- els, perhaps solely on looks. I fort and convenience are entirely subjec- go for chromoly and lust over tive and my intent is only to offer sugges- fillet-brazed welds and tradi- tions to help people get on the road with tional lugs, but others like the whatever works for them. I do wish, how- chunky look of oversized alu- ever, that more bike builders offered their minum tubes and massive weld- touring bikes with the option of straight ed joints. Keep things simple bars. Take a look at the hundreds of actual by picking a bike without too on-the-road touring bikes on fullyload- many fancy or proprietary fit- edtouring.com. About a third of tour- tings you might have trouble ing cyclists ride bikes with straight bars, servicing or replacing down the nearly all them mountain bikes. One of the road or abroad. most popular bikes for adventure touring, Handlebars the Surly LHT, takes drop or straight bars, One of the main differences and I suspect it’s no coincidence that it’s between mountain bikes and also the most commonly seen bike on that traditional touring bikes is the website. My hunch is that if the touring Salsa Fargo handlebar. In my observation, bike industry offered more straight-bar newcomers to cycling tend to models, they’d sell a lot more bikes. go for straight bars as they’re Brakes that won’t make much difference when the easiest to use, while more experienced and Much more development has gone into bike is loaded like a mule, but is very nice older riders who grew up on drops prefer brakes and gear controls for straight bars the rest of the time. to stick with what they know. I bought a in recent decades than for drops, and there Exotic frame materials such as tita- straight-bar adventure bike a few years ago are now several great options for straight- nium, high-end chromoly, aluminum, and and gave my drop-bar bike to a young guy bar riders. The favored traditional option carbon fiber are the hardest to repair who had just finished a four-year ride and is to have the gear shifters at the ends of a

14 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 15 drop bar. It’s a simple and reliable setup but brakes on the road than it is for disks. Gearing the levers are not at hand and are vulner- Personally, I’d take a chance on my BB7s Many touring bikes nowadays use able when the bike is dropped. Combined for a long tour. The pads are so small you mountain-bike groupsets. The lowest setup, brake-and-gear levers are a great alternative could carry enough for a year or two in a 22T chainring upfront driving an 11-34T and surely no less sturdy than mountain- your back pocket, the cable is standard, cassette in the rear, offers just under 17 bike combined brakes and gears, but are and it’s not difficult to straighten a disk if it gear inches, lower than what 99 percent still not where your hands rest most of the time, and so not ideally positioned for maximum control, which you will appreci- Co-Motion ate on winding mountain-road descents. Pangea Until very recently, mountain-bike brakes have been far stronger than road- bike brakes. Disk brakes were only found on suspension forks, which had the rigid- ity necessary to cope with the asymmetric twisting forces disk brakes exert on the front axle. For the last year or so, a num- ber of touring bikes, such as Co-Motion’s Americano and Pangea, Kona’s Sutra, and the Jamis Aurora Elite, have offered cable-operated disk brakes on rigid forks designed to handle these stresses. All of them chose Avid’s excellent BB7s, which are so strong you don’t need the great- er power, expense, and complication of gets whacked and bent, although it is hard of tourers need but, if you’re riding the hydraulics. There is some resistance to disk to get it perfectly flat again. The advantages Great Divide Mountain Bike Route or get- brakes among tourers, including some of of disk brakes for long-distance tourers are ting breathless on a 15,000-foot pass in the the round-the-world crowd who argue it’s immense — not least, they substantially Andes, you’ll take all the gears you can get. easier to find replacements for cantilever increase the life of your rims. Touring puts extra stress on wheels and

14 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 15 TOURING BIKES FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

All prices and specifications may vary to some degree. Please check with the manufacturers before making any decisions.

Bilenky Cycle Works offers the Ellis Cycles offers the Lugged (5,675/$7,925): www.idworx-bikes. Nashbar offers bikes and frames light-touring Tourlite ($3,965 and Tour/Randonneur ($3,400): www. de/de/bikes/trekkingbikes.php, +49 including the Double-butted Alumi- up); the traditional, steel Midlands elliscycles.com, 262-442-6639. 228-184700. (Site in German). num Touring Frame ($199). Prices ($3,700 and up); and the coupling- Fuji Bicycles offers the traditional up to 70 percent off: www.nashbar. equipped Travel Sport Special steel Touring model ($1,049): of- com, 877-688-8600. ($3,600): www.bilenky.com, 215- www.fujibikes.com. fers the Independence frame set 329-4744. ($2,310 steel; $3,820 titanium) Pake- - makes cyclo-cross style Gilles Berthoud offers highly- for long-distance touring, and the frames including the C’Mute (frame Bruce Gordon offers the hand- customizable steel touring bikes light-touring Club Racer frame set and fork $359): www.pakebikes. built XT Rock ‘n Road from France (2,550/$3,400 and ($2,200 steel; $3,820 titanium): com. ($2,999; $3,349 with racks) and up): www.gillesberthoud.fr, +33 03- www.ifbikes.com, 617-666-3609. the Taiwanese factory–made BLT 85-51-46-51. (Site in French). Pashley Cycles offers the (Basic Loaded Touring) with a offers three touring ultra-classic Clubman Country SLX Group - complete bike except Gunnar Bikes offers the Rock bikes with chromoly frames includ- (1,495/$2,410): www.pashley. Pedals and water bottle cages - Tour, a mountain bike designed for ing the classic Aurora ($1,100,), co.uk, +44 01789 292 263. ($1725 with racks made in Califor- loaded touring ($975 stock design the Aurora Elite ($1,700,), and nia). Prices do not include shipping frame, $1,250 custom/made to cyclocross-inspired Bosanova fea- Rando Cycles offers the Basic and handling or assembly: www. measure frame), the Grand Tour, a turing disc brakes ($1,150): www. (999/$1,400), the Camper bgcycles.com, 707-762-5601. traditional touring bike principally jamisbikes.com. (1,999/$2,800), the Globe- designed for road and light off-road Trotter (2,999/$4,200), the Tourer Cannondale offers the 2010 rack- use ($975 stock design frame, Koga offers the (1,999/$2,800), and the Voyager equipped, aluminum Touring 1 and $1,250 custom/made to measure Worldtraveller ($2,700), and the Trav- (3,999/$5,560): www.rando-cy the 2010 Touring 2 – check prices frame), and the Fastlane, a disc eller ($2,300), all with front and rear cles.fr, +33 01-43-41-18-10. (Site with local dealers: www.cannon brake touring and commuter bike, racks and many accessories: www. in French). dale.com, 800-245-3872. ($900 stock design frame, $1,200 kogausa.com. For availability call custom/made to measure frame.) Mount Airy Bicycles: 301-831-5151. Raleigh Bicycles offers the Co-Motion Cycles offers the light- Matching fork with Tubus Tara rack Sojourn ($1,200) and the Port touring Nor’Wester Tour (frame: mounts and double eyelets are Kona offers the Sutra ($1,469), a Townsend ($910): www.raleighusa. $1,695; complete bike: $3,376), available for the Grand Tour and steel tourer with mechanical disc com, 253-395-1100. the around-the-world Americano Fastlane ($325): www.gunnarbikes. brakes: www.konaworld.com, 360- (frame: $1,850; complete bike: com, 262-534-4190. 366-0951. REI offers the Novara Safari $3,615), and the rugged Pangea ($849), Randonee 2010 ($1199), (frame: $1,850; complete bike: Handsome Cycle Company Kross offers the Trans Sander, and Verita (1,099): www.rei.com, $3,630): www.co-motion.com, offers the Devil and the She Devil Trans Alp, Trans Pacific, and Trans 800-426-4840. 866-282-6336. (both $409 frame, respectively): Continental. Prices unavailable www.handsomecycles.com. at press time: www.kross.pl, 059 Ridgeback Bikes offers the Dawes Cycles offers a line of 722-44-45. Panorama (£1,249/$2020) and nine Touring Bikes (£599/$975 idworx Bikes offers trekking the Voyage (£799/$1290): www. to £2,899/$4,725): www. bikes with Rohloff hubs. Easy Masi Bikes offers the Speciale ridgeback.co.uk. dawescycles.com/c-81-touring- Rohler (3,399/$4,750), Off Rohler Randonneur ($1,145): www.masi bikes.aspx, +44 (0) 121-748-8050. (3,595/$5,020), Easy TiRohler bikes.com.

chains — think of that grinding sound 14-speed Rohloff hub gear, often seen on too demanding of frequent minor atten- as your front derailer struggles to drag big-budget expedition tourers, though less tion, and ride in dusty or muddy places, a the chain onto the smallest chainring as common on light tourers with drop bars. Rohloff could be the gear system for you, you begin a steep climb. What we real- The rapid-shifting Rohloff works much but take a long test ride first. Some find the ly didn’t need was narrower chains and better if the gear changer is right at your buzz in the lower 7 gears irritating on long more, thinner sprockets at the back. 7- and fingertips on a straight bar. What you get climbs. I found I preferred tinkering with 8-speed gear systems work fine for touring, for the extra $1,000 or more is a rock-solid, derailers myself to getting technical sup- while the current 9-speed mountain-bike enclosed gear system and the benefit of port — rarely needed, admittedly — over groups require more wheel dishing, mean- a thicker chain that lasts longer turn- the phone for my Rohloff hub. ing weaker rear wheels. Nearly all touring ing a wheel that’s not dished and, there- Wheels bikes now use 135mm mountain bike rear fore, inherently stronger. Dutch maker Wheel size is another issue that confuses axles, but Co-Motion’s Americano has a Santos (santosbikes.com) and Co-Motion bike buyers. The debate over 26-inch ver- tandem-width 145mm rear axle to elimi- offer Rohloff-geared touring bikes with an sus 700C is out of all proportion to the size nate dishing. 10-speed gear systems mean optional Gates belt drive instead of a chain difference — just two inches — because thinner sprockets and weaker chains with (think no more oil-stained ankles), and the it’s really all about mountain bikes versus no upside for tourers, but that doesn’t mean belt drive has proven itself during James road bikes. The emergence of 29er bikes on they won’t be foisted on us! Bowthorpe’s record-breaking round-the- fat-tire 700C wheels proves you can have it The alternative to derailers is the world ride in 2009. If you find derailers both ways.

16 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 17 offers complete bike, $1,199): www. Thorn Cycles Ltd. Offers the Club Littleford Custom Bicycles custom touring frames ($3,500 salsacycles.com, 877-668-6223. and - check for pricing and www.littlefordbicycles.com, 503- and up). The company also of- availability: www.thorncycles.co.uk. 922-1934. fers frame, fork, bottom bracket, Santana offers a wide array of tan- seatpost and headset bikes dems suitable for touring (starting Tout Terrain offers the Panameri- LPY Cycles www.lpycycles.com, from $1,000 including the Sam at $3,295): www.santanatandem. cana (frame with shock: $2,695): +86 1312-060-4962. Hillborne ($1,000), the Betty Foy com, 800-334-6136. www.tout-terrain.de/2, +49 (761)- ($1,000), the Atlantis (frame, fork, 58997-44. Mariposa www.mariposa and headset $2,000), and the Santos offers several cycles bicycles.com, 416-423-0456. Hungapillar, a new touring bike including the Santos Trekking, Trek offers the venerable steel 520 with mountain bike clearances Santos Trekking Comfort, Santos ($1,429.99): www.trekbikes.com. MSH1 Bicycle Works www. (frame, fork and headset $1500 Trekking Lite, and the Santos Trek- msh1bw.com, 860-537-9746. or $1600): www.rivbike.com, 800- king Special: www.santosbikes. Velotraum offers the Konzept: 345-3918. com, +29 (0)252 426123. www.velotraum.de, (07033) 9990. Peacock Groove www.peacock (Site in German). groove.com, 651-269-5295. Roberts Cycles offers the offers the steel Clubsman, Transcontinental, Halcyon (frame: $2,095; complete VooDoo offers the Nakisi (see Pereira Cycles www.pereira Cumbria and Rough Stuff: www. bike: $3,499 and up); the Halcyon pages 38-39). cycles.com, 503-333-5043. robertscycles.com, +44 (0)20- S (frame: $2,695; complete bike: 8684-3370. $4,099 and up); and the expedition Waterford Cycles offers custom- Peter Mooney Cycles www. Expat S (frame: $2,695; complete built touring bikes, the new T-22 peter-mooney.com, 617-489-3577. Rodriguez Bicycles offers the bike: $4,199 complete bike): www. and 1900 Adventure Cycle (frame: Adventure ($1,999 and up); sevencycles.com, 617-923-7774. $1,800) and the TIG T-14 (frame: Rex Cycles www.rexcycles.com, S&S-equipped ($2,699 and $1,400). Matching fork with double 916-446-5706. up), the Willie Weir co-designed Soma Fabrications offers the eyelets, stainless steel dropouts model UTB from ($2,099); S&S light-touring frames the DoubleC- and Tubus Tara rack mounts avail- Spectrum www.spectrum-cycles. equipped ($2,799), the Navigator ($399), the ES ($399), the able ($350): www.waterfordbikes. com, 610-398-1986. ($1,999 and up); S&S-equipped MTB frame Groove ($419), the com, 262-534-4190. ($2,699 and up), the 6-pack Micro- heavy duty Saga Touring (frame Steelman Cycles www.steelman folder (from $4,199 including all and fork $499), and the Double Windsor Bicycles offers the steel cycles.com, 650-364-3939. couplings), the Toucan ST Tandem Cross DC, which has disc and can- touring bike, the Tourist ($1,495): ($2,999); S&S equipped ($4,599), tilever brake mounts ($419): www. www.windsorbicycles.com. True North Cycles www.true the 8-ball convertible tandem/ somafab.com. northcycles.com, 519-585-0600. single travel bike (from $6,999 CUSTOM TOURING-FRAME including all couplings), as well as Surly offers the steel Long-Haul BUILDERS: Vanilla Bicycles www.vanillabi many other road bike and tandem Trucker (frame: $470; complete cycles.com, 503-233-2453. models: www.rodcycle.com, 206- bike: $1,199), the Karate Monkey Curt Goodrich Bicycles www. 527-4822. (frame: $465; complete bike: curtgoodrich.com, 612-788-6812. Velosmith www.velosmith.com.au, $1,099), and the new Troll 26” +61 (0)3 6266-4582. Salsa offers the Vaya road mountain/touring/commuting Ira Ryan Cycles www.iraryancy adventure bike (titanium frameset: (frame: $495) – check for updated cles.com/bikes-tour.html, 503-810- Willits Brand Bicycles www. $1,999; steel frameset: $599; LHT: www.surlybikes.com, 877- 2504. willitsbikes.com, 877-558-4446. complete bike: $1,499) the adven- 743-3191. ture touring 29er Fargo (titanium J. Peter Weigle www.classicren Note: The June issue of Adventure frameset: $1,999, steel frameset: Terry Bicycles offers the Valkyrie dezvous.com/USA/weigle_jp.htm, Cyclist will cover non-standard $499; complete bike: $1,650), and Tour ($3,100) and the Isis Sport 860-434-0700. bicycles and will contain a table the light touring Casseroll (frame- ($3,800) for light touring: www. of tandems, recumbents, folding set — frame, fork, front rack- $549; terrybicycles.com, 800-289-8379. bikes, and more.

Some touring-bike builders recognize although 36H is undoubtedly more desir- break, but they aren’t heavy and they help that for larger sizes of a given frame, the able, and therefore harder to find just when keep not just rain but also dust off your bigger wheel size makes sense. Conversely, you need a new rim, it’s only one factor gears, frame, and panniers. And they’re shorter riders, especially women, are more in wheel strength. Spoke tension, strong removable if you change your mind. likely to find a 26-inch–wheel frame that rims, beefy and properly inflated tires, and Once on the road, you’ll be glad you fits them. Worldwide, 26-inch wheels are indeed minimal loads and careful riding are chose solid, well-thought-out gear that the most common size and, if you’re riding more important for long-lasting, trouble- runs without complaint, allowing you to in Africa or Asia, you’ll have a tougher time free wheels. concentrate on your trip — but don’t for- finding 700C wheels — not that it stopped Room to fit wide tires and fenders gives get: a touring bike is just a means of travel several round-the-world riders from using a touring bike a lot more versatility, though and not the end in itself. The happiest 700C bikes. If you want to tour on 29er first consider if this will be your one do-it- cyclists I meet on tour are often riding rub- wheels, that’s possible too with bikes like all bike or just one more for the collection. bish bikes but are deeply immersed in the Salsa’s Fargo. Most touring bikes will take a 35mm wide world around them. Nearly all touring bikes come with tire, perfect for loaded road touring in the 36-hole (H) rims while mountain bikes lower 48, but a bike that can take wider Stephen Lord is the author of the Adventure Cycle- generally come with 32H rims. Again, tires is surely better able to carry a camping Touring Handbook. You can purchse this book through our online store at www.adventurecycling.org/store. this is small stuff designed to make life load and go trail riding. Some tourers think more difficult for us cyclotourists, but that fenders are just one more thing to

16 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 17 FROM COMMUTER TO TOURIST I was not joking when I told my friend Tony that I “wasn’t really On the open road of the Southern Tier, which began just outside that into long bike rides.” We were nearing Plaster City, California, San Diego for us, it didn’t take too long for me to get bored enough on a bumpy asphalt two-lane road, which was deserted on Super to start talking to cows on the side of the road. Bowl Sunday. We had 2,985 miles left to ride on the Adventure “Hellooooo,” I would moo at them as I pedaled by, and they Cycling Association’s Southern Tier Route, from San Diego to St. watched me suspiciously while munching grass. Sometimes I Augustine, Florida, in 45 days. The math said I’d be learning to would recite old hip-hop lyrics, or ad lib other song lyrics, out of like long bike rides. There are so many other things I like to do in tune. Sometimes they ran away, not sure what to think of a man Colorado, it’s just hard to talk myself into using a Saturday for a on a bicycle towing a giant trailer. I reassured them that there was 50-mile ride when I’m already on my bike five days a week, I told nothing to fear — I’m a vegetarian. Tony. He continued to laugh. The Southern Tier is the shortest of the three Adventure Cycling I love my bicycle and all the places it takes me in my hometown cross-country routes. Compared to the 4,246-mile TransAmerica of Denver, but that’s as far as it went. I had never owned a pair of Trail and the 4,286-mile Northern Tier, it’s only 3,092 miles, but it’s cycling shorts or a jersey until a few weeks before our tour started. the optimal cross-country tour for those who can’t take two months I do my daily commute to work and almost everything else within off during the summer. The route hugs the southern border of the a three-mile radius of my apartment on an old steel Raleigh, wear- U.S. all the way across, making early spring and fall the best times ing jeans, a backpack, and mountain-bike shoes. The round-trip to ride. That way you’ll avoid the skin-baking heat of the desert ride to my office is about three miles, so why not try 3,000? I sup- Southwest and the oppressive humidity of the Gulf Coast. pose you could call that naiveté. There are only three large cities on the entire route: San Diego, When I told my family and friends that Tony and I were plan- Phoenix, and El Paso. Although we made a point to include San ning to attempt a cross-country ride, half of them eventually said Antonio and Austin on our itinerary, for the most part, we were something like, “You’ll have a lot of thinking time out there.” This, lulled into the rhythm of rural America — waitresses who called along with the opportunity to eat 6,000 calories per day, was a everybody “hon,” communities where everyone knew everyone big draw for me. There are few places to really relax in the saddle else entering or leaving the corner store, and towns where every for more than a few seconds when riding in a city like Denver. local person we talked to wanted to give us directions to the Almost every street in Capitol Hill and downtown holds all kinds town or tell us about a shortcut. The waitress at the restaurant in of potential for an accident: car doors swinging open into your Descanso Junction, California, shook her head at us every time she path, pedestrians crossing the street against the signal, cars simply came to our table, in disbelief that we were going to continue rid- not seeing cyclists and turning left into them from the opposite ing in the downpour. A retired couple at the Kofa Café near Hope, lane or “right hooking” them across the bike lane. Then there are Arizona, interviewed us about our ride from their table, eventually potholes and ice. mentioning that they had motorcycled to the “four corners” of You learn to keep your brake calipers tight. In four years of the Lower 48, riding a ring around the country over four months daily commuting, I’ve been taken out by a pedestrian, cut off by back in the 1980s. They said it wasn’t the scenery they remem- cab drivers and bus drivers, confronted by a dozen motorists and bered most; it was the people they met. Joe, a Walmart associate buzzed by dozens more, gotten pinch flats from four-inch-deep in DeRidder, Louisiana, talked to me about bicycles for 15 minutes potholes, and crumpled one bike frame when a car backed out of one morning while I tried to convince him to try RAGBRAI (The a blind parking spot in an alley and I crashed into its rear quarter Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa) the next sum- panel at full speed. mer. He had seen and talked to lots of people on their way through FROM COMMUTER TO TOURIST by Brendan Leonard DeRidder on the Southern Tier, and it had window for 30 seconds. piqued his curiosity. For every endless hour in the saddle, I found out almost immediately about when it felt like I had to stand up every 10 some of the demons of touring — things minutes to keep my butt from going numb, 0WYSB]c`a that a utility cyclist would never think or every demoralizing flat tire we got — about. Numb pinky fingers, for instance, just as we were starting to make good time W\3c`]^S and the daily self-care regimen one must — there was a convenience-store customer undertake to avoid saddle sores. My neck or a café waitress to give us a little lift, just @S^`SaS\bW\U3c`]^SO\ PWYSb]c`Q][^O\WSa was so sore from holding up the weight of by taking a little interest in our trip. my head and helmet for eight hours a day People seem to be disarmed by two guys =dS` `]cbSaW\!Q]c\b`WSa that I began doing yoga poses every night wearing funny clothes and riding fully- ;O\geSSYZgROWZgRS^O`bc`Sa after we finished riding. loaded bikes at 12 MPH. As Americans we 1cab][b]c`aOdOWZOPZS A three-mile commute doesn’t exactly would never walk up to another motorist prepare you for something called a head- at a gas station and ask where they were wind, either — a 30-MPH headwind on headed, would we? But if someone’s foolish my morning commute might make me 90 enough to travel by bicycle, many of us feel seconds late to the office, if that. But we it’s probably worth asking them what the pulled into Langtry, Texas, on our 23rd heck they’re up to. We chatted up all kinds day, hoping the easterly afternoon wind of folks who asked the usual questions: would let up before our next day’s ride to Where are you headed? Where did you Del Rio, the first place we’d see so much as a start? How many miles do you ride a day? grocery store again. Langtry had two small If people are disarmed by those on stores selling candy and soda, but almost bicycles, they are further disarmed by a nothing else. If we didn’t make it to Del Rio seven-foot-tall Chicago chiropractor on a the next day, we wouldn’t be eating dinner. bicycle. Tony would be asked how tall he I slept for two hours and woke up to a was by a stranger at least five times a day. howling wind and the push of the tent wall “Well, a seven-footer,” a woman in the against my head. It didn’t let up all night, country store in the retirement community and I struggled to work up the ambition of Brenda, Arizona, said as Tony paid for to remember which stuff sack my earplugs our Gatorade. Sometimes they would wait were in. Then I worked up the ambition to until he was out of earshot and they’d ask unzip my sleeping bag and root around for me how tall he was. “Seven feet,” I’d say, them in my BOB trailer bag. I failed. That “and I’m five feet 11 inches,” but no one morning, we packed up, got on our bikes, cared. `SZOf put our heads down, and battled. At five A cowboy outside a gas station in miles, I stopped and pulled out a small Uvalde, Texas, said to me, “Man, I can’t American flag on a stick and had Tony snap believe that big guy over there can even a photo of me holding it in front of my face, ride a bicycle. Look how tall he is!” the flag standing out at a 90-degree angle It only took us 35 miles of riding to from the stick, blowing right at me. meet our first friendly cyclists on the route Even on the downhills, I was in my — a shock to a Denverite used to cyclists granny gear. Three days before, we had divided into five cliques who almost never been ripping along at 22 MPH with a tail- mix or even so much as acknowledge wind, sailing into Marathon, Texas. After each other: roadies — recreational racers, Sf^Z]`S we left Langtry, it took us 10 hours to pedal recreational riders, and triathletes on new 55 miles. We rode the last five miles in com- bicycles; hipsters — mid- to late-20s kids plete darkness, then we split three large who use fixed-gear bikes and fixed-gear pizzas at a hotel in Del Rio. I estimated the conversions as their only mode of transpor- headwind at 30 MPH, and that day became tation; messengers — the people who have the answer to the question, “What was been riding fixed-gear bikes to work long your worst day on the trip so far?” before hipsters adopted them; day labor- There were days like that, which I knew ers — who only ride bikes to work because in my heart were no fun. But I knew that they can’t afford a car yet; and people like =\SeSSYb]c`aT`][$# our tour as a whole was fun, even if I me, who just ride their bicycles every- &%%"$  " ! wouldn’t realize it until afterward. That’s where and don’t really fit in. W\T].PWYSb]c`aRW`SQbQ][ the case, I imagine, when you undertake But, at our hotel in Alpine, California, PWYSb]c`aRW`SQbQ][ something you’ve always thought about an honest-to-goodness roadie pulled up in doing — one of those things that comes an SUV and started asking me about our into your head every time you take a break very young bike tour. Ross was in town for from that spreadsheet and stare out the the next day’s Boulevard Road Race, put

20 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG Tall man, tall bike. Tony uses his long legs to crank out the miles along the Southern Tier Bicycle Route. on every year by University of California, tom of a hill. Suddenly, a few hundred feet Two weeks later at the Pepper Pot in San Diego Cycling Team. He used roadie ahead, a peloton of lycra-clad racers flew in Hatch, New Mexico, a group of seven or terms that I didn’t know the definition of, from a side road. Trucking uphill with my eight cyclists came in just as we were about such as “Cat 3.” The next morning at the 60-pound trailer, I felt like a John Deere to pay our bill. We had 38 miles left to get continental breakfast, Ross made our day, tractor about to pull onto the Autobahn. to Las Cruces and had spent the last 25 telling us we were his inspiration for the The faster riders jetted past us in silence, miles battling a crosswind so fierce it had race that day. conserving all the oxygen they could inhale ripped the flag out of my BOB trailer and deposited it in a farm field somewhere. We chatted with one woman in the group who We rode the last five miles in complete was outside when we left. 15 or so miles from Hatch, I got a flat darkness, then we split three large pizzas in my trailer tire. This necessitated taking the trailer off the bike and the wheel off at a hotel in Del Rio. the trailer. I sat down on the shoulder and applied two patches to two different holes Five hours later, Tony and I were soak- to stay ahead of the pack. Later, guys closer in the tube, and I was happily interrupted ing wet and tired when we saw the orange to the back of the pack cheered us as they by repeated offers for help, as the group of “Special Event Ahead” sign near the bot- passed and we pulled up the endless hill. cyclists from the Pepper Pot passed me a

ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 21 couple minutes apart. A couple miles later, we caught and began passing the members of the group. For a few minutes, I rode next to Chris, who was the only man in the group. Chris said he was Adventure Cycling Association Life Member number 10 and had ridden the TransAmerica Trail many years ago. We leapfrogged and chatted with the group all the way into Las Cruces, the end of their 78-mile Saturday ride. One of the ladies in the group said she was about to turn 67 and another group member had recently celebrated her 70th birthday. Now it was out turn to be inspired. I don’t know what causes a bicycle chain to split over the course of several hundred miles. I do know there are better places than seven miles outside of Wiggins, Mississippi, to look down and see half a chain link peeling off as it rolls over your chainring. We were 140 miles from the nearest bike shop listed on the Adventure Runs like a Deere? Brendan’s rig may not have been nimble but it chugged steadily along. Cycling map. When the combined cost of your last apartment. For our Southern Tier trip, I and what was likely to break and leave us three road bikes is $640, you learn to fix had spent an hour on a winter Saturday stranded, I ended up with an exhaustive, and replace a few parts. Spokes, cables, with a mechanic at my local bike shop, but minimal, list: three tubes, tire levers, a housing, brake calipers, — all strategizing on what tools and spare parts small pump, an extra tire, two emergency these components have been replaced on I would need for the trip. After making a tire boots, 21 tire patches and three tubes the kitchen floor of my 450-square-foot list, crossing items off, considering weight, of adhesive, one tube for my BOB trailer, a

8

GOBA-23: Let’s Put All the Pieces Together!

22 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG Crank Brothers multi-17 tool that included 50-50 chance in my head. I mashed every- USA for $100. It was indeed a $100 bike a chain breaker and spoke wrenches, a thing together in the chain tool, like a five- when I bought it, and I stripped every- pedal wrench, a Park Tool 3-Way hex year-old trying to force in the wrong piece thing but the crank and built it up using wrench, a Leatherman Kick multi-tool, of a jigsaw puzzle. I gritted my teeth and parts from other bikes. two extra brake cables, an extra spun the multi-tool. Then, pop! everything That’s what many of us typically do in cable, a crescent wrench, freewheel pullers, came together in my blackened hands. We central Denver — find an old steel frame two extra drive-side spokes, and two extra high-fived and were off, racking up 83 and build it up enough to survive the city. non-drive-side spokes, chain lube, duct more miles for a total of 105 that day. We How cool would it be, I asked a couple of tape, zip ties, and, at the bottom of the stuff then plopped exhaustedly into a booth my friends, if I could ride a 25-year-old, sack that held my tools, a tiny Ziploc bag at the Waffle House in Bayou La Batre, $100 bike across the country? that held my extra chain links. Alabama, and ate our fill. I told as many people as I could — Replacing two chain links on the side At A1A Cycle Works in St. Augustine, from California all the way across Arizona, of a country road in Mississippi using the Florida, I unclipped my trailer and had one New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, chain-breaker on a multi-tool is a bit of a last look at my bike. It was the last time Alabama, and Florida — about my $100 tense situation. A screwup can mean a day I’d see it in its touring costume. We had bike. I didn’t expect anyone to relate to it or two of lost riding and airline cancella- finished the route, dipping our bikes in and I was happy when people were kind tion fees, not to mention 300 round-trip the Atlantic Ocean a few minutes before. enough to act as if they were actually lis- miles of hitchhiking. I felt a little bit like Jeff and Joy at A1A boxed and shipped my tening. I just wanted people to know they the action hero everyone trusts to defuse bike to Denver, and the next time I’d ride didn’t have to spend thousands of dollars the bomb with only 60 seconds left until it, it would be minus fenders, handlebar on ’s bike — or be any- it detonates, trying to remember: Is it the bag, touring tires, and three water bottles thing like Lance Armstrong — to pedal green or blue wire I’m supposed to cut? and cages. across America. Hey, you know, I’m just a I popped out the busted link and its Seven months earlier, I had crashed my guy who rides his bike to work, and I can neighbor and frantically worked one pin only road bike and buckled the down tube. do it. And you could, too. and two new links into the rest of the I was okay but in desperate need of a bike, chain. One pin to go, but either my filthy both to ride to work every day and to ride Brendan Leonard is a year-round urban cyclist and writer. He lives in Denver and rides his 1985 Raleigh chain or the tool kept slipping out of my across America in six months. After five Team USA everywhere he goes. More of his writing can hands. Tony held my derailleur in place days of searching Craigslist, I had found the be found at www.semi-rad.com. as I worked, giving the whole operation a perfect bike — a steel 1985 Raleigh Team

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ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 23 Bicycling with Children by Mac Metcalfe Suffering Makes For Better Stories

eo Helmar, 10, was riding what maybe it’s just ie. “We’re late,” she said. My fantasy ban- his cousin, Luke Metcalfe, the wind. When quet dissolved, replaced by the image of referred to as a “40-pound” conflict rubs up our ship pulling away, our life of luxury Lmountain bike, and he wasn’t against fatigue, just beyond our grasp. happy about it, said Luke. “I can remem- there’s usually a Racing to the dockside check-in desk, ber him holding his bike over a ledge near meltdown. we slammed on our brakes and jumped a bridge screaming that he wasn’t going to The simplest way to off our bikes. Before we could ask if there ride another minute. I don’t recall which deal with meltdown is to give was still time to board, the hostess pointed trip it was, but we were definitely the person time to put their to a sign that said “Crew This Way.” nowhere near civilization,” said Luke, emotions in order. As a family, “What the hell?” our looks said. After 17 years after the incident. we’ve learned to use these events showing our tickets, we were allowed to Nowhere was a high, windswept as the raw material for family proceed, and as Ann wheeled her bike plateau between Haines, Alaska, and folklore and storytelling. Everyone aboard, she said in a humorous aside, Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. There gets to laugh after time has given “Sorry, guys, we’re passengers and you’re were no trees, just stark tundra tempers the chance to cool. going to kiss our butts.” with melting snow and lots of For Leo it was one of those As it turned out, only crew members wind going the wrong way. moments in his childhood when he took bikes on cruise ships, but Ann “Dad played the role of lead really learned something. “It’s like what wasn’t taking guff from anyone and with negotiator talking him down,” my Grandpa Vinnie said, ‘When you’re good reason. With over 30 years of bicycle said Luke. “Or yelling him scraping paint, you’ve got to concentrate touring behind us, first on “Top Ramen” down. He told him it would on one square foot at a time.’ That was budgets, then pulling kids and diapers, be easier riding home than true with bicycling, too. You just concen- and finally with juveniles in their terrible walking.” trate on the next sign post or a rock in the teens, we figured we had done our time in As I remember the distance. You break it down into manage- “crew quarters.” incident, I only backed able chunks,” said Leo. We met in Juneau in 1976, discovered up our friend, Barb a common interest — bicycle touring — . As Leo said, Crew Quarters and were soon pedaling to Whitehorse. “Barb was really Last year, as Ann and I pedaled reasonable, and she through Vancouver, British Columbia, my had a way with kids.” Ann mind drifted back to events like the “cliff- and I were extremely lucky to hanger.” It was a good time to reminisce have her with us on many of our cycling because we were riding alone together adventures. She was another authority fig- (no kids) for the first time in 25 years. ure but with a different voice. Because she We were also celebrating our 30th wed- wasn’t related, she possessed an important ding anniversary and my return from critical distance. Kuwait and Iraq. As the family saying goes, Leo had This was our “smell-the-roses “cracked.” Cracking, we learned, is a com- tour,” and there at the end of a long mon experience on bike trips for adults narrow Vancouver street was our and children alike. The physical causes are cruise ship, docked and waiting to typically a combination of fatigue, dehy- take us back home to Juneau, Alaska. dration, and undereating. On the psy- We were moments away from sip- chological side there’s usually a conflict. ping cold beer and sampling the Something is grinding away at you, maybe ship’s buffet. a disagreement with another cyclist, or Ann’s voice ended my rever-

24 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 25 Bicycling withSuffering MakesChildren For Better Stories Luke in camp. After marrying I became a teacher wearing a helmet, the combination just and Ann became a partner in a legislative dwarfed the rest of him,” said Ann. We reporting business. We spent our summers used a bungee cord to stabilize his head. exploring Europe by bike until our first We left Skagway in the late afternoon child, Luke, arrived in 1983. Lynn arrived in typical Southeast weather — raining in 1986, then Nellie in 1989. with temperatures in the mid-50s. We planned to get over the 3,200-foot pass Kid Energy that day, but by the time we reached the summit, we knew we had to stop rather than ride downhill with the windchill. “I know I was acting a little irrationally by ducking my head in a little waterfall to cool off!” said Ann. Irrationality comes with hypothermia, a year-round threat in a northern rain West of Newhalem. forest even during the summer. This is how it happens. The temperature is warm enough that you sweat pro- fusely when you’re engaged in such intense exercise as pedaling up the side of a mountain with a heavy load. There’s no sense wearing a rain jacket or hat because We were itching to get back on the you only sweat more. When you stop, road, but with our new responsibility, the temperature is cold enough that you Luke, there were some basic questions to immediately get chills. The cold forces answer about distance, weather, and shel- you back on the bike. As this process ter. Alaska, after all, is a giant wilderness, repeats itself, you become more and more and there could be 50 — even 100 — fatigued and immune to the chills. You feel miles between towns with basic services. an intense need to take a nap, a nap that Unhappy campers. In 1985, a new dirt road opened a some people never wake up from. route through the coastal mountains from “Luke was fine because he was Skagway to Whitehorse. The total distance bundled up well and not sweating in the was 112 miles, which seemed a good dis- freezing rain,” Ann said. tance for a trial run. Without dry clothes, a dry sleeping Most towns in Southeast Alaska, bag, and a tent to crawl into, the only way including Juneau, are inaccessible by to keep warm is to keep pedaling. That’s road, so we boarded the state ferry in not a good option in Alaska, especially Juneau and traveled the 80 miles north with a child. We had dry clothes, dry to Skagway. Barb Murray and Collette sleeping bags, and sense enough to crawl Ravinet were making the trip with us. into our tents. We strapped Luke into a black plas- Other than our little run-in with near tic seat that sat over my rear wheel. The hypothermia, the trip had been a great motion of bicycling often put Luke to success. We were ready for more. sleep, and his head would roll over, caus- Luke & Leo. ing the bike to drift starboard. Drenched in Sunshine “Luke had a big head, and when Our first trip with two children was

24 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 25 from Prince George, Canada, to Banff in kids, especially Luke,” said Ann. At age 1987. Luke was four, and Lynn was one. four, he needed interaction with other To accommodate Lynn, we pur- children and Luke found it in camp- chased a yellow Burley trailer. grounds, which is where he had the I’m not sure how much most fun. weight we were pulling, but “We couldn’t let it our bikes disappeared under become more about loads of food, diapers, our enjoyment than clothes, tools, theirs,” Ann said. By this time, we had established a number of routines and norms that would be part of Nellie rides! all other bike trips. Logistically speaking, our trips ran like a well- this routine. It was both satisfying and oiled bicycle. That’s because Ann is exhausting. a natural-born organizer who has been known to type out an agenda for family Pedallers from Hell meetings on house cleaning. Very little A few years after Nellie’s birth in 1989, escaped Ann’s attention to detail. we added a sag wagon to our trip from Another was that kid energy was Haines to Skagway. The girls were too incredibly enter- young to pedal so we and camping gear. Some days we had to taining. “You brought the Burley. dig to find our kids. could ride all day, The idea was that the Compared to the roads in Alaska then stop for the girls could take turns and the Yukon, the highways in British night, and they rotating from the car Columbia were magnificent. Not only were would always want to the buggy and they drenched in sunshine, but they were to do something thus feel they were also paved, had wide shoulders, and saw fun,” said Barb. part of the bicycle a fair amount of traffic, which was a good “On that first trip, trip. thing because we could get help in an Luke was so much In addition to emergency. fun because after Barb, another good Busloads of tourists would ooh and we stopped he friend, Tony Armlin, ahh over our children at stops along the wanted to move and was with us. Tony Icefields Parkway. run. We would all was a videographer “I think some of the Japanese tourists take turns watching Lynn at the motel mirror. and was making thought we lived that way and were trav- him. It took your a short feature on eling gypsies,” Ann said. mind off all your the trip. Wanting We had hoped to ride 50 miles a day, physical aches and pains,” she said. to involve the kids in the production, he but that wasn’t happening. Instead we There was also the nightly routine of hooked the buggy to his bike and gave averaged about 30 miles in four or five making meals — getting everyone fed, Lynn the camera. hours. into their tents, and settled down. As “I remember holding that camera “Doing more miles wasn’t fair to the we added children, we just expanded and thinking it was really heavy. I don’t

26 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 27 think I really knew what I was supposed have thought it was the last lifeboat on own little universe where they could play to be filming so I filmed Tony’s butt [as the Titanic. Patrice, Luke, and Leo made a cards, burp, kill mosquitoes, and perform he pulled the buggy] because I knew it rush for the car, and young hands had to fart symphonies,” said Ann. would tick him off and I always thought be pried off door handles. Their independence came with expec- Tony was really funny when he was mad,” Perhaps this little drama can be tations that they would deal with per- said Lynn. explained by sonal hygiene issues The video, Pedalers from Hell, featured Patrice’s efforts like changing socks and Leo and Luke as narrators and was aired to incite underwear. After a week on the local public television station. a mutiny. or so, some disagreeable Patrice was a odors told us that expec- Mutiny strong-willed tations were not being We upgraded our sag wagon for our girl with a met. When he was asked next trip in 1994. The new car was a twinkle of if he was changing his classic 1970s American station wagon. mischief in underwear, Luke said yes Borrowed from my brother-in-law, it was her eyes, and in a voice that suggested known as the Love Machine. With three she wanted otherwise. As it turned adults up front, five kids in the back, more time in out, Luke had made his plus gear and bikes on the roof, we pulled the car. But fifth change that day and out of Skagway and rumbled down the her drill-ser- Camping in the rain. was now wearing five pairs ALCAN Highway dragging our rear bum- geant uncle of underwear, each layered per and guzzling gas. We were off into the quelled the on top of the other. wilds of British Columbia once again with rebellion, and it was back on the Barb, cousin Leo, and our three kids. New bikes for some character building. I exag- Again in Skagway to the crew was Leo’s older sister, Patrice. gerate, of course, but only a little. In 1996, we were once again in I found sag wagons to be problematic. The boys, Luke and Leo, attained a Skagway with our three children and Leo. Take the day it snowed on this trip. As new level of independence on this trip Everyone was riding, including Nellie, our the Love Machine pulled out of the camp- when they were given their own tent, youngest at age seven. ground with Barb at the wheel and Lynn which they learned to set up by them- Two years previously, Nellie had eas- and Nellie in the back seat, you would selves. “They loved climbing into their ily hiked the Chilkoot Trail, a tough

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26 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 27 33-mile trail through the Coast Mountains though the problem with gears was based a different Lynn. She was no longer a kid that leads from Dyea, Alaska, to Bennett, on miscommunication, it’s a good caution- but a teenager with a keen interest in the British Columbia. Unencumbered by a ary tale. Character building is a two-way social world outside of the family. pack, Nellie turned the trail into a play- street for both child and adult. “Lynn and I were both in those bratty middle-school/high-school stages of a Stages of a Girl’s Life girl’s life,” Nellie wrote. “And, if I remem- For our vacation during the summer ber correctly, I don’t think either of us of 2000, Nellie, Ann, and I took a fast went into that trip necessarily wanting to ferry across the Gulf of Alaska to Valdez. be there. The first breakdown occurred We were cycling 300 miles to Anchorage. when Lynn insisted she needed to eat a After finishing a soccer tournament in the Lower 48, Lynn flew to Anchorage and then down to Valdez to join us. Luke, 17, had a job repairing bicycles and couldn’t get away. Valdez is a typical small Alaska coastal community with float planes, fishing boats, cruise ships, and rain. None of this Another flat tire. made much difference to us as we focused on preparing for the steep climb out of town. ground, bounding over boulders while Lynn seemed annoyed with the situ- everyone else struggled. We expected no ation from the minute she arrived. Her problems from her. comments suggested that her friends were “I can’t remember which bike trip it having lots of fun in Juneau while she Evening routines. was, but it was the first one that I biked, was stuck with her kid sister and tedious and I’m pretty sure we started the trip in parents. Skagway,” said Nellie, age 20, in an email. As we left our motel room to begin the NutRageous bar and drill sergeant dad Skagway is a town of restored historic trip, Lynn paused in front of a mirror to told her she had to wait until we had fin- buildings, and for a Southeast Alaska com- carefully checkSchwalbe_Adventure_May10.ai her appearance. 1This 2/16/2011 was 1:14:06 ishedPM our biking for the day. That started munity, it’s incredibly flat, about 400 yards from beginning to end. Once past the town, the road goes unrelentingly up for 15 miles to the pass. “The real character-building trips The journey is where the ones over the passes,” said Ann. “There were tears of pain and frustration the objective. at points. But when the kids made it to the top and saw the downhill in front of them, Not the end. they were proud and full of energy.” The perfectly coordinated rubber compound Where the road started up is where provides speed, durability and grip. Tread C Nellie stopped pedaling. and side wall doubly protected. Roads become uplifting and drift easily by. No amount of bribes or pleading wouldM Trails are sublime in their ruggedness. get her moving. As an incentive, Ann tookY DUREME is the most versatile the other kids and started up the hill. As Marathon in the high tech CM Evolution series. everyone started pedaling, she started crying, and as they disappeared into the MY distance “my waterworks only got worse,”CY

said Nellie. CMY “I remember asking you what gear I K should be in as I started up an extremely steep hill. You told me I should be in a high gear. After about 10 minutes of strug- gling up the hill, I stopped. I remember giving you the silent treatment for the rest of the day,” said Nellie. When Nellie started crying, I had this horrible sinking feeling that I had let my

ego dictate what she could do. That feeling www.schwalbetires.com has stayed with me a long time, and even

28 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 29 an all-out family feud,” Nellie said. when we me! They weren’t thanking Things didn’t pick up until we haven’t me enough!” approached Anchorage. At that point, eaten what “Finally, it was like, everyone began to feel as if we had accom- we have?’” okay, I think I’m having a plished something, and the Anchorage Teeny asked meltdown here. Typically branch of the family was impressed. It was herself. I’ll be screaming for 10 a good way to end the trip. “I was minutes, then I realized As Leo said about another cycling ticked off I haven’t been eating. It adventure, “Looking back on it, we were because as was all about these stupid, out there on those trips like a lost tribe we climbed ridiculous little things that in the wilderness, and you get to see how the passes you focus on while you’re people interact under pressure.” people were pedaling that set you off,” shedding Luke asleep. said Teeny. Bagels Were Involved gear and But this trip was about “Meltdowns have been a feature on food. I ended up with most of it, and my more than meltdowns. For Lynn it was just about every bike trip I’ve ever been bike was getting heavier and heavier. sort of a breakout tour. “I could see her on,” said Kathleen “Teeny” Metcalfe, as The passes were twin 5,000-foot climbs stay right on Teeny’s back wheel, and I she discussed her own meltdown. Teeny on the North Cascades Highway north of think she could have gone ahead,” said was describing an incident on a Seattle-to- Seattle. Ann. “She gained a lot of confidence on Spokane trip with Ann, Barb, Lynn, and “I took the bagels and shoved them that trip.” Lynn’s best friend Britney Moen in 2004. into a garbage can, and they went over “Lynn and Britney were much stronger Lynn and Britney were just out of high and pulled them out. I said, ‘Un … believ- than I expected,” said Teeny. “They didn’t school. Nellie and I were in Spokane for a able, pulling three-day-old food out of the need any of the biking gear you’d think soccer tournament. garbage when you just bought 10 pounds they needed. They didn’t have bike shorts “Bagels were involved,” Teeny said. “I more.’” or bike shoes. Britney didn’t even have a had been carrying the bagels around for “You don’t have to carry all the food,” touring bike, and Lynn’s bike was too big. days, and we were in some town after we someone said. That was no big deal to them. They just did the passes and stopped at a grocery “And I thought I was doing them a big had tennis shoes, and it didn’t matter at store. ‘Why are we buying more food favor. Now it was like no one appreciated all. They just got on and rode.”

     

 



28 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 29 The Ladies Go Shopping these remote, mosquito-infested places in “Bike trips also give you pretty good In 2005, while I was training in Alaska to ride bicycles for our ‘vacations,’’’ street cred as a little kid. I’m pretty sure Mongolia with the Alaska National Guard, said Lynn in an email. they were all afraid of me and thought I the ladies kept “I had a lot of was really tough, and I liked that,” wrote cycling. This time fun when I was Lynn. it was Ann, Teeny, on them, but I Lynn, and Nellie on a always wanted Postscript trip from Bar Harbor, to do what the This summer Ann, Luke, Lynn, and I Maine, to Boston. other kids were traveled to Europe where we rented bicy- “The difference doing, like going cles for a day each in Ireland, Poland, and between this trip to Disneyland. Lithuania. In Lithuania Lynn and I decided and the other trips Then we did that to ride to an ancient monastery outside Lynn and Nellie had Disneyland trip, of Vilnius, the capital. The country was been on was there and I liked it, but undergoing a renovation of its highways, was something to do I realized that it and we kept running into construction besides look at trees,” really wasn’t as zones. I hit a pile of sand, flipped over, and said Teeny, half jok- much fun as the suffered a concussion (yes, I was wearing a ingly. Luke and Lynn in the trailer. bike trips. helmet). Once Lynn realized I was going to “The Bar Harbor “I honestly be okay, she began yelling that I needed to trip was the cat’s can’t say that I be more careful, just like I used to yell at meow because every 10 or 20 miles there have very many good stories from the her. Lesson learned, roles change. were little shops, things to see. They had a Disneyland trip, or at least none that can couple of carrots keeping them motivated, compare to ones that I have from bike Mac Metcalfe bought his first bike in Seattle in 1972, a Boston and New York City. It’s okay to have trips. What I appreciate about them now Nishiki Semi-Pro with turned down handle bars, before heading off on his first bike tour, a 2,000-mile trek fun while you’re suffering,” Teeny said. that I couldn’t then (and this probably through South America with four Juneau friends. He Shopping has its place, but suffer- sounds cheesy) is they instilled a sense of still rides the same bike. He has taught on remote ing makes for better stories, as Lynn adventure in me. I realized that a lot of islands in Southeast Alaska, served the country as a explained. kids who went on more typical vacations soldier, first in Vietnam in 1968 and last in Kuwait/ “When I was young, I could not under- were actually jealous of the things that we Iraq 2007, and currently lives in his home-town Juneau, Alaska, where he is a freelance writer. stand why our parents were taking us to did as a family.

30 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 31 Life Member Profile BILL MCGLYNN For this Idaho life member, the bicycle helps keep things in perspective by Dan Schwartzman

fter three years of planning, man from Denver riding to Portland Bill McGlynn set out on his on a mountain bike and pulling a BOB first bicycle tour in June 2001, trailer. Days earlier — and out of money Aa three-day trip from McCall, Idaho, to and food — the man had stopped at Missoula, Montana, along the Lochsa Adventure Cycling headquarters in River. Accompanied by his wife, Julie Missoula. The Coloradan said the staff at England, the residents of Boise, Idaho, the organizations headquarters helped hit the pavement along Highway 12 en him to find a place to stay and to earn route to a very long first day that ended some money. with the ascent of White Bird Hill. The “That’s how we became life mem- good news: no one was on the old high- bers,” said McGlynn who first joined way; the bad news: the hill that rises to with an annual membership in 2001, an elevation of 4,245 feet came at the end before upgrading to a life membership of cycling more than 100 miles on their the next year. first day. Prior to touring on a bicycle, “We collapsed at one point.” McGlynn McGlynn traveled predominantly for said. “My wife said, while laying flat on her back on the pave- work, an experience that left him desiring more from his time ment, ‘You don’t think there are any rattlesnakes here, do you?’ away from home. I answered, ‘no,’ then we got back on our bikes and rode around “I really craved the other side life,” the 58-year-old said. the corner, only to see a rattlesnake slithering across the road.” “The part where life slows down enough to become reflective On the second day of the trip, McGlynn met a young continued on page 62

Life Membership: org/membership or give Membership l Susan & Stephen Immelt, A lifetime of benefits, long-term Director Julie Huck a call at (800-755- Brooklandville, MD support for bicycle travel 2453 x 214). l Raymond Léger, Fredericton, Canada Thanks to these new life members who l William Montigny, Winooski, VT Following is a list of cyclists who signed up July 2010 thorough mid-March. l Rod Nisi & Debra Litzelman, Carmel, IN have made the commitment of Life l Allan Parkey, Iowa Park, TX Membership to Adventure Cycling l Joseph Abrahams, Boaz, AL l Cyril Pasche, Geneva, Switzerland, over the past 6 months. Funds from l James & Holly Bogin, Larkspur, CA l Ann Pokora, Sudbury, MA Life Membership are put into a special l Frank E. Briscoe, Nevada, MO l Jill & Del Rasmussen, Dorking, United account to provide long-term support l John C. Britting, Darby, MT Kingdom to the organization. In the past, these l J lim Brown, Calera, AL l Steven F. Seto, Seattle, WA funds have helped us purchase our head- l Kevin Brunk, St. Joseph, MO l Mary Ann Smith, Charleston, MO quarters building, saving us thousands l Donna Buchholz, Incline Village, NV l Porter & Gail Storey, Boulder, CO of dollars in interest payments. We then l Jeff Budd, Sitka, AK l Peter Strause, Beaverton, OR put the savings toward route creation l Dawn M. Callahan, Pleasant Lake, MI l Roland Sturm, Santa Monica, CA and reaching out to current and future l Anne Cowan, Bristol, TN l Jeff Sweet, Rawlins, WY cyclists. l Jon Curtis & Mary Carol Winkler, San l Charles Thibault, Bartlett, TN If bicycle travel is important part Rafael, CA l Sue Tiller, Prairie du Chien, WI of your life, please consider making l Fred Ecks, Boulder, CO l Dan & Lora Van Epp, Las Vegas, NV a life-time comment by joining as an l Glen Graham, Binghamton, NY l Rob & Pat Wheelhouse, Rochester, NY Adventure Cycling Life Member. To find l Harvey & Sue Griggs, Toronto, Canada, l Chris Wood, North Hampton, NH out more, visit www.adventurecycling. l Todd Hart, Ardmore, PA

30 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 31 Checking Out GPS

“It’s easy,” said our Dutch friend Jonni. tainly got our money’s worth out of it. put me on a freeway or even on a busy “You can’t miss it.” My wife Terri and I Day after day, month after month, our street when there’s an alternative. cringed. Jonni’s “you can’t miss it” direc- TomTom guided us virtually flawlessly 4. Huff and puff. The GPS should tions were invariably missing something through Holland, Belgium, France, and understand about altitude, and if there are crucial. On this particular trip, a mere 6.4 Spain, all the way down to Gibraltar and alternative routes and one, for example, is miles, she forgot to mention the two major back. We were staying in private homes 20 miles with a seven-percent maximum roundabouts at which we had to turn left at least half the time, and it guided us to grade and the other is 30 miles but with a to get to our destination. residences in tiny villages like Tiegem — three-percent maximum grade, it should It was our first foray into the heart of a little more than a crossroads in the Belgian give me the choice. medieval city where streets crisscross like countryside — and sprawling metropo- The bad news: No one is there yet. a jumble of Pick-up sticks tossed on the lises like Paris and Madrid. The better news: Google Maps has ground. A street can start But that 2005-06 adven- decent bike route planning. You just can’t anywhere, head any direc- ture was a driving, not a use it when you’re actually moving. tion, run for any distance, cycling trip, the GPS mar- The good news: Sorry. I don’t have any. have any width, and come ket has had five years to Okay, well just a little. Here are a few to an abrupt stop at a brick mature since then, and unit ideas that might suit your traveling needs, wall with no real warning. prices have plummeted. at least partially. And we were in just the What type of equipment DeLorme first week of a planned year is available for those of us DeLorme has come out with a model off in Europe. The thought who prefer pedal power for called the Earthmate PN-60 that has built of being lost all the time, our long-distance jaunts? in topographic maps so it can plot an alti- every day for 365 days, did Here are the criteria I tude profile of your proposed route. Give sound slightly adventurous, was looking for in my per- DeLorme a big plus here. The available but it would be, to say the fect bike-touring GPS: PN-60 maps include complete U.S. and least, inefficient when we 1. Preplanning. I should Canadian topographic detail, aerial photog- actually had to get some- be able to sit at home — or raphy, streets, roads, and places of interest. where. in a motel room or camp- If you can squeeze them all into memory, So we bought our first site — and plan routes in you can even layer them on the screen. GPS, a TomTom 750. This advance. At the very least, I Garmin was the summer of 2005, should be able to plan a day Like most GPS units sold for the the technology was still or two in advance. cycling market, the Garmin Edge 705 fairly new, and we paid 2. Bike trails. The GPS is mainly an expensive bike computer a steep price for being early adopters: should know about dedicated bike trails designed for daily workouts and fitness $1,200. Today an equivalent model runs and use them in preference to streets. training. But the Edge 705 also does a about $250 (Go 740 LIVE). But we cer- 3. Safety. It should never — ever — decent job of route planning. However, Checking Out GPS by Timothy Perrin G R EG SI PL E

it’s planning is limited to getting you ware in TomTom GPS units and their iPod/ from where you are to where you want iPhone app has a setting for bike routing to go — as long as that’s only 100 to 200 but all it really does is avoid restricted miles away. You can’t plan a long trip access highways. In spite of its pedigree, and you can’t plan anything in another the software is not bike-route savvy. state or country. On the plus side, it’s TomTom does not make any handheld SPOT small and light and should last all day on or handlebar-mounted units except for one battery charge. Certain versions also their TomTom Rider, a unit made rugged SATELLITE include heart rate and cadence moni- for use on motorcycles. It’s a possible but COMMUNICATIONS tors. However, and this is probably true unlikely solution for three reasons. First, for everything these you’ll have to order it Spot offers products that use com- days, you really need online from TomTom munications satellites to act as your a computer to take full in Europe. They don’t electronic safety net when you’re advantage of the Edge market it in Canada on an adventure. You can use a Spot 705. Do you really want or the U.S. Second, it product to call for help, check in to be lugging another will probably require to let everyone know you’re okay, three to seven pounds some kind of dynamo or let your family and friends track up and over every pass hub or bottle gen- your progress on Google Maps. Most between here and there? erator to operate as Spot units are freestanding, but some And consider how you’re their website says come integrated into — actually going to get Internet the battery life is grafted onto — other GPS units. For access; you’ll probably approximately five example, DeLorme offers one model need some kind of wire- hours on a recharge. of the Earthmate PN-60 with an less plan, another issue And, third, the unit added-on Spot unit. entirely. is pricey, retailing for $600. Spot works by sending a signal TomTom Trimble Outdoors to a communications satellite that is TomTom is a Dutch company, and the Trimble Outdoors makes software that then relayed to the Spot offices. In Dutch are practically born with toe clips works on a number of smart phones, but addition to the price of the hardware on their feet. They ride bikes everywhere you do your route planning online then — $100 and up — you need to pay and the country is laced with bike paths. download it to the hardware. You can set an additional $99 per year for moni- Virtually every road has a separate bike up a free account on their website and toring with additional services avail- path running alongside it and there are try it out for yourself. Have it plan some able for more fees. thousands of completely independent bike routes that you already know and see how lanes that head off through the country- it does. I was not impressed. On one test side unaffiliated with any roads. The soft- I ran, it gave me a route of more than 100 miles whereas Google Maps gave me three bike routes from 77 to 81 miles. Trimble’s Adventure Cycling, date and it’s the members that foot the planner ignored a major bikeway and bill. We will, however, continue to offer ignored a specialized bike/pedestrian lane GPS, and You for free the waypoints themselves — the built alongside Interstate 80 on a causeway GPS (Global Positioning System) latitude and longitude points only — where it really is the only way across this is an acronym that gets used a lot in that can be used in conjunction with one stretch of country. I was on the phone the world of bicycle travel these days computer software to build routes for a with the company representative at the time, and it’s made an appearance in many GPS device. More information about GPS and he was not enamored with their soft- Adventure Cyclist articles in the recent and Adventure Cycling routes can be ware engineers at that particular moment. past, mostly as a means for bike tour found online at www.adventure Smart Phones companies to keep their self-led custom- cycling.org/routes/gps.cfm. You will also Many smart phones have GPS function ers on the right course. But how does find a link to the Adventure Cycling GPS built in. Many others say they have GPS, Adventure Cycling Association view Forum where you can discuss and share but what they actually do is triangulate GPS and implement it? Currently, we your experiences with others. your position by pinging cell towers. If provide the GPS waypoints for each In addition to the units discussed by you are in the middle of nowhere, without turn in the narratives and each facil- Tim Perrin, one you might like to con- cell service, you’ll lose your “GPS” ser- ity in the service directories for all the sider, and that our routes and mapping vice. However, in the middle of nowhere, maps that constitute the Adventure team recommends, is the Garmin 60CSx. you’ll likely have only forward or back as Cycling Association Route Network. The reason they like this unit is that it directions of possible travel, so it won’t be Each waypoint has a comment that comes loaded with maps so you can see as important. Either way, most of the time describes a town, an intersection, a ser- where you are in relation to other fea- you’ll have a fairly reliable positioning vice, or another point of interest. This, tures on the map. It can also hold 1000 service which, when combined with map- however, will change in the near future waypoints, which would take you about ping software, such as the TomTom iPhone as this information will be restricted to 1/3 of the way across the TransAm or app, can create a reasonable alternative to Adventure Cycling Association mem- Northern Tier. Of course, as with all a dedicated GPS unit. bers, the reason being that it takes a gadgets, the situation is fluid and units Internet Sites tremendous amount of organizational are continually being updated and So far, the best electronic bike-route resources to keep this information up to improved upon. planning I’ve found comes from Google

34 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 35 Maps and from Bikely.com. any GPS will easily be able to follow one around, and say, “Where am I? Where am Google Maps gives you smart bike rout- of the Adventure Cycling routes (See side- I going? Excuse me, sir. Can you help me? ing including alternate routes where neces- bar on previous page). I’m a bit confused, and I may be lost.” sary. The site is aware of dedicated bike A Final Thoughts Finally, if you haven’t already done routes and uses them in route Part of the joy of so, join both Warmshowers and SERVAS. planning. It is by far the best bicycle travel is the Both are organizations that host travelers bike-route planner available slower pace and the for free. Warmshowers (www.warmshow online. serendipity it provides. ers.org) is specifically made up of cyclists Bikely.com is a collection It really is about the hosting cyclists. We’ve hosted several of bike routes entered by journey, not the arrival. times and met some friendly riders that other riders. One feature I If you get “lost,” that’s way. And SERVAS (www.servas.org) is particularly like is that each part of the adventure. similar, but it’s not just for cyclists. We route includes an elevation Who knows? You stayed with SERVAS hosts at least half the profile, which is missing might discover a medi- time during our year off in Europe. We from the Google Maps routes. eval faire in the middle made a number of great friends and went And, because each route was of the French country- to places we would have never visited entered by another rider, side, stumble on a gem otherwise. I cannot recommend it enough, each comes “pre-tested.” But, in a flea market in a but don’t leave joining until the last min- to put together a tour, you’ll little town in Kansas, or ute. They vet people, and getting the have to cobble together a come across a tiny jazz directory for any country can take several bunch of shorter routes into club at a crossroads in weeks because everything is handled by a longer trip. Holland that is a mecca volunteers. Start now. Preloaded Waypoints for all the greats. Now if someone would just invent a Just about any GPS can On a bicycle, device that could control the weather! download “waypoints” for you’re not going to be a route, basically all the places where you approaching freeway interchanges at 70 It took a 10-year-old Tim Perrin almost a year to save the $10 his parents insisted he contribute to the have to make a turn. All of the Adventure MPH, boxed in by semis with five possible $40 cost of his first bike. But in the 50 years since, Cycling routes are available in this format, off ramps from which to choose. You’ll be he’s never quit pedaling. These days, he rides a recum- putting each route into your GPS on a moving at 15 MPH on the side of the road, bent Greenspeed trike in British Columbia’s beautiful turn-by-turn basis. This way, just about and you’ll be able to stop at any time, look Okanagan Valley.

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34 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 35 The Cyclists’ Kitchen Protein: Power for Pedaling? It’s all the rage in the world of supplements by Nancy Clark

How much protein do I need? When should I eat it? What’s the best brand of protein shake? How many protein bars are okay to eat in a day? These are just a few of the questions cyclists ask me about the role of protein in their sports diet as they chug protein shakes for breakfast, choose protein bars for mid-morning and late afternoon snacks, and refuel with protein supplements for recovery. The sports food industry leads us to believe

these commercially prepared, purified, your muscles. Remember, protein can fruits that rounded out the day’s intake. protein-rich products are indispensable repair muscles but does not easily fuel Once you know how much protein for superior performance. Not the case; muscles. Carbohydrates fuel muscles. you consume via standard foods, you can real food has worked well for years! Next, you need to determine how then determine how many protein bars While there is a time and place for much protein your body requires and you need. (Likely none!) That is, if your protein supplements, many cyclists mis- then assess how much protein you eat diet offers 125 grams of protein and you use them. For example, I see far too many via your standard food choices. Most need only 90 grams, there’s no need to cyclists downing post-ride protein shakes cyclists eat more than enough protein buy a protein bar other than for calories and protein bars when they should be without supplements. To estimate your to curb hunger. enjoying carbohydrate-rich fruit smooth- daily needs, multiply your weight by 0.5- Q. I’m a vegetarian and try to eat some ies and energy bars. The people who 0.75 grams protein/pound (1.0-1.5 g/kg). plant protein at each meal. I still wonder if might benefit from a protein supplement Example: I will be able to get enough protein to sup- are vegetarians who eat hit-or-miss meals, • If you weigh about 120 pounds, the port my TransAmerica bike tour. college students who dislike the cafeteria suggested intake is approximately 60 to A. Many vegetarians who think they options, and dieters who try to live on 90 grams of protein per day. eat well are surprised to learn how little lettuce leaves. But most hungry cyclists • If you weigh about 160 pounds, the protein plant foods offer. For example, if get plenty of protein through their daily suggested intake is approximately 80 to you weigh 120 pounds and need at least food intake. 120 grams of protein per day. 60 grams protein per day, you will fall The purpose of this article is to (Note: If you are restricting calories to short on protein if you consume only: answer some questions about the role lose weight, you want to target the higher Breakfast: 2 tablespoons of peanut of protein in your sports diet and leave end of the protein range.) butter (9 g protein) on a bagel (14 g total) you with this message: While adequate To track how much protein you eat, Lunch: a BOCA burger (13 g) protein is important to build and repair use the information on food labels and/ Dinner: a quarter-cake of tofu (9 g) muscles, protein should take its place or analyze your diet at websites such as That totals only 36 of the recom- as the accompaniment to carbohydrates www.fitday.com or www.sparkpeople. mended 60 grams protein. Yes, you (grains, fruits, and vegetables). That’s com. Here’s how to easily consume 100 consume more protein from the because your muscles need at least four grams of protein: grain foods and veggies that times more calories from carbohydrates Pre-ride Breakfast: 2 eggs: 12 g, round out your meals, but (for fuel) than they need from protein. Greek-style yogurt, 6 ounces: 14 g you would be wise to Confused? Keep reading! AM Snack: Bagel with peanut butter: 14 g eat double portions of Q. When I’m on daylong rides, I eat a Lunch: Tuna sandwich: 30 g protein-rich plant foods. lot of protein bars. How many protein bars Afternoon snack: Trail mix: 10 g When cycling long dis- per day are too many? Dinner: 6-oz. chicken breast: 45 g tances, double portions A. To start, when you are biking all Total: 125 grams protein — and this can be easy to con- day, you need carbohydrate-based gra- does not even include the additional sume. Adding yogurt nola bars and energy bars that will fuel protein from the grains, vegetables, and and milk to the diet

36 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 37 can also easily boost protein intake. drinking a sports drink with protein because they are convenient, buy them. Q. I’ve been eating egg whites for break- (such as Accelerade or Amino Vital) dur- But if you prefer the wholesome good- fast. I’ve heard they are an excellent source ing a long ride, don’t bother. Endurance ness of chocolate milk and other natural of high-quality protein. Is this correct? is largely affected by how many total protein-carbohydrate combinations, save A. Yes, egg whites offer high-quality, calories you consume while you exer- your money and enjoy real food instead. muscle-building protein, but take note: cise (not the amount of protein). Snack Real foods tend to be tastier, too! egg whites are mostly water, and are not regularly on granola bars, dried fruit, fig Q. In addition to cycling, I lift weights “packed with protein.” An omelet made bars, trail mix, gels, or gummy candy — twice a week. I’ve done this for several with three egg whites has only about 10 and drink plenty of water. Or, choose years. Do I have higher protein needs than grams of protein. You could more easily the sports beverage that tastes best to the person who does not lift weights? swig 10 ounces skim milk and skip the you. Good tasting fluids are important, A. In the early stages of training, your cooking and dishwashing. because you will drink more of some- protein needs are slightly higher because A whole egg has about 6 grams pro- thing you like. Many cyclists do not like you are building muscle mass. Once you tein, and the yolk is rich in important the aftertaste associated with a protein- have built muscle, your protein needs vitamins and minerals. Yes, the yolk is containing sports drink. should return to the standard require- also rich in cholesterol, but the debate Soon after you’ve finished riding, ments. Believe it or not, research suggests continues whether or not the cholesterol enjoy a wholesome carbohydrate-plus- weight lifting enhances the way your you eat affects your blood cholesterol protein snack or meal (such as yogurt body uses the protein you eat. This actu- and heart-health. Likely not for healthy, and a banana, chocolate milk, or a pea- ally results in greater efficiency and a active cyclists. nut butter and jelly sandwich). This will reduced protein requirement. (Campbell, In addition to (or instead of) egg provide your muscles with the tools they 2007) whites for breakfast, plan to fuel your need to recover optimally. If you’re like most hungry athletes muscles with carbohydrate-rich oatmeal Q. I’ve heard I should eat a three (or who lift weights, you habitually consume for breakfast. Either eat the oats raw four) to one ratio of carbohydrates to pro- more than enough protein on a daily (with milk, as you would eat a dry cereal) tein right after I exercise, but I don’t know basis. Hence, whether or not your body or cook them with skim milk (instead what that looks like in terms of food. So I requires extra protein becomes a moot of water) to get a good ratio of carbo- buy commercial recovery foods and drinks point because you are likely already eat- hydrates to protein. Add raisins, honey, to be sure I get the right ratio. Are there ing “extra.” almonds, walnuts — and even powdered other options? The bottom line milk if you think your diet needs a pro- A. Commercial recovery drinks are To repeat what I wrote in the begin- tein boost — and you’ve got the makings more about convenience than necessity. ning: While adequate protein is impor- for a super sports breakfast either at a You can enjoyably refuel with chocolate tant in your sports diet to build and campsite or at home. milk, yogurt, a sandwich, or pasta with repair muscles, protein should take its Q. Should I use meat sauce. The ratio need not be exact place as the accompaniment to carbo- a sports drink with — you just don’t want to consume a hydrates. Enjoy meals and snacks that protein during long heavy amount of protein that displaces include a foundation of grains, fruits and rides that last carbohydrates and also sits in the stom- vegetables, with a side of protein-rich longer than two ach and slows digestion. dairy, meats, fish, eggs, beans, and nuts. hours? Whether or not a protein-carbohy- You’ll enjoy the benefits of high energy, A. If your drate recovery beverage is superior to strong muscles, and good health. Eat well, goal is to a carbohydrate-only beverage remains ride well! enhance your questionable. In a recent study (Green, performance by 2008) in which athletes drank either a Nancy Clark, MS, RD, CSSD (Board Certified Specialist carbohydrate or a carbohydrate-protein in Sports Dietetics) is a former TransAmerica tour lead- er. She offers private consultations to casual and com- recovery drink immediately after mus- petitive athletes in her practice at Healthworks, the cle-damaging downhill running, both premier fitness center in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts beverages offered a similar recovery pro- (617-383-6100). Her Sports Nutrition Guidebook cess over the course of three days. The and Cyclist’s Food Guide are available via www. authors concluded the meals that they nancyclarkrd.com. ate (in addition to the recovery drink) in References those post-exercise days supplied the • Campbell W, Leidy H (2007). Dietary protein protein and carbohydrates needed to and resistance training effects on muscle and body recover. composition in older persons. J Am Coll Nutr 26, Yet, you won’t go wrong by 696S-703S. refueling soon after exercise with a • Green MS, Corona BT, Doyle JA, Ingalls CP. Carbohydrate-protein drinks do not enhance carbohydrate-protein combination. recovery from exercise-induced muscle injury. Int J If engineered foods are preferable Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2008;18(1):1-18.

36 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 37 Road Test voodoo nakisi Versatile model makes for a good light tourer by Patrick O’Grady

Back in the day when I was still racing bicycles, I favored odd- ball events and machinery to match. There was New Mexico’s Watermelon Mountain Classic road race, which started on pavement in Bernalillo and climbed into the Sandias along a stretch of unimproved dirt Forest Service road before returning to asphalt for the descent through Cedar Crest into Albuquerque. An hour east, we had the Mount Taylor Winter Quadrathlon,

in which participants cycle, and it looked like a smarter, run, ski, and snowshoe to the cheaper version of my long- summit of the race’s name- gone Loa, I drew my Visa card sake, then repeat it all in the way a gunfighter draws reverse order to the finish in his Colt. downtown Grants. The Nakisi is a steel 29er Up north in Boulder, designed for “dirt drop bars,” Colorado, it was the Boulder- and thus doesn’t look like a Roubaix, a road race that was 29er at all. It has neither a half dirt road, half paved. radically sloping top tube nor And, of course, there was a suspension fork, but will cyclo-cross, a deviant form of accept 29” x 2.3” tires — no, duathlon for busy folks who that’s not a typo — and your are in too much of a rush to choice of disc or cantilever Pat r ic k O’Gr ad y change shoes for the running brakes. When built up for off- portion. It was not the first time I came to road use it looks something like a ’cross An off-the-rack bike just wouldn’t regret selling my Steelman CC ’cross bike wearing Dunlop D952 motorcycle do for most of these contests, given the bike to a teammate. Framebuilder Brent rubber. variable terrain and weather. So I’d mix Steelman pitched this steel frameset as “a “We kept the top tube flat and head and match, trying cyclo-cross tires and 700C mountain bike,” giving it a slightly tube short to offer a traditional look with gearing on a road bike, road rubber and sloping top tube, clearance for 700C x 40 lots of standover clearance,” said John gearing on a ’cross bike, or ’cross tires on tires, and the option of running a triple- Benson of VooDoo North America. “That a mountain bike. ring crankset. It was a 29er before any- has met a fair amount of resistance, espe- In the mid 1990s, when my wife and one had coined the term. cially when the high-rise Nakisi is I moved to the Wet Mountains in south- Then one day VooDoo Cycles came out put on. It does look goofy but, man, it is central Colorado, equipment selection with the Loa, a titanium ’cross bike with great riding that setup.” became even more complex. The riding a one-off Marzocchi suspension fork, Benson rides a Nakisi outfitted with possibilities included chip-seal state mountain-bike gearing, and clearance for WTB Mountain Road drop bars and a highway, indifferently maintained gravel burly rubber. I went for it like a shot, Shimano XT drivetrain, whereas designer county roads, federal two-track, private adding a U.S.E. suspension post for extra Joe Murray set his up with VooDoo single-track, horse trail, and deer paths. cush. Scorcher bars and 1 x 9 drive for use as Mostly I rode a ’cross bike, but this was I’ve had a soft spot for VooDoo ever a townie. a case of making do. What I needed since, plus a general fondness for bikes I had mine built as a sort of old-school was an expedition bike, something that that can serve more than one purpose. ’cross bike on growth hormone, mostly would be more or less at home no matter So, late last year, when I saw a photo of using parts already on hand in the garage where I took it. VooDoo’s Nakisi on a friend’s website, — Hugi hubs from a long unused set

38 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 39 of mountain-bike wheels, cantilever brakes, nine-speed bar-end shifters, a 12-26 cassette, Ultegra rear derail- Specifications: VooDoo Nakisi leur and XT front, and an old M737 Price: $350 for frame and fork, $89.95 Braze-ons front and rear for fenders and Deore XT triple crankset with 42/32/22 for high-rise stem. racks. Cable stops for front and rear rings. Old Town Bike Shop in Colorado Sizes available: X-small (45cm), small derailleurs. Disc tabs and cantilever brake Springs, Colorado, handled the assem- (50cm), medium (54cm), large (58cm), bosses. Origin-8 threadless headset. Steel bly, which included the lacing of Mavic X-large (62cm). fork. Horizontal rear dropouts Open Pro rims to those hubs with DT Size tested: Medium Rims: Mavic Open Pro, 32-hole rear, 28- Revolution spokes and the addition of Weight: 24.2 pounds with pedals hole front 700C x 45 Panaracer Fire Cross tires, the Spokes: DT Revolution, cross three rear, cyclo-cross version of the rubber on my cross two front mountain bike. Hubs: Hugi Compact The first thing I noticed was what Tires: WTB All Terrainasaurus, 700x38 a bear those tires were to push on the Crank: Shimano M737 Deore XT, 175mm road. The second was how nicely they arms, 42/32/22 chainrings rolled over the rocky sections of single- Front derailleur: Shimano XT track that serve as roadblocks to the Rear derailleur: Shimano Ultegra 700C x 30/32 Jets on my ’cross Shift levers: Shimano Dura-Ace BS77 bikes. bar-cons With a high-rise stem to bring the Brake levers: Shimano 600 bars nearly level with the saddle, the Cog cassette: SRAM PG970 12-13-14- Nakisi handles the ups and downs of 15-17-19-21-23-26 9-speed trail riding impeccably, so much so that I Chain: SRAM PC-971 found myself spending more time on the Gearing in inches: hoods or in the drops than on the tops, 22 32 42 white-knuckling my auxiliary brake 12 51.1 74.3 97.5 levers (yeah, I’m a sissy; my wife likes a 13 47.1 68.6 90.0 man to have a reasonably intact epider- 14 43.8 63.7 83.6 mis and all of his original teeth). 15 40.9 59.4 78.0 Frankly, it’s nice to spend more time 17 36.1 52.4 68.8 Pat r ic k O’Gr ad y Pat r ic k O’Gr ad y riding rather than carrying, especially 19 32.3 46.9 61.6 since the Nakisi’s cables are routed 21 29.2 42.5 55.7 underneath the top tube. There’s a guide 23 26.6 38.8 50.9 under there for a hydraulic brake cable, TEST BIKE MEASUREMENTS 26 23.6 34.3 45.0 too, if you’re among the disc-brake fan- Seat tube: 21 ¼ inches (54cm), center ciers who think that cantilevers can’t to top Saddle: Selle San Marco Ponza Island. cut it. Top tube: 22 7/16 inches effective Seat post: Thomson Elite. Finally, with drop bars permitting Head tube angle: 71.5° Brakes: Cane Creek SCX-5 cantilevers more hand positions than flat bars, Seat tube angle: 74° with Shimano 600 aero levers plus top- shaped seat stays that eat up the bumps, Horizontal chainstays: 16.8-17.7 inches mounted Cane Creek Crosstop levers. and no suspension fork to wrestle, the (17 1/8 as tested) Pedals: Crank Brothers Candy. Nakisi is a comfy bike for the long haul. Seat height above ground: 40 ¾ Bars & stem: Salsa Pro Road 46cm bars But it’s more than a mountain bike inches with an unidentified high-rise stem from with drop bars. The Nakisi is an all- Crank spindle height above ground: the parts box. rounder, a Swiss Army bike with braze- 11 3/8 inches Contact: [email protected]. VooDoo ons for racks and fenders that can tackle Fork rake: 1 31/32 inches (50mm) USA distributes through Bicycle Technolo- just about any type of riding, short of a Wheelbase: 41.5 inches gies International, 1216 Mercantile Road, fully-loaded tour. Standover height: 30 ¾ inches Santa Fe, NM 87507. For a store locator Swap the portly Panaracers for some- see https://www.bti-usa.com/store_loca thing a little more svelte — I had a Frame and fork: VooDoo Black Magic tor.asp pair of wire-bead 700C x 38 WTB All chromoly steel with butted main tubes. Terrainasauruses lying around — and Threaded bosses for two water bottles. continued on page 62

38 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 39 THE MIRROR MAN OF GAMBIER

Chuck Harris begins work on another rearview mirror, bending a spoke into a bracket for mounting on a helmet. THE MIRROR MAN OF GAMBIER Story and photos by Greg Siple magine if you could come up with two years. He quickly laid down $75 for After his discharge from the service, he a simple bicycle accessory that you the bike and equipped it with a Simplex and Alma returned to New England where could manufacture yourself. This derailleur that he had to go to New York Chuck put his electrical engineering skills device would weigh less than an City to find. to work to support his growing family — ounceI and require only three parts that “It opened up a whole new world to Louise born in 1964, and Bonnie in 1966. can be fashioned from recycled materi- me,” he says. He found himself completely l l l als, some of which you can find scattered distracted by evening rides and weekend Chuck doesn’t claim to be the inventor along the roadside as you bicycle through overnights to various New England hos- of the eyeglass-mounted mirror. In the mid the countryside. The tools required for tels. More than once he made the 104-mile 1960s, he met a cardiologist on a bike tour. manufacturing your device will fit on your round trip to Springfield because “there The doctor had a dental mirror taped to his kitchen table. was a Friendly’s Ice Cream Shop.” The glasses. Chuck thought it was a good idea With very little marketing effort you are distraction of the bicycle was complete. He but it would be a couple of years before approached by dozens, then hundreds, and flunked out. he decided to make his first mirror from finally thousands of enthusiastic customers. Nonetheless, in 1959 he found work scratch. He made his prototypes from used As the years roll by you find that you can spokes and cut the mirror backing from support your family with your one-man, discarded aluminum cans, sticking every- table top manufacturing plant. And some of thing together with epoxy. He handed your customers write to tell you how your them out to his cycling friends and began simple accessory has greatly improved their getting orders from strangers. His table- bicycling experience or even saved them top business was established and became from serious injury or death. his primary occupation. The mirrors made This is, in fact, the story of Chuck their appearance in Popular Mechanics, Harris, who, since 1969, has made 88,000 Consumer Report, National Geographic and rearview mirrors that mount on eyeglasses Playboy. Sales took off but he only sold and helmets. them through the mail and at cycling l l l events. Chuck was born in 1935 in New Jersey. Over the years, he has faced stiff com- When he was seven years old he contracted petition from businesses that sell manu- Rheumatic fever. The pain and fatigue kept factured mirrors but, unlike Chuck, they him out of school and bedridden for two come and go. years. l l l “That’s why I took to the bike with such I first met Chuck in the early 1970s, and enthusiasm,” he recalls. Every Chuck Harris mirror is handmade. after many years of seeing him at Tour of the After his long convalescence, the bicy- Scioto River Valley (TOSRV) where he sells cle represented freedom and a way to as an engineer in Stamford, Connecticut, his mirrors, I finally had a chance to visit explore and connect with the world. He with an electronics firm. His passion for him at his home in Gambier, Ohio. It was a taught himself to ride a bike with wooden year-round long rides continued. On one treat. He has a terrifically cluttered “work- rims and glue on tires from the 1920s. In ride back to New Jersey to visit his par- shop” that has spilled out of the garage into 1948 he bought a 3-speed Hercules, “my ents, “my eyelids kept freezing shut on the the yard where dozens of projects are simul- first real bike.” downhills.” On another, ”I fell asleep on a taneously underway. He is still the engineer During high school, he used his bike descent and woke up in a pile of rocks.” He and has created a Dr. Seuss meets Rube to deliver telegrams, a job that his older became active with American Youth Hostel Goldberg environment in which to work. brother had held before him. After school, groups in Hartford and Boston, and met He walked me around his operation, he was pulling in $.86 an hour, “plus Alma “who I tricked onto a tandem” at the showing me the various stages of mirror tips sometimes,” and a $.02 cents-per-mile Lodlow, Massachusetts, hostel. making, his pedal-powered lawnmower, vehicle allowance. In 1961 he was drafted and the U.S. bicycle jewelry, a derailleur made entirely Soon, he was looking beyond the streets Army sent him to Alaska where he served from parts available in a hardware store, of town. He set out into rural New Jersey as a microwave communication engineer. various bicycles, and some dentures he was with increasing frequency. In 1950, he did But his thoughts were with Alma back in building around a spoke. his first 100-mile day (from South Orange, Massachusetts. He bought a ring at the PX Something I found particularly fascinat- New Jersey, to Nyack, New York, in 14 and sent it to her, proposing marriage. She ing is the way he goes about bending a hours). accepted, he returned for the wedding, and spoke for a mirror. He does it with a pair After graduating from high school, he they embarked on an unusual (for Chuck) of needlenose pliers. There is no jig or mea- went on to Worcester Technical Institute in form of honeymoon. surement. He can do it with his eyes closed. Massachusetts, where he majored in elec- For the first time in his life, Chuck got a In recent years he has changed from alumi- trical engineering. He was the only student license and a car for a five-week meander num cans for the mirror backing to plastic there getting around by bike. There he back to Alaska with the tandem on the roof soda bottles. He often sandwiches a post- spotted a Raleigh Clubman in a bike-shop rack. The roomy 1957 Pontiac got 10 miles age stamp or a clipping from a magazine window where it had been languishing for to the gallon. between the plastic and the mirror. Unlike

42 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 43 The wild life. Chuck and Alma lead Greg to the ice cream shop.

Private fitting. If you buy a mirror from Chuck at an event, he’ll take Bottle cages. Chuck’s recumbent with soda-bottle toe clips. the time to adjust it perfectly for you.

42 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 43 BUILT TO LAST to show up at a state championship sport- approach, I can, second by second, assess My brother, Doug Siple, uses one of ing a mirror. if they will pass responsibly or perhaps Chuck’s mirrors and rides thousands The mirror got it’s first major out- even if the driver is preoccupied with a of miles every year. When I asked him ing when I rode Bikecentennial76 from cell phone. Knowing the status of tons of about it, I discovered that he has been Oregon to Virginia. In riding 70-plus days steel flying towards your back is priceless! using the same mirror that he bought 39 straight with the mirror, I’m sure my Nowadays, there are all sorts of mir- years ago. brain consigned some slacker cells in the rors on the market which evolved from the occipital lobe to master this special stream original Chuck Harris mirror, generally “I acquired my first Chuck Harris mir- of data. What started out as a novelty looking like they emerged from a plastics ror when he set up his stand at TOSRV72. became a critical part of my perception of factory in Shenzhen, China. I like having Initially, the mirror struck me as a my cycling environment. I am aware of a simple hand-crafted tool, bought directly novelty and I even put it away during my the vast majority of approaching cars well from the maker who took pains to use racing years. It wasn’t the height of style before the drivers spot me. As the cars recycled materials to create it!”

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44 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG manufactured mirrors every one of Chuck’s mirrors is unique. l l l In the middle of my visit Chuck and Alma hopped on their recumbent tandem, provided me with a loaner and we biked off on the local for some ice cream. For Chuck, ice cream is still a great excuse to put in a few miles. l l l I bought my first mirror from Chuck in 1972, just before setting out to bicycle from Alaska to Argentina. Within a couple of hundred miles, I realized how important that mirror would be to me. I wouldn’t consider riding in a car with- out my seatbelt in place, and I never ride without Chuck’s mirror on my glasses. In fact, it’s puzzlement to me why bicyclists do not routinely use a mirror of some kind. Most people would feel very ill at ease to drive without a mirror, yet ride a bike Plain or fancy. Mirror customers have a variety of designs to choose from. blind to what is approaching from behind. l l l If you’d like one of Chuck’s mirrors, you’ll have to call or write. He doesn’t have a website or email: Chuck Harris, Ultra- Light Touring Shop, P.O. Box 363, Gambier, Ohio 43022, (740) 427-3404. Or you might catch him at a big bicycle event in the Ohio area. He will be at TOSRV on May 7-8. Look for him at Friday night registation or at the Chillicothe lunch stop.

Greg Siple is art director and co-founder of Adventure Cycling Association, and a bicycle coummuter since 1957. He is old enough that he avoids looking in mir- rors unless it’s to see what’s coming up from behind.

Cutting edge. Chuck demonstrates his Jeweler. Chuck has created some tiny scale-model bicycles from brass. emissions-free riding lawnmower.

ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 45 Curves in the Road Give up the racks If you try framepacks, you may never go back by Jill Homer

In December 2007, I conducted a series of frustrat- When it comes to bicycle touring, a ing packing experiments while searching for the “rackless” system has several advantages: Less weight on the bike; less parts to best way to carry winter camping gear on my Surly break in rough conditions; well-suited Pugsley for a 350-mile trip on Alaska’s Iditarod for ultralight camping gear; improved weight distribution and handling; and Trail. I placed rear and front racks on the already- more efficient use of space and less obstruction for the rider. It has disad- bulky bike and strapped standard stuff sacks on vantages too: Less space overall; higher top. This proved less than ideal because it made my cost; and less adaptability. Also, the two American companies that specialize in gear much more difficult to access in extreme cold custom frame bags, Revelate Designs and weather, and also made it difficult when Finally, he developed a handlebar bag Carousel Design Works, often have wait I tried to throw my leg over the saddle. that held not only my extra-large win- periods of 10 weeks or more. I tested traditional touring panniers, ter sleeping bag, but also a bivy sack Ultralight bike bags come in several but the sizes were wrong for my large and closed-cell foam mattress, without different forms but fit into a few general winter sleeping bag. Panniers also got in compromising the bike’s steering. The categories: Frame bags, which fit inside the way when I was off my bike, tend- handlebar bivy bundle was especially the main triangle of the bike frame and ing to bounce off the rack while riding brilliant because it utilized a simple have one or more compartments for the typically bumpy and smaller, heavier items; top tube soft trail conditions, even bags, which fasten to the frame with reinforcements. bag and also hold small items When it seemed like and food; seat bags, which I wasn’t going to find a are designed to hang from the solution for my admit- saddle and extend anywhere tedly unique packing from several inches to a foot needs, I received an away from the seat post; and email from Eric Parsons handlebar bags and harnesses from Anchorage, Alaska. with mounting systems that Parsons had just started a allow a cyclist to hang gear off new business called Epic the bike’s handlebars. Designs (now Revelate These bags are made with Designs) building custom heavyweight, laminated fabrics bags engineered to fit and designed to withstand the bicycles without the need rougher conditions generally

for racks. “I have some Jill Homer’s Surly Pugsley. associated with mountain bik- ji ll home r ideas for you,” he wrote. ing: bad weather, mud, and

“Let me pimp your ride.” wrap-around system compressed with aggressive riding techniques. Because of T o ur di v ide r ace p hotos b y aa on teasda l e Parsons worked with me to design a series of straps. When I wanted to use their low profile and sturdy construc- a reinforced and specifically-tapered my sleeping gear, all I had to do was tion, and because rear and front shocks frame bag that filled the triangle of my click six buckles and my entire winter often prevent the use of traditional bike Pugsley. He also designed a large seat sleeping kit burst out like a pop-up tent, racks, these ultralight bags are becoming bag that clung to the saddle and, when ready for snoozing. In subzero tempera- increasingly popular for bikepacking or filled, curved away from the rear wheel tures, the quickness and ease of the bivy self-supported mountain-bike tours. in a way that seemed to defy gravity. bundle was a lifesaver. However, these light-and-fast sys-

46 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 47 tems can work for road cyclists as well. can keep up with. He continues to oper- Shortly after my Alaska winter tour in ate a single-person manufacturing shop early 2008, I transferred all of my new near the Sierra Nevada mountain range bike bags to my road bike (I was lucky in California, and mainly sticks with the that the frame bag fit both fairly well), designs and ideas he pioneered in the and embarked on a 350-mile tour of the past two decades. Klondike, Alaska, and Haines highways Revelate Designs has also picked up in the Yukon and Southeast Alaska. A on the expanding demand for bike bags. year later, I ordered a new system for my Parsons began developing his gear for mountain bike. Those bags withstood commercial use in late 2007 and within a thousands of miles of use and abuse matter of months transformed the base- while I was training for and riding the ment hobby into a full-time career when Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. I was he realized he was spending all of his firmly hooked on the lightness and ease free time sewing and filling orders — of rackless touring. and still couldn’t keep up. So how do you know if a rackless “Growth has been explosive,” he system is right for you? Jeff Boatman at said. “The business caters to both those Carousel Design Works, who introduced interested in lightweight touring, snow the concept of ultralight bicycle-touring biking, and anything long-ride-related, gear in 2006, said the main purpose of even commuting. All of which are grow- bike bags is to reduce weight and elimi- ing fast. And it’s international; a solid nate mechanical complexity. He tries to 20 percent of my customers live abroad. tailor his bags to his customers’ specific Keeping up with demand has been my needs, even when it doesn’t include a biggest growing pain.” full rackless system. Parsons and Boatman still run fairly “I design bags to be ergonomically small operations, but the market is correct for riding singletrack,” he said. expanding. Adventure Cycling now “When a seat-post bag is packed too sells a few standard bike bags through full, or is too large for the individual Cyclosource (adventurecycling.org/ rider, it actually creates an obstruction store): The Escape Pod Saddle Pack and where a rear rack might be better. So I Fuel Cell Tube Pack by Carousel Design talk to customers and try to work with Works, and the Tangle Frame Bag by their needs.” Revelate Designs. Revelate Designs is Boatman’s passion is singletrack working to shorten the wait period for , so he focused on custom bags and develop a streamlined developing packing systems that system so there are more bags on hand, wouldn’t compromise bike handling on ready to ship. Whether larger pannier technical terrain. However, he also sees manufacturers and companies decide to a future where low-profile bike bags are latch onto the rackless trend remains the preferred system for road cyclists to be seen, but usually when demand looking to reduce the weight of their expands, options follow. touring gear. For now, rackless bike bags are avail- “There’s the group of lightweight ran- able through special order online at donnee riders who want to travel long www.carouseldesignworks.com or www. distances and don’t want to load their revelatedesigns.com. If you’re like Jeff bikes down with a lot of gear, or want Boatman and Eric Parsons, both avid

T o ur di v ide r ace p hotos b y aa on teasda l e to use a lighter bike that isn’t designed cyclists who like to travel light and for touring,” he said. “I can see a set-up unobstructed, bike bags are the way to for a carbon road bike … where the full and restless following a knee injury go. rackless pack system, gear, and bike all in early 2006, and essentially opened together weigh less than 25 pounds.” Carousel Design Works by posting a sin- Jill Homer now lives in Los Altos, California, and is currently writing her second book. She is a prodigious Boatman created his company after gle ad on an online forum. He has been writer and adventurer, and you can read about her more than a decade of developing gear sewing furiously ever since, and demand latest endeavors at arcticglass.blogspot.com. for his own personal use. He was bored continues to grow at a faster rate than he

46 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 47 Geared Up Stuff you can use by Mike Deme

Light & Motion through Adventure Cycling’s Cyclosource 200 ($239, catalog or online at adventurecycling. bikelights.com/ org/store. stella200.html) The Stella 200 Princeton Tec Push ($50, princeton- is one of Light & Light & Motion tec.com, 800-257-9080) Motion’s commuter Stella 200 The Push isn’t designed to be in the models. It offers 200 same league as the Expilion or Stella, but lumens or LED light and it’s still a nice little light. Offering 100 runtimes of 3 hours on high; lumens of LED light, it provides quite 6:30 on medium; and 10 on low, and enough to see but, because it features it also offers flash mode. At 200 lumens, flashing red side lights, it also allows you it’s plenty bright to light up the road to be seen from the sides as well. These even when there is ample light from Cygolight ExpiliOn 250 ($139, cygo can also be turned off by holding down street lights and, when it’s dark, it’s lite.com/products/new/Expilion/expil the power button. The Push is powered brightness is outstanding. I’ve even used ion250.html, by three it for off-pavement night rides. 714-437-7752) AAA At 216 grams, the Stella is a two- The batter- part system with a separate lithium-ion ExpiliOn 250 ies and battery pack and a very small lamp. is an all-in-one works Both connect with a tool-less strap so model that well with they’re on and off with ease, and a hel- provides 250 recharge- met mount is also available. One thing lumens of LED ables such I noticed about the Stella is that the light. Like as Sanyo’s battery holds a charge for a very long the Stella, it Eneloop. It also attaches with time when not in use. I fully charged takes 5 hours a built-in tightening screw and it, which takes about 5 hours, but then to charge and swivels to allow for stem mount- left it unused for a month. When I went offers 3/6/10 ing (a 6/32 hex is required — not to use it again, it was ready to hour runtimes super handy). The Push is also go, although it only lasted in high/medium/ available through Adventure for 1.5 hours on high. low modes. It Cycling’s Cyclosource catalog or Still, that’s pretty weighs only 130 online at adventurecycling.org/store. impressive. grams and charges via USB so you can Sugoi Versa ($120, sugoi.com, 604- use your computer in 875-0887) a pinch, and the wall Princeton The Versa is a versatile jacket (hence Tec Push charger is compatible the name) made from Argon, which pro- with 100 or 240 volts. It also offers a vides a woven ripstop barrier that offers tool-less attachment but it uses a easy- good water resistance and a high perme- to-grab tightening screw, and a swivel- ability rating. It works best on blustery ing bracket allows you to mount it on days when it might rain a bit but it’s not your handlebar or stem. It also comes designed to protect you from heavy with a helmet mount. The ExpiliOn is downpours. Its versatility stems from Cygolight designed to be watertight so no worries its ability to convert from jacket to vest, Expilion 250 if it’s raining. Better yet, it’s available something many other cycling garments

48 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 49 have offered in the past, but the Versa does it better. Why? Magnets (they must be all the rage in 2011.) I’ve used convertibles before and they’ve always used zippers to connect the arms to the jacket, and the arms were indi- vidual pieces and easily misplaced. The Versa uses magnets to attach a single piece that contains both arms, a shoulder, and an additional collar to the main body. If you’re in full jacket mode and feeling a bit over- heated, you simply take it off, pull an arm, and the two pieces detach. If you get cold again you sim- ply slide the into the arms and the mag- nets attach by the shoulders and around the neck. The Versa has one zippered rear 1773 pocket, two zippered side pockets, and 833300) reflective piping. Pretty slick and perfect I first came for upcoming rides this spring. across Terra Nova while bike touring in Scotland. Terra Nova Superlite Voyager Many of the people we socialized with (£420/$685, terra-nova.co.uk/ at campgrounds, as well as other cyclo- Product_Type/ tourists we quizzed about gear, were while the front panel is half mesh, pro- Tents/Superlite_ using one model or another in their line. viding good ventilation. The main body Tents, +44 (0) As it turns out, the company, located connects to the three Featherlite DAC in Derbyshire, England, is quite poles via clip attachments, so there’s obsessed with making light- no sleeves to cram poles through. This weight tents, typically a good system shaves weight off the tent and thing for bicycle travelers, also makes it easier to set up in the dark. and the Superlite Voyager The outer tent, or fly, is army green and (SV) is the tent they rec- fits the inner tent like a glove with main ommend to people inter- attachment points being at the six grom- ested in shaving grams. mets. Each side has a guyline pullout to In that area, it certainly help separate the fly from the main body delivers, weighing in which helps provide additional venti- at a mere 1.53 kg/54 lation, and the front zippered closure oz./3.4 lbs. opens and secures to the side with elas- The SV is a two- tic clips. When closed the fly can be still person tent, so it’s the be slightly opened at the top to allow perfect size for one increased ventilation but the opening cyclist with gear. The remains covered by a structured over- semi-geodesic three- hanging protector. pole design that’s There are a few videos online taller toward the front showing how to set the Voyager and tapering toward Superlite up (see youtube.com/ the rear provides clas- watch?v=n1Elh3s2Nt4) but, if you’ve sic aerodynamics and set up freestanding tents before, you water-shedding quali- won’t have any problems with the SV. In ties. The inner tent is windy conditions, you can clip all the is bright yellow and poles in before raising it or, when condi- its entire rear panel tions are calm, you can clip in later — is comprised of mesh it’s up to you.

48 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 49 For its weight, the SV is a well-con- structed tent with some nice features but, because it’s so light, it doesn’t offer a lot of frills. The seams are coated in silicone but Hand Protection Roundup are not seam sealed, which adds weight, so seam sealing is a must. Also to keep weight down, there are no internal stor- Spring may be here but you may still F. age pockets. The titanium tent stakes are need to keep your mitts warm. Here also very minimal weighing 5.5 grams are some gloves I’ve tested this past each. Most of us are used to beefy stakes winter. that can take a beating and, at first sight, I was concerned that these stakes would A. Mountain Hardware Torsion ($50, be worthless — but they’re far from it. In mountainhardware.com, 877-927-5649) fact, quite the opposite. Their miniscule A tight fitting soft shell glove that dimensions allow them to penetrate the offers flat lock seams and are constructed ground more easily than thicker stakes of water-resistant goatskin on the palm wiggling their way past rocks and easily and fingers (it also wraps around the sliding into the earth. The zippers have index finger), Deflection soft-shell fabric very small teeth and require a bit more that’s windproof and breathable, and finesse that many zippers with larger polyester microfleece on the back. And teeth. there’s an all-important nose wipe patch Let’s face it, the upfront cost of the SV at the base of the thumb, elastic cuffs, may make it less appealing to the casual and brushed tricot on Specifically designed for cold- cyclotourist, but if you travel self-sup- the inside. The weather riding, the Siberian gloves are ported and camp regularly this tent may Torsion is not constructed of a three-layer, soft-to- be right for you. Further, if you’re will- designed for the-touch fabric, with the middle ing to make an investment of this type in extreme cold layer being the windproof your shelter, proper care is a must. Terra and I found one. The palms are made of Nova provides excellent advice in terms of they were Clarino, a synthetic leath- tent care and offers a variety of products ineffective er-like material that’s which, when used properly and regularly, below 35°F. much like suede, and will help you get the most out of the SV My favorite feature synthetic and keep you a happy camper — literally. feature is grip dots on the main If you’d like to investigate the SV further, the pull-on loop E. palm and the tips check out http://jimmyg.org/blog/2009/ which especially of fingers one tera-nova-superlite-voyager-2009.html. helps pull on the and two. The This webpage provides a solid review and second glove. elastic cuffs many links to other articles and discus- at the wrist sions about the SV. B. Gore Phantom ($56, gorebikewear. are rather com, 800-455-4184) loose, which Salsa Woodchipper Handlebars A very flexible glove constructed of I actually like ($60, salsacycles.com/components/wood Windstopper soft shell that, along with in this case chipper, 877-668-6223) the elastic cuffs, keeps wind and water because the gloves slide on easily and I gave up on drop handlebars quite a out. There’s synthetic leather on the the elements are additionally few years ago for a variety of reasons: not palm, and fleece lining that provides kept out by a velcro wrap enough control for the rides when I’d hop excellent warmth — and the nose closure. And, of course, from pavement to dirt, something of a wipe patch on the thumb. I found there’s the mandatory necessity in Montana, and I don’t breath the Phantom to be effective to nose wipe. I’m not sure well when my hands are in the drops about 25°F. Much below that if the Siberians will of narrow bars. Well, the shallow-drop my fingers started to feel keep your hands warm Woodchipper has come along to rid me the cold. All in all, a very in a Siberian winter of these issues. At 42cm or 46cm widths, good and comfortable but they kept mine they’re plenty wide enough to allow deep glove. warm down to 10°F. breathing and, with a 26-degree flare, they offer much more control than standard- C. Craft Bike D. POW Tanto ($45, width drops. It’s taken me a bit to get used Siberian ($50, craft- powgloves.com, to brakes not being right at my fingertips, usa.com, 877-662- 888-POW-GLVS) but riding the Woodchipper is pretty fun. 7238) The Tanto isn’t I like being able to use drops without D.

50 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 51 C.

specifically designed for cycling but is a well-constructed all- around winter glove that gets the job done down to -20°F, and for those of us stubborn enough to ride in all conditions, it’s a good choice. They’re F. Bar Mitts ($45-$65, barmitts.com, 775- constructed of soft-shell nylon on the 622-8048) back, goatskin leather on the palm, and If you’d rather not wear glove, Bar a polypro Primaloft microfleece on the Mitts attach to your handlebars and are inside. The wrist feature a hook-and- easily attached and detached — you’re loop skirted velcro closure and, hands slide in and out. They’re made for yes, there’s a nose wipe — the flat and drop bars and fit many brake/ entire back of the thumb. cable configurations. They are constructed of 5.5 millimeter nylon laminated neoprene, which is B. waterproof and an excellent insulator. One great feature about Bar Mitts is that you can wear a light- weight glove inside of them essentially doubling your protection. This feature proves valuable if you need to do something that necessitates removing your hands from them. Bar Mitts kept my hands cozy down of -25°F, below which I’m not interested in riding a bike. E. Glacier Perfect Curve ($45, glacieroutdoor. com, 800-728-8235) If you’re planning a bike trip and you know that you’re going to encounter A. extreme nasty conditions, you might want to consider the Perfect Curve Walz Caps speak Cycling Glove. It’s a simple glove with one purpose — keeping your hands for themselves. warm. They’re blind stitched and What will yours say? glued to be waterproof, fleece lined and constructed of 2mm Yamamoto neoprene with curved fingers for great dexterity. They may not be breathable but the protection they offer is hard to beat in a glove, especially when worn with the Glacier Liner ($8).

50 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 51 hunching too far over and the multiple [email protected]) riding in soft slushy snow hand positions it affords also alleviates We’ve just been through a cold and but, if there’s ice to sink occasional hand numbing. Another thing snowy winter here in Missoula, with their spikes into, they sure I like about them is that climbing in the more snow accumulation than we’ve had are reassuring. Once I got drops feels very natural — you can really in recent memory. Most roads here don’t it in my head that my bike get honking. get plowed and the automobiles pack the wasn’t going to slip out The Woodchipper can accommodate snow into ice. If it stays below freezing from under me, I looked integrated shift/brake levers as well as for long stretches, like it did this winter, it forward to my daily com- bar-end shifters. It offers a 110mm drop makes sense to throw on a pair of studded mute and actually sought and 80mm of reach, and is available in a tires. The Nokian Hakkapeliitta offers 240 out some extra miles. 31.6mm clamp diameter. It’s made of 7075- steel studs with carbide pins embedded in The Hakkapeliitta W240 T6 aluminum and weighs 332 grams. If a special non-toxic snow rubber (durom- comes in both 700C x 40 or you’re looking for a new style of riding, eter 58A) that stays pliable in very cold 26” x 1.9. If you’re winters check out the Salsa Woodchipper. conditions. These tires allowed me to ride include riding in icy condi- without that nail-biting feeling I usually tions, you should consider a Nokian Hakkapeliitta W240 have when riding on various icy surfaces. pair of these mind easers. Studded Tires ($69, suomityres.com, They may not offer much assistance when '%&&HVahV8nXaZh BELIEVE

7^\H`nXdjcign#?VhdcÉh;Vg\diV`ZhVWgZV` HVahV^hYZY^XViZYid`ZZe^c\i]Zhe^g^id[VYkZcijgZVa^kZ^cW^XnXa^c\# l]^aZYd^c\hdbZild"igVX`ZmeadgVi^dcdjih^YZ LZbV`ZW^`Zhid]Zaendj\Zii]ZgZ# B^hhdjaV!BdciVcV"E]didWn

52 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 53 CycleAware Urbie and Wingman ($25 and $18, cycleaware.com, 831-333-9135) Not everyone likes to ride with mirrors, as has been discussed in this magazine in the past, but if you do, and you ride flat bars, you should take a look at the Urbie and the Wingman. Both models use the same identical large mirrors but the Urbie sits on a riser and is better for the more upright rider. It’s fully adjustable and with the turn of a thumbscrew can be folder down and out of the way. The Wingman is a bit simpler. Offering no riser it simply inserts into the end of a standard flat bar and adjusts up and down, forward and aft. Once you’ve cut a hole in the end of your handlebar grip, no tools are required to install either mirror.

     

Osprey Raptor 10 ($99, ospreypacks. com, 866-284-7830) @TQ @^[XX‡µYJGGNGFVQWTKPI/6$ Hydration packs abound but it’s nice to ‡4WPHTQPVCPFTGCTTCEMUFKUEDTCMGU see a company show up to the game ready  CPFHGPFGTUCVVJGUCOGVKOG to play, and that’s what Osprey has done ‡4QJNQHHTGCF[ with their Raptor hydration series packs. ‡#EEGRVUOOVTCXGNHQTM U There are so many things to like about ‡&QGUOQTGVJGP[QWTE CV the Raptor 10. For one, the large-mouth HydraForm reservoir has a stiff backing so that it doesn’t matter how much water it contains, it slides right into it’s home without an aggravating wrestling match. And it’s home is a HydraLock internal compression compartment that is unaf- fected by how much or how little gear you’ve packed. For another, the AirScape suspension system actually keeps the pack from sitting directly on your back allow- ing air to flow between. Other features include the LidLock helmet attachment, side compression straps, adjustable har- UWTN[DKMGUEQO ness and waist straps, plenty of storage

52 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 53 including a top stash and hip belt pockets. But the pièce de résistance is the 180-degree on-off bite valve that attaches to a magnet on the sternum strap that attaches to the left shoulder harness. That’s cool and extremely useful. If you’re looking for a new hydra- tion pack, look no further than the Osprey Raptor series. The Raptor 10, 14, and 18 are available through Adventure Cycling’s Cyclosource catalog or online at adventurecy- cling.org/store.

Planet Bike Superflash Turbo ($35, ecom1.planetbike.com/3070.html, 866-256- 8510)

54 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG This bike tail light is so bright it makes the tail lights on my Dodge Quick Hits Durango jealous. The 1 watt main LED l Anti Monkey Butt Powder ($5.95/6 oz. bottle, antimonkeybutt.com). Take this plus two below it combine to be so bright magic powder along on a tour and your keester will appreciate it. that they’re plainly visible on a sunny l Enzo’s ButtonHole Chamois Cream ($19.95/8 oz. jar, enzoscyclingproducts. day, especially in flash mode. If someone com). Speaking of keesters, Enzo has a delightful concoction to reduce friction were to claim they didn’t see you from and inflamation so you can keep it on the saddle longer. behind, I’m telling you, they are either l Timbuk2 Beer Candy ($7.50, timbuk2.com/tb2/products/beer-candy-bottle- too busy with an electronic device or opener). Attach this anodized beauty that comes in six colors to your pannier or their vision is too poor to be driving a rack pack and you’ll be ready to pop caps and free your favorite refreshment. car or a bike. It mounts to your bike or a l ChainL Lubricant ($4.75/4 oz. bottle, chain-L.com). Protect your drivetrain with this pack and is powered by 2 AAA batteries all-weather lube designed to reduce bearing wear and offer maximum protection. (rechargeables worked well for me) and l Innate Dopio Tumbler ($9, innate-gear.com/product-info/doppio/doppio-double burns for about 100 hours. If you’re wor- -wall-insulated-tumbler). A lightweight, simple, and elegant 6.5 oz. tumbler that ried about being seen from behind, the can handle all your double-shot needs around the campfire. Superflash Turbo is the light for you. Keen Arroyo Pedal ($110, The Arrroyo Pedal is SPD compatible keenfootwear.com, 866- but if you don’t want to clip in that’s fine 676-5336) because it offers a cleat cap. In this mode, The Arroyo Pedal is the Arroyo also doubles as a light hiker, Keen’s hybrid for cyclists. although the cycling-stiff sole may cause It’s not quite a sandal nor some discomfort when hoofing it on rug- is it a shoe but something ged terrain over longer periods. Other in between. While it offers the features include a removable compression protection of a shoe, featuring a pro- EVA midsole, non-marking rubber, and a tective rubber toe cover and outsole, secure fit-lace system. Most importantly, it also allows for excellent ventilation because long-distance cycling can result through 10 vents and a perforated in pungent odor creation, the Arroyo isn’t tongue. afraid of a good scrubbing.

QUÉBEC TERRE- NEUVE SAGUENAY– LAC-SAINT-JEAN I.-P.-É. ONTARIO N.-B. Québec N.-É. Montréal

Toronto Boston

Détroit New York Chicago

ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 55 Mechanical Advantage brakes 101 What you need to know about the gear that brings you to a halt by Jan Heine

In the last “Mechanical Advantage” column, I brake power, but if your wheel goes out of true, it will rub sooner than on a side- discussed how to use your brakes most effec- pull brake. tively. But what about the brakes themselves? Brake Flex There are many different types of brakes When the components of your brake flex, they store energy like springs, which work for different applications. First, rather than transmitting that energy to let’s cover some basic terminology and concepts. the rim. This reduces the power of your brake. Flex also can cause poor modula- Brake power is simply how hard the brake clamps tion if it changes the angle of the brake the rim. The main factor that influences brake pads as they hit the rim. A flexible brake will feel fine when you first apply it, but power is the mechanical advantage of the energy into heat through friction. Your as you brake harder, the brake flexes brakes. brake pads rub on the rim, creating the Mechanical advantage is easy to friction that slows you down. The ideal Dual-Pivot Brakes understand when you think of a pair brake pads generate a lot of friction of pliers: The longer the upper arms while abrading the rim as little as pos- (plier grips) are in relation to the lower sible. In fact good brake pads are the first arms, the harder the brake clamps the (and easiest) step toward improving your rim. Brake levers also can have varying brakes. degrees of mechanical advantage, depend- ing on where their pivot is located. Side-Pull Brakes Almost as important as brake power A standard side-pull brake works like is modulation — how finely you can a set of pliers. Increasing the length of control the brake power. Ideally, brake the upper arms increases your mechani- cal advantage. The downside of higher Side-Pull Brakes mechanical advantage is that your brake pads move less as you squeeze the lever. You can pull the brake lever only so far until it bottoms out against the handle- bars, so you must adjust your pads closer to the rim if your brakes have higher mechanical advantage. instead of squeezing the rim. No matter how hard you pull on the lever, brake Dual-Pivot Brakes power no longer increases significantly. Modern dual-pivot brakes link the Brake levers, cables, and housing flex two arms, so that the pads return to very little, but the lower arms of the their original position after every brake brake calipers can flex a lot. On side-pull application. (Traditional side-pull brakes and dual-pivot brakes, the lower arms tended to “wander” and not return to reach all the way from the fork crown to power increases linearly as you pull the same spot.) On dual-pivot brakes, the rim, arching around the tire as they the brake lever, rather than the brake you can set the pads closer to the rim go. With large tires, you need longer grabbing the rim suddenly as the pads without risking that they rub. This brake arms, and you get more flex. That squeeze the rim. means dual-pivot brakes can have a high- is why dual-pivot brakes work great on Braking means converting kinetic er mechanical advantage and thus more racing bikes with narrow tires but not so

56 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 57 Cantilever Brakes arms. By moving the pivot above the rim the disc, and even a slightly warped disc instead of below, they take advantage will cause rubbing. of the fork crown (front) and seatstay b) Water is scraped off the disc much bridge (rear) to counter the twisting of more effectively, so disc brakes work bet- the pivots. Ideally, the pivots are brazed ter in the rain. to the frame (above), but most center- c) Flex is a bigger concern (more pull brakes used pivots on beefy bolt-on clamping force = more flex). arches that worked just fine. Cable-operated disc brakes suffer Center-pull brakes got a bad reputation when they were equipped on inexpensive Disc Brakes 10-speeds during the 1970s , but the poor braking was mostly due to low-quality cables, housing, and brake pads, often coupled with steel rims that are too smooth to provide much friction. With good components, center-pull brakes offer excellent stopping power and modulation. well on touring bikes with wide tires and Roller-cam and U-brakes were variations fenders. of center-pull brakes that were popular on Brake flex usually becomes apparent mountain bikes for a time. only when braking very hard on a steep downhill. This means that many cyclists Disc Brakes don’t notice it — until they have to In effect all rim brakes are disc brakes: brake hard in an emergency. The bicycle rim does double duty as the brake disc. Disc brakes simply use separate Cantilever Brakes brake discs. Some of the first disc brakes If you move the pivots from the even looked like standard bicycle rim fork crown to the fork blades, you can brakes. A separate disc has the advantage shorten the lower arms and reduce flex. that the brake no longer needs to reach The length of the arms now is indepen- around the tire. This reduces the potential especially from flex. It is difficult to set dent of tire size. That is the idea behind for flex in the caliper. up their pads so they do not drag on cantilever brakes. However, cantilever A separate disc is usually much small- the rim and still get full brake power. brakes are not perfect. The arms stick er than the bicycle’s rim and has a short- Hydraulic fluid transmits forces with- out and can get in the way of panniers or er lever on the bike’s wheel. To clamp the out significant losses, so hydraulic disc even touch your heels if you ride a very brakes are more powerful. small frame. Low-profile cantilevers and Center-Pull Brakes V-brakes address this concern with vary- Conclusion ing degrees of success, but neither design Brakes are important components addresses the second issue encountered of bicycles. Side-pull and dual-pivot by cantilevers: The brake itself may brakes work best with narrow tires and not flex much, but the fork blades and no fenders because keeping their lower seatstays tend to twist outward when arms short reduces their flex. Cantilever the brake is applied hard. This changes brakes work well with larger tires and the angle at which the pad hits the rim, are an excellent choice for touring bikes. which can cause squealing and, worse, Center-pull brakes improve modulation poor modulation when the brake sud- by reducing the twisting of the fork denly locks onto the rim as you increase blades, but there aren’t many companies the brake power. Angling the front of the who offer them today. Disc brakes work brake pads toward the rim (“toe-in”) can well with hydraulic actuation. counter the twisting of the fork blades. disc with enough force, the brake must Jan Heine is the editor of Bicycle Quarterly, which Center-Pull Brakes have a very high mechanical advantage. covered the history and technology of bicycle brakes in a special issue (Vol. 7, No. 2). His blog “Off the Center-pull brakes are a refinement of This has three interesting consequences: Beaten Path” is at janheine.wordpress.com. cantilevers which keep the short lower a) The pads must be set very close to

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continued from page 31 continued from page 39 Why donate to and contemplative. Cycling, especially tour- the Nakisi becomes a slightly lighter, faster- Adventure Cycling? ing, satisfied that need for me.” rolling cyclo-cross bike. With some 700C The CEO of Memjet, a color printing x 28 Continental Ultra Gatorskins and a company, McGlynn believes that, in addi- messenger bag, you have a speedy com- tion to touring, regular cycling is an impor- muter. Add racks and fenders and it’s an tant part of his daily life. all-weather grocery-getter. “It really keeps me centered,” McGlynn And if you’re into warm-weather bike- said. “I cycle to work 30 miles roundtrip as packing on gentle trails, or perhaps you’re often as I can. I use that time to clear my a credit-card tourist who favors the dirt head. I need that in my life the same way road less traveled, you could outfit the people need yoga. It’s my meditation.” Nakisi with some friendlier gearing and Aside from mental health, cycling has beefier wheels, add minimalist bags, then been greatly beneficial for the couple’s hit the road, the trail, the whatever. physical well being. McGlynn said his wife’s A load of 20 to 25 pounds should be mother had heart problems for years, which doable, says Benson, with the following US Bicycle Route System he thought his wife probably had inherited. caveat: “This is not a tested or researched “Since we started doing these rides, her area for this bike, however, so riders need heart is in much better condition and I’m to take into consideration that it uses sure it has extended her life. That’s true for smaller-diameter tubing in frame and fork both of us, but especially for her,” he said. and should not be overloaded.” He recom- Since their first tour, McGlynn and mends soft bags from Revelate Designs or England, 52, have progressed as bicycle Carousel Design Works “or perhaps the travelers. They no longer scout their rides new Salsa Minimalist racks with ultralight by car ahead of time anymore. Additionally, dry bags.” their pacing has improved. McGlynn said I didn’t have any of those things. But I his wife rode behind him on their first ride did have front and rear Cold Springs racks and he would loop back to pick her up. from Old Man Mountain, plus Economy Now England rides ahead of him most of Panniers from Jandd and B-40s from Arkel, New Online Travel Resource the time. so I promptly overloaded the bike with 30 McGlynn said he looks forward to future pounds’ worth of warm-weather cycling cycling adventures, which he schedules and camping gear and went for a spin. at least annually (and now require far less No worries. I didn’t tackle any sin- planning time than their first trip). In 2011, gle-track with this configuration, but McGlynn and England were registered on asphalt streets and gravel paths the to participate in Ride Idaho, a seven-day Nakisi accelerated, cornered, and stopped supported trip through the Gem State in smoothly. I only noticed the load when August. Every year, the couple do a trip to standing to climb a steepish hill. celebrate their wedding anniversary. More So there you have it. The VooDoo than once, the occasion led the couple back Nakisi joins a parade of multipurpose to Montana, where they completed their machines from outfits like Surly and Soma first bicycle tour. Fabrications — inexpensive, versatile, “When we drive along the Lochsa River steel, suitable for exercise, transportation, Better Bike Routes & Maps on Highway 12, all the memories of our or following that bear over the mountain first ride come back,” McGlynn said. “I had to see what you can see. driven the Lochsa hundreds of times and I like to call these innovative devices had never seen Shoestring Falls! You can’t bicycles. go slow enough in a car to even see it! We feel very fortunate to share these special Patrick O’Grady has written and cartooned about memories, and Adventure Cycling has been cycling since 1989 for VeloNews, Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, and a variety of other publications. helping make it happen.” Send your tax-deductible The number of bikes in his Colorado garage is an exact match for the number of voices in his head. donation today. Dan Schwartzman is a Bikram Yoga teacher and free- lance journalist living in Missoula, Montana. After www.adventurecycling.org/donate writing for newspapers on both coasts, he founded Café Abroad InPRINT, www.cafeabroadinprint.com, a 800.755.2453 nationally-distributed international education maga- zine.

62 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 63 Open Road Gallery The Tall and Short of It by Sarah Raz Photograph by Greg Siple

Erika Jeffs and Jordan Townsend planned a ride from Cody, Wyoming, to Seattle, Washington, in celebration of graduating from college at the University of Wyoming (with degrees in math and engi- neering, respectively). “Being quite fed up with homework, deadlines, exams, and the general rigors of academia, we decided to plan our trip with the greatest amount of freedom builit into it,” said Jordan. They purchased a tent, hammocks, and sleeping bags so they could bed down wherever it struck their fancy. They had no plans for daily mileage, indeed, no concrete route plans at all — they left without a single map. Luckily, one of the first folks they met on the road was a gentleman headed in the opposite direction who gave them his Adventure Cycling map for the next part of their trip. You may notice a slight height differential between the two. Jordan is 6’6” and Erika is 5’2” so when they secured a “bulk discount” on a set of matching Surly Long Haul Truckers, he had to get the largest frame in production, and she, the smallest. The one-month trip was the couple’s first, and once they’d dialed in their oddly matching bikes, the adventure began to unfold. They camped out every night, spent lots of time at hot springs, and relished their time in Idaho (so little traffic!). The first glimpse of the Oregon coast was especially poignant for two cyclists from landlocked Wyoming. Jordan and Erika now live in Washington, DC. They took the train from Seattle, where the cost to check the bikes was five dollars, and the bike boxes where free. They used their panniers to carry their luggage, so that when they arrived at Union Station, they were able to straighten their handlebars, attach their pedals, and ride to their new apartment with belongings in tow. Jordan now commutes to the city for his internship every day on his Long Haul Trucker. They would like to someday tour in Europe.

From Adventure Cycling’s National Bicycle Touring Portrait Collection. © 2011 Adventure Cycling Association.

62 ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST april 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 63 Adventure Cycling Association Non-profit P.O. Box 8308 U.S. POSTAGE Missoula, Montana 59807-8308 PAID Adventure Cycling Association

One word describes the Katy Trail SMILES

Katy Trail Relaxed n June 18 - 24 Katy Trail Family Fun n June 25 - July 7

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