Touring Gear – Successes and Failures

[ginacico]

Peter and I just rode the GAP-C&O Canal route, 337 miles over 6 days, and we tent camped the whole way. A few things performed remarkably well, and others failed miserably.

SUCCESS!

All hail the Nuu Muu! Seriously, I’ve heard women rave about these simple little workout dresses, so I finally got one (model: Ruu Muu with a pocket, color: “Hottt”). After one test, I decided it would be The Thing I Wear on this bike tour and had no regrets. It’s totally comfortable, fully functional, and magically interchangeable. I wore my favorite chamois shorts underneath to ride all day, took a refreshing dip in the Yough and dried off quickly, and still felt civilized walking into a coffee shop. I was still wearing it, with capris and a hoody, while we celebrated with dinner and beer in Georgetown. It stank a little by that time, but that might’ve been me more than the clothing! I’ve already ordered another. (Sorry guys, I don’t know what your equivalent would be.)

Goal Zero Venture 30 battery pack, paired with the Nomad 7 solar panel. The Venture 30 was able to charge ALL of my gadgets (Polar GPS watch, iPhone 6, camera batteries) daily, and still never drained less than half power. I recharged the Venture by laying the solar panel across my rear rack and panniers, held on with little carabiners. Or I’d top it off at a wall outlet if we stopped somewhere. No more leaving my valuables in the campground restrooms to charge, and since everything has USB interfaces I carried fewer adapters and cables.

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FAIL!

GoPro mount. My POV camera was mounted to my handlebar, so I could press the shutter whenever something interesting appeared. A few miles outside of Harpers Ferry, I looked down and was aghast that the camera was GONE. We backtracked several miles, until eagle-eyed Peter spotted it lying where it had bounced into the grass. One of the mount sections had simply sheared off, likely due to vibration on the gravelly/muddy trail. I thought it was a goner, and I’m really lucky to have it back.

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Handlebar tape. My very new, metallic blue bar tape did a miserable job standing up to my merino wool Giro gloves with suede palms. My hands and gloves are fine. Although the bar tape was aesthetically cool, I’ll have to pick something tougher to ride gravel and mud. Next color choice will be….?

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Not sure?!?

Since I bought Vaya two years ago, I’ve been riding on the stock Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tour 40mm “flatless” tires. I’ve ridden (unintentionally) over puddles of glass and typical urban debris as well as rocks and roots, and sailed along without a single flat. Fast forward past 330+ miles of loaded touring, I rolled home and locked her in the shed. The next day, when I dragged it out for a good bath and lube, the rear tire was FLAT. Pumped it up and heard air leaking around the valve. After a good cleaning, I will swap the tires out for new 28mm Schwalbe Marathon Plus road tires and fresh tubes, which I’d intended to do soon anyway. What kind of crazy luck or timing is that?!!

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Topic

[ginacico]

@TwoWheelsDC 142173 wrote:

Have you tried charging anything with the solar panel directly? Panel>battery pack>device seems like the smartest route, but would you be able to ditch the battery back if you were trying to minimize what you were going to carry?

Great question. Yes, the solar panel can charge a device directly. Here it is charging my iPhone with a lightning cable.

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The catch is, we didn’t consistently get sun on the GAP-C&O. I’ve developed the habit to toss the panel-battery combo in an open area (grass, sidewalk, table) as soon as I stop somewhere, but otherwise it’s on my rear rack. The nice thing about the Venture battery pack is it’s storing whatever intermittent energy it gets as we ride through sun and shade.

The other great thing about the Venture 30 is its capacity. I could charge every gadget I had, daily, without draining the battery. My previous solar thingy (a Solio) had terrible capacity, and wasn’t as reliable.

If I had to choose only one, I would take the Venture battery pack and leave the solar panel home. Because the Venture can be charged at an electrical outlet, I’d only need to worry about it every couple of days. For a wilderness trip, I’d take both.

Also, the battery pack allows “pass-through power” so it can charge a device and be recharged at the same time. Pretty smart. I had to plug in my Polar watch halfway through each day (which meant I wasn’t wearing it) so it would record the entire day’s route. The Venture is also built to withstand water (spray or rain, not submersible), and it passed that test too.

I have a tiny USB converter (USB, mini, and micro) that I tuck into the pocket. Mine’s an iGo KeyJuice (discontinued but still available on Amazon), plenty of choices there for whatever interfaces you need.

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[ginacico]

Meatmotor-recommended and hozn-endorsed Fizik Performance Classic bar tape in metallic blue. Nice to have a happy, cushy, socially acceptable handlebar again.

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