Gearing up

A few people have asked me about gear... I think the topic can be outlandishly boring, so I won't go into full detail all at once. I'm not exactly a bike-head, so I don't get excited about brands, weights, and all the mundane stuff. I'm learning I do want to make some gearing changes, so I'll talk a bit about that here too.

My chariot for Climate Ride

I ride two Marin hybrids... no not at the same time... one that leans a bit more road and one that leans a bit more mountain. I like them both, and I like Marin as a company... I think you get good bang for the buck, and the mountain hybrid has been with me for more than 10 years of sometimes uncaring rides. I've found the gearing on my road hybrid (see left... the one I'll be riding in CA) is a bit too high for what I need (and forgive my lay terminology here if you actually know what you're talking about). I need some lower gearing to accommodate what, to me, are going to be some pretty brutal hills. That's a project for tomorrow and beyond, because I expect that will require at least a new rear cassette... but who knows. That's what good bike mechanics are for, so off I'll go to the local shop.

Oddly enough the biggest issue with this ride is not the training or the equipment itself... it's getting the damn gear to California from DC. I did a ton of research and after a lot of back and forth on to ship or fly, I decided to fly the sucker. It has as much to do with my flight itinerary as anything else, but I think I like the idea of knowing my bike is traveling on the same plane as me... plus it looks like it might be cheaper. Maybe. I think.

I bought a Sette padded bike travel bag online and I dig its overall look and think it should serve me well for the future. Take a look at shirtless dude's video of the bag. Note to shirtless dude... would have been way cooler if you had packed a bike in there too. Just sayin.



Speaking of gear, I'm also thinking about getting something very alt energy producing: a dynamo that will charge a front lamp and my iPhone while I pedal. I found that my iPhone's battery is a rockstar if it gets a signal, but tries so hard to find a signal when there is none to be found (i.e. rural MD on the C&O) that it burns through a charge in about 6 hours. Since I like the data collection, mp3 playing, safety line, and other features of said phone, I need more juice. We'll see what I end up getting, but I figure this might make me the cool kid tech nerd at Climate Ride. And I'll have a charged phone, unlike the poor saps who'll be searching the campgrounds to charge their Zunes for an outlet.

Ok, that wasn't nice. Nobody has a Zune.