I'm going to cover a lot of stuff here since I did tent camp and that is another layer on top of the normal cycling gear I review. So, these won't be in-depth reviews of items. I don't have the space here to deep-dive everything I used. I will give a brief take on all the things that stood out negatively or positively to me throughout the week.
I'll start off with the cycling specific stuff and end with the camping gear. If I miss anything, or if you want me to provide some clarity on any item I mention here, please hit me up in the comment section. I read every comment left and will answer every question to the best of my abilities.
 |
The Black Mountain Cycles MCD |
Black Mountain Cycles MCD:
This bike is a great bike for BRAN and I am really happy I decided to take it out there for this tour. It handled all the gravel, climbs, descents, and long hours without any failures or concerns. The capability to run 700 X 50mm tires was definitely a plus out on the sandier, looser pea gravel sections. The ride quality and handling are spot on. Now you cannot buy a MCD anymore, but the bike which replaced this in Black Mountain Cycles' range is the Mod Zero, and I can definitely recommend this model as well.
My gearing was 46T/36T crank with an 11 -40T cassette. I was in the 40 quite a bit. Newer GRX runs a 48/31T crank and that may actually have been just enough lower gearing to make some of those climbs nicer. That said, I only had to get off and walk once.
Redshift Sports ShockStop Stem:
Get one. That is all you need to know. I would not ride without this component. It makes all the difference in the world in hand comfort, lack of fatigue, and handling, especially when you are dealing with the kind of washboard road surfaces we were seeing.
Ritchey Venturemax Carbon handlebars:
Again, these saved my hands and upper body from a lot of pain and fatigue. Expensive but worth the upgrade. Caveat: You have to like the "bio-bump" in the drops, but if you get on with that these are top-notch gravel handle bars.
Bike Bag Dude Top Tube Garage:
I LOVE this bag and I have several of them. Bike Bag Dude is from Australia, but he does ship to the USA. Worth checking out.
Wahoo ELEMNT ROAM GPS Device:
Once the auto-reroute feature was turned off, this device behaved well. I had someone tell me they thought GPS devices for bicycles still are not all that great, but Wahoo seems to work well considering this. I like the climb feature a lot. Final word: It's okay.
Schwalbe G-One Overland Tires 700 X 50mm:
I wasn't super impressed with these tires initially but they seem to have broken in (finally!), and they roll very fast on paved sections. From an all-around usage standpoint, it is hard to beat the G-One Overlands. They did sandy gravel and paved roads equally well and they held air pressure very well all week long.
 |
| Sierra Designs Full Moon |
Since I had to tent camp, I needed to upgrade and buy additional gear for camping. Following are some quick takes on what I got and whether or not it worked.
Sierra Designs Full Moon: My old Sierra Designs tent was great, so I had high expectations for the new one. I was not let down. I rode out a gusty thunderstorm with heavy rain, light rain, high winds, and just every day usage with the Full Moon tent.
I had enough room for myself and my gear, which included a humongous duffel bag, and venting was easily done. I mean, it is still a tent, so somethings are going to be what they are with any tent. That said, set up and tear down was fast, easy, and the tent packed up well every day. I'd recommend this one for the casual bike packer and occasional back packer. It's probably a little heavy for serious usage, but the tent is well made and holds up in weather well.
Thermarest pad: The one I got was the Base Camp pad. It's way too big for serious bike packing/back packing, but it was VERY comfortable and easy to regulate for softness/stiffness to dial in the best sleep experience I could have hoped for.
Amazon Inflatable Pillow: I know this pillow is packable, light, and easy to use. I used it one night. It just wasn't my cup of tea. I ended up using either my sleeping bag in its stuff sack as a pillow, (excellent, by the way), or a bag with dirty laundry inside of it. Hey! I'm not fussy and I like a big pillow!
Sleeping Bag: I don't even know what brand it is, but it is the lightest bag I could get and only rated down to 40°F. Perfect for this hot blooded guy in Summer. Like I said, several nights it didn't even come out of its stuff sack.
DuPont Tyvek Ground Cloth: IYKYK.
Miscellaneous: As stated, everything went into a monstrous duffel bag and much of the smaller items, electronics, cords, etc went into a messenger bag. BRAN allows two bags and these bags were leveraged to the hilt, being stuffed as they were. Both held up to being tossed around and handled roughly well.
I brought enough bibs and jerseys for the week, as there is no laundry. You can rinse out your gear in the showers, which I did, as did several others. You could see shirts and shorts hung all over flapping in the breeze in camp daily. I brought three changes of street clothes for the week, using each set twice. Maybe three times, I guess, because we were there for parts of nine days total. Anyway. I stretched the street clothes out over that time period and used liberal amounts of body spray to smell okay. Ha!
I think I got by with $30.00 - $40.00 a day spending money and this covered food, beverages, and an occasional extra thing or two. BRAN doesn't provide meals, but they do have excellent on-ride aid stations with water and snacks of various types.
Okay, like i said, I'm probably forgetting a lot, but hit me up with any and all questions. I'm happy to answer in the comments or a follow-up post if necessary.
No comments:
Post a Comment