Today has been a pretty hectic day! The route maps are finished (a backup if the iPhone fails) and I managed to get all the bits and pieces together ready to head up North in the car. Laying out all the cycling gear and spares on the kitchen floor made me realise just how much stuff I had! We’ll be staying in the Lake District tonight and then hitting the road again tomorrow to take us all the way to Wick, ready for me to start the cycle Sunday morning. So thats it then: Reuben’s JOGLE is a GO!!
Category Archives: Kit blogs…
High viz kit
I started getting a little concerned about how visible I was to drivers the other week, especially as I keep hearing stories about cyclists being hit by cars. I decided I needed some fluorescent kit. So I ordered a Montane Featherlite Velo jacket for a start. This is a truly excellent shell to have with you – it packs down into a tennis ball size bag and yet is comfortable, water resistant and highly fluorescent. Trouble is that I would only be wearing this if it was colder or wetter weather. The standard issue Shipham top that I wear is orange but its still not eye catching enough. I had a search around and came up with a high viz vest type thing make my Brookes. Its light as a feather and wont make any difference to your temperatures, but it has fluorescent netting and large reflective panels. Just the job. So I am now pretty much kitted out. I’m tempted to go even further with some fluorescent reflective strips on the seat stays…
Some new kit
I am, worryingly, transforming more and more into a roadie! The latest purchases have been some road gloves, some Pearl Lzumi elite bib shorts (hmm, lycra) and a new Bontrager Inform saddle. Whether the saddle will be comfortable only time will tell, but I was properly measured for it and it has a comfort guarantee, so if it still cuts off vital nerves then its back to the shop with it. Here is what they all look like:
Shoes arrive and another ride
My new Northwave vertigo pro shoes arrived today, courtesy of the next door neighbour who signed for them yesterday when I was at work. They seem a pretty good fit, so the Look pedals have gone on the bike finally (why can you never find the right allen key when you need it?). I also fixed up something else pretty cool and custom – an auxillary iPhone battery which also runs my light – check it out on the bike page.
To test out the shoes I went for a late night cycle to Shipham and back via Charterhouse. It was a beautiful warm night with a full moon making lights hardly necessary. A Tiger spot works a treat on the road, although you occasionally get a flash for being too bright…
Here was the route I took today, 30 odd miles in a couple of hours:
The shoes turned out to be pretty good although the left foot got a little numb and there was a wierd slipping at the top of the right stroke. Plenty more things to tweak then!
New bike and new toys
The bike is all set up and ready for some miles and today the Dahon iPhone bike mount came through the post so it was time to see if everything worked. Plus I needed to get back on the training after two weeks in the US of A eating battered chips and fried chicken…
The Dahon mount looks more exciting that it actually is. They should have used a glass filled material to make it stiffer, as the top case part doesn’t really clamp onto the silicone tray enough to make it seal. Shame. Still, it should do the trick.
The clasp needs to be stronger too – I have stuck a vecro strap around it for the time being to make sure it doesn’t pop open. One handy feature is that you can charge it up and the connector stays within the case. I plan to make an aux battery (combined with a light battery) to give around 5-6x the capacity of a normal iPhone battery. That way I can keep EveryTrail on for the entire day with no power issues.
With a short 30mile route drawn into EveryTrail I loaded it onto my iPhone. The best thing about the £2.50 non-free version is that you can opt to download the map tiles in advance. Awesome. This means you don’t need to rely on the 3G reception at all. Here is the route itself – the photos are pretty poor and the hole in the case needs to be bigger as it creates a small shadow in the top right.
Loop around Blagdon and Chew Valley Lake
Good to get the legs turning again! And EveryTrail worked flawlessly, although the iPhone battery lasted about 2 hours with the GPS on.