Packing Up II
If you have the right frame of mind, one of the joys of cycle touring lies in searching out all sorts of gear, that can make the trip faster or more enjoyable. For us, this has often involved repeated trips to the REI mother ship store in Seattle (before the U.S. got snarly with Canada) and the Canadian MEC (Mountain Equipment Coop) (before they sold out to the private sector). But no matter, we like to say we already bought everything these outlets had to offer! And then there is Decathlon, the ubiquitous European sporting goods retailer, that has also opened a dozen branches in Canada. We are just beginning to explore Decathlon in Canada. Their website seems to generally offer free delivery. It doesn't really matter, because as I say we have already bought most everything on offer, everywhere!
When you have already bought everything, there is one remaining avenue for a gearhead to follow - buy it again! Amazon has figured this out as a general consumer behaviour, as "buy it again" is one of their standard phrases. Perhaps the most impressive (egregious) examples of this is found in our rather famous (to us) photo of our lineup of point and shoot cameras. The photo is actually understated, because we have already given many away to grandchildren, and besides, anything with 4x zoom or so is too lame to even get on stage.
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It would be possible to make a photo like this with many categories of stuff in our gear room. Merino tee shirts, rain pants, puffy jackets, cycling gloves, merino socks, sun shrugs, windbreakers, they are all candidates. But today's story is about handlebar bags.
It started as I was idly browsing primeauvelo.com. Primeau is a quite good small cycling chain in Quebec. This time Primeau had a sale on an Ortlieb handlebar bag. Ortlieb is the only bag brand we know, but they have worked splendidly for us for many years. A handlebar bag is really essential, since it provides quick access to important stuff, like anti-bonk snacks, your wallet and phone, and now in my case, the insanely big Nikon P950 camera. Ortlieb names their handlebar bags in a way that (until we really studied it) has been a mystery - using words like Classic, Ultimate, and Plus, with sizes from 5L (five liters) to 8.5L sprinkled among the various versions. All the bags now also contain the word "Six", not because of size, but because this is the 6th generation.
We already own three of these bags, including Dodie's beloved 5th generation one - the one with tough snap closures that stay shut when you crash. The 6's have magnet closures, so your stuff goes flying under stress.
In the life of this couple (2 people) , three pieces of any type of gear does not seem to be enough! It is kind of reasonable. With bikes stashed in Germany, at home, and soon -in Mexico, six of any sort of accessory is a way to keep from dragging them back and forth. So we got Primeau to send us out a 3 pack of whatever they had on hand. We ended up with two Ultimate Six Plus 7L lime-moss green and one Ultimate Six Classic 7L in red. We understand now that the "Plus" is fabric like cordura, while the "Classic" is a more shiny vinyl type finish. Six is sixth generation, and Ultimate means nothing. Here is our bag family:
The missing sixth member is already enjoying the ambience in Germany. Now we need to figure out which of those on the table goes where. It's not totally simple, because only the grey-black one can hold the Nikon camera, but it is also too fat to qualify as a personal item in the world of Flair airline. Don't worry, we have it worked out - and we wrote it down, somewhere.
We also figured out that having helmets sprinkled around various countries would be a good idea as well. So, meet the helmet family:
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1 month ago
For some reason, these are all Giro brand, and perhaps importantly they all sport MIPS technology. MIPS stands for Multi-directional Impact Protection System. It means the helmet can twist on impact, leaving your head less twisted. That sounds good to us. The other two helmets are already in Germany. Dodie has somehow shoehorned two into our packing for Mexico, so the helmet family is also under control.
Now, what else can we buy and pack six times over? Six credit cards, to pay for all of this could be a good idea!
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I wear Nashbar bike sandals. I keep a pair of those and a helmet in Tucson and at home. When flying back and forth, United Airlines requires obtaining a boarding pass at the ticket counter. I think it's the better to charge you for luggage. The agent asked me where my stuff was. No stuff - it's already there! In the best of worlds, I travel with my computer and contact lense stuff. This last trip I had nine hard boiled eggs. Hey, eggs are expensive! Those warranted hand inspection, but passed.
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More information please.
1 month ago
The photo also has two tricks: One of the cameras shown is a Lumix alright, but its a DMC-LX10. This is just 3x, but it has a larger, 1" sensor. This did not save it from the scrap pile. And one other camera shown is a 40x zoom Canon. This was passed to Dodie by Susan Carpenter, who bought it after, yes, her Lumix failed. But Susan did not like the Canon and moved on to something else. Dodie still loves and uses this Canon.
Also not shown is an 83x zoom Nikon P950 that failed because I went flying in the snow with it, just prior to leaving for Spain. It worked just long enough to get to Valencia, where the lens jammed. It took 1500 euros to replace it in Valencia - but again, with the same darn model!
1 month ago