Gear Entries
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Navigation: Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx
Friday, April 30th, 2010The Garmin 60 series has been on the market since 2004. My very first GPS was the now discontinued 60CS model. I used it with great success for many years on road trips in the USA, both in a car an...
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Sleeping Mat Success
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010We picked up our replacement Therm-a-Rest ToughSkin sleeping mat today. As per usual, no shipments actually get delivered here in Europe. We had to fax a written letter (in Serbian), copies of our ...
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Therm-a-Rest ToughSkin Failure
Sunday, April 11th, 2010About a week ago, one of our Therm-a-Rest Toughskin sleeping mats started failing. The outer fabric began to delaminate, pulling away from the foam inside creating a bulbous air pocket. When you la...
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Maintenance
Saturday, March 13th, 2010Today, I replaced the chains on our bikes. According to bicycling community legend Sheldon Brown, you can gauge their level of wear by using a ruler. You're supposed to measure from the center of o...
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Velocity Rims: Part 3
Monday, January 11th, 2010Our rims are finally here! Tara and I tore into the boxes at the post office this morning as soon as they opened at 8:30 AM. We could hardly believe what we saw when we removed the cardboard packag...
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DSLR Camera Case: ThinkTank Digital Holster 10
Sunday, December 13th, 2009Bringing a digital SLR on our world tour was a last-minute decision. About a month before we left, my friend Ian Meyer convinced me that we'd be fools to leave without one. At the time, my main con...
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Velocity Rims: Part 2
Thursday, December 10th, 2009UPDATE: It turns out our problems had nothing to do with the braking surface at all. The rim was splitting in two right down the middle. I didn't see this until I removed the rim tape. Click here ...
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Shipments Received
Thursday, November 12th, 2009We've developed a pretty good system for getting things we need while on the road. First, we place orders online and have the items shipped to my parents house. Then, when we are planning to stay s...
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Merino Wool
Thursday, October 29th, 2009It keeps you warm when it is cold. It keeps you cool when it is hot. It dries almost instantly. You can sweat in it all day for weeks at a time without washing and still it won't smell. I remembe...
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Camp Chair: Walkstool Comfort
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009My dad took our family camping every summer when I was growing up. While I was researching what gear to bring on our trip I thought about those outings a lot. Planning a nomadic life turned out to ...
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Exped DownMat vs Therm-a-Rest ToughSkin
Friday, October 2nd, 2009UPDATE: One of our ToughSkin sleeping mats de-laminated. Click here for more information. It was clear when we started preparing to cycle around the world that doing so would require giving up c...
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Velocity Chukkers Arrive
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009We spent most of the morning tearing camp apart and re-assembling it into 'travel' mode. I was expecting our wheels to arrive the following day and I wanted to be packed and ready to go when they di...
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Snowpeak Titanium Single Cup I
Sunday, August 30th, 2009The Titanium Single Cup I is just that-- a cup and most certainly not a mug. For some reason this very important detail escaped us as we were doing research, and we decided to purchase two of them. ...
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Power Grips
Saturday, August 29th, 2009Power Grips are a very simple foot retention system originally designed for mountain biking in the 80s. They are nothing more than a pair of one inch wide straps that mount diagonally across your pe...
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Terry Liberator X Gel vs. Brooks Champion Flyer S
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009Before riding a touring bicycle, the longest I'd ever spent in the saddle was riding back and forth to work on my beach cruiser. I didn't know what a saddle should feel like. I chose the Terry Libe...
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Velocity Rims
Monday, August 24th, 2009UPDATE: One of our replacement rims failed too. Click here for a continuation of the story. I will be updating this post over the next few days as we sort out our wheel dilemma. My rear rim has ...
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Souped Up
Thursday, August 13th, 2009I am now the proud owner of a brand new Brooks Champion Flyer S saddle! It's a leather seat specifically designed for women, complete with sturdy springs that provide extra cushion on bumpy roads. ...
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Well Received
Friday, July 24th, 2009We arrived at the l'Hostis's house in Fontaines early this afternoon, fully ready to spend a few days doing nothing, or at the very least, nothing cycle related. We get to spend our first night and ...
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Exped Downmat 9
Friday, June 12th, 2009Update Here The Exped Downmat 9 (our sleeping mat) has a foam(?) insert that provides a barrier between the down inside and the air nozzles used to to inflate it. Over the course of the last week t...
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Alcohol Stove Making: Part 2
Monday, December 15th, 2008I've really enjoyed tinkering with our penny alcohol stove over the past few weeks so I've decided to try some other designs. Up for today was the "Cat" a super low tech unpressurized stove. It has...
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Rain Gear (Showers Pass)
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008The rain gear we want for the trip is terribly expensive so we've been hunting for deals the last few weeks. Last night Tara discovered Team Estrogen (already the most affordable vendor for Showers...
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Ultralight Alcohol Stove
Monday, November 10th, 2008Tara and I spent all day Saturday working on what was supposed to be a fun learning experience making emergency backup stoves. To our surprise what we wound up with works better than our WhisperLite...
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REI Extravaganza!
Sunday, October 26th, 2008What a wonderful, wonderful day! After sleeping in, waking up to beautiful sunny weather (the first sunny day in awhile...), and puttering around in the kitchen making hash browns and biscuits for br...