July 21st, 2006 | categorizilation: all categories,highlights,planning/prep
Final preparations are coming together.
I have 26kg of equipment.
Including bottle cages, fenders, racks etc, the bike weighs 19kg.
I am 77kg.
My next blurb will be from Korea.
Leaving the Fukuoka Hakata Bay International Terminal at 12:30pm tomorrow (Sat. 22nd of July, 2006).
I leave you with this:
“To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence”. Mark Twain
I would like to assure you all that I have no idea about cycle touring. It’s gonna be a steep learning curve!
July 21st, 2006 | categorizilation: all categories,equipment,planning/prep,war on weight
| Today’s savings: | 292g |
| Total savings to date: | 1038g |
Today the maps were in my sights. I removed all areas of the maps that I do not plan on going to, and in that way saved 292 grams. This brings my total amount saved to date to over 1 kilogram. Considering that wieght is the same as one litre of water, that’s a very important saving.
July 20th, 2006 | categorizilation: all categories,equipment,planning/prep
Some updates to this website today:
Cheers.
July 19th, 2006 | categorizilation: all categories,equipment,planning/prep,recumbent bike
Under the seat of the 14degrees bike, there is a rack to attach some small sized pannier bags. There was a space here to stow a small drybag filled with tools and spare parts, so I have attached some nylon straps and clips to hold the drybag in place.
July 13th, 2006 | categorizilation: all categories,equipment,planning/prep,war on weight
| Today’s savings: | 689g |
| Total savings to date: | 746g |
Right. No holds barred today. All handles in my sight were removed. Shaver handle, toothbrush handle, cone spanner handles, chain whip handle…
As for the shaver handle, if you’re using the Gillette Mach III, then the little stub is just big enough to hold between the thumb and forefinger for an exciting shave. I say exciting because for the first few shaves, there is a tendency to push to hard. Expect a few chainsaw massacre episodes…
I also put my fourth form sewing class skills to the test and made a roll-up tool case for all the ‘hope I don’t need to use these too often’ tools.
I call it ‘The Brick’. 2.2kg of metal. Argh.
From left to right, top to bottom: Suspension/Tyre pump (spare), spokes and cable ties, bike multi-tool, spanner, crank remover, chain whip, bottom bracket socket, cone spanners, plier multi-tool, expoxy resin (for seat repair), freewheel socket, grease, fibreglass cloth, hacksaw blade, length of chain and various bolts.
July 11th, 2006 | categorizilation: all categories,equipment,planning/prep,war on weight
| Today’s savings: | 57g |
| Total savings to date: | 57g |
Today begins a series of posts on reducing the weight of my gear that I’ll be taking on the trip. Not one measley one gram will escape my obsessive eye. This war on weight is in part inspired by another recumbent rider, also called Rob, who is currently slowly being grilled like an English Rice Pudding under the Chinese sun on his way through a 25,000km trike ride around China. Hang in there, Rob!
Today I removed the unneccessary tools from my bike multi-tool. The ones I removed are not only small and useless (take a look at the ‘pliers’ there – they are too small to be of any use), but they are also found in much more substantial form on my large folding pliers multi-tool.
