Gear!

Ready to talk about gear?  Honestly, I'll be ready to stop talking about gear after this post.  Since deciding to take on the Great Divide, Emma and I have been having lots of conversations about equipment, probably much to her dismay.

We'll show you our gear once it's finalized.

When I was racing in undergrad, I had four bikes.  One for road racing (think Tour de France style though I was much slower), one for mountain bike racing (think riding on hiking trails), one for cyclocross (think knobby tires on a road bike racing on both on and off road), and one for getting to class.  Who doesn't love talking about the gear that lets them do what they love?  What tires are best, what pressure in those tires, what brakes are the stoppiest, gear ratios, frame stiffness, aerodynamics!

UNC > NCSU

That said, planning for a month long ride is difficult.  The decisions you make now can have wonderful or disastrous consequences later on.  Our biggest decision so far has been the bicycle.  We need a very specific one.  Most basically, we need a tandem bicycle with 26 inch wheels and enough tire clearance to put fat tires on.  Oh, and it had to be within our budget.  This meant a new bike was not gonna happen.  Luckily, there seems to be a plethora of dudes out there with ads that go like this:  Got tandem with hopes that wife would ride with me.  Wife wont ride with me.  Liquidating bicycle.

Don't make fun of my tab plethora.

There also seems to be a lot of people upgrading.  Our first problem arose though as there wasn't any in our area.  And we're short.  We could find bikes that fit the bill, but they were in California or too big.  This meant we'd have to factor in shipping costs which can be up to $200. 

This wasn't awful, but that meant the extra we would pay for the bike in shipping wouldn't make any of the parts nicer and there were some extra features that would be nice.  Bomb proof wheels were the first on our list of 'extras'.  I was a bike mechanic for a while in undergrad and can keep a decent set of wheels alive but I would rather not fret over every bump that we were going to pop a spoke.  

Don't worry, we're bringing helmets.

Next, we (or I), wanted disc brakes.  These are like the brakes on a car and reduce hand fatigue.  This would be important as the descents on this trail are pretty long, sometimes over 15 miles.  That would be a lot of work for my hands holding back 260 lbs of human, 45 lbs of bike, and 80 lbs of gear!

Steel frame!  The bikes we were looking at are on the lower end price-wise so I thought a steel frame would be good for two reasons.  First, its stiffer which means better power transfer.  Some companies make their mid/low-range bikes with aluminum frames.  Some of this is for weight reduction, but makes the frame flimsier.  This means the frame bends a bit when you pedal and you lose some of your pedaling power.  It also means the frame gets dented and cracks easier which leads me to the second point:  steel frames can be welded more easily.  Most towns are going to have a welder that can repair steel.  Many won't have the equipment to repair cracks in aluminum.

Comfortable riding position was next.  I've had enough of riding bikes where the seat is higher than the handle bars.  This puts you in a position where up to 40% of your weigh is on your arms and your neck is bent back pretty far.  While you can build up your arm muscles to hold your body up, your neck really never gets more comfortable.  Shifting your weight back does put more weight on your butt and you have to watch more closely for saddle sores, but it makes your body more upright thus straightening out your neck.  Dylan from racing days would scoff saying something about wind drag and aerodynamics but Dylan today would say aerodynamics don't matter as much off road.  Also, time machines don't exist so Dylan should stop talking to himself.

Look at his neck!

Good components!  This means the shifters, gears, brakes, and levers are all quality.  I put this so far down on the list as I've ridden nice bikes and not so nice bikes and haven't seen much of a difference in parts vs the exponential increase in price and with a mechanic on board that can maintain equipment correctly, there will be less problems along the way.  I've trued wheels, replaced spokes, straightened derailleurs and brake levers, and resolve creaking sounds and on top of the fact that there seems to be a decent number of bike shops along the way for replacement parts, I am feeling pretty confident about sacrificing for lower quality parts.

Ouch!

The last thing we wanted was suspension.  This was more for both of us but in different ways.  For me, I wanted a front suspension fork with a lock out.  This means the front of the bike has a shock making bumps less jarring and saving my arms a bit.  For Emma it means a suspension seat post.  Tandem bikes put more shock on the rear ride due to something about the geometry-torque-frame-something or other.  I don't really understand it, but Emma's butt does.

All this extra stuff wasn't necessary, but it would make us more comfortable, go further, and have a bit more fun.

For a while, we considered getting a cheap bike basically for the steel frame and upgrading components up to our budget.  This would have worked, but then this week we found a 2014 KHS Tandemania Sport on ebay!

Currently accepting ideas for a name.

This probably doesn't mean much to you, but we liked it because it met our basic requirements and had some of our extras:  40 spoke sturdy wheels, steel frame, comfortable riding position, pretty decent components, and rear seat suspension.  I had to sacrifice my front suspension, but this was kind of a luxury anyway and realistically not in the budget as a decent fork is about $250.

Ok, almost done with our gear chat.  Or not.  I'm sure you've already scrolled to the end at this point but Emma has already told me she trusts me to make these decisions and while she is interested in bike gear stuff, I can see her eyes glaze a bit when I start talking about 34 vs 32 teeth rear cogs so that means I have to get this stuff out somehow.

Dylan 'Tetris Master' Harver

The next big thing we had to consider was how we were going to carry our supplies.  We'll basically be carrying the same supplies we had on the Appalachian Trail minus the weight of the packs plus the weight of bicycle repair equipment.  What I didn't realize going into my research was there were two vehemently opposed schools of thought.  One were the traditionalists who think putting racks over your front and back wheels and carrying your gear on the bike.  The other think using a trailer is a better method.

We chose to go with the trailer for a couple reasons.  The first is my worry over the stress on our rear wheel.  Tandems have two people on two wheels.  Thats 2(human x gear/wheel), twice that of a single bike!  Using a trailer distributes the weight over 3 wheels reducing the weight on that rear wheel.  The second reason is that the bike will have a lower center of gravity thus increasing maneuverability.  Tandems are a bit more difficult to handle due to the increased weight and length.  With bags high over the wheels, it requires more arm strength and balance to keep the bike upright.

He seems proud of his bad decision.

The only concern we had was the trailer rattling around behind us.  Ever see one of those two wheel trailers being pulled on the interstate with no load bouncing all over the place?  This problem will hopefully be solved with the BoB Ibex trailer we ordered.  It has suspension for the wheel allowing the trailer to absorb some of the bumps.

The bike and trailer arrive next week.  The trip is starting to seem real now that the steed has been chosen and is on the way!  More exciting (or boring?) gear and logistics talk in the future once the bike and trailer arrive.

Emma goes back to work tomorrow and the semester starts for me next Monday.  I'm feeling pretty relieved to have these decisions made before things start getting crazy again.  Less than six months to go!

Cheers!