We began our shakedown cruise with four different types of pannier, of which only one stayed with us until the end of our journey. In addition to panniers, we each strapped a dry bag between the panniers on our bottom rack, another dry bag between our rear panniers on the back rack, and a waterproof duffel (rack-pack) across the back rack.

For our shakedown cruise we had:

• Ortlieb Bike Packer Plus (40 L)  (Scott’s rear panniers)
• Arkel RT-40 recumbent touring under seat panniers (40 L) (Scott’s front panniers)
• Vaude World Tramp II Plus rear panniers (44 L ) (Becky’s rear pannier)
• Ortlieb front roller plus under seat panniers (25 L) (Becky’s front pannier)

After our shakedown cruise, we made some adjustments. We replaced Becky’s Vaude panniers with Orlieb Bike Packer Plus panniers. We also replaced Becky’s front panniers with Ortlieb Sport Packer Plus panniers. We also purchase two Ortlieb medium sized rack packs. When we finished touring in Eastern Canada, Scott replaced the Arkel RT-40s with Ortlieb Sport Packer Plus panniers.

Arkel RT-40

The Arkel RT-40 have lots of pockets and lots of space, but suffer from two key flaws. They are not waterproof, and they do not have a rigid bottom. Without the rigid bottom, they hang too low, leaving only a few inches of clearance. We tried adding a strap around them, which helps a little, but they still scrape the ground/curbs on occassion.  The waterproof rain covers were an inconvenience, needing to be put on when the rain starts, but taken off in order to access the pockets.

The folks at Arkel are planning a redesign of these panniers, to include a rigid bottom. They offered to retrofit our existing panniers, but we decided our preference was for waterproof fabric rather than pockets.

Vaude World Tramp II

Note: Vaude does not appear to makes this pannier any longer. It has been replaced with Aqua Back Plus.

These come with a roll top rather than drawstrings and a lid. Roll tops are submersable, where the lid tops aren’t. Both are waterproof, even in torrential downpours. Personally, Becky dislikes the roll tops, as she finds them a pain to close properly, and inevitably overfills her bags. Given that submersability wasn’t a requirement for us, this became one strike against the Vaude’s. In addition, Becky found the outter pouch on these panners to be useless, as you could not place anything in them if the pannier was full. Also, the cover left a gap, such that the pouch fills with water when it rains.

Ortlieb Bike Packer Plus

Note: Ortlieb has changed the pouch design. It is no longer a mesh outer pouch.

We love these as back panniers. They stand up well when it rains excessively. The outer pouches are small, so they can only be used for small things like tools or snacks. Becky added external rear pouches to her Bike Packer Plus panniers giving her more outer pouch access. The only issue with the outter pouches is that they are black and often directly in the sun, causing skin creams and chocolate to melt!

Ortlieb Front Roller Plus

These are OK panniers for running around town, but we found them too small for our purposes. The Orlieb Sport Packer has the same ground clearance, but sits about 2 inches taller. Between the two panniers, you get 5 L more space with the Sport Packer.

Ortlieb Sport Packer Plus

With the extra space over the Front Roller panniers, these won out for our preferred front pannier (in our case they are under-seat panniers). The outer pouch is small, so we find it only useful for carrying one or two granola bars, which Scott can reach while riding (Becky’s arms are not long enough).

Ortlieb Rack Pack

We each have a medium sized rack pack. We find them very handy as overnight bags when travelling on trains and ferries. They are very water proof and have more room than we need. We also use them for overflow food storage. Because they have a roll-top enclosure, they provide us with scent proof food storage.

Ortlieb accessories

We purchased a set of attachable pouches for Becky’s rear panniers. These work rather well for us, and we recommend them for anyone looking for a little more space – just don’t put chocolate bars in them on hot sunny days!

We purchased the security kit for the Ortlieb Plus series panniers but never got around to installing it. Instead, we use a carabener on the handle and clipped to the rack. The carabiner is easy for us to clip on and remove but it prevents anyone from simply grabbing and running with our panniers. It is also handy when hanging and carrying panniers.

We purchased the backpack attachment for the Orlieb Plus panniers. We used it a couple of times but found that it made an awful backpack and was bulky to carry. On our next trip, we will bring decent day/overnight pack instead.

We purchased the Plus series for the security system and the backpack attachment, both of which we did not like. The material on the plus is lighter and durable enough for us, but the regular material might have been a better choice. We do not recommend spending the extra on the Plus series unless weight is of primary concern.

Recommendations

If we were to start over and buy bags again, we would use the following panniers and bags.

Scott’s bike:

• Ortlieb Bike Packer or Ortlieb Bike Packer Plus (Rear Pannier)
• Ortlieb Sport Packer or Ortieb Sport Packer Plus (Front Pannier)
• Tent 12L drybag (between rear panniers)
• Ortlieb Medium Rack Pack (ontop of rear panniers)
• Tool pouch 5L drybag (between front racks)

Becky’s bike:

• Ortlieb Bike Packer or Ortlieb Bike Packer Plus (Rear Pannier)
• Ortlieb Sport Packer or Ortieb Sport Packer Plus (Front Pannier)
• Tent 10L drybag (between rear pannier)
• Good collapsable day-backpack

Note: We purchased our Ortlieb panniers from Wayne at the Touring Store. He provided us with great service and had the best prices we could find in North America.

Today, he finally took the failed shock apart, and it isn’t clear what caused the problem. Two washers in the main air chamber are definitely not in good shape. There was still significant pressure when he disassembled the main barrel (even after removing all the air from the shock per the documentation), and a loud “pop” when the barrel finally came free. We suspect that the plastic washer got damaged somehow and caused the mechanism to block. In any case, we don’t feel comfortable using it (even as a backup) without factory reconditioning. Scott has stripped it for parts which we can use on our good shocks if needed.

On the camera front, Scott is on his second Canon G9. The first died in Louisberg, N.S. – it just wouldn’t turn on any more, first with one battery, then with the second (all within two hours or so, so we don’t think it was the batteries). This was as we were visiting the Fortress of Louisberg, so very annoying. Fortunately, after a bit of convincing, Henry’s Camera was willing to replace the camera fairly quickly. We had purchased their extended warranty, which gave us a replacement for failure in the first 90 days. Unfortunately, the second G9 also misbehaved. At random, the backlight for the LCD display would turn off, but the screen would still be faintly visible. This started back in Fredericton, but we were unable to do anything about it until we reached Florida. There, Henry’s kindly hooked us up with a local repair shop (Southern Photo, in North Miami Beach), which was able to expedite repairs and get the camera fixed before we left on the freighter. We paid up front for the repair, but will get reimbursed under the terms of the Henry’s extended warranty. The repaired camera has worked very well for the last two weeks, so we’re crossing our fingers.

Becky’s camera behaved better until we took it snorkeling in Florida. It’s an Olympus 850SW, which is theoretically waterproof to 3m. We never took it below the surface, but water still got through the seals and caused the battery door switch to fail. Talking to the fine folks at Henry’s repair, this isn’t that uncommon, and Olympus is pretty good about fixing it. Unfortunately, it needs to go back to the factory for this, and we discovered that we didn’t purchase her camera through Henry’s, so there wasn’t much they could do to help. In the end, we decided to ship the Olympus home, and just buy an inexpensive new camera. Becky decided on the Canon SD1100IS, which is both smaller than the Olympus and takes much better pictures. It isn’t waterproof or shockproof, so no more pictures in the rain while riding, but it looks good so far.

And then there was Becky’s GPS. Becky’s GPS started randomly turning itself off in Quebec. After a while, she discovered that it was more likely to turn off on bumpy roads than on smooth ones. The initial mounting configuration caused a fair bit of vibration, which appears to be the cause of the intermittent failure. This is a common failure mode for many Garmin GPS’s if they are hard-mounted to a bicycle. Becky re-adjusted the mounting system which reduced the occurrence of the random shutdown for a few weeks. By the time we reached Nova Scotia, Becky decided that her GPS was not worth the trouble – it was shutting down too frequently. We emailed about getting it fixed, but it is no longer under warrantee, so it would cost over $100 and requires that it be sent back to Garmin.

Shortly after Becky’s GPS started acting up, her cheap backup bike computer randomly reset itself. A few weeks later, it was resetting itself at least once every other day. The challenge with the reset is that it resets the tire size to default. Our front tires are 20 inches – must smaller than the 26 inch default. In the end, Becky decided to replace both her GPS and her computer with a slightly upgraded computer (one that had ride time, distance, and a thermometer).

Hopefully this will be the last of equipment failures for a while.

We had a delightful stay with Fraser and Judy. We spent several evenings enjoying wine and talking about various aspects of life. It was wonderful to have the chance to get to know them better and also nice to have “home” for the four days we were in St. John’s.

We didn’t spend as much time as we’d planned doing tourist things or visiting people.  This seems to be a bit of a trend (both here and in Goose Bay).  After many days riding, we need some downtime to recharge, clean and dry equipment and run errands.  For future stops, we’ll need to leave more time if we want to do more tourist stuff.

Sunday: We attended the Sunday service at the Avalon Fellowship. It was nice to renew some connections and visit with fellow Unitarians.

Monday: We took our bikes out to run a variety of chores included buying new cups. We had a couple of melamine cups purchased at Bushtukah (they were about $3 each). On the ferry from Goose Bay to Lewisporte one of them cracked when Becky added boiling water. A few days later the second cracked when Becky added warm water. We were quite surprised as other melamine we’ve owned has lasted forever! We’ve replaced them and our bowls with “squishy bowls” (silicone bowls and cups). 

We went up to Earle Industries (a bike shop) to check the status of our chains.  It is owned by Harold Earle, and seems to be the high-end bike shop for St. John’s.  If you’re looking for bike repairs or purchases in St. John’s, we can highly recommend Harold and his shop.  He spent more than an hour going over our bikes with us and looking at various options for some of the issues which have developed.

After 4000 km, our chains have stretched too much and worn our rear sprocket.  Scott was expecting the chains to last better than this, since there’s so much more chain on our bikes (about 2.5 standard chains).  Had we checked it in Rimouski, we probably would have discovered the chain wear before it damaged the sprocket.  Oh well – a lesson for next time.  The Rohloff sprocket is reversible, so if we could reverse it we could replace the chain, but we haven’t bought the Rohloff sprocket tool yet.  Harold and Scott looked at improvising something, but decided it wasn’t worth the risk.

Harold also pointed out that the stock chains on our bikes are SRAM 830 – the lowest grade of SRAM 8-speed chain.  Had HP-Velotechnik provided a better chain (SRAM 870, 890, Rohloff Revolver) it likely would have lasted much longer.

We have ordered the sprocket tool from Rohloff (as well as some other spare parts), and we’re planning to replace both chains (and flip the cogs) when we get to Fredericton. 

Tuesday: We went out for a hike with Tammy, a friend from the Avalon Fellowship to Black Head. From the point there is an incredible view of both Cape Spear and Signal Hill, as well as lots of blueberries.  We had a delightful hike, and it was great to get to know her a bit better.  She had just received news of a placement as a kindergarten teacher this year, so she was walking on air.
We also went up Signal Hill at night with Fraser and Judy, and got to see St. John’s at night.  It’s a beautiful view, and it was a warm night, so lots of other people were up there, some “watching the submarine races” and fogging up the windows of their cars.

Wednesday: We spent the early part of the day cleaning up and packing up. It took longer than expected to be ready to go, but that worked out OK.
Vyda, another friend from the Avalon Fellowship picked us up at Judy and Fraser’s and after a wonderful dinner at “Blue on Water” in downtown St. John’s she gave us a ride out to the Argentia ferry terminal.

We had heard from other cyclists that you can sleep in the Argentia terminal. Upon arrival, we found a nice quiet spot in the terminal out of the way of traffic (under some stairs), where we pulled out our thermarests and sleeping bags and spent a comfortable night.  Earplugs and eyeshades again came in handy though – there were two other Ottawa cyclists in the terminal with us, and they didn’t sleep nearly so well.

Despite the fact we stayed in Repentigny today, we probably got as wet or wetter than we would have riding.

We went out shortly before noon to check out the bike shops and get some more groceries, and ended up riding through some of the heaviest rainfall all day. According to the radar, both of the big nasty cloud formations missed us, one to the north and one to the south, but we definitely got hit with a small one!

The bike shop trip was necessary because we’ve changed our 44-tooth front chain rings for 36-tooth chain rings to allow us to spin faster when climbing hills. (And hopefully not get off and walk as often on the really steep ones). This takes our granny gear down to 17.2 gear-inches from 21.3, which is nice. If you don’t know what gear-inches are, you probably don’t care, but if you’re curious there’s a good explanation by the late Sheldon Brown, as well as a calculator for both Rohloff hubs and normal gearing.

Unfortunately, changing the it required some additional spacers between the chain-ring and the pant-protector rings. This meant at least one of the bolts holding the rings to the crank was marginal (only two or three threads of contact between the bolt and the nut), and I stripped it yesterday while tightening things. I don’t have a spare, and neither of the bike shops had a replacement, so my fallback will be to remove one of the pant-protector rings.

(This would be much clearer with pictures, but it’s time for bed).

Otherwise it has been a day of cooking good meals, relaxing, bike maintenance and geotagging of photos. Now it’s just a matter of organizing and uploading the photos. (We do have a few more than just the ones posted so far).

Here is a view of Scott from my mirror:

Scott says:

I really like my helmet-mount mirror.  Early on I had trouble focussing on it, since I seem to be right-eye dominant, and I look at the mirror with my left eye, but I seem to have retrained my brain without too much trouble.  With the mirror appropriately adjusted, I can see cars coming from a distance in my peripheral vision, and check across multiple lanes of traffic with a slight turn of my head.

A few times when I’m off the bike, I have noticed myself trying to use the mirror to see something behind me.  Unfortunately, without the mirror I have to turn around instead!

It is possible to get detailed GPS maps with turn by turn routing, but they’re expensive, and a paper map worked just fine as a backup.

During our rest day today, I discovered that someone had uploaded an RLCT route to Bikely, and that I could download a GPX file from Bikely to Mapsource, and then to my GPS. Pretty basic stuff to some I’m sure, but I’m impressed!

I discovered that my recollection of the RLCT route was spot-on as far as Perth, but I was confused about the Perth to Kingston portion. Good to know now before tomorrow, since my planned route would have put us on more heavily travelled roads.

I do want to be careful that these new tools don’t cause us to artificially limit our routes though – sometimes the best adventures come from unplanned detours!

I’m sure there are other useful routes on Bikely, as well as other sites like www.gpsies.com. Alex Carr’s article on Bicycle Touring with a GPS on CGOAB has more details and other suggestions. Perhaps if I had re-read it after getting the GPS I wouldn’t be discovering this now…

RLCT Classic to Kingston

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

We each have had a chance to take a couple of short rides (15-20 km). Unfortunately, the weather and our schedule have made it difficult for us to get out to do more training rides. We are in a constant state of preparing the house for rental, packing up, and figuring out gear and logistics for our trip. There seems to never be enough time to get everything done. I am definitely looking forward to getting onto the road and living a simplier life!

I had been rather anxious and stressed lately. I had not been sleeping well; my dreams filled with worry over all that still needs to be done before we can depart on our trip. A few days ago, a friend inquired about when my car would be for sale. That is when it began to really sink in. We are actually going to do this trip! Adding to the need to sell my car, I was at the end of a six-month contract. Once that finished, I would be working full-time at packing up the house and preparing for the trip.

A big area of concern for me was the lack of a decision regarding bicycles. At the best of times, I do not handle uncertainty well. That may be one of my greatest challenges on this trip, the uncertainty that is necessarily part of a long bicycle journey. Regarding bicycles, we liked the idea of riding on recumbents, but were not certain it was the right approach. We decided to make a pilgrimage to the BicycleMan in Alfred Station New York to try different types of recumbents and see if they were right.

On Wednesday, April 2, 2008 after work, we packed up the car and headed towards Alfred Station. Our plan was to drive most of the way there, spend the night in an inexpensive hotel, and then arrive at the store shortly after it opened on Thursday morning.

We arrived at the hotel after midnight. I was exhausted. I was both excited and afraid. I had grand expectations about the bicycle shopping experience. I was afraid that the experience would be negative and that we would not find the right bikes. I was afraid that my excitement was leading to unrealistic expectations, which in-turn, would lead to disappointment. At one point, I turned to Scott and told him “I need to remember to enjoy the experience.” I needed to put all my hopes and dreams of the future aside, and enjoy each day for what it was. I decided that I would take the one-day-at-a-time approach to this bicycle shopping experience.

Thursday began with bright sunshine and crisp air. It was hovering at around 8 degrees Celsius (about 45 degrees Fahrenheit). We arrived at the bike store at 10:30 am, after a 90 minute drive. After two cups of coffee, my brain was focused on finding restroom facilities!

The Bicycle Man store is in an old school-house on a busy street. We walked in the front door and were greeted by a shop packed full of recumbent bicycles. There were at least 60 different bikes, with many different designs. There were three wheeled tricycles (trikes) and two wheelers; bikes that were low to the ground and others that were higher up; long wheel-base bikes and short wheel-base bikes, and there were even a few tandem bikes too. There was definitely a wide variety. I scanned the room, looking for the one brand I was familiar with, and tried to make sense of the chaos of other bikes.

After a minute or two of looking around, Titus, one of the mechanics, appeared from the back of the store to greet us. We provided him with a brief summary of our trip and told him we had come to test ride bikes. I asked for advice on which bikes to try out. Scott also listed the specific bikes he had researched prior to coming. Scott had done a lot of research before coming and he had several email discussions with Peter about bikes to test ride. In addition to the bikes we had on our list, Titus recommended that we try out the Linear Limo 3.0 (Linear), which was manufactured at the store.

I asked about where we could test ride. Titus suggested the church parking lot across the street. He also said if we wanted a little longer stretch to ride, that there was a quiet side street about 200 yards down the road to the left. I was immediately concerned. We had come a long way (six hour drive) to test ride bikes. I was expecting to be able to take bikes on longer test rides. This did not align with my expectations. I reminded myself that this was just the first step, and I had to take it one step at a time, and just enjoy the experience.

After a quick trip up to the local service station (the Bicycle Man does not have running water, and the composting toilets were not yet open for the season), we headed out on our first test ride of the day. I had an HP Velotechnik StreetMachine (StreetMachine) and Scott had an Oracle Omega Tour (Omega). We necessarily started out on the church parking lot, as riding a short wheel-base recumbent can take a little while to learn. We quickly graduated to the side street which was just over 1 km long.

Once we completed riding the side street, I wanted to do a quick change over between bikes. I saw that the Omega and StreetMachine were very similar. I wanted to do an immediate comparison while the memory was still fresh. We returned to the bicycle shop and looked for assistance. There were other customers at the shop now, keeping both Peter (the Bicycle Man himself) and Titus busy. After standing around in the shop for awhile, the bikes were reset and we were ready for our second test ride. Titus came out of the shop and brought out a Linear for us to try as well.

The second test ride did not go well for me. I got the bike to the church parking lot only to discover that the chain was so long that it was getting caught against itself at the back. I had to walk the bike back over to the shop to see if it could get reset. I caught Peter’s attention briefly and he recommended that I only use certain gears. I decided that rather than taking such a restricted ride, I would try out the Linear. So, our second test ride of the day was Scott on the StreetMachine and me on the Linear.

We did a third test ride, with me on a RANS Rocket before stopping for a late lunch. I felt like we were spending too much time standing around in the shop and not enough time actually riding bikes. I felt that we had a lot of ground to cover and not a lot of time in which to do it. I was afraid that we would not find bikes in the next two-and-a-half days and that we would return home without having resolved which bikes we would ride on our trip.

At lunch I shared with Scott my concerns and my desire for a strategy for after lunch. We were aware that the weather for Friday was not favorable for test riding, so we needed to make a preliminary decision that day. We decided that after lunch, we would focus on trying the bikes that were on the list Scott had put together.

I reminded myself constantly to let Scott take the lead in this decision making process. He takes a lot more time to make decisions, carefully researching and thinking through the alternatives. I am more impulsive and not always happy with the results. So, I tried my best to let this decision occur at Scott’s pace not mine.

After lunch we returned to the shop. There was a delay before we picked up some different bikes to ride. Titus asked us which bikes we wanted to ride. I was looking for advice on what we should try out, but to me, he did not appear confident in his recommendations. I did not feel that he really understood what type of bike would be best for our tour. It became clear later that Peter was the best one to answer a lot of our questions about the different types of bikes. Titus helped us a lot in setting up bikes for us, but he didn’t have the same background on the different bikes (and the various trade-offs for each bike).

I was feeling the time pressure again, and wanted direction from the experts at Bicycle Man. I did not feel like I had the time to just randomly try bikes, rather, I wanted my test riding to be more structured. So, in the end, we used Scott and Peter’s list to determine which bikes we would try out.

We did three more test rides after lunch. During one of these rides, I paused a moment to take a deep breath. I reminded myself again to enjoy the experience. In that way, bicycle shopping is like sex. If you spend all our time worrying about the final goal, you miss out on the joy of the experience. If you instead, spend your time focusing on enjoying the entire experience, when you reach your goal you are much more satisfied.

In one of our between ride breaks at the shop, we met Bryan, the editor of ‘Bent Online. Bryan mentioned that the Oracle Omega City (City) was a smaller version of the Oracle Omega Tour and that it might be easier for me to try. Scott really wanted me to try an Oracle Omega, so we setup the City to fit me. I took it out to the parking lot for a short spin. It didn’t work for me, I couldn’t reach the handle bars. I also found the seat to be uncomfortable and the built-in headrest banged against my helmet.

Near the end of the day, we concluded that we preferred under-seat steering, and had a short list of two bikes: the StreetMachine and the Linear. Our next step was to take the two finalist bikes out on a more challenging test ride. We wanted to try the bikes out on dirt roads and hills. We were thinking of the more rigorous ride for Friday, but Peter encouraged us to take the bikes out Thursday evening to avoid riding in the rain on Friday. He directed us to a hilly gravel back road and let us take the bikes out just as the shop was closing. We were to return them to his front porch (next door to the shop) before dark.

Our final test ride proved to be a challenge. The hill was rather steep, and I was surprised at how difficult it was to ride the bike up it. Part of the challenge was that you were riding slowly, which meant that it was much more difficult to balance. I actually fell over when trying to start the StreetMachine when going uphill. The good news is, the fall was not nearly as traumatic as a fall off my diamond frame bike. It was much easier to “roll” while falling, which significantly reduced the impact on my poor body!

The down hills were interesting too. I found that the Linear (with its long wheel base and no suspension), would cause a vibration on the washboard that made my eyes go fuzzy. The Streetmachine with its full suspension could bounce over the washboard comfortably, but when the frequency was just right you would bounce too much and start to lose control. Fortunately, this was easily solved by applying the brakes slightly, so that you didn’t hit that resonance speed.

The end of day ride was delightful. Although the Linear was a nice ride, we both preferred the feel and maneuverability of the StreetMachine. From my perspective, we had made a decision!

Friday morning we awoke to a lot of rain. We lazed around in bed for a while before dragging ourselves up and preparing for another day. Since it was raining, we were not going to be riding; however, it was a great opportunity to hang around the bike shop and get our many questions answered.

We spent most of the day hanging out at the shop. I reminded myself to relax and just enjoy the experience. Peter, Keith (the service manager), Bryan, and Titus were all there. We spent the day chatting about a variety of things. Stories were shared about bicycle touring and totally unrelated topics like computers and military service. Throughout the day, I found myself discovering new questions and receiving great advice. I don’t think I would have learned nearly as much if I didn’t spend the time hanging out. Peter was interrupted every time the phone rang. Often the questions asked by the caller prompted a series of questions from us, or story from one of the guys at the shop.

Near the end of the day, we reviewed the price sheet for the StreetMachine. The weather report called for beautiful weather on Saturday, so we planned to go on a longer ride. Peter warned us that the shop would be busy on a beautiful Saturday. Keith drew us a map of a route that was about 45 km long, that involved rolling hills , a long gentle climb and a steep downhill. At 6pm we were kicked out of the shop as it closed for the night.

That evening, Scott spent a lot of time debating. He didn’t think I had given the City a fair try on Thursday. In discussions with Peter and Bryan on Friday, he saw that the handlebars could be raised several inches from where they were, so he thought the bike could be adjusted to fit me better. Scott found the Omega’s ride to be comparable to the StreetMachine, the Omega was much less expensive, and it was made in Canada. I think the latter influenced his opinion more than he would admit.

On Saturday morning, I agreed to give the City a try. If I could make it fit, we would try both the Omega and the StreetMachine on a longer ride. I was still hesitant and a little frustrated. I had thought we had made a decision, and I really didn’t want to waste time test riding something that I didn’t like. However, I reminded myself that this is about being certain, and if Scott had doubts, I had to ensure they were addressed. So, I agreed to give it a try.

My second City test ride was longer than the first. I did ride it the full length of the side road. The handle bars were raised as high as they would go. I found I could reach them much better, but a slight stretch was still necessary to grasp them fully. With the seat adjusted to my body, it still didn’t fit as well as the StreetMachine. Also the headrest was still very uncomfortable with my helmet on. The headrest could be chopped off, but the other problems were harder to fix. Perhaps the bike could be made work for me, but I really felt that it was a compromise. I didn’t want to compromise when I knew there was another bike that fit better. We decided to give up on the Omega and go back to the StreetMachine.

When we got back from our test ride, several other customers had arrived and the shop was starting to feel chaotic. Scott and I setup the two StreetMachines and took off for the 45 km ride that Keith had recommended. Scott setup his bike with a pannier full of bricks, so that he could feel how the bike rode with a load.

The long ride was glorious. The rolling side road had almost no traffic. The rolling hills provided me with an opportunity to discover how a correctly-adjusted seat back could be used for increase power when climbing hills. Riding down the hills was exhilarating. I love the feel of the wind on my face, especially when the air is fresh and free of pollution. When the side road ended we joined along a busy stretch of highway, which had a good shoulder. Although the road was not nice, it provided a level of confidence that we could ride on busier roads.

Then there was the big climb. The hills seemed to be going up forever. At one point, Scott got a little bit too close the soft shoulder and fell over. Fortunately, it was not a far fall and he was not hurt. We continued on the climb, for what seemed like forever (about 8 km). Once we reached the top, the trip down was an adrenaline rush. It was all downhill with many different turns in the road. I was glad that we did not climb in that direction, as the downhill was much steeper than the uphill. Forty-five minutes of climbing was reduced to less than 10 minutes of downhill.

When we returned, the shop was even more chaotic than when we left. Titus had left for the day, and Peter was the only person in the store. There were at least five different customers trying out a range of bicycles, and Peter was being pulled in many directions at once. We chatted with several of the customers and shared our experiences, limited as they were.

Scott spent some time with a lady who had a stroke two years ago and was back on a bicycle for the first time. He helped adjust her handlebars to get better control. She was struggling with turning but having a grand time enjoying the experience. Scott also had difficulty turning with the new recumbent he was trying, so he was able to share that learning to turn wasn’t necessarily easy on a new bike. He said later that the glow on the lady’s face was one of the highlights of the weekend for him.

At the end of the day, we agreed that the StreetMachine was the right choice for us at this time. We would figure out the details over the weekend and place the order on Monday, which coincidentally was the seventh anniversary of our engagementJ.

I am really glad we went and I am really glad we spent three days there. I am also glad that the weather was awful the second day. The time we spent hanging around the shop allowed us to get to know the people there much better than we would have if it was busy or if we were out riding the whole time.

Bicycling shopping provided a short insight into one of the lessons our trip will bring us; the need to slow down and enjoy the experience. We will need to remind ourselves to for live for the day. The past and the future are there, but they are not today, so do not regret the past or worry about the future. I have spent too much time anticipating and imagining this trip. I need to let go of my imagined trip so I can enjoy the actual one as it happens.

The HP Velotechnik Streetmachine Gte won for us because:

• It fit Becky better (seat fit well and she could reach the handlebars easily).
• It has low-rider racks available direct from the manufacturer (you can retrofit a lower rack on the Oracle Omega, but that is a work-around).
• HP Velotechnik has a proven reputation doing the type of long-distance riding we intend on doing (the Oracle Omega is probably fine too, but is relatively new to the market).

Scott still feels a bit guilty about not supporting a Canadian company, since he was happy with both. The Gte fit Becky much better though, and it is far easier to carry spares for only one set of components.

So, the order is in. We ordered two mostly identical bikes, each with a bunch of upgrades:

• Rolhoff hubs
• Avid mechanical Disc brakes
• Upgraded shocks (DT-SWISS XM180 rear and MEKS SASO Carbon AC front)
  
• Marathon Plus 47mm tires
• Airflow seat cushion (we tried both, and the Airflow is much nicer)
• rear and lowrider racks, mudguards
• Becky also got the shorter 152mm cranks

Here are some photos of our longer test ride (40 km). Scott is carrying 30lb of bricks and water bottles in the panniers to get a feeling for how the bike performed when loaded. These are Peter’s demo bikes. Scott’s bike will look similar (orange) and Becky’s will be yellow (RAL 1018).

I had been hoping to be able to see a Rohloff hub in action (and maybe even ride a bike with one), but even at BicycleMan they’re pretty rare. They’re much more common in Europe, but in North America everyone uses derailleurs instead of hub gears. Peter mentioned that some of that is related to different import duties for hub gears vs. derailleurs in Europe. In any case, the Rohloff is very expensive here (a 35% premium on an already expensive bike by my calculations), but it does provide a much better-encased shifting system, and has proven to be very reliable for many people on long tours. That said, the Shimano XT system is very good, and extremely refined. I expect if we go the XT route we’ll spend more time maintaining the geartrain, where the Rohloff is very low maintenance. However, if something does go wrong with the Rohloff, very little is user serviceable, and what we could service is very different from a normal geartrain. We’ll need to do some work learning to adjust the cables on the Rohloff before I’m comfortable, but I need to improve my bicycle maintenance skills in any case.

Another option is the SRAM Dual Drive 24-speed (this is the base configuration on the StreetMachine).  For extremely long distance touring, I think this has the downsides of both a hub and derailleur. It is difficult to service and get parts for the hub, and the cassette and derailleur are exposed to mud and dirt, requiring more frequent cleaning and maintenance.

Along with extensive conversations with Peter, Bryan Ball (managing editor of ‘BentRider Online) happened to be in the shop, so we picked his brain for several hours too. It was very helpful talking to all of you, thanks guys!

Our final contenders for our trip were the HP Velotechnik StreetMachine Gte (Bryan’s review here), and the Oracle Omega City and Tour (Bryan’s review here).

We rode the StreetMachine and both Omegas on Thursday, and I liked them all, but Becky had trouble getting either Omega set up for her. The biggest issue for her was reaching down to the handle bars. This is partly because the under-seat steering bar under the frame makes it a longer reach to the handlebars. This can be partially corrected by adjusting the handlebars higher (as shown in the first picture here), but it wasn’t enough to make Becky comfortable on the Omega City on Saturday.

When the handle bars were moved up to the highest position, she could reach, but it was a stretch, which meant it wasn’t a natural position. Even a short ride led to fatigue in her arms. Winner: StreetMachine

She also found the headrest very uncomfortable with a helmet on, and it is not removable. Peter recommended cutting it off with a hacksaw, but didn’t want us to do that to his demo bike (I wonder why?). The StreetMachine has a removeable headrest as an extra-cost option. Winner: StreetMachine

The shorter wheel base of the Omega City results in the seat being slightly higher than the Omega Tour, so the Tour might have been a better choice. Unfortunately, the chain length on the Omega Tour was set up for someone my height or a bit taller (6’0″) and when we brought the boom in to allow Becky (5’6″) to reach the pedals, the chain was too long to allow her to shift. HP Velo provides a front boom quickadjust with quick-release levers and chain length compensation for this sort of demo environment – Oracle may want to consider something similar. Winner: StreetMachine

The other missing bit on the Omega is a second pannier rack below the seat. There may be an aftermarket rack option for under-seat panniers, although it requires some adaptation. Winner: StreetMachine

Becky also found the seat on the StreetMachine fit her better than the Oracle seat. We tweaked the seat adjustment a bit, but couldn’t make it as comfortable for her. Maybe with some more tweaking we could have fixed it though. With the StreetMachine, the seat needed adjustment too, and when we got it right, Becky felt her power increased significantly as she could push off the rigid seat with more of her core body strength. Winner: StreetMachine

Both of us found the Oracle Omegas rode very well, handling potholes and gravel well. We took all the bikes through potholes, gravel roads and washboard, and they handled the conditions with aplomb. Winner: Tie

The Omega is also designed and built in Canada, and is much less expensive than the StreetMachine in the configuration we’re building (close to $1000 cheaper). Winner: Omega

Conclusion

Overall, I found the Omega Tour very comparable to the StreetMachine, and would seriously consider it. (I spent very little time on the Omega City). Becky had problems getting either to fit her well, but I’d recommend anyone interested in a StreetMachine (or an Optima Dragon or Lynxx) to seriously look at the Oracle Omega City or Tour. It is well worth doing an A-B comparison.

Update 2008-04-27:

I just discovered that Anna Lee Husband, owner of Oracle Cycleworks, has started blogging as well, and she put a post up a few weeks ago responding to our experiences here. I’d encourage folks reading our experiences to check out her post, and talk to Oracle (which we have not done):

http://oraclecycleworks.blogspot.com/2008/04/scott-and-becky-go-east-blog.html

I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like
by Queen

Change the word “ride” to “buy” and you’ll have the song that has been going through my head for the last day and a half.

We have this grand plan of riding our bikes around the world, but we haven’t yet identified what “our bikes” will be. We each currently have mountain bikes and touring bikes, but we are not certain that either are ideal for the trip.

Unfortunately, I find that my road bike causes stiffness and pain in my upper back. I also fine that my wrists and hands can get very unhappy. We read about recumbents as an option, but hadn’t really tried them … until today.

We have ventured to Alfred Station, New York to visit Peter Stull – the Bicycle Man. Peter’s shop is in an old building that was purchased for $5,000 in 1979. It doesn’t have running water, but it does have electricity, composting toilets, and a lot of recumbent bicycles (14 different brands and around 100 bikes in stock). I did notice a few regular road bikes and mountain bikes hung from the ceiling too, but his shop definitely focuses on recumbents.

One thing about recumbents is that they are all different. This meant that you need to test drive quite a few to determine which suit you best. It has been quite the alphabet soup trying to sort through the taxonomy. USS vs. OSS, SWB, LWB, CWLB… Fortunately Peter has a nice glossary on his website, which we studied before arriving. Recumbents aren’t just different from regular bikes – they’re very different from one another too!

The bikes we rode today included a variety of features such as:

• Under-seat, under-bar steering. (USS)
• Under-seat, over-bar steering. (USS)
• Over-seat steering. (OSS)
• Big back tires with small front tires (26″ or 700c with 20″ front).
• Big front and back tires (26″ or 700c).
• Small front and back tires (20″).
• Short wheel-base. (SWB)
• Compact Long wheel-base. (CLWB)
• Long wheel-base. (LWB)

Today, Titus (one of the guys working at the BicycleMan store) helped us try out:

• HP Velotechnik Streetmachine Gte (USS, SWB)
• Oracle Omega City, Oracle Omega Tour (USS, SWB)
• RANS Stratus LE (OSS, LWB)
• RANS Stratus XP (OSS, LWB)
• RANS Rocket (OSS, SWB)
• RANS Velocity cubed (V3) (OSS, LWB)
• Longbikes Slipstream (USS, LWB)
• Linear Limo 3.0 (USS, LWB)

Note, I may not have the classifications 100% right. I’m not clear on short wheel base versus compact long wheel base. Here are a few action shots …

Scott on an Oracle Omega Tour.

Becky on a Linear

Scott on a Linear.

Becky on a RANS Stratus LE.

Becky on a RANS Rocket.

Becky on an HP Velotechnik Streetmachine Gte.

Scott on the HP Velotechnik Streetmachine Gte.

I am inspired by Kevin Kelly’s 2007 Christmas Essay about willingness to accept generosity, although it will certainly require effort to reach out past my shyness and ask.

One might even call the art of accepting generosity a type of compassion. The compassion of being kinded. One year I rode my bicycle across America, from San Francisco to New Jersey. I started out camping in state parks, but past the Rockies, parks became so scarce I switched to camping on people’s lawns. I worked up a routine. As darkness fell, I began scouting the homes I passed for a likely candidate: neat house, big lawn in the back, easy access for my bike. When I selected the lucky home, I parked my bag-loaded bike in front of the door and rang the bell. “Hello,” I’d say. “I’m riding my bike across America. I’d like to pitch my tent tonight where I have permission and where someone knows where I am. I’ve just eaten dinner, and I’ll be gone first thing in the morning. Would you mind if I put up my tent in your backyard?”

I was never turned away, not once. And there was always more. It was impossible for most folks to sit in their couch and watch TV while a guy who was riding his bicycle across America was camped in their backyard. What if he was famous? So I was usually invited into their home for desert and an interview. My job in this moment was clear: I was to relate my adventure. I was to help them enjoy a thrill they secretly desired, but would never do. My account would make an impossible dream seem real and possible, and thus part of them. Through me and my retelling of what happened so far, they would get to vicariously ride a bicycle across America. In exchange I would get a place to camp and a dish of ice cream. It was a sweet deal that benefited both of us. The weird thing is that I was, and still am, not sure whether I would have done what they did and let me sleep in the backyard. The “me” on the bicycle had a wild tangled beard, had not showered for weeks, and appeared destitute (my whole transcontinental trip cost me $500). I am not sure I would invite a casual tourist I met to take over my apartment, and cook for him. I definitely would not hand him the keys to my own car, as a hotel clerk in Dalarna, Sweden, did one mid-summer day when I asked her how I could reach the painter Carl Larsson’s house 150 miles away away.

The other option is to stealth camp, which requires finding a quiet corner of wilderness (or abandoned area). This will require a fair bit of bravery the first few times I expect. I try to remind myself that it’s all about opening myself to the experience.

On a more practical note, I found a great article on erecting a tent in the rain which clarified my thoughts about that. I’ve always done the “spread out the the fly first” approach, but never with the elegance of the author’s approach. I’ll try it with our Mountain Hardwear Viperine 3 and see how it works. Since the poles anchor to the tent with clips and not sleeves, we should be able to do it.