THE 2005 REVISED GEAR LIST

Below is my gear list from when i cycled the transamerica trail in 2005. I moved my gear list from crazyguyonabike.com to here.  I linked everything to the equipment i used on the trip.

I went through my gear list and added comments. Everything in bold is my revised comment.

BIKE:

-Cannondale T-700 Touring bike Gold!

–Brooks B-67 Saddle in the beautiful honey colored, small can of proofhide & seat cover for when its wet for years I looked for a good bicycle saddle and I finally arrived at brooks. I had used a b-17 on my other bike and a few days before I left for my trip I impulse bought the b-67. I highly recommend this saddle and I often forgot it was there.  The can of proofhide did melt in my bags and made a huge mess.

–Bob Trailer  it’s alright. I could go on for an hour about the bob but I won’t. I’ll just say I wouldn’t have used a bob trailer if I wasn’t carrying a laptop.

–Jandd Mini Mountain Panniers w/ rain cover (for food & cooking supplies, plan on keeping panniers 1/2 empty) They worked well, for how I used them. The rain covers were a joke. If I had to buy new panniers today I would get the ortlieb bags.

-JanddHurricane Handlebar bag w/ rain cover. Excellent piece of equipment  Carried my maps, ipod, camera and wallet. I regret not buying a shoulder strap when I was walking around off the bike.

–cateye bike computer w/ backlight, altitude and temperature. Never really figured out how to use it properly. Only really used the mileage and time functions and got the altitude information from the maps.

–cateye bicycle light (doubles as my flashlight). Sent home. Too much trouble holding a traditional flashlight and setting up a tent. Bought a cheap flashlight that attaches to my head.

-frame pump. Frustrating to get past 70 psi. I wished I had the road morph pump that opens up as a floor pump.

-2 tubes, patch kit. Patched most of my flats and didn’t have any problems with the patches.

-chain lube & degreaser. used pro-link and didn’t bother carrying degreaser.

-5 spokes in every length. I probably broke about a dozen spokes in the course of the trip. All spokes were on the non-drive side and that’s pretty rare.

–Kevlar spoke kit. Never used it, but glad I had it.

–spare brake pads. never used it, I should have sent home.

–spare brake & derailer cable. Never used it, but glad I had it.

-3 cans of halt! (for the wild dogs in kentucky) Didn’t spray one dog. But it gave me a lot of security knowing it was there. Sent 2 home from Kansas, carried one till the end in the bob.

–Spare tire & tube for trailer. Never used the tire. Managed to get 3 flats in the bob throughout the trip, replaced the tube.

-spare nipples, chainlink, nutz and bolts. replaced a nipple in Kentucky

–spare cotter pins & skewer for trailer. Lost 1 cotter pin and was glad to have a spare. I was probably carrying too many spares. Never used the spare skewer but was glad to carry it just in case.

-Cablelock. I used it a lot in busy areas and mostly at night.

–bungeecords. I used them to strap all my wet clothes to the trailer so at the end of the day I had clean clothes for tomorrow.

 

TOOLS:

–chaintool. Never used it.

-prestato schrader converter. Lost it somewhere.

–tirelevers, patch kit, multi-bike tool. Broke my plastic tire levers on the last day. bought a multi-tool with a metal handle so I couldn’t break it.

-park gear brush. Lost it before I left for the trip. Didn’t really need it.

–spoketool. The most used tool of the entire trip. ¼ of the way into the trip I just started keeping the spoke tool on my Key chain.

–Rambo camping knife. Too heavy Sent home. Replaced with a small $2 pocket knife that I kept on my keychain.

-cheap leatherman ripoff . Used the pliers and can opener almost everyday.

–digital tire gauge. Worked great. Broke the Schrader valve side at the end of the trip.

CLOTHING:

ON BIKE:

–Giro Pnuemo Helmet. Did the job. The next helmet I buy is going to be white so its more visible. In Pueblo I added a mirror and wondered how I made it that far without one. The sun took all the colors and design off the plastic shell, Its time for a new helmet.

-2 cycling short synthetic shirts. Bought 2 decent (and cheap) shirts at walmart.

-1 longsleeve synthetic shirt. I used it a great deal especially at night.

-Sexy Specialized Spd Mountain Shoes. Super shoes. I have always had good luck with specialized shoes.

-Cheap sunglasses. I went through about 5 pairs of cheap sunglasses. I often debated buying 1 good pair that I couldn’t destroy, but figured I would probably lose them somewhere anyway.

–Mountainwear Epic Jacket (Waterproof windbreaker). Excellent Jacket but I regret spending a lot of money on a rain jacket/windbreaker.

-Cheap Rain paints for $20 rain pants I was pretty happy with them. They did the trick and I only had to wear them a few times in the rain. I sometimes wore them at night when it was cold.

-2 pairs of Pearl Izumi Cycling tri shorts (Minimal Chamois). Excellent shorts.

-2 pairs of cycling gloves. I tried all types of gloves, I prefer the old school mesh gloves. I destroyed about 3 pairs of gloves on this trip

–Legwarms and armwarmers. I used the leg warmers often. I had a hard time keeping them up, if I didn’t have on cycling shorts. I didn’t use the arm warmers once.

-an ugly yellow & brown Lycra Helmet cover. Sent home. Don’t know why I brought it.

-wet socks for cycling in the rain. They worked great the first couple of times keeping my feet dry but then my feet started to get soaked. I didn’t really mind my feet getting wet cause the wet socks at least kept them warm.

OFF BIKE:

-green campy cycling hat. sent home, I looked dumb in hats

-1 or 2 Cotton t-shirts.  I wore them a lot. If it was 95+ degrees out I would just keep my cycling shirts on. The cotton shirts get gross when i’m all sweaty.

-Sandals. I had cheap walmart sandals. I destroyed them and threw them out somewhere. I replaced them with a pair of crocs. The crocs worked great and they are very light. However I think they are pretty ugly.

-1 pair of shorts (sometimes wear on bike). cut off camo shorts.

-2 pairs of cotton boxers. went commando the whole trip.

-swim shorts (sometimes wear on bike). I ended up wearing the swim shorts everyday over my cycling shorts. I learned early in the trip that the locals hate cycling shorts so I covered mine so people would be nicer to me. and it definitely worked

-3 pairs of socks. I think I’m addicted to synthetic socks, too bad I own about 200 pairs of cotton socks. Anyone want to trade?

CAMPING:

–Eureka Solitare 1 person Tent w/ groundcloth (2 lbs. 15 oz.). Excellent tent. The fiberglass poles melted and broke in Kentucky, but Eureka send me Aluminum poles on the road for a small price. It’s the
smallest tent anyone can buy. A few times I wished I had more space, but it did the trick. Besides I wasn’t interested in spending much time inside the tent.

-Sleeping bag, Lafuma, one kilo bag,(35 ounces) 40 degree, synthetic. worked great. A few nights I froze in the high altitudes but I just put put on all my clothes. If I did it again I would get a 20 degree bag.

–3/4 length inflatable therma rest .I have an older therma rest and the newer ones look warmer

-Twine & some clothespins. Used a few times. Used the twine to repair a broken bicycle rack

-insect spray.  Hated putting it on

-a compass. (do i really need it?) yes, I ended up mounting it onto the handlebar and obsessively watched it all day while I rode.

–camp soap & small scotch bright pads.

-first aid kit w/ insect/snake bite fluid, emergency blanket.

-2 glowsticks. Kinda useless. I used them to read in the tent. After I used them I never replaced them

COOKING:

–MSR whisperlite international stove. Excellent stove. Didn’t use it as much as I planned. But I’m glad I had it for the times I did use it.

-white gas & fuel bottle. it took awhile to use the entire container of gas and I always found a camping store to just refill my bottle and they usually just charged about a dollar.

-cheap 3 piece Aluminum Cookset. Worked fine. Threw out at the end of the trip.

-Windproof matches. They are too hard to light.

-water purification tablets. Never used, i Probably didn’t need to carry them.

–spice wheel. Sent it home and regretted it.

-utensils .Threw out the utensils and replaced them with a plastic camping spork that I used for everything. 

-can opener.  I broke 3 can openers the first few weeks. Gave up and just used the leather man to open all my cans.

ELECTRONICS:

-averatec 3250 laptop w/ aluminum case so it doesn’t get destroyed inside the trailer. Excellent machine. It wouldn’t have survived without the hardcase. 

–ipod w/ headphones. The secret to my success.

– 70 hour ipod battery backup. I would charge the battery backup about every 3 or 4 days or so and I NEVER ran out of ipod battery the entire trip. The idea of never running out of battery on an ipod is a fascinating idea.

–digital camera. I use Olympus digital cameras and have always been pleased.

-cellphone. Talking on the phone kept me from getting lonely.

–rechargeable AA batteries. Worked great.

-small radio/alarmclock (for weather reports). SENT IT HOME. Didn’t need it. I used the alarm clock of the  cell phone and caught the weather report all over the place.

TOILETRIES:

-2 toothbrush’s, dental floss & toothpaste. I sawed off the handle on my toothbrush. (to save the weight) and only carried travel sized toothpaste tubes.

-razor w/ spare blades, travel size shaving cream (however im thinking of growing a beard). Sent it home, grew a beard, then bought some disposable razors and cut it off.

-toilet paper. Good to have.

-camp soap.Used the camping soap to wash the dishes, my hair, my body and even as laundry detergent. Worked great.

-deodorant. Threw it out. Didn’t need it.

–tums. Good to have especially after some of those all you can eat buffets.

-travel towel. I grew to hate my travel towel. It’s  nothing more then a piece of felt that some genius decided to call a towel. It’s annoying to use. Using a real towel quickly became a big luxury that felt
extra good.

MISCELLANEOUS:

-transam maps. GOLD! I grew addicted to studying the maps. I obsessively read into each map, trying to understand what was ahead.

–donna ikenberry’s book about the transam. Excellent book. Well written and gives the rider a great heads up for what lies ahead for each day. This is definitely the best book out there about riding the
transam.

–small manual about bicycle repair. Sent home, didn’t need it.

-small sketchbook. Sent home, I was too busy writing this overly detailed/annoying journal.

-3m duct tape wallet w/ money, id, AAA card, etc.

-business cards w/ my cgoab address on it. I was glad not to write out my website address over and over and over again. It’s nice to have a card to give to everyone.

–sport suntan lotion spf 15. After I finished my bottle of the lotion I tried the aerosol suntan lotion. It left a layer of gunk on my skin that I couldn’t get off in the shower. Eventually I went back to the
old school lotion and kicked it up a notch to spf 30.

-eye glasses. I carried them just so I could use them when I saw Willy wonka but i ended up just forgetting them anyways. I carried them across the country for no reason.

-small notepad in handlebar bag w/ pen. Took a lot of notes while I was in the middle of the road.

-zip ties. Good to have

-duct tape. Good to have

-stuff sacks to organize all this crap

-ziplock bags. Everything lived inside a ziplock bag. Preferred the kind with the sliding plastic piece because it was easier to close.

-Health insurance. Dad took care of it

-vitamins

-maybe bring a small paperback book to read. I bought an architecture book in Missoula

WHAT I BOUGHT ON THIS TRIP:

A little fan for the tent. Coleman makes this little fan that magnetically clips to the inside of the tent and runs off of one D battery I bought it at Walmart city for like 11 bucks. If it wasn’t for this fan I wouldn’t have been able to sleep on REALLY hot nights.

A flashlight that straps to your head.

A spork.  Ditched all cooking utensils.

A mirror for the helmet. Halfway through the trip I sucked it up and bought a mirror. It took awhile to get used to but I wouldn’t do another tour without wearing one. It’s nice to be able to watch what’s going on behind you.

Gatorade Powder – It got too expensive buying Gatorade at all the stores so I just started mixing it myself. I prefer it watered down anyways.

I bought more stuff I can’t remember.  I’ll edit this page when I think of it.

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