December means (for a lot of us) one
thing: friggin cold hands and feet. On this episode of the podcast,
let's see if we can find some ways for keeping hands and feet warm
on bike tour, and maybe even your chilly commutes! Also, followup
on past shows and connections with you!
Hey it's the direct download link: The
Pedalshift Project 064: Keeping hands and feet warm on bike
tour (mp3)
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Gear Talk: Keeping hands and feet warm
- Layers, keep things dry
- No cotton, only synthetics or wool (I prefer wool)
- Wind chill is a real thing: need a way to break that
Keeping hands warm
Three tools:;
- thin base layer glove that breathes
- Medium weight warm glove
- wind and waterproof outer shell - mittens or lobster style
are upgrades (get one size larger)
Dry and not too cold?
Base layer or shell only
Wet and not too cold?
shell only
Dry and chilly
Base layer and medium weight
Wet and chilly or colder
All three layers
Keeping feet warm
Had good luck with Showers Pass waterproof
socks.
Same rules apply... go with layers and breathability next to
the skin.
Little sandwich baggies around your toes work
wonders!
Followup
Winter touring - Meridian, MS to Atlanta, GA
FOTS Paul Mulvey: Amtrak
Crescent to Meridian, MS, then ride back through Tuscaloosa (Auburn
U, another school with orange), Birmingham, and then onto the
south’s gem - the Chief Ladiga/Silver Comet trail, and take that
all the way home. About 370 miles over 6 days which gives me a good
tour. I can also hop onto the train and don’t have to worry about
shipping the bike to the destination.
Testing alcohol stoves
PS Society member Brian Hren tests an
eBay stove, the Trangia MJ uses and a design of his own:
eBay stove boiled 16 ounces of waterin 5 minutes, Trangia
in 8 and my homemade "penny" stove in 10. In terms of fuel
efficiency I found the Trangia most efficient, followed by my penny
stove and lastly the eBay stove. The Trangia and eBay stoves with
their pot stands weigh roughly the same. The penny stove with its
homemade pot stand weighs less than half the other two. I
am thinking I could get the best of both if I used the Trangia
burner with the homemade pot stand.
YMMV of course.
Fuel efficiency seems like a good reason to go with the
Trangia for me!
Connections
Interesting read because it straight up says it's a cheap
tent, but can be upgraded with some simple fixes (seam sealing,
adding grommets, velcro, etc.)
I'm a bit of a claustrophobe and prefer freestanding tents,
but this seems like a good entry level bivy for beginner bike
packers. Downside is they make it up in shipping: both options are
around $15. Still, for a little over $40 total, this is cheaper
than most low end bivys.
Cycling Kiwi Style
FOTS Mark Van Raam did some cycling in
New Zealand and had a good experience!
More five star iTunes reviews too - thank
you!
Programming note!
I'm off to Portland tomorrow for a quick holiday visit, so
hope to have some stuff from the land of sunshine and bunnies.
Newsletter is NEXT WEEK, along with a bonus pod so be sure to sign
up for the newsletter if you haven't already. Next episode of
this show is the year-end Pedalshift Holiday Spectacular.
Producer Shifty the Elf is already hard at work pulling it
together...
Pedalshift Society
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Music
The Pedalshift Project theme is America courtesy of
Jason Kent off his self-titled solo album which celebrated its
TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY last month. Congrats Jason! Check
out his band Sunfields' album, Habitat, wherever cool
music resides. I heard Jason's new album in January and it is
AWESOME. More info when that drops!