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Forums / Winter bikepacking / Re: Face Warmth
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on: December 28, 2014, 02:43:18 PM
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Diving goggle rubber (liquid skin its called in most cases) freezes and becomes brittle, they wouldnt work that well. Jetski drivers add tape to their nose against the windchill. Ski goggles often fit to specific ski helmets. If your helmet pushes them down, you might want to get a ski helmet with integrated goggles. High alpine climber, ski and snowboarders buy Nose Guards. Google the term, you can hook them into the middle of your goggles in most cases. You can also buy goggles with integrated nose guard, just like you desribed, for example: http://maxsled.com/snowmobile/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Habervision_goggles.jpg
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Forums / Bikepacking / Re: The perfect bikepacking shoe
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on: November 07, 2014, 10:05:56 AM
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I usually ride with SPD sandals... did 10 months through Africa with Shimano sandals. On another tour I did most of Southamerica and Northamerica (18months) with noname SPD sandals and a pair of Lake mountainbike shoes. They were even better, and now I got a second pair of the sandals, rode across western Africa and Europe this summer with them. They'd even work when it gets colder, just wear a pair of sealskinz (water/windproof socks) and merino inside, but you'd look pretty silly.
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Forums / Bikepacking / Re: I've cycled through over 100 countries - Want to share the experience
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on: November 06, 2014, 04:25:38 AM
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yooper, if you mostly camp your daily budget is probably less than 10$. Accomodation is also rather cheap down there, I dont think you'd ever need more than 30$ a day, even if you sleep in a hostel or hotel every night. Big cities might be more expensive, but I'd use the extra money for things like diving or entry fees, for example Tikal. Belize has some awesome cave tubing too, and they all speak english. I really liked that place. SkinnyTraffic, Thanks I had no issues with border crossings. You count as pedestrian, just pay the 5$ fee/taxes/whatever and you are good. Than again, I'm German, a EU passport helps a lot. US americans might need visas for a couple of countries, I only needed a single one, for Suriname. The only place you cant cross by bike is the Dariens gap, between Panama and Columbia. They purposly dont build a road there to stop illegal immigration and slow down drug traffic, and some more reasons (national park, indigiones people) you have to fly or boat around it. Oh, and Guyana and Venezuela share a border, but have no bordercrossings. I had to make a 800km detour from Guyana to Brazil, then from Brazil to Venezuela, but that wasnt so bad.
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Forums / Bikepacking / Re: I've cycled through over 100 countries - Want to share the experience
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on: November 05, 2014, 03:41:11 AM
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Except "learn Spanish", I cant really say anything, because the question is rather broad. There is lots to see and to do in Central America, I never had any problems with the people, but it can be quite unpleasant because of the heat and humidity. Its also quite hilly.
Isla de Ometepe was one of my favourites, as is Tulum and Cenote Diving, the bay islands in Honduras, Panama City feels a bit like Miami (and everyone seems to speak English there), and you got tons of Maya sites to see. Palenque, Copan, Tikal and Chichen Itza, those I remember the most.
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Forums / Bikepacking / Looking for feedback - my proposed gear for a 1 year trip
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on: November 03, 2014, 10:09:29 AM
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Hey everyone, I got most of my equipment together and wanted to know if it can be done better, or if some parts are superfluous. Imgur gallery with 15 pics, gear and bike.The gear is for a tour from Germany through Russia this winter, start is this December. I will take the tran-sib train for large parts (because of the short visa), then cycle in Mongolia, China... take a ferry to Southkorea and Japan, and once it gets warmer I want to send the two pannier bags back home. I guess its 4-5 month to Japan, its so short because of the train, which will cut off several thousand kilometers of the bike trip. I'll then go to Taiwan, Hongkong and back into mainland China to start the silkroad with just framebags. A full set of Apidura bags and a 26L backpack, which is hopefully mostly empty. I'd rather not have more than 5kg in it. The route will be China, Central Asia, Iran and Turkey, with my final destination being Istanbul some time in autumn next year. Which gives me about 6 months for the Silkroad. Its about 12.000km, and I did 10.000km this summer in 3 months... the terrain might be more difficult, but I think it should be fine. EDIT: I removed a bit of clothing, saved a kilogram. Here is a list with weights: http://lighterpack.com/r/b5hptj
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Forums / Winter bikepacking / Re: Water and winter bikepacking
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on: November 03, 2014, 10:02:23 AM
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I always had the hose of water bladders freeze, no matter if they are insulated or not. I use thermos bottles now, I melt snow in the morning and it keeps liquid for 24h, no problem.
If you make 1L of boiling water it stays hot for most of the day. You can drink a bit of it, then fill it back up with snow... that way you get over twice the amount of liquid in the end, because you keep refilling with snow, as long as the water has a bit of heat in it.
I wouldnt want to rely on electronics, especially when they are used in water AND in the extreme cold. Both are hostile to electric devices.
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Forums / Bikepacking / Re: I've cycled through over 100 countries - Want to share the experience
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on: October 30, 2014, 04:51:35 PM
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What does a typical day look like from a standpoint of miles, meals, sleeping arrangements, etc?
Thats impossible to answer, considering that I used 6 different bikes by now, ridden in countries were I mostly lived of fastfood (USA) or very healthy vegetarian cuisine (India) and everything in between. I've slept in 4-star hotels and the shadiest brothels, in guestrooms of friendly hosts and in a bivy on construction sites, in hostels and my tent(s). I've done a 4 week tour through Scandinavia with 210km daily average, but had only 30km or so on average in one year of Southamerica. (not because its more difficult, but because I just cycled less days and spend more days doing something else) There is no one particular, average way of doing things, for example my last tour was with 10kg of luggage on a road bike, my next one is with 35-40kg of luggage on a fully. Obviously mileage will vary, but doing less than 100km a day I'd see as personal failure, so its usually a bit more than that, but I dont have an overall average that I try to keep. Just go with the flow... sometimes I stay a while without cycling at all, on another occasion I rode 24h in a row. Meals: I dont use a stove, so its mostly supermarket food or restaurants. Depends on the country of course. I have a Multifuel stove that I used 3 times in 10 months going to Capetown, so I ditched it and did the next tour with a pennystove, a selfbuild alcohol stove... my girlfriend and me used it exactly 2 times in 18 months, since then I dont carry cooking gear at all... and look at me now, I will take the Multifuel and an Esbit stove as backup on my next trip, because I will need to melt a lot of snow and ice to get drinking water. are there a couple of places you would like to visit again?
I am quite fond of Cairo, Istanbul and Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, and can see how on my next trip I could develope the same fondness for Hongkong or Tokyo... country-wise its difficult to say, but India is high on the list, as is Nepal and any other highly mountainous region, like Patagonia or Switzerland. If I'd come back to these places with proper mountaineering gear and in the right season, oh yeah Now that I think of it, I've been thrice to Istanbul, thrice to Cairo and four times in Bangkok and KL. O.o
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Forums / Question and Answer / Re: Sleeping Bag Liners/Vapor Barrier Liner
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on: October 29, 2014, 03:06:02 AM
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I dont know anyone who used it, but if the website doesnt do false advertisement and it really is used by police, military and the like... it should be fine.
I myself use a mountain Equipment Ultralite Bivi. Its 100 grams, practically a more durable, less noisy mylar blanket in sleeping bag form. Its my VBL for inside the winter sleeping bag. Its not a replacement for a normal sleeping bag of course, but you can use it as bivy, to get some more insulation/waterproofness on top of your sleeping bag, or as VBL inside. I paid 20€ for it.
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Forums / Bikepacking / Re: I've cycled through over 100 countries - Want to share the experience
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on: October 27, 2014, 02:53:51 AM
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The traffic is the biggest danger, no matter where you are. Some places had me ride with military or police escort, like Somalia. Others had questionable wildlife, some national parks in Africa mostly. I remember seeing a sign that said "Pedestrians and Cyclists, please beware of lions", which isn't really that helpful.
I had a few things stolen here and there, most notably my handlebar bag on a boat on the Amazon, one of my bikes (in Frankfurt, Germany, of all places), and some cash in Indonesia.
I have a Abus Bordo to lock my bike, its a folding lock, weights about 1 kg. I often think that I should replace it with something lighter, but always end up taking that one, because its the safest lock I own. The bags I carry with me, or park the bike right next to the window if I stop in a restaurant.
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Forums / Question and Answer / Re: Sleeping Bag Liners/Vapor Barrier Liner
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on: October 26, 2014, 02:47:19 AM
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If your sleeping bag is synthetic, you dont need a VBL. If you have temperatures above freezing, or only spend 1-2 nights with temperatures below freezing, you probably dont need one either. I often use a silk inlet, mainly to keep the sleeping bag cleaner. I had a look at fleece inlets for the extra warmth, but they are rather large. I rather wear more clothing, be it fleece or merino wool baselayers. At least thats multifunctional, you can use it in the sleeping bag for extra isolation and wear it at day as clothing. Better than the inlet. If you never tried VBLs and have a short tour ahead, try taping 2 trash bags together, that simulates it rather well. At least you can test it and see if its for you or not. I honestly dont think that the weather in your region gets cold enough that you'd need one.
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Forums / Bikepacking / Re: I've cycled through over 100 countries - Want to share the experience
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on: October 26, 2014, 02:23:37 AM
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7.5 years, on and off. Longest stretches were 18 months, 12 months, 10 months in one go, otherwise its usually 3-6 months followed by an equal amount in Germany. Next tour will be about 12 months again.
I saved some money, sold my Magic the Gathering card collection (I played on tournaments, so they were worth about 1 year of travelling), I have a passive income (rent), which allows me to pay insurances, taxes and have about 450$ left, I wrote a computer game mod (which is free, but people can donate), I get free gear from companies (In theorie I could sell it after each tour, but so far I rather keep it. For the next tour throuch Siberia to Japan and back I got about 6300€ worth of equipment, so if I'd sell it afterwards for 50% of its value, I could go on the next trip), and odd jobs on the way.
Also not-drinking, not-smoking and generally being thoughtful about spendings helps.
I do take breaks, but not to work. I do other things, like trip planning, resting, coding (for fun, which might also generate a bit of money, but thats not the point), and online/sponsoring stuff, which is hard to do from on-the-road.
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Forums / Bikepacking / I've cycled through over 100 countries - Want to share the experience
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on: October 25, 2014, 01:46:00 PM
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Hey guys, I recently moved my focus to frame bags and already did one tour without a rack or pannier bags, namely a Sahara Crossing. I've cycled ~10.000km from Liberia to northern Italy. I used a fancy pants carbon road bike and strapped gear to the frame as I saw fit. Since I liked it, I moved to proper bike packing and got a full set of Apidura bags. They will go on my Fully on my next tour, through the Siberian winter, the plan is to cycle to Japan and back. I'll use trains along the way on the way there, mostly because the visas for Russia and China are rather short. The way back will be all bike, along the Silkroad. Before that I've done tours through every country in Northamerica, Centralamerica, Southamerica, Europe (one country missing), 25 countries in Africa, 18 countries in Asia and Australia & NZ (no cycling in those two, just normal backpacking). I've seen a lot of tour reports on this site, but its mostly people on weekend trips, 1-2 week vacations or races... not so much from long-term bike travellers. So I thought: "If I can't find info on this site, maybe I should be the one to give it." So, this is it. If you got any questions about the gear I use, the bike(s), tours, countries, etc, feel free to ask here and I'll answer the best I can. You can find the link to my website (and in extension to picture galleries, social media and some short tour reports) in my signature.
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Forums / Question and Answer / Re: trailer vs paniers for the Great Divide
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on: October 25, 2014, 01:28:31 PM
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Ah, that does make a lot more sense. I googled it and got quite a few german acronyms from it, none of which fit in the slightest. So it's a bike route that follows the Continental Divide Trail, interesting. I read a bit up on it, lots of elevation gain, passes and mostly on gravel... I'd certainly take bags on the bike over the trailer in that case.
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