Home sweet home...

I was a few items short for my touring trip. I needed an air mattress, a sleeping bag and a tent. All in the category small and light.
So I made a visit to my favourite outdoor shopping store REI. For the people that are not familiar with REI, REI is one of these stores where it is impossible to confine yourself to buying only to the items on your shopping list. In short I failed miserable...again.
Anyway...from the initial list, I ended up buying the 'Passage 1" as my cosy refuge on the camp-sites. It is a small tent for 1 person (hence Passage 1) with a small vestibule to store my pannier bags. 

The "Passage 1" from REI

For the sleeping bag I selected the "REI Travel Sack +55 Sleeping Bag" which is warm down to 55 degrees Fahrenheit (13 degrees Celsius). This bag only weights .77 kilogram at a size packed size of 6 x 11 inches (15 x 28 cm).

For the "the old body" I ended up buying the "Big Agnes Insulated Air Core Pad", a 2.5 inches thick sleeping pad that only weighs .68 kilogram at a packed size of 4 x 8 inches (10 x 20 cm).

During preparations for Triathlon races they always tell you "Don't try anything new on race-day!". In that same spirit, I should not wait with testing this new gear until my actual trip...right?
So guess who was laying in a way too small tent, on a way too hard pad, in a way too thin sleeping bag, in his own way to cold front yard this weekend?

Going Green

In the old days we used plain maps to navigate and mail to send a post-card to the home-front to let them know how we were doing.

In these modern times we use a GPS to navigate, and a cell-phone to call, text or email the family at home. Now the problem is that your bicycle doesn't have a cigarette lighter for your GPS , or the primitive camp-site doesn't have that 110 AC outlet to plug in your smart-phone. So what do you do? You go green!

After some searching on the web, I ended up on the AdaFruit website and found a USB / DC / Solar Lithium Ion/Polymer charger that I could use for charging a LiPoly battery with:

1. USB charger
2. A Solar Cell
3. Alternative 5 VDC source

As I mentioned earlier, I had my front wheel rebuild with a Generator Hub for lighting and...yes, now also for charging electronics!

Shimano DHS501 Generator Hub

The only thing I needed to design myself was a simple AC/DC converter that converts the 6 Volt AC from the Generator Hub into 5 Volt DC for the LiPoly battery charger.

Solar / Hub / LiPoly - USB Charger

With this final set-up, I can charge the LiPoly battery with the Generator Hub when riding my bicycle, or with the Solar Cell at the camp-site.
During the charging, or when the battery is full I can charge my GPS, Cellphone, or iPod by plugging them into the added USB charger aka MintyBoost.
How cool is that?!

Meet my bicycles.

A famous cyclist once said :"It's not about the bike". Well, I respectfully disagree. I am one of many that will claim: "It's ALL about the bike!" and you can never have too many of them! ;o)

Cannondale Tandem
The Cannondale has room two people; a large Captain and a small Stoker that is. In the past I would ride this tandem with my son, and occasionally with my wife.  Begin 2012 I joined the Blind Stoker Club San Diego and ride this tandem ones or twice a month with a visually impaired stoker.

Ride 2 for the Price of 1

Haro Werx

The Haro is my bike for off-road adventures in and around the San Diego Country Estates. The suspension makes the toughest roads a breeze. Last few years I have been focusing more on riding the paved roads, so the Haro is getting a bit dusty lately :o(

Dirty Har(ry)o

Litespeed Saber 
What you see is what you get: A very aerodynamic, fast, but Spartan ride. This is the bike that I ride during my triathlon races and upfront training rides.

The Fast and Furious

Salsa Vaya 
This is the latest addition to the bike family. I added pannier racks to the stock bike, and had Kirks Bikeshop rebuild my front wheel with a generator hub for lighting and charging electronics. I will talk more about this in a future post.

The Mule

The Vaya is my “mule” that will carry me and tens of pounds of gear on my planned 620 mile touring trip. I picked the bright orange frame and yellow Ortlieb panniers for visibility. A friend called it the "SpongeBob Bike" and told me to put 'spongebob' eyes and mouth on each of the panniers. I guess that would make me "Patrick Sea-star"?

The Pacific Coast Bicycle Route

Why cycling the Pacific Coast from San Francisco to San Diego?
Well...why not? As a kid I always wanted to bike from The Netherlands (where I was born) to southern France or Spain, but never did. One of those things that you always push off to a later time, and then never happen. Well we are going to change that!
So somewhere, sometime (probably while drinking a beer) I decide to investigate the options. I started reading some books about cycle-touring, and hinting my wife that I had no problem in having her go on a multi-day tennis tournament trip with her friends as long as I could do a little bike trip ;o)

So I ended up on  http://www.adventurecycling.org/ and picked the Pacific Coast Bicycle Route.
This route starts in Vancouver, British Columbia and ends at Imperial Beach, California. Because I only got approval for 5 working days off "me time" I had to cut it short and opted to ride leg 4 and 5.

The Pacific Coast Bicycle Route

Leg 4 starts at San Francisco, and ends in Santa Barbara. I plan to rent a car, drive up to San Jose on May 26th, and then take the train to San Francisco early Sunday morning. Then my journey start at the Golden Gate Bridge.

 

San Francisco to Santa Barbara

The second section (leg 5) is from Santa Barbara to Imperial Beach. I likely will take an early left (Oceanside or Encinitas), and go inland to Ramona where I life.

Santa Barbara to Imperial Beach

So the plan is to start the ride on May 27th, and see if we can make it back to Ramona on June 3rd. Until then preparing my gear, training for "saddle time", and keeping you guys in the loop.

Dutch Diesel?

Before starting any "serious" blogging, let me first explain the origin of 'Dutch Diesel'.
A few years ago we started a riding group with a few colleagues at the office. Soon after the first ride, the individual riders were given a 'nickname' by the other riders. Being Dutch and able to ride fast with slow cadence (like a diesel), I was quickly baptised the 'Dutch Diesel'.

The 'Dutch Diesel' logo

To make it official I created a custom logo and had it printed on a cycle jersey. So if you see a guy on a bicycle wearing above jersey...now you know the rest of the story!