Telegraph Cove

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Gordon

Recent pics of an eleven day sea kayaking trip to the Broughton Islands off of Vancouver Island. The Broughtons offer endless small islands to explore, paddle or camp. The biggest trip obstacle is the Johnstone Strait crossing (3km) which you navigate leaving and returning to the Telegraph Cove. We rented a double sea kayak from North Island Kayaks out of Telegraph Cove, British Columbia. Telegraph Cove makes for a very easy putin/takeout location. You can organize out of the Telegraph Cove Resort campground or go luxurious with one of their cabins on the Cove’s boardwalk. Getting yourself and your backpacking gear to Telegraph Cove is really all you need to do logistically to make this trip happen. We flew from Vancouver to Port Hardy, BC, you can get a cab at the airport, we negotiated a 45 minute grocery stop at the IGA in Port McNeill with our driver (Reg, Rainbox Taxi, 250 956 8294). You can buy last minute items at the small dockside store in Telegraph Cove. Many sea kayakers or boaters; short on time, use various water taxis to get shuttled out into the Broughtons. The rates seem to vary greatly, but expect $400 to $600 for any destinations beyond Johnstone Strait.

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Euro Tour Gear List

Posted on July 19, 2010 by Gordon

REI Flash Pack, Bontrager Trunk, Soma bottle, & Relevate Frame Bag

Note… This post and my gear list has been updated. This my bike touring gear list for a self-support bike packing trip. I am riding with a small hydration-shaped pack, a rear rack trunk bag, a top tube frame bag and a Soma water cage container. My new golden threshold for bike touring is no more than 10 pounds (for all gear less your daily bike clothing). If you bring more, your bike will ride funny and you will feel the extra weight going uphill. This gear list includes; a 2-man tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, full bike clothing, 2 sets of evening clothing, electronics, and toiletry. This is the bare minimum setup. It took much shopping and research to find the lightest outdoor and camping gear available. Thanx to Willy and Tara for making me rethink my gear and making it even lighter.

Trunk Bag and Riding/Hiking Pack

-Bontrager Trunk Deluxe (Trek Interchange System)
Note: This model has built-in rain condom.

-Relevate Touring Frame Bag (on top tube)
Note: That this Frame Bag will only fit 54 inch top tube bike frames, if your bike frame is smaller you must request a custom-made shorter bag from Relevate.

-REI Flash Pack (No Hydration bag)

Camping Gear

-ThermaRest Neo Air 3/4 Length Sleeping Pad

-Western Mountaineering Sleeping Bag

-2 man TarpTent Note: that the Cloudburst tent poles are carried in the Relevate Frame Bag

-6 tent alum tent pegs

Bike Clothing

-Pearlizumi X-Road Shoes (Hybrid: bikeSPD/hike)

-Pearlizumi Riding Shorts

-Pearlizumi leggings

-Assos Full Zipper Jersey

-Assos Full Zipper/Sleve Riding Jacket

-Cateye Riding Helmet

-2 pairs riding socks

-1 pair riding gloves

-Pearlizumi glove liners

-Pearlizumi wind vest The Sugoi Rain Jacket works fine as a wind breaker.

-Sugoi Rain Jacket

Evening Clothing

-Bison Belt (nylon webbing/Fastex belt buckle)

-REI Adventure pants

-Pearlizumi Black Nylon Stretch pants

-one dress shirt (optional)

-Mammut Jasper Zip Pull Men

-Nylon Baseball Hat

-Pile Hat

-Ecco Sandals Mens: Crocs Melbourne Slip Ons. I have switched to the Crocs Slip Ons because the pack smaller than the Ecco Scandals. They are very comfortable and my feet don’t get as wet as with scandals. Obviously, evening shoes are very personal. Women seem to like: Lenoras, but women’s shoes are a black hole, so I will stay clear of any recommendations.

-1 pair high socks

-3 synthetic Patagonia underwear

-MontBell Ultra-Light Down Jacket (7 oz.)
This the best piece of evening/morning clothing I bring!

-toliet bag

-ThermaRest Pillow bag

-REI medium Backpacking Towel

-nylon bathing suit

Small Items

-Apple iPhone 4 32GB (unlocked/jailbroken)**, iPhone headphones, & USB Cable/Charger

-Movistar SIM card

-Transcend 64GB Solid State Hard Drive (***work files)

-1GB Flash SSD memory stick

-Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS camera & USB Cable iPhone4 camera is my only camera now.

-Compact nylon grocery bag

-Lexan Spoon

-2 very small plastic bowls

-waterproof Dry-Pak for camera or iPhone.

-Headlight

-Folding reading glasses

-NA to Euro plug adapter

-mini carabiners

Bike Gear

-Richey Breakaway Cross Bike

-Bontrager Rear Rack (Trek Interchange System)

-Soma Gear Storage Rack Bottle (fluids or gear)

This a good place to store the Sugoi Rain jacket, very accessible.

-Rear Rack light

-Knog Front light

-Lightweight bike lock

-Slime Skabs patches

-Blackburn AirStix pump 58 grams

-pant leg straps/reflectors

-water bottle

**Digitally Stored on iPhone
-Books (iPhone Kindle format) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
-Music
-Michelin Road Atlas (Portugal, Spain, France) as photos

***Adobe Web Studio, Mac SnowLeopard OS, Microsoft Office Suite (Mac), Client sites (24GB)

Posted in Bike Packing, Cycling | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Revelate Frame Bag

Posted on July 16, 2010 by Gordon

Tangle Frame Bag on a 54 inch frame

The hotter mountain bike rider and version

Just got my upgraded and longer bike frame bag from Revelate out of Alaska. The good news is that my Cloudburst Tarptent poles fit in this frame bag (as well as the two-man tent). I no longer need to stuff the tent poles out of the top of my hydration-like pack (REI Flash Pack) and I no longer will be carrying anything slashed to my handlebars. This frame pack is much larger and longer than the Jandd frame pack. Check out the Revelate site, plenty of core bikepackers doing their thing world-wide. Eric from Revelate seems like a kewl dude and I like his WordPress site. I just need him as client now for the pro form deals :-)

FYI… This frame bag will not fit a top tube less than 54″ without a customization request; which I think Eric can do.

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