Tips, Cheap Tricks and Creative Solutions: (ok, some aren't that creative)

The bicycle is just as good company as most husbands and, when it gets old and shabby, a woman can dispose of it and get a new one without shocking the entire community. ~Ann Strong

Note: As I update this page, I'll put the most recent additions at the top. That way, if you've read this page before, you can stop when you see something familiar!

I'm a detail kind of person, and while I'm not exceptionally mechanical and can't sew or weld or anything like that, I do like figuring out ways to do things better. Not all of the things on this page are original with me, but here's where I'm going to put the details that won't show up in pictures or in my stories. Also, not all of these things will end up with me on the trip--they're just things I've found helpful along the way...

Homemade Map Holder

I made a mapholder out of an old flexible CD case that fits the ACA maps and my aero bars perfectly. I used a hot knife to melt slots for the zip tie holding it to the bars. Binder clips hold the map in place and can be used as clothespins when not in use. The map goes in a baggie when it needs water protection.

Fifty-cent Fender

First trip out in the rain showed me I probably needed at least a rear fender. I live in an industrial area, so the road grime is really gross. Problem is, there's no room for fenders on this bike. My old rear rack had a platform, which is all I had needed before. So I cut up a plastic folder and zip tied it to the rack for a platform. Then I thought I needed a longer flap on it, so I "sewed" a flap onto the rack, too.

Peanut Butter Jar Tool Box

Here's an empty 18 oz. jar of Jif (extra crunchy, of course, but that doesn't really matter!) pressed into service as a waterproof tool box. The little jar takes a little space and weight out of your panniers and allows you to get at the tools you use most often without unpacking anything. It fits securely in a water bottle cage and keeps some weighty things low and in the center of the bike. Plus it just looks kinda cool.

I haven't decided what all will be going in the jar, but you can get an idea of what will fit in it in this next picture. I've wrapped everything in a small piece of tyvek to minimize things rattling around (also helped by putting a little section of an old tube around each noisy item. The tyvek provides a small place to spread out tools while fixing something (and can be an emergency tire boot). The jar lid act like a little tray for keeping track of little parts like screws so you don't lose them in the grass or gravel on the side of the road. At one point, I glued a magnet in the lid to secure small metal parts, too.

Contents of Tool Box (yet to be finalized, but you get the idea)

Freezer Bag Cooking

OK, this isn't my idea AT ALL, but whoever came up with this is genius. Someone from the phred list posted this link, and it's simplified everything about meal planning for me. Freezer Bag Cooking is a way to plan great meals and minimize clean up all at the same time. The website lists recipes for meals and snacks that can easily be prepared on the road by adding boiling water to a freezer bag full of dry ingredients and letting it sit in a pot cozy (aka my stocking cap). You eat right out of the bag and only have to clean your spoon. This is great for me since it capitalizes on my Jetboil's specialty (boiling water) and my aversion to clean up.

Here's a picture of one of my favorites, the Curried Vegetable CousCous both in its uncooked and cooked versions. The plan for the road is to make up some of these bags without the staple ingredient (rice, pasta, oatmeal, etc.) and add that staple along the way, having more ingredient bags sent to me on the road or making up a few days' worth from a good grocery stop.

Curried Vegetable CousCous. It may not look like much, but it smells and tastes great!

Potato Bag Ditty Sack

These would be good for organizing things in my bags...if I ate more potatoes and had more than one bag. Obviously not waterproof, but some people have mentioned the benefits of a mesh sack so you don't have to put wet things in plastic bags. So here's my mesh bag, complete with a dental floss drawstring threaded through the mesh.

Double Sided Velcro

I love this stuff. Eliminates the need for straps and bungee cords. I saw someone with this on a bike camping weekend last summer and just had to have it (I'm a simple girl, I know). You don't need to worry about having the exact lengths for anything since you can just attach the pieces together to get a longer strip. I have cut some to the lengths for common uses, though. The ones that go around my rain pants legs double as the ones that hold can my little radio to my bike (rain = no radio, no rain = radio). It's solid enough that it's holding a tail light to my seatpost for commuting. I have to order more, so I'll find other places for it, too. Just watch the rough side around your lycra.

Fishing Gloves

I've mentioned elsewhere how I hate being cold, and my fingers always seem cold on my bike in any temperature lower than 55 or 60 degrees. I've tried fleece glove/mitten combos (the kind where the mitten flips onto the back of your hand to let you use your fingers when you need the dexterity), but they weren't really warm enough and any moisture in the air got them wet. I don't want to carry around wet fleece. Cycling-specific gloves (or any really quality waterproof gloves) were too expensive.

Solution: I found these fishing gloves on clearance at a local Rural King. They are neoprene on the back, which is great as a windbreaker and good for water resistance. I'm not sure what the palm is made of--some sort of plastic/fabric something. While these aren't waterproof (there is lycra in between the fingers), they're great for what I need them for (except there's no place to wipe snot on). They block wind and even light rain while giving some breathability through the lycra so my hands don't get sweaty and chilled. As an added bonus, the cuff is just long enough to fit below the cuff of my regular cycling gloves, which I layer under these, so the cuffs aren't right on top of each other as they have been with other gloves I've tried. And if I need to have them totally waterproof, I'll add a layer of dishwashing gloves. Yup...the bright yellow ones you can get anywhere for a dollar or two.

Business Cards

Other people have talked about how helpful it is to have business cards so you don't have to write out your website/email all the time. I did these on my home computer and laser printer.

Amazing Tyvek Tarp/Groundcloth/Bike Cover/Emergency Bivy

I've never used a ground cloth with my tent, and I've never taken along a bike tarp on a trip. But then again, I'm usually camping out of the trunk of my car with a weekend weather report in hand, and if I'm not on the bike, it's in the trunk. With the beginnings of my bike touring career, though, I started looking into getting or making a ground cloth for my tent. Since my tent of many years isn't anything close to best money can buy (when I got it, it was the best money could buy at the Target discount store on a college-student budget), I knew I wouldn't be able to purchase one from the company, and given that the ground cloth is basically another piece of fabric, I knew it would be cheaper to make my own anyway.

In my internet research on nylon, sil-nylon, and plastic sheets, I saw at least a few hikers touting the benefits of Tyvek as a lightweight, durable alternative to pricier options. They recommended going to a construction site and obtaining the material for free by asking for scraps from the site (and if a girl in lycra can't get free Tyvek, who can?). Luckily, two members of the local bike club work construction and were able to special deliver a piece for me.

While I was waiting for my delivery, I began thinking about the shape of my tent and the possibility of doubling the cloth to make a tarp to cover my bike. After measuring the tent and my bike with its panniers on, I made a paper model and decided the idea was feasible. I'd just have to fold over the extra material when I used the tarp as a ground cloth. (Notes: in pictures, the folds are held with binder clips, which I won't use under the tent; also, I got a different tent after I took these pictures, but I should be able to use the same tarp and not have to worry about folding it so much when it's used as a groundcloth.)

Tarp as groundcloth (2 layers of Tyvek here)

Unfolded, it can be used as bike tarp. The binder clips are nice here to secure the front and back of the tarp and make an envelope for the bike. I used duct tape partway down each end, but the clips secure the rest without removing the flexibility. I also used a clip near the bottom bracket to keep the wind from blowing the sides apart. (Not that there was much wind in my apartment at the time!)

As I had hoped, there is enough room for me under the tarp, too, in case of a sudden roadside storm. I have my rear panniers on in this picture, but there's room for me even with front panniers on, too. I may keep a small piece of Tyvek handy for sitting on if I'm ever forced under here in a storm or use one of my pannier's rain covers as a seat.

Since everything you take on tour should serve two or three purposes, I'm happy to report that the tarp has exceeded expectations and provided a fourth use: bivy sack (sort of). Here's Teddy with my Therma-Rest inside the tarp. I can fold over the edges and use the clips to secure the bottom and edges from all but the most determined bugs. Tyvek is a moisture barrier, so don't expect much ventilation. In fact, it's probably much like sleeping in a plastic bag so remember to leave yourself some ventilation around your head for breathing and comfort. You can also sleep on top of the tarp for those nights when you don't need to use your tent.

Tarp as an emergency bivy or for those days you don't want to set up a tent

The tarp with duct tape along the top to help form the center ridge and seven binder clips weighs in at just over 13 ounces. I fold it to about 8 x 8 x 2 inches and store it in a reused US Postal Service Priority Mail Tyvek envelope. Total cost? About 10 feet of duct tape and less than a dollar's worth of clips. The biggest weakness is that I can't use it as a bike cover and groundcloth at the same time. Oh well...

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