Equipment For "bike Ms City To Shore" Ride

[Mr. Beanz]

Chamois Butt'r is very nice stuff when riding.

Bob

Did you get the tubes or tubs?

 

[BobCochran]

I have an 8 ounce tube. I'm going to squirt some into a much smaller squeeze bottle (of the kind sold by the Container Store) and bring it with me to New Jersey for the Bike MS ride. I want to be "ready to ride": everything needed in one bag that goes on the bike, including my clothes. I think I only need two more things: arm warmers, and and JST electrical connectors to help me connect a solar charger to my iPhone. I want to put a solar panel on my bike rack, connect it to a charge controller, and then connect the controller to the phone. I pedal, the sun shines, and the phone gets nicely charged up. Don't worry, I won't do any music or headphones or texting while I'm riding. I will bicycle 100% according to the rules. (Smile.)

 

[Mr. Beanz]

Tube, oh OK. I wanted to know so that I could give you a little pointer or two if you had gotten the tube, which you did.

1). I am the kind of guy that likes the most for my money. So when it comes to toothpaste etc, I squeeze the heck out of it. Not a cheap guy but I just believe if they say you get *** ounces, then I want my *** ounces.

At the end of my first tube, I tried to squeeze but could tell there was still some in there by the weight of the tube, felt top heavy. I ended up cutting off the shoulders of he tube then scraping out the excess with a popsicle stick. I placed that in a small container which resulted in 3 more rides than had I just tossed the tube at that point. I got my money's worth! :lol:

2) the European style that comes in a tub works fine too. Some like ti better, I think it all works fine though it's a bit different from the tube cream. The euro style has a menthol feeling. It's a funny feeling for the first couple of miles or so, especially if you get off the seat. Kind of a wintergreen fresh feeling down there ha ha ha! No biggie but I have met some that don't care for it.

3) Some dude at a bike shop talked me into trying Junk Jam. Said it only takes half as much. I found that to untrue and not only that but the container although the same size, has only half the product, 4 OZ! :angry: Don't waste your money on it, it sucks! :angry:

4) I think I Mentioned this already but ordering online I chose it as a product to put me over the minimum free shipping requirement. I'd rather spend another $12 to get free shipping than pay $8 for nothing.

 

[BobCochran]

Ha ha, yes I understand what you mean about getting every ounce one can out of those tubes. The tube does look like it will still have a lot of unused product sticking to the inside of it after it is "empty". I plan to follow your popsicle stick suggestion. I too want every last milliliter that I paid for. I can then convert the cleaned-out tube to an interesting LED display that will thrill my grandchildren.

I'll try some of the menthol (European) Chamois Butt'r too and experiment.

Bob

 

[Volnix]

Do these solar thingies work well? Won't it be lighter/simpler to just get a power bank thingie?

 

[maydog]

Power banks are pretty cheap, I can get a ~2000mAh for $5 to $10 at the local hardware store (Menards).

Using a power bank and a run of the mill smartphone, I can run strava for more than 9 hours and still have ~50% battery capacity on the phone. That beats relying on having direct sunshine.

 

[Uawadall]

Good luck with your event Bob! I've only been to one(last weekend), but I had a blast!Like everyone else has mentioned, don't worry too much about supplies or getting lost. Just bring the basics, this event seems to be well organized and there will be people to assist you in a worst case scenario. You'll also have your phone just in case .

 

[maydog]

Power banks are pretty cheap, I can get a ~2000mAh for $5 to $10 at the local hardware store (Menards).

Using a power bank and a run of the mill smartphone, I can run strava for more than 9 hours and still have ~50% battery capacity on the phone. That beats relying on having direct sunshine.

I should note that is with the screen off, using Strava realtime for speed and route info will use a lot more power.

 

[BobCochran]

Do these solar thingies work well? Won't it be lighter/simpler to just get a power bank thingie?

Hi Volnix, I don't really know the answer to that -- I'm in that "not enough experience" category. I'm going to bring a 6 watt solar panel with me if the weather forecast is for sun, otherwise I will leave it at home. I have the right sort of charge controller purchased from Adafruit Industries. All that remains is to discover whether this combination of hardware can charge up my phone while I pedal along. I'm also not certain whether rain will just give me a nice short circuit. I will see what I can do to protect the charging circuit.

Thanks a ton

Bob

 

[BobCochran]

Good luck with your event Bob! I've only been to one(last weekend), but I had a blast!Like everyone else has mentioned, don't worry too much about supplies or getting lost. Just bring the basics, this event seems to be well organized and there will be people to assist you in a worst case scenario. You'll also have your phone just in case .

Thanks a ton, Uawadall! I will see what happens this coming Saturday.

Bob