On this episode

We’re trying something new: retelling my favorite bike touring story.

[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/pedalshift/Pedalshift008.mp3″]
hey, it’s the direct download link for episode 008! (mp3)

The Journal

This month, The Pedalshift Project is an all-journal version, focusing on my favorite bike touring story… The Sweater. Interested in more of this kind of podcast? Or did you miss The Lab too much this month? Let me know what you think… pedalshiftproject@gmail.com.

Oh, and if you want to read the original version of this, it appeared over at my other blog Uncommonly Silly in a post called If You Want to Destroy My Sweater. I know. Weezer. I mention that too.

Because I must, here’s the sweater:

Subscribe + Connect

Hey, The Pedalshift Project is on iTunes (we’ve even been featured in the Outdoors section already!) but if you like you can use your favorite aggregator (like iCatcher on your iPhone for instance), with old timey RSS. Email me at pedalshiftproject@gmail.com – I’d love to bring more voices to the show!

Music

The Pedalshift Project theme is America courtesy of Jason Kent off his debut album. Check out his band Sunfields‘ new release, Habitat, including this track, wherever cool music resides:

Music featured in The Sweater by Perception_of_music, used under license.

Dopey tech note: if you use the great podcast app Overcast and have smart speed on, it totally and irrevocably messes with the musical interludes and transitions. Turn em off for the best experience….

On this episode

Why I’m lukewarm on trying Warm Showers… Travel Insurance and why you may want it…The final tally – did I make money on my Pacific Coast tour?

hey, it’s the direct download link for episode 007! (mp3)

Big congrats to Sprocket Podcast on their 200th episode. We have a ways to go for a monthly(ish) show to roll the odometer that much around here!

The Journal

Next tours…
TransAm?
3 months(ish)
Circumnavigating Lake Ontario?
9 days
Pittsburgh-DC (for real this time)
5-6 days
Hoping to find time for some weekend ones this fall, maybe some S24Os? Maybe some winter riding and camping? Happy to be home and connecting with loved ones now.

Accommodations + Warm Showers
I run into a lot of people who love Warm Showers and couch surfing
The price is right… free and sometimes bartered work
Why am I lukewarm?
I’d feel obligated to be social when I might not be in the headspace
I like my own space and I’m willing to pay for it
I meet people in other contexts where there isn’t a layer of quid pro quo
I realize my hesitations don’t really match others experiences!
What’s your Warm Showers experience like? Are you all in?

The Lab

Insurance?
Your coverage may not work outside of your region, and almost assuredly outside your country!
Learned I took a bigger risk than I thought in Canada
Supplemental travel policies are (often) insanely cheap compared to the potential risk
Experiment: finding a good supplemental provider or see if notice to my insurer is sufficient
Complication: Extended to insuring against theft, etc. can muddy the waters

Resources:
Insurance for bicycle tours (Traveling Two)
Long term cycling insurance (Shane Cycles)

Pedalpreneur

• The final tally!
• Total adjusted rental revenues – $5094
• Total tour expenses (including cleaning fees for cabin, additional iPad charges, etc.) – $2929.77
• Miscellaneous cash expenses – approximately $200
• Total “profit” for this tour was $1964.23. Not bad!
• Interesting discoveries:
  • I spent *way* more than I thought – would have guessed $500 less
  • 5 hotel nights = biggest tour expense after cabin cleaning costs
  • Expenses were very back ended in the tour, as expected
  • I visited a lot of places with “brewery” or “brewing” in the name
  • Safeway and Starbucks got the most repeat visits
  • I’m still ticked off the ants got my pie from Simply Pies in Santa Barbara
• Lessons:
  • When you aren’t worried about controlling costs, you will spend like a drunken sailor
  • I don’t regret many purchases because each one has a pretty fond memory (which is worth more than the purchase)
  • I got way more out of $3000 spent on an experience than a $3000 consumer good
  • I’m really fortunate to be able to have this opportunity – but if I can do it, I know others can too

Connections

Hugo!
thanks for the mail…wel i left the usa…i am now in thailand,until the end of september,wil work until the end of januari.
after 4 months of working wil leave for…i dont know yet.
take care and maybe see you again,hugo

cyclelover.net

Thanks to Scott for mentioning Pedalshift amongst some big names – very honored!

Thanks for the feedback on Episode 006’s interviews with my fellow tourists. I hope to do a lot more of that. Speaking of, we got our first iTunes review and it was a happy five stars…
Finally!

by Two wheeled tourist

So excited to hear a cycling podcast geared towards touring. So far this podcast seems promising, picking up where other rando/touring shows failed. Looking forward to new episodes! Would love to hear interviews with frame builders and people like Jan Heine of Bicycle Quarterly or other journalists and bloggers who specialize in this area of cycling!

Subscribe + Connect

Hey, The Pedalshift Project is on iTunes (we’ve even been featured in the Outdoors section already!) but if you like you can use your favorite aggregator (like iCatcher on your iPhone for instance), with old timey RSS. Email me at pedalshiftproject@gmail.com – I’d love to bring more voices to the show!

Music

The Pedalshift Project theme is America courtesy of Jason Kent off his debut album. Check out his band Sunfields‘ new release, Habitat, including this track, wherever cool music resides:

On this episode…a wrap up of the border to border tour from sunny San Diego, connections with listeners, plus an interview with a few of the people I biked with.

[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/pedalshift/06_Pedalshift_006__The_Border_to_Border_Tour_from_San_Diego.mp3″]
Hey, download episode 006 directly.

The Journal

• Tour wrap up and thoughts
• The Fish Taco Challenge
• My bike has a name: Sequoia sempervirens
• Tour Journals podcast – pedalshift.net/tourjournals for a day by day look at the tour
• Mini tour in NH has been scuttled – I hope to do a cabin tour soon, perhaps an Amtrak aided one with the folder to shake things up.
• Do not break your ribs or clavicle. I understand it sucks.

Connections

• Episode 004 followup… Scott Morgan (@scottmacs) mentioned his first bike was a modified mountain bike with a rack.
• Joe Bruce (@joebruce) listened in on the show and iis going to be doing the border to border tour soon
• Brock Dittus (@brockmon/@sprocketpodcast) would have rocked some Dandy Warhols accompanying vocals with me downhill in the rain a few weeks back in Oregon
• And many, many more… thank you for all the favorites and follows the past month plus!

The Lab

MVPs of the tour:

• Schwalbe tires – no flats!
• Arm coolers – I used Pearl Izumi, but there are other brands.
• New Trent battery + dynamo hub
• Apple: iPhone 5, 11” Macbook Air and iPad mini with retina screen
• Google Maps bicycling routes (except…)

The Interview

Hugo is at cyclelover.net.

Kristian is at thanksforcycling.com.

Don’t forget special guest Zoe and tour favorite the pedaling yeti… looking very relaxed here post-tour near LA during some rest days:

Subscribe + Connect

Hey, The Pedalshift Project is on iTunes (we’ve even been featured in the Outdoors section already!) but if you like you can use your favorite aggregator (like iCatcher on your iPhone for instance), with old timey RSS. Email me at pedalshiftproject@gmail.com – I’d love to bring more voices to the show!

Music

The Pedalshift Project theme is America courtesy of Jason Kent off his debut album. Check out his band Sunfields‘ new release, Habitat, including this track, wherever cool music resides:

On this episode…an episode-long mid-tour report on the border to border tour from foggy San Francisco.

[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/pedalshift/Pedalshift005.mp3″]
hey, it’s the direct download link to The Pedalshift Project 005!

Special shoutout to Kevin form Honolulu for reminding my addled brain to include a direct download link to the last show!

And because this is episode 005 all Bond junkies want to know who Agent 005 was… a quick check on wikipedia shows,
“005 Stuart Thomas was 005 until defective eyesight impaired his marksmanship, and he was made head of Station G (Greece) in Colonel Sun.”

The Journal

• Topped the 1000 mile mark at some point recently.
• Potential lesson for next time – if you’re a planner (like me) it’s probably a good idea to “force” a zero mile day in there. I did 1000+ miles on consecutive days (ranging from 33 to 78 miles daily). I burnt out pretty good, and luckily I had a good setup in SF to get an extended recovery.

Highlights

• Handling the ferries without feeding the fish
• Poutine in Victoria
• Friday Harbor
• Seeing a harbor seal in the Columbia River as I crossed to Oregon
• The entire Oregon coast
• Handling the rain
• Seven Devils
• South Crescent City Hills
• Re-defeating Leggett Hill
• Making up a day and getting a bonus day in SF

Lowlights

• Unnecessary assholery from US border agent in Friday Harbor (#protip – better to let your bike fall than shift your position past an imaginary line that delineates you as a threat or not a threat)
• Fatigue towards the end (was ready for a break)
• Stolen battery in Oregon
• Bad ranger experience in Samuel P. Taylor State Park
• No wild camping so far, so I don’t have any good stories to share like I promised last episode

Sidebar – be careful out there

If you followed the @pedalshift feed you saw some mentions of rerouting the tour and going to Calgary… I was about to help out a friend who had a pretty bad accident on tour in Alberta that included some injuries. His helmet probably stopped a concussion, but in his words, he was lucky how he landed (despite the injuries he did suffer, they could have been worse). He has someone else who is better equipped to help him on his return than me (you know, actual medical training) so I’ll be pushing south.

Moral of this story: be prepared for your conditions (he had a device to summon help), and be prepared for bad things to happen. This is not a risk-free thing, but we can manage the risk and enjoy ourselves!

Pushing on

• Leaving SF Monday and have an itinerary that gets me to the border with comfortable days (split several longer days in to two).
• I will deviate from camping where it’s appropriate and I’ll also use transit if it’s helpful or necessary to increase my enjoyment. This is supposed to be fun! 😉

Follow along the route @pedalshift and on the raw podcast feed Tour Diaries: Pedalshift! I’ll be uploading snippets from the road on this tour, possibly compiling some for the main podcast next episode. I’ll be uploading snippets from the road on this tour, possibly compiling some for a special edition of the podcast when the tour is done at the end of August.

Any questions? I got at least a few on Twitter so far, but feel free to reach out at pedalshiftproject@gmail.com too.

The Lab

• Caffeine as a bike touring helper – 200-400mg doses (that’s equivalent to 1.5-3 cups of coffee). These are the capsules I’ve tried.
• Personal Locator Becons -PLBs – if you are doing remote touring or bike packing, this saved my friend’s ass. Do your research. Get one.
• Thinking about the possibility of developing a bike touring app – curious what you think. Probably offline iOS – any thoughts? Shoot them to pedalshiftproject@gmail.com

Pedalpreneur

• Rental revenue going up at least another $1000 and possibly more for the trip, but I think my costs for food have been higher than I thought.
• Total net revenue after cleaning is 4236, making the 42 days that I now know are the tour average $101/day. Not bad.
• Only two hotel nights so far, and one pricey campground. I expect this to go way up.
• Likely going to be in more hotels or AirBnbs from L.A. to SD and I plan on renting a car for my final day to make getting to the airport for my early flight easier and saner.

Subscribe + Connect

Hey, The Pedalshift Project is on iTunes (we’ve even been featured in the Outdoors section already!) but if you like you can use your favorite aggregator (like iCatcher on your iPhone for instance), with old timey RSS. Email me at pedalshiftproject@gmail.com – I’d love to bring more voices to the show!

Music

The Pedalshift Project theme is America courtesy of Jason Kent off his debut album. Check out his band Sunfields‘ new release, Habitat, including this track, wherever cool music resides:

On this episode… a pre-ride report from the biking land of sunshine and bunnies, Portland, Oregon… a crossover show with The Sprocket Podcast 192 featuring a sit-down with co-host Aaron Flores.

[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/pedalshift/Pedalshift004.mp3″]
Hey this here is a direct download link for episode 004!

The Journal

News from Amtrak on unboxed transport of bikes.

Lewis+Clark/Teddy Roosevelt tour update – transforming into the Heat Stroke Avoidance Alternative Border to Border Tour!

Deconstructing bikes, reconstructing them, etc.
How to pack your panniers for your next tour – America ByCycle and Traveling Two.

Special thanks to Bike Gallery in downtown Portland for their help in making a simple fix – memo to bike shippers… bag up those top tube spacers!

Follow along the route @pedalshift and on the raw podcast feed Tour Diaries: Pedalshift! I’ll be uploading snippets from the road on this tour, possibly compiling some for the main podcast next episode.

Would love to hear from you! pedalshiftproject@gmail.com

The Lab

Sanyo dynohub for juicing my ride
2012 ideas – generating green energy by bike via uncommonsilly.com
2013 implementation

Tips and tricks for keeping your devices powered up

Doubling up: DEET vs. Premethrin for mosquito control

Using a dry bag as a beer cooler – @brockmon

Have cool ideas to share with the show?  pedalshiftproject@gmail.com

Pedalpreneur

Rental revenue adjusted for cleaning costs – not a carrying cost, so I want to factor it it:
$2534/ 38 days
=$66.68/day … getting into the “cheap hotel every day” range but I plan on camping everywhere except SF and L.A.

The Interview

Described by his friends as “35 and going nowhere,” Aaron is a relative newcomer to Cascadia with only 3 years in Portland under his belt. His formative years were spent in the rural lowlands of south-east Michigan where he did things like can vegetables, pick apples, climb trees, and eat fried baloney. He’s lived many different places and enjoyed learning various skills since then. He has many stories about the colorful places and people in his long life and shares these experiences on The Sprocket Podcast. You can’t follow Aaron on Twitter, but you can follow his red Surly Disc Trucker, which is not at all part of a cult: @RdHareAmngHrses.

Subscribe + Connect

Hey, The Pedalshift Project is on iTunes (we’ve even been featured in the Outdoors section already!) but if you like you can use your favorite aggregator (like iCatcher on your iPhone for instance), with old timey RSS. Email me at pedalshiftproject@gmail.com – I’d love to bring more voices to the show!

Music

The Pedalshift Project theme is America courtesy of Jason Kent off his debut album. Check out his band Sunfields‘ new release, Habitat, including this track, wherever cool music resides:

Hey, we have such great stuff that this episode came out early! We have an overflowing Journal with great tour updates, insanely successful experiments in The Lab, an update on Pedalpreneur Challenge with my summer tour, plus connections with listeners.

Hey, download episode 003 (mp3)

The Journal

Featured tour from listener Mysterious James: Idaho Hot Springs

Follow last week’s guest Brock Dittus @brockmon on Twitter for a beautiful insight into his amazing NW tour.

Summer Lewis+Clark/Teddy Roosevelt tour update

3 things I take, 3 things I leave behind

The Lab

Ultralight stove experiments – what I’ve settled on (hybrid Esbit/alcohol with windscreen)
Lab recommends: dried cheese tortellini made freezer bag style

Pedalpreneur

Tracking the revenues and expenses of my summer tour

Connections

Justin Martin on Twitter – thanks for checking in!
Roger on the blog – will I be as CRAZY as Brock and Aaron on Sprocket?
Reach out on Twitter @pedalshift, or pedalshiftproject@gmail.com

Subscribe

Hey, The Pedalshift Project is on iTunes (we’ve even been featured in the Outdoors section already!) but if you like you can use your favorite aggregator (like iCatcher on your iPhone for instance), with old timey RSS.

Music

The Pedalshift Project theme is America courtesy of Jason Kent off his debut album. Check out his band Sunfields‘ new release, Habitat, including this track, wherever cool music resides:

Brock Dittus of the The Sprocket Podcast joins The Pedalshift Project for a discussion on simpler living, bike touring plans while being “houseless by choice” and all about the great city of Portland, Oregon. Plus we open up The Journal and check out summer touring plans and experiment with dehydrating food in The Lab. It’s 40-something minutes of fun jammed into episode 002.

Hey, download episode 002 (mp3)

Featured on this episode:

The Journal

A discussion on my trip from Portland to Fargo, with stops at Glacier and TR National Parks along the way

The Lab

Experiments in dehydration.

Pedalpreneur

More on secondary incomes, touching on whether bike tours can pay for themselves.

The Interview – Brock Dittus of The Sprocket Podcast

Brock Dittus has been a Pacific Northwest resident for his entire life, with the last decade spent in Portland, Oregon. He enjoys bicycling, camping, and exploring in the outdoors, and when it’s raining prefers coffee, books, and talk radio. He’s had a passion for long-distance bicycle touring since his first in 2008, and is always interested in innovative solutions to car-free living while at home in the city. Music is a constant companion in Brock’s life, and he says, “it’s always nice to have vinyl records, an iPod, or a guitar on hand to fuel that fire.” He’s hosted The Sprocket Podcast since 2010. You can follow Brock’s podcast side on Twitter at @sprocketpodcast.

Subscribe

Coming soon to iTunes Hey, The Pedalshift Project is on iTunes, but if you like to rock your own aggregator (like iCatcher on your iPhone for instance), here’s the feed…

Music

The Pedalshift Project theme is America courtesy of Jason Kent off his debut album. Check out his band Sunfields‘ new release, Habitat, including this track, wherever cool music resides:

Thanks for checking out the (very short) first podcast! The first podcast gives the lay of the land… think of it as a topo map for things to come. Enjoy and see you in a few days with episode 002…

[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/pedalshift/Pedalshift001bee.mp3″]
Download Pedalshift Project 001 (mp3)

Subscribe

Coming soon to iTunes Hey, The Pedalshift Project is on iTunes, but if you like to rock your own aggregator (like iCatcher on your iPhone for instance), here’s the feed…

Music

The Pedalshift Project theme is America courtesy of Jason Kent off his debut album. Check out his band Sunfields‘ new release, Habitat, including this track, wherever cool music resides: