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Review

Bike Shorts

 I brought along three pair, all Pearl Izumi. Two pair were their top-of-the-line Microsensor 3D. They fit perfectly, although the chamois needed cream to be comfortable on long rides. The other pair was the lower end Attack Short. It didn't fit as well as the Microsensor, but the chamois was more comfortable.

Bike Jerseys

 I initially had three different jerseys. One was a cotton/poly blend by North Face. It's very breathable though the fabric is heavy. It was good on colder days. North Face stopped making bike clothing some time ago.

The second jersey was a Pearl Izumi with a Sierra Nevada beer sublimation graphic. It fit so poorly that I only wore it once and sent it home with Tracy.

My favourite jersey was by Castelli. It's made of a very light poly fabric that is unmatched by any other jersey I've worn. I had Tracy buy a second one for me to replace the Pearl Izumi that I sent home.

Socks

 Three pair of plain old riding socks.

Jacket

 I brought a light weight, single layer jacket. It's just a wind breaker cut for a biker and it stows very small. I knew that even with a triple layer goretex jacket, you'll still get wet in the rain so I didn't opt for a heavier, water proof jacket. And we did get very wet the couple days it rained. The trick was to stay wet and warm, not wet and cold.

Tights

 The tights were nice for the few days when it was only 40 degrees F in the morning.

Arm Warmers

 Since my jacket was light and all my jerseys were short sleeve, I needed something to keep my arms warm. Pearl Izumi's Therma Fleece arm warmers worked perfectly.

Helmet

 Giro's Pneumo was great. I've gone over 10,000 miles under that helmet and it's still comfortable, though a bit smelly. I'm looking forward to upgrading to the prototype Atmos that the US Postal team was wearing in the Tour de France.

Sun Glasses

 I started off with my Smith Moab II glasses that I've had for about five years. These are the classic screen style frames with interchangeable lenses of various colors. I loved these glasses (sniff, sniff) and wish I still had them.

Unfortunately, these glasses were stolen at a rest stop in Wyoming. I initially tried a $10 pair of polarized fishing glasses from Wall Mart. The lens quality was very good, but the fit was poor. They would slip off my nose during hours of intense, sweaty riding.

I then had Tracy bring out my Smith Toaster glasses. These were too small to effectively protect your eyes while racing downhill at 40+ mph. But they were good enough to get me to New York.

I've now replaced the Moab II's with Rudy Project's Jekyll glasses. So far I'm very happy with them, though I do miss my Moab II's which are long since discontinued.

Gloves

 A tale of two (model years of) gloves. I searched high and low to find last year's model of Pearl Izumi's Gel-Lite gloves. I found some which I brought on the trip and they worked well.

Now that those gloves are history, I have to live with this year's version of the Gel-Lite: Terrible! The palm has half the gel protecting it compared to last year's model. And what little gel is there quickly flattens or rolls to the side exposing the palm to a blistering ride on the handle bars.

Shoes

 Again, Pearl Izumi. (I didn't realize I had so much of their gear!) Their Vortex road shoes worked well. I probably have 10,000 miles on these shoes and they're still going strong. Though, I do feel the shoes flex so I'm thinking of upgrading to carbon fiber shoes for extra stiffness.

Soap, Shampoo

 Motels generally provided soap. But less than half of them supplied shampoo! Bring a little bottle of your own, or wash your hair with a bar of soap.

Sunblock

 I really didn't need any after about a week except on my nose, neck and ears. Gel style is much better than the cream since it is absorbed by the skin and doesn't sweat off. Don't put any on your forehead or it will sweat into your eyes. Bull Frog gel is good stuff.

"Civilian" Clothes

 REI Sahara pants: These were great pants for touring because they are made of nylon and therefore didn't get as dirty as cotton pants, didn't need as much washing, and dried very quickly. They also have legs that zip off to convert to shorts.

REI poly button down shirt: Great for touring because of the reason above, though the poly blend was a close knit so it felt and looked like cotton.

Teva sandals. 'nuff said.

Lights

 Cateye has the best products. Here's what I used.

Front: ML-300, 5 white LEDs that will blind any living creature and it runs for 40+ hours on four AA batteries. The quick release from the handle bars means that this unit works well as a flash light at night.

Rear: LD-500, 3 red LEDs and a reflector built into one unit

Water Bottles

 Initially I brought along four. This was necessary during some of the marathon days through the high desert of Idaho and Wyoming. We would have to ride over sixty miles between water stops. I only used two water bottles east of the Missouri river.

Make sure you wash your water bottles out at night. On the road you don't have a dish washer to get rid of the funk that grows in leftover Cytomax. Which is awesome! (Cytomax, not the funk)

Pump

 I found the most awesome frame pump just before the trip. It is the Topeak Road Morph with a pressure gauge. That's right, a frame pump with a gauge!

Tools

 The Topeak Alien tool has it all. Hexes from 2 to 7mm, chain tool, spoke wrenches, tire irons, pedal wrench, plus a bottle opener. The only thing it doesn't have is a chain whip.

Misc. Parts

 Three tubes, extra tire, six spokes (make sure you size them, the rear wheel drive side is usually smaller than the non-drive side), Finish Line teflon lube, duct tape

Tires

 I started with Continental Grand Prix 4-season 25mm tires. They did not hold up too well with the demanding conditions of the road and 60+ lbs of weight, not including the rider. After about 800 miles and four flats, the rubber separated from the kevlar weave. I'm amazed I made it to the hotel on the tire! The Continentals are definitely not touring tires, more geared for racing I guess.

I replaced the Continentals with low-end wire bead Trek tires that were very heavy and not quite true with the thick rubber tread. These tires would have lasted all the way to New York if not for their untimely demise by a rusty wood screw near Cedar Lake, Indiana.

An amazingly kind fellow biker in Cedar Lake, Dan, gave me a new Nashbar tire to replace the destroyed Trek tire. This was another good, tough wire bead tire that did end up taking me all the way to New York.

Preston had the Specialized Armadillo. This is one tough touring tire and I should have started out with them!

Panniers

 The REI Keystone panniers were pretty good in dry weather. The rear zipper did break, but it wasn't a big deal. The many side pockets and top loading system was very convenient. BUT, these panniers are terrible in the rain. The bright yellow rain covers actually collect water from the rear wheel when it is raining. This effectively soaks everything in the bottom of your pannier. Very poor design, REI, didn't you do any field testing?

Rack

 Before the tour I installed the Blackburn EXP rear rack. This is a pretty heavy rack at 1.5 lbs, but it survived the trip. There were some problems with the bolts for the rack, but it was Bianchi's fault (the frame builder) not Blackburn's.

Cycle Computer

 Another tragedy of the trip, the cycle computer didn't make the full journey. I chose the CicloSport CM434 for many reasons: wireless, altimeter, temperature, and not least of all Lance rides with one. Just before the end of the trip the buttons jammed and the computer stopped working. Sadly, I returned it to get my money back. I'll definitely buy another of these as soon as they redesign the buttons.

Bike

 Bianchi Eros: champion! (with a few caveats)

The Eros held up brilliantly to some brutal conditions: torrential rain storms, unpaved roads, pot holes the size of the grand canyon, rail road tracks, crashes, fresh tar and asphalt, and the discerning eye of local bikers. The Eros' Italian styling and paint job always collected admiring compliments. The Mavic CXP-22N wheels were incredible. Over 3,400 miles and they didn't need truing even once! This is a testament to the wheel truing abilities of the guys at Pacific Bicycle, my local bike store in San Francisco. The spent a lot of time tuning those wheels just before the tour.

There were problems: the 9-speed Campy Veloce rear cassette was so close to the rear braze-on that I couldn't attach a locking nut to the rack bolt. So, the bolt had a bad habit of coming loose. I carried many spares. The seat was just too soft, I should have taken my racing seat from my LeMond Zurich. The Veloce triple drive train was very inefficient compared to the Shimano Ultegra set on my LeMond.

Basically, I want the durability and reliability of the Bianchi with the stiffness and efficiency of my LeMond. And at half the price of the LeMond!

Electronic Gadgets

 iPod (and charger): 30 GBytes of MP3's, a friend indeed. I just need to machine an attachment for the bike handlebars.

cell phone (and charger): pain in the ass, but necessary when Preston and I lost each other. Verizon had good coverage except for east Oregon and parts of Idaho. The LG VX4400 phone didn't work so well. I exchanged it after the trip and it works much better now, must have been a defective phone.

Canon ELF digital camera: it's a bit heavy, though very small, compared to other digital cameras, but the photo quality is good and it takes a beating well. I dropped it from the bike onto the pavement while riding a good 15 mph pace with no ill effects.

Food

 There ain't much healthy eating on the road in middle America. Subway became an oasis of health since it was fresh food and not fried. Other options were Pizza Hut (the spaghetti, not the pizza) and any restaurant with a descent salad bar and bread sticks. We were very happy with the home cooking style and large portions at Bob Evans.

I switched to Cytomax for a true sport drink. GatorAid and PowerAid seemed to be equivalent to CoolAid, flat Pepsi or just sugar water.

After the Power Bars and Cliff Bars ran out, Snickers became an acceptable substitute. It was certainly more tasty. A few kind mountain bikers gave us some Biogenesis bars. I'm a believer!

Maps

 I used a software program to map out the entire trip before we started. I expected the custom map (aka - bible) to be a rough guide. We ended up following it exactly except for about five or six days. The software did a great job predicting distance and a terrible job predicting total vertical feet gained.

It was easy to follow the planned route west of the Missouri River because all the country routes are unpaved gravel roads, so you have to keep to the state highways. But, they all have very wide shoulders so it's quite safe (most of the time).

After we crossed the Missouri River, Iowa and Illinois had well maintained, paved country roads that we opted to use instead of the state highways with no shoulder. The AAA maps had enough detail to accurately find the local roads.

Indiana and Ohio had country roads that didn't quite go east/west or north/south as in Iowa and Illinois, which made route finding difficult. We decided to brave the state highways to make the route finding more reasonable.

Pennsylvania officially has a bike route along highway six. However, this is a bike route in sign only. There is rarely an acceptable shoulder and there is a lot of eighteen-wheeler truck traffic. It probably would have been better to go north into New York state and find another route.

New York state and New Jersey actually do have real bike routes with good shoulders. It was a joy to end the trip with their well engineered roads.

Camping Gear

 We sent the camping gear back home after two weeks. It was no fun riding 100+ miles a day and then sleeping on the ground without a shower. Hotels are definitely the way to go (Joe says, "I told you so!") Here's what we sent back after carrying it over 1,000 miles and a 10,000 foot pass on the continental divide:

Sleeping bag: North Face Blue Kazoo down rated 20 degrees F

Therma-rest

Tent, bottom tarp and tent poles