Equipment

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Less than 24 hours to go... :-)

Here some words on the equipment I plan to take with me.

As mentioned in my first entry my bike is a recumbent from HP Velotechnik. The "Street Machine GTe" is designed as a touring bike. It allows to attach four bags: Two at the luggage rack at the rear, and two below the seat. The two rear bags are Ortlieb Backrollers, in my opinion some of the best bags on the market. I planned to use the Ortlieb Frontrollers (a smaller version of the same bag) but realized quickly that I need more storage space. I guess I have to get me another set of backrollers today.
My tent, sleeping bag and sleeping pad will be stowed in an Ortlieb pack sack (which I first used on some motorbike trips more than ten years ago) and strapped on the luggage rack.

My bike has below-seat-handlebars, which is nice for riding the bike, but lacks space to put the speedometer, GPSr and handlebar bag. Speedometer and GPSr are no problem, they are mounted on the central beam. They are a bit out of reach there, but can at least be read easily. More serious is the missing handlebar bag. I could certainly use the space to stow all the small stuff I need on the road, but what I miss most is a place to put a map. A GPSr is great for a lot of things, but it still can't completely replace a decent map.

My last camping trip was a motorbike tour in the nineties. I had a nice dome tent then, but it was getting old and was probably thrown away years ago. I wanted to get a dome tent again, but after looking at some tents in the Globetrotter shop in Hamburg I went with a tunnel tent made by Wechsel. It is easy to set up alone, and with just over 3kg not too heavy.

I spent a lot of time figuring out how to handle all the electronic equipment one luggs around today. OK, I guess I went a bit overboard: mobile phone, digital camera, EeePC (to write this blogs and as an ebook-reader), GPSr, iPod... This does add up to a lot of weight, and it all needs electricity, too. I really hate the thought of trying to find electric outlets for 3 or 4 chargers at every camping site. One possible solution seemed to be the solar chargers made by Off-Grid Systems, a swiss company. The Sunbag L uses a foldable solar panel to charge a battery, which in turn can can charge the different devices.

First tests with the Sunbag L showed that it needs quite a bit of sunshine to start charging. It seemed that this could not be the only solution to the problem. Then a neighbour had the idea to use the hub dynamo of the bike to charge the Sunbag battery while driving. A quick test with a voltage converter showed that the dynamo will not generate enough current for the Sunbag to start charging. He came up with a small device containing its own battery that is being charged by the dynamo, while simultaneously powering the Garmin GPSr. When the battery is charged after a day of driving it can in turn transfer the energy the Sunbag battery. I'll let you know how it works out after using it for a few days.

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Photos

Street Machine
The Street Machine GTe from VH Velotechnik

Solar Power
The Sunbag L from Off-Grid Systems, providing part of my electricity on this trip

More Power
The black box on the right is charged by the hub dynamo, providing power for my GPS and the Sunbag

My accomodation for the next 3 month
An Intrepid 2 by Wechsel Tents.