Gearing Up

Now that you are a member of this Bulletin Board you can surf around and find lots of answers to your questions. Most of the things you are wondering about have been discussed for 25 years. Before this it was in Measurement News. Now it's online.

As for tapes, any American brand will do. If you go to a surveyor supply store you can get a 100 foot tape marked in decimal feet, or a 30 meter tape. Try to get one with the zero point offset from the end of the tape.

One of the "aides" I've always liked is the 3-pocket bike shirt. Plenty of room for a small spriral notebook( put your pencil/ball point in the spiral coil ) , a calculator, and flash light or other. Also I carry a ball point on a cord around my neck.

Continuing this thread on field recording, I find that using 3x5 cards clipped with a binder clip provides the means to write on a fairly rigid surface. I also carry a PDA that has a calculator in it. I recently added an Excel To-Go application that allows calculations to be stored and downloaded. Add to that a pen and a shirt pocket and I'm all set for data collection and recording. I don't have to get off the stopped bike to write and I can pull the cards out while riding to check that split point count I need to stop at.

I also have a fanny pack with PK nails, washers, 100-ft tape, big chalk stick, spare calculator and pen. I put a can of paint in the water bottle holder and a hammer and whisk broom on the luggage rack in back.

One piece of equipment I found super-useful, although my bike riding friends scoff, is my kick stand.

Fat tires and a kick stand. Gotta have 'em.

I like skinny, high-pressure tires, as their rolling resistance is less. Mine are rated at 125 psi. I used them at that pressure for a while until I had one pop off the rim on a very hot day. Now I pump only to 100 psi.

Also, I used solid tires for years before switching back to pneumatics. I much prefer pneumatics.

Ditto to Tom on the kick stand. I couldn't do without it.

I too use narrow high pressure touring tires. Inside is the heaviest tube available and a liner which, so far, have kept me from a flat for years.

I have aero bars on the bike that allow me to snap a plexiglas clip board to them with four clips that are normally used to hang brooms etc on a wall. This allows me to easily remove it for number crunching in the car or on a park bench in the shade. It, too, gives a firm surface on the bike to write on and is constantly in view while riding for count reminders. Just clip the calibration sheet on it for the calibration followed by the course msrmnt sheet for the actual measurement. At the forward apex of the aero bars I have a clip for a GPS when I need splits that can't be referenced otherwise. The clip board can be turned 90 degrees and mounted to the stem and handle bars with three clips without having aero bars. I find that the clip board works better for me than a loose note book. A large pinch clamp that is usually used in an office holds a pencil with a clip, on the board.

No kick stand so far. Too uncool! I carry the bike with the front brake used to a tree or post and resume the ride by rolling forward to the count I stopped at previously.

A simple cargo pack on a bike rack over the rear wheel gives me easy access to spray paint, whisk broom, preliminary course map for split notes, etc. Also, have a measuring wheel that I can put on my back with a looped rope that fits over my shoulders when splits are located where I can't drive to document their locations.