photo – myarseiskilling.me

We set off with Marcel on dad-son microadventure to New Forest. The highlight of the trip was visit to National Motor Museum. I must admit we were nicely surprised with the quality, but disappointed with ticket prices for me+child £29, even with 20% off for using a bicycle to get there.

After visit we dived into New Forest and setup small camp.

This was Marceli’s first time sleeping in a hammock so he was a bit wiggly whole night, but I think he will eventually like it. Amazing night without even slightest wind, so that added to whole excitement. You can clearly hear forest life, we even heard being robbed from our cashew nuts at some point, but too lazy to get out and check ;-).

I wanted to test Blackburn cargo cages, as some time ago I swapped my fork with fancy steel one with all possible mounts and nuts (on each leg I got 7 attachment points for different setups).

The cages/bags worked like expected, and whole sleeping system (hammock, tarp, underquilt, sleeping bag) can be carried in these two bags. This way I’m really accessing these on camp, and I can use more accessible rear panniers for other gear.

All in all, 100km covered and I used trains and small ferry to make whole trip more interesting (and split into “chunks”). Quality time with kids, to prevent them becoming just customers in the future.

14 August 201720 May 2022

Tryweryn sneaky weekend

Sneaky trip to Tryweryn in Wales, as river not running currently. Meteorite show watched from hammock, couple of runs on the river, quality time and proper relax.

30 December 2016

Isle of Wight with Jan

4 ferries, clear sky, quality time dad with son 😉
cons: terrible choice of road, lack of planning – mea culpa (anyway we survived the traffic)
whole path here

6 July 2016

2016 TdF

Stage 1 – first objective achieved – signs nicked and secured to our bikes

whole circus on last corner, from that point downhill with tailwind to Utah Beach

Stage 2 – Cav in yellow (lost couple seconds later to Sagan)

Joaquin Rodriguez alone on last climb Cherbourg

18 June 201620 May 2022

DIY bonanza again

DIY bonanza continues, and again I recreated (almost) Alpkit bags. This time I made Mk2 of the frame bag I’ve got already. The bag is proven to be probably the most useful piece of kit, mostly for storing hardware like tent poles/pegs, pump, puncture kit, battery pack etc. The only change I’ve done this time is additional hole for cable on the side. Construction is simple not to say primitive. Two side panels on the left hole for cable
(corresponding with same hole in top tube bag) on the left (always dismounting on the left side) is zipper, and there’s no point to split the bag so it’s one large compartment. Polyester webbing around and stitched in places (Alpkit idea) to create attachment points for Velcro straps.
Top bag is a similar construction: two side panels, zipper in the middle, cable hole on the right. On front and bottom is piece of webbing sewn same way as on frame bag, to provide “loops” for velcro straps.
Both bags are made of Cordura type fabric which is quite stiff and thick, and probably better choice will be some kind of reinforced polyester or something. The problem with Cordura is when you sewing thick material like that it is real pain to make all tight corners nicely, but I wanted to make it on cheap from the stuff I already got. Anyway bags came out as expected, and despite the fact I’m not happy with quality of my stitching they should do the job. Below short story in pictures.

hole cover (made of ripstop nylon) sewn to right panel roughly just to keep the fabric in place

I had normal zipper (quite long) so I had to shorten it to the right lenghth

thick cordura is a bit awkward so plenty safety pins used (I still didn’t manage to sew it straight)

ending of the zipper covered with double layer of ripstop nylon (less thick than cordura easier to manouver)

finished left pannel, at that point I just simply cut off mirrored panel from right one

I roughly measured circumference of the pannel and cut much longer strip of fabric, so at the end I can join it together and cut off what’s left

left pannel hand stiched to “center belt”

everything sewn together. I haven’t got picture, but essentially I had to add poliester webbing (for attaching Velcros) before sewing right pannel. I simply fliped everything on the “right” side and sewn every ~7cm as velcros are 5cm wide

cable hole cut undeneath, hand stitching still there and on the insde looks pretty ugly

top of the bag a piece of webbing stiched to the bag

nothing really to say about the small one same construction

I need to figure out better velcros positioning

both top and frame bag have cable holes on the same side so I’ll be able to transfer some “juce” if needed

when they’re empty looks a bit weird but one they filled with stuff I’m pretty sure will look better

5 June 201620 May 2022

DIY – Dracula fuel bag

I’ve decided to make my own “snack bag” for the bike, basically used the idea from Alpkit Stem Cell (with my own dimensions) and make my first piece of gear with liner. Didn’t go as I expected, so at the end I had to cut some corners. Normally the easiest way is to sew the liner and then sew it to the outer shell, but the position of stitching needs to be carefully thought through. I made mistake and some of the stitching are inside. Minor detail next time I’ll do it properly. All in all the bag is doing the job as you can see.

I used Cordura type fabric as is stiff and I don’t need anything to keep the shape

That’s how it looks after turing inside out. The webbing obviously needs to be slightly longer than circumference of the fabric

lazy way of finishing bottom, at that point the fabric stiffness started to be annoying

view from the side, the excess eventually has been cut

sewing liner using poliester ripstop, in red to give it “Dracula look” ;-),I’ve done it the wrong way

just a tube with drawstring channel on top

another fold on top to create stiff edge

liner pushed all the way to the fold and sewn (just enough space on my machine to fit the tube)

again I’ve done it wrong way the whole liner should be done and than sewn to the outer

that’s what I’m talking about, the stiching should be inside

ok moment of truth, whole thing turned insode out

a piece of bungee cord been added and cord lock

on the bike I’ve decided to make cuts and hide knots on the bungee underneath velcro for neater look

4 June 2016

France photos

last camp, shit weather, tarp saved our dry arses

11 March 2016

Cyclists terror in UK

Despite friendly gestures on the road, like this young man from Bristol, cyclists demanding more and more, and behaving badly!

bike1

Behave badly everywhere! I have spoken with couple dog owners and basically, all of them denied leaving dogs poo on trails.

shitontrail

They all seems to be genuine, honest members of public, so the conclusion is obvious. When nobody is watching, cyclists defecate in bags and leave them on trail! Disgusting. Shame on you cyclists.

p.s. Personally I think we need to blame mtb cyclists or cyclocross, as road cyclists can’t ride on trail. (or at least is disgrace for roadie) 😉

16 February 2016

early morning commute

morning20160216

Category: photo

Playing in North Wales

Microadventure