It took a few months of contemplation as to whether or not I was actually going to shell out for another bike seat. I have a full season on my current seat which is a Profile Design Tri-Stryke. After looking around online I figured that I have put it through about 30-40% of it’s lifespan because it’s neoprene and foam. I do quite enjoy the deat and it gives me no trouble but I really do prefer to ride aero with that seat rather than sit up tall. With no aero-position riding planned for this summer (see this blog entry about changing handlebars) I figured that I’d save that seat for what it was meant for. I went for a Brooks B-17 which isn’t the easiest seat to get your hands on when you live in Edmonton but I did eventually get on the “notification list” for when the new stock arrived.
I’ve got extra rails mounted behind the seat so that I can attach bottle cages to it. That’ll allow me to carry a total of three water bottles including the one frame cage. I’ve been doing 2 bottles and a third bottle filled with tools for the past 2 seasons. I’ll have a bike bag for my handlebars this summer though so the tools can be moved and I can liberate that extra cage.
The other thing I’ve solved is a tent. The one I’ve got kicking around works great so long as it’s not raining. When you’re planning 64 consecutive tent nights you can’t really expect none of them to be wet. I found a huge 1 man tent on the MEC gear listing that should solve that problem (Columbia Frosty Ridge II). It fits the bill on a number of accounts.
- 8.5 feet long from tip to tail.
- Super ventilated for hot nights
- Vestibule for my shoes
- Enough room alongside myself to keep a bunch of junk.
I guess the photos are pretty self-explanatory. I couldn’t put any of the seventeen stakes (why make a tent that’s only 4.5 pounds yet has 17 stakes?) in the floor so I used duct-tape. It’s not quite filled out all the way when it’s not stretched out with pegs but It’s pretty close in the photos.