June 25, 2015

The Pedalshift Project 023: A bicycle tour rant and treating questionable water

37 minutes

I'm in between tours, and I read something that really ticks me off... it's the first official Pedalshift rant on leaving no trace when you camp. But it's not all flaming swords of justice this episode... we'll also cover how to make sure water doesn't make you sick on tour.

Reach out to the show via email, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Don't forget to join the newsletter too.

Who else has some early bike touring overnight stories to share? Send your pics, audio or a quick tweet - all welcome. Email the show [email protected] or call the brand new Pedalshift voicemail line at (202) 930-1109.

Follow-up

The Pedalshift Project… shall remain a Project! Thanks for all your feedback. Got some great responses and the coveted new FOTS goes to… Ethan Georgi with his simple, “keep the project…. it’s ongoing, right?"

Andrew of Shoot Film Ride Steel and his wife had some mechanicals on his C+O ride… we’re going to hook up to do an interview and shooting (see what I did there?) for next episode.

Nathan Clevenger is well on his way to the left coast! He’s past Madison and nearly to Minneapolis and is set for an early August arrival in PDX. If you’re in Portland in early August there’s a celebration of his arrival at the CCC August 8th. CCC is sort of the Portland analogue to the beneficiary of his ride, Phoenix Bikes in northern VA.

Brock Dittus of Sprocket Podcast kicked off his summer tour in northern CA. Follow along on Twitter @brockman and check into his show for occasional updates. He shares this protip: shift your chain into the biggest chainring before attempting to loosen your pedals. #LessonsForLater

Reminder that the next Pedalshift tour is the Erie Canal, starting July 11th! We’ll be firing up the Pedalshift Tour Journals podcast with multiple minisodes every day of the week long tour. Explore western NY with a WNY native (that would be me). Looks like a little Canada too… more to come. Reminder Pedalshift Tour Journals has the full DC-Pittsburgh C+O/GAP ride through June. Look for Volume III: Erie Canal in July!

Rant

Read The Death of the Oregon Outback.

Leave no trace. If you won’t, can’t, or it’s too hard... I invite you to quit camping.

Get offended. Let's do better.

Thank you Kevin MacLeod for the Pedalshift rant theme[footnote]For the curious and, perhaps more importantly, to fully comply with my Creative Commons obligations... the title is Adventure Meme and it's licensed under CC Attribution 3.0.[/footnote]

Gear Talk

The Hammerhead

Water purification on tour

Safety and taste

Easy and light - iodine tabs (plus Vitamin C to remove flavor)

Higher tech - Sawyer products

Even higher tech - UV pens

Low tech - carry your water from trusted sources

Emergency bottle - don't use unless it is one.

DO NOT refill or use containers that held untrusted water without filtering.

Want to contribute to the next trilogy of "my favorite touring bikes"? Let me know the three you'd like here in the comments.

Music

The Pedalshift Project theme is America courtesy of Jason Kent off his self-titled solo album. Check out his band Sunfields' new release, Habitat, wherever cool music resides.

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By Tim Mooney

4.7

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