I feel like I alternate between minimalism and gimmie! gimmie! when it comes to my relationship with stuff. Our home isn't fancy, the boys have a couple of Ikea buckets worth of toys, and there's not a lot of clutter choking up our lives. However, when it comes to gear, that's a whole other story. In the past week or so, my gear collection has grown and I'm thoroughly enjoying each piece.
Wind Blox: the lovely folks at Wind Blox have been interested in expanding to create a set that works for children's helmets as well and I've been complaining that it's difficult to hear the kiddos because of the wind.
Wind Blox: the lovely folks at Wind Blox have been interested in expanding to create a set that works for children's helmets as well and I've been complaining that it's difficult to hear the kiddos because of the wind.
Yep, it's 8am and my kids are already filthy. That's just how we roll. In the dirt.
The three of us each have a set now (and I was so grateful that the divvying up went so easily). So far, I've realized that it's a pretty subtle difference because there is still wind, however, I can hear the surrounding noises clearer--birds, child chatter, vehicles, the rockin' tunes, etc. I feel like we haven't been screaming "What?" back and forth to each other as often. One of my other issues has been that my ears get really sore from the constant wind and that hasn't been bothering me lately. Anytime I'm unsure if they're doing anything, I just pull them away a bit to double check and the wind blast comes right back. I want to try them out with a road-bike style helmet to see if that changes anything because as you can see in the photo above, the angle of the Nutcase straps leaves an extra gap.
Touring gear: I had a couple of gift cards to use up, one for REI, and it just happened that their anniversary sale popped up. I snagged some awesome stuff at REI and Campmor for less than $20 (after the cards).
Touring gear: I had a couple of gift cards to use up, one for REI, and it just happened that their anniversary sale popped up. I snagged some awesome stuff at REI and Campmor for less than $20 (after the cards).
I'm hoping that the Thermarest is enough for the boys. I'm going to cut it in half for easier packing and the flexibility to move the boys around while sleeping. They're light enough to not need a thick pad to sleep on so this should give them enough support and insulation (and tough enough for them not to destroy it quickly). It was the irregular so it was even cheaper. The titanium cook set was on sale at REI, it's super light and comes with two pots and two frying pans/lids, all nestable in the mesh bag provided. It's a pretty tiny set, now that I've seen it in person, but I think it should be fine for the three of us for touring. I'll invest in something bigger (or thrift shop) for our group rides. The boys also scored some swim gear that's UV resistant so I think it will work double duty as bike wear, too. I'm still waiting on my Hydroflask to get here. Seriously, it's like it's Christmas around here--but better because I got to choose it all.
Piccolo:
Piccolo:
BAM! And you thought the Bullitt couldn't get any more intimidating! Our friend, Melissa, found this on Craigslist and spread the word via Sac Kidical Mass's Facebook page. It's an 8+ year old Burley Piccolo that I got for a super good deal (by the way, these things really hold their value but you have to make sure it wasn't part of the recall that happened a couple years ago). It would have been a piece of cake to install, even with the disc brakes because I already had an adapter from the last rack. Unfortunately, once I tightened it all down, I realized I needed a couple extra washers on one side and had stripped out a couple of the bolts and the whole rack was on too tight to get it all to fit back together properly. Fifteen extra painful minutes and a handful of swearing later, it was finally back on as it should be (and will never come off again because the bolts are all stripped now).
We all took it for a spin this afternoon and we are all loving it! It's so much more stable than the Afterburner that we tried out. Big Brother loves that he can change the gears and work at different levels (although the gears need adjusting, maybe a new cable). I can really feel the help, especially as he gets to the higher gears. I'm hoping to get a couple extra racks so we can swap the Piccolo back and forth between a few of our bikes, maybe even my dad's.
We all took it for a spin this afternoon and we are all loving it! It's so much more stable than the Afterburner that we tried out. Big Brother loves that he can change the gears and work at different levels (although the gears need adjusting, maybe a new cable). I can really feel the help, especially as he gets to the higher gears. I'm hoping to get a couple extra racks so we can swap the Piccolo back and forth between a few of our bikes, maybe even my dad's.
Finally, something even better than stuff, EXPERIENCES! Join us tomorrow at Tahoe Park at 4:30pm for our next Kidical Mass ride! We have another ride scheduled for the 31st to complete our crazy Month O'Kidical Masses
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