Thread: Tips and Tricks
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Old 12-02-15 | 04:31 PM
  #518  
Aidoneus
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Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 346
Likes: 2
From: NW Indiana

Bikes: 2015 Surly Ogre

(1) Smart Balance Peanut Butter (non GMO): Starting in my 50s, it became progressively more difficult for me to digest peanut butter. A couple years ago I tried this and it gives me no trouble. I'm just saying, your mileage may vary.

(2) Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap: Literally a couple drops on a wet wash cloth will clean anything, including you. Transfer 1-2 ounces into a small plastic bottle. See here for some uses: 14 Uses For Dr. Bronner's Soaps - Business Insider

(3) Blue Emu: A small dab is all it takes for major relief from muscle aches. I once pulled a muscle in my lower back deadlifting about 400 pounds without a proper warm-up; this stuff, applied by my wife, got me back in the gym in a couple days--it still took me several weeks to get back to deadlifting, though.

(4) Sleeping Pad/Sleeping Bag: Unless you are camping in winter or high mountains, ditch the full bag for a quilt. I use a Klymite Static V pad (about a pound; you could consider going with the cut-out Klymite X-frame to reduce the weight in half if you are young and light) combined with an Enlightened Revelation down quilt that attaches to the pad with straps. I'm sure cheaper alternatives are available. (My system hard-drive and back up drive died within days of each other, so I lost my spreadsheet with exact weights for all of my equipment or I would include weights.) BTW, for winter camping I have a grossly heavy kit that includes a Mountain Hardwear Ghost down bag (rated to -40 F), an Exped 9 Deluxe down mat, and a Hilleberg Staika, that I load on a pulk for dragging behind me. (The actual coldest temperature I've camped in was -27 F, with windchills about -60 F. On that occasion, I added a special thermal spaceage liner, which got me too warm during the night and I had to unzip my bag!)

(5) Tyvek: I have a large sheet that I really wanted to like. Multiple trips through a washer and dryer, combined with some old tennis shoes, softened it up and removed most of the noise. However, Tyvek really is too permeable for a ground sheet; water WILL pass through from sodden ground. In addition, I find that I don't need a ground sheet to protect any of my tent floors. OTOH, if you know that you will be camping with a firepit, a Tyvek sheet can often be strung up over a line to form a large "L-tent" to block wind and reflect heat from the pit. Just take care to consider how wind direction changes from onshore to offshore after sunset if near water (also how air rises and sinks near any hills). I've never tried it as a cover/camouflage for a bike, though!
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