Okinawa: Tour De Okinawa (or, Okinawa de Tour) Part 1: Gear Review

So, this entry is mostly about cycle touring.  The good, bad, ugly, associated with the gear I used, and how I used it.  I've read blogs in the past about touring, and have found some of them helpful, so I feel to put down some thoughts for any other cycling tourist who might come to Okinawa.  Bear in mind, I'm a relative touring rookie.

Traveling with the Bike: I flew my Trek 520 with me as checked baggage on United Airlines.  Even though their website and customer service hotline told me it would cost me $200 each way to take my bike with me, the guy at the check in desk only charged me $100 (we'll see what they charge me for the return flight).  Maybe he was a cyclist and felt pity on me.  My flight took me through two layovers, and the last flight was on a partner airline.  The trick is to ensure that your bike is checked all the way to your final destination - that way, you don't somehow get dinged again by the partner airline when you take your bike off the plane for customs, then recheck it.

To pack my bike, I went to a nearby bicycle shop, and they gleefully gave me a cardboard box (one less for them to throw away).  I asked for the biggest one they could give me.  I found this video helpful in figuring out how to best pack it.  Now, for my bike, I had not only the 520, but also a few additional accessories.  Namely, Jandd Mountaineering front and rear pannier racks as well as some fenders (don't recall the brand, and don't want to go out into the rain and check).  So, in addition to taking off my front wheel, I also took off my front and rear racks, as well as my front fender.  From there, I followed the advice in the video, and took the handlebars off at the points she described.  Turned the forks 180 degrees, then inserted the loose handlebars (attached only by the brake and gear cables) like you can see she did at 3:18 of the video.  I tried other ways, but hers was the best way.  However which way you cram it in there, be sure there's a little slack in the cables for when things shift around in the box.  My trip computer cable did not survive the flight.

Once you've got your bike and parts (water bottle holders, toolbag, etc.) in there, as well as whatever else you may want to put in there, tape up the box pretty good with some duct tape.  Recognize that the TSA will do their number on it, but, in my case, they put their tape right over top of my tape to close it up again.  Be sure to weigh the box.  Probably depends on the airline, but you get dinged once for oversize.  You get dinged again for over weight (50 lbs, in most cases).

Additionally, you've gotta figure out how you're going to pump up your tires once you get to your destination airport.  You've got to let the air out of your tires so they don't pop on the plane, but can't take CO2 cartridges because those won't get past security.  I brought my old fashioned stand up pump with me, dismantled it and stuck it in the bike box.  My father-in-law met me at the airport, and took my bike box home with him after I reassembled it and rode it home from the airport.  You'll have to figure out how you're going to manage the box at the airport.  If you discard it, somehow, you'll need to rustle up a new bike box for the return flight.  Something to think about.

One other note.  I have never taken my pedals off of my bike in the 7 or so years I've owned it. I had to get someone at the bike shop to get them off for me.  But once I arrived at my destination and fished my bike out of the box to assemble it, I was able to put the pedals back on using a simple and small'ish crescent wrench.

Navigation: If you're like me, you want to stay off the beaten path as much as possible.  Highways are no way to travel on a bike when there are side roads through neighborhoods and villages.  I could go on and on about the cultural / experiential (if that's a real word) advantages of peddling down the streets where the locals walk about.  However, Okinawan neighborhood roads are bizarre, very confusing, and almost none go in a straight line.  But a few do, and you'll never find them unless the Force is your ally, or you have a mapping mechanism.  GPS beats hard copies in my opinion.

Rather than buying a GPS device, or renting one, I brought my iPhone 5s and rented a pocket Wifi device.  It was awesome, and worked just about everywhere on the island.  Where it didn't, a little common sense allowed me to figure out where I was (I also brought an old fashioned compass).  Also, in Japan there is an app that is commonly used called Line that allows you to text and make phone calls over the internet for free.  It's pretty cool, and works international as well.  So, if you go the iPhone route, download the Line App, connect with your significant other (who also must be on Line), turn off your cellular settings (so you don't get accidentally pillaged for international roaming), put your phone on airplane mode, but then enable wifi.  Connect to your pocket wifi, then you can text or call your friends and loved ones where ever they are (again, assuming your are connected with them through Line).  Your iPhone essentially works as a nearly complete iPhone, but without getting trashed by AT&T for international roaming (particularly brutal in Okinawa).  

But, for the purposes of our topic, here, the Apple Mapping function works brilliantly, and is only limited by your wifi signal.  Lastly, I also had a good old fashioned compass inserted into my bar bag's plastic sleeve (designed for paper maps, I suppose).  When in doubt, that compass always reassured me that at the least I was heading in the right direction.

Other Tech: I'm sure there are some purists out there on this matter who believe the wind and rain is your touring soundtrack, and I'm sure I will offend some of them.  Take this as my excuse - I'm a relative newbee to cycle touring.  I've been on a van supported tour of the San Juan Islands with some Boy Scouts - and that trip was awesome, but I had company, so no need for other forms of amusement.  On this trip around Okinawa, I was alone.  That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.

1) Goal Zero Guide 10 Plus Adventure Kit Solar Charger: This thing rocks, and absolutely necessary, in my opinion, to keep your phone charged, gps charged, wifi charged, bike lights charged, etc.  I also bought four "S-Biners" (10 lbs rated) to attach the solar panel to one of my panniers (more on panniers later).

Anker charging everything.

So, there are two options for charging devices with this thing.  One is to charge from the sun to the solar panels to your device (whatever that is).  This is the less effective method, I think, because when a thick cloud passed by, your you pass underneath a tree or beside a bus, or some form of shade, the panel shuts off, and the device will stop charging.  I found I had to unplug the charging cable, then plug it back in.  Then it would start charging again.  That's too much baby sitting for my taste.

Option two is to charge from the sun to the solar panel to the battery pack that comes with the goal zero product.  When I passed through shade, I never had to fiddle with cords. It would just resume charging until the battery pack was full.  Then, I would connect the battery pack direct to my device and charge the device (usually at night).

The only other gripe I have about this device package is that the battery pack does indicate when it is charging, and when it is really low on power, but it really gives you no idea of how much juice is left in it at any given point. I like a little battery icon that lights up in segments as it charges, or a little percentage indicator.  Something.  Otherwise, you really have no idea how much juice you gathered from the sun throughout the day.  It's just a guess.

2) Anker USB Charger: If you can find an electrical outlet ( US plugs are compatible with Japanese outlets), and you've got one of these chargers, you're golden.  With one outlet (in a McDonalds, an ice cream shop, or even a gas station), I was able to charge two iPhones, the Goal Zero battery pack (when there wasn't enough sun in the day to charge it), my pocket wifi device, and my speakers (will get to that in a moment). If you are desperate, park yourself in a bike shop (they'll understand - the gas station guys, in my case, did not understand, and asked me to unplug from their outlet) for a while and borrow one of their plugs, and buy a few power bars, or something, for their trouble.

Speakers attached firmly to the bar bag mounting brackets.

3) The Goal Zero Rock Out 2 Speakers: When I got my solar charger from REI, these came with them as part of a deal, of sorts.  I really didn't think much of them, but on the tour, I found them indispensable.  You can set them inside your bar bag (we'll talk panniers later) with the lid open, or you can use the elastic straps and hooks on the back of the speakers to attach them directly to your bike, somehow.  I did the latter, attaching them to my bar bag's mounting brackets.  I only listened to music about 20% of my ride, but that 20% was the time I needed a real morale boost, and the music really, really helped!

These speakers got a little glitchy toward the end of the trip.  For example, the play/pause and skip buttons wouldn't respond, but the volume buttons did, as well as the power button.  I figured this was because of some of the hard bumps I had on the road shook a few things loose, but once I got home and began fiddling with them again, the buttons worked just fine.  I think it was the extreme heat that was impacting the performance.  I think.

4) iPhones: We've already talked about using one iPhone for the purposes of GPS'ing, texting, and calling via Line.  I also used that iPhone (the 5s) for facebook, news, a few other apps, and for its camera.  I took a lot of videos and pictures along the way.  I wanted to have as much memory as possible for photos and videos, so I stripped everything else out, including my music.  That's where the second iPhone (a 4s) comes in handy.  Pulled every app off of it that I could, and crammed it full of music and movies.  Music good during the day rides, movies good for camping by yourself in the middle of nowhere at night.  You could, I suppose, get a large capacity iPhone to hold it all, but I liked having as much memory space flexibility as possible, and I also like fiddling with my 5s camera without having to unplug it from the speakers, etc.

Panniers: These can make or break your touring experience, believe.  I wouldn't have thought that until this tour.  Many swear by Ortlieb, but I believe in Arkel (with one minor caveat).  I have two T-42s, two T-28s, 1 small bar bag, 1 tailrider, and 1 seat bag for tools.  I like the Arkel bags because of the multiple pockets in each bag and for ease of getting into the main compartments.  Go to their website and their videos talk about this.  Also, (and this may be the case with other brands) they just worked out beautifully / in concert with my tech gear.

With the S-biners that I got, the solar panels attached perfectly and firmly to my tailrider loops.  The Speakers attached perfectly and firmly to my small bar bag's mounting brackets.  My iPhones fit perfectly in each of my small bar bag's side mesh pockets.  Easy access!  Everything fit just perfectly for my purposes and needs.  These little conveniences (or inconveniences) will make or break your touring experience.

The one caveat to the excellence of Arkel is waterproofing.  Now, my panniers are about 7 years old.  Not excessively used (sadly), but improvements to the design have most certainly been made since then.  The tailrider comes with a built-in cover that worked well. Everything inside was dry.  For the T-28s and 42s, you need to buy separately pannier covers.  Oddly, they are the same size.  They have elastic bands that you can cinch down with, but it seems really odd to me that Arkel doesn't (or didn't) make covers custom fit to the bags.  For the fully loaded T-42s, the covers barely (after a lot of tugging) fit around the edges.  The T-28s, on the other hand, had the covers flapping in the wind in all its glorious excess of space.  You can't get a cover for the bar bag.  It is very water resistant, but not waterproof.

My experience: thundering tropical downpour during one afternoon.  I might as well have been submerged. When I got to my destination, there were a few damp things inside my bags.  Nothing soaked, just damp.  Not sure how the water got in the bigger panniers (the bar bag was obvious - no cover), but somehow moisture got in there.  Nothing a little overnight hang drying can't fix (assuming you have a dry night / facilities to do that - I did).

So, with my models of Arkel panniers, with the covers, extremely water resistant, but not quite water proof.

Trek 520: My little donkey performed flawlessly.  I  made a few modifications from the stock model.  As noted earlier, I put on a stronger rear pannier rack, and added a front rack as well.  Also added fenders.  Switched out the saddle for a Brooks Saddle - which, incidentally, finally broke in on this trip (the one reason I'm grateful for the oppressive humidity here).  Also, when time came (about a year ago) to get new tires, I got some really burly Flack Jacket Tires with those kevlar inserts that go between the tires and the tubes to further protect against flat tires.

The gearing worked, the braking worked, pedals went in circles, no flats, and, well, everything worked fine.  What more can you ask of a bike?


All in all, with the exception of a few minor glitches with the speaker buttons, and the slight moisture that found its way into my panniers after the thundering downpour, everything, mechanically speaking, worked just fine.  The next blog entry will discuss how my touring experience got along.