Bike details

For my previous trips I've never done a gear list which contains the details of what I'm bringing with me. Partially because I don't want to advertise to the world what I have. But, mostly it's because I didn't feel lime it.

After much thought, debate, and advice the bicycle that I am going to be riding across the country is a Salsa Marrakesh. I wanted the orange one for the bonus visibility but the LBS had the black one in stock so I went with that since it was easier and I'm lazy. That's the same reason I have a black car, computer, bicycle bags and so many other things.

I went back and forth over buying a lighter aluminum/titanium bike vs the traditional CroMoly Steel. In the end I went with the steel for 2 reasons, 1. Experience, its the traditional material so there is lots of knowledge/experience with how it rides. 2. The lighter materials work better with lighter weight style of riding. While my gear itself is lightweight, compared to most cyclists I am not so when averaged together the load of my bike is the average for a CroMoly loaded touring bike.

The only major change I did to the stock bike was to swap out the main chain-ring. When I was in Arizona last year watching my older sister complete her first triathlon wnoe got to discussing bicycles. She had mentioned a new trend for main chain-rings which use an oval shape instead of the traditional round.  The idea behind it is there is a portion of your pedal stroke which has more or less power, parallel vs perpendicular to the ground. By changing the ratio of the gears by using an oval instead of a circle you can optimize the efficiency so you are pedalling harder when parallel and easier when perpendicular.

Most effort

 Traditionally cyclists get through the inefficient section by clipping specially designed shoes to the pedals and pulling with their hamstrings which allows them to pedal in the "perfect circle." However, casual touring cyclists typically use platform pedals since we want to be able to hop on and off the bike and wander around town without changing or protecting the shoes. By using the oval chainring I'm hoping to be more efficient when pedalling while having the convienece of normal shoes. The chainring I'm using is made by Rotor and I have the QX3 set which is their only triple ring set. I wanted the triple ring for the hills, smaller is better. Over all I'm happy with the chainrings so far. There was one issue I had where my chain got stuck between the little and middle chainring.

Least effort

 I took it to my LBS, the Bike Doctors, and they said the issue was with my chain not the rings and so far I've not had any other problems after they replaced the chain. They also had to replace my rear derailer since they couldn't get the original one to shift properly.