G ear for Sidewalk Tour 2009
Boards, gear, and clothing carried in backpack for travel across US
Project Date: October 2008 - July 2009
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Gravity 40" Brad Edwards BE40 tour longboard, under load
Notes about the gear used in Sidewalk US Tour project
March 12 - July 2009.
Travel Inventory List
8.15.09 My practice of making a travel inventory started in past tours and travels, some involving surfing, some involving video or photo gear, and others pleasure trips. I found it made it easier to keep track of stuff and gear if I had a written inventory.
While planning the skate tour I began keeping an inventory of things that I wanted to take along. I had a list on my computer, and eventually put the list in a text file on my pda phone. I separated all the items I planned to travel with from my other stuff and put them in one part of a room in my apartment. I would test clothing and items and include it with the tour items. Some items, like a pair of pants that proved grabby and uncomfortable, would fail a test and get removed. That item then just got thrown into storage or discarded. Items fell into categories of clothing, gear for skating, gear for repair and technical, and personal items.
Gradually I narrowed down the items to a backpack full. At a point close to departure I packed all the items into the backpack and got an idea of whether I could carry it. As it turned out, the bag was too heavy. The day I left, recounted in the entry for March 12, I had to turn back and drop by storage and remove several items in order to lighten the bag. While on the road, I felt my bag was a little too heavy. Were I to do this again, I would use a similar style of backpack, only smaller. I would try harder to lighten the load, because it is very hard to skateboard with a loaded backpack, due to the need to bend one leg which supports the load while the other leg is used to push. Some panier system could have been developed, and I have heard of skate travelers doing this. I like to be able to pick up my board and walk with it, so I did not try to do this. The only way I distributed the weight was to carry a large belt pack and put a lot of stuff in that, as well as my backpack.
There was a period on the early part of the tour in suburban Philadelphia and Atlantic City when I had a lot of down time, waiting in train stations, or staying with friends trying to decide which way to travel. At that time I put many hours into fixing up my inventory documentation and putting it in my blog diary and trying to edit it so that it would be comprehensible to Surface Motion tour followers. I was quite sure that this inventory could be used by other travelers as a framework for their own inventory. For several diary entries I included a feature called Packed, which listed the inventory in different categories and gave explanations of why I chose certain items and other details. I will include the dates from those journal entries and my intro comments. There are references in the journal to various gear items as I commented whether stuff was working for me or failing.
3.22.09 The first installment starts with my packs themselves.
Packed: Packs
Following is a description and explanation of my backpack and accessory packs, and the way I subdivide them.
Pack, convertible, belted back, double bag, frame, EMS 4000
This pack design is one big pack with a smaller day pack that zips on. The big pack has no compartments, which is ok, because it's very roomy. It has some internal stiff framing and a padded belt for support. I often put the little pack inside rather than on the back, because the weight gets closer to my spine that way. The pack has a cover to pull all the straps and belts in so it looks like a suitcase.
The little pack is not roomy but has many pockets for organizing office stuff.
EMS double bag backpack
Pack, belt, large, Jantzen
Thanks to the Luggage Store in Atlantic City for stocking this and for a generous discount off retail price. This belt bag is the roomy kind for holding a fair amount of gear, not the little belt bags for holding your wallet. I love it because I can spread my gear out more and carry a bunch of stuff on my hips, placing the weight lower. The way I wear it so far (since I'm still experimenting), I set it high on my waist and put the big pack's belt below right on my hips. The belts nest pretty well. The Jantzen has one big pocket and some smaller zipper pockets. It's a good place to keep your phone and anything you're reaching for frequently. Also some annoyingly heavy thing like a book, the belt pack is a good place for it. I got the back/belt pack idea from Robert Pelton's "Come Back Alive." Pelton's idea comes from the dangerous and high theft areas he's travelled in. He advises to spread your belongings out so there's less risk of losing everything at once, and also to distribute the load.
Interior subdivision, KJ custom
Bag, mesh med
Bag, mesh sm, toilet articles
Bag, poly or nylon, lt (2)
I use light drawstring bags to sort out clothes inside my big bag. It's better than pockets or compartments in the bag. Mesh bags are nice for socks or soap and toothbrush, can air out. Non mesh poly or nylon drawstring bags are good for laundry if you want to quarantine dirty items.
Clip, carabiner
The type of clip climbers use, but smaller. Good for hanging your shoes or helmet on your bag.
Bag, plastic, travel kit personal:
This is something I started doing on my surf trips. You take a plastc bag and put 4 or 5 big zip lock bags in it and distribute toilet articles in the zips. Keeps it sorted out and wet items can dry w/o wetting the other items.
Towell, v sm
Bring your own little towell for when none is available.
Razors (2)
Lotion for shaving, sm bottle
Shampoo, sm bottle
Soap, sm dish (or bottle, liquid)
Put these liquids in small bottles with screw caps, not flip top.
Deodorant, nr empty, saves wgt
Wipes, flushable (1 pkg)
Athletic tape
Toothbrush
Toothpaste, sm
Floss, sm
Brush, hair
Nail clipper
Foot warmer, chemical
This might be good in an emergency cold snap.
Lately I've been putting the whole bag kit in the little pack in my convertible backpack setup. That way I can take the whole thing into a bathroom.
3.23.09 Inventory and explanation of items I'm carrying. Since I had some time to write in AC and more in Philly while laid over in the train station, I worked on a detailed inventory of the gear and clothes I'm travelling with. Although it's going to be very esoteric in areas, there should be plenty of tips here. I'm not sure if there are many other longboard skate tour travellers, but these packing tips would work well for any sport travelers like surfers, hikers, and outdoor photographers.
When I note med it refers to medium weight or thickness of material, not size. Most of my gear is med or lt, with a few hvy and v lt (very light) items.
Packed: Clothes
In many years of surfing and skating in cold weather I learned a lot about high tech synthetic sport and travel clothes. I'm also a seasoned budget traveller and backpacker. This is the first trip built specifically around skateboarding.
I tried to pick out clothes that combine skate function with regular use. For example, the combination of pastel colored poly T shirt under a cotton blend dress shirt works for many situations. If I haven't worked up a huge sweat, I can walk into a restaurant or bar after a good workout without changing. At the very least you want to have clothes that you can skate in that dont look too bad when you go into someone's house. Sport T shirts look pretty nice so that's one double use, and as a double the other way, blend dress shirts and pants are ok to skate in.
Here is my specific choice of duds.
Pants, 100% poly lt slack Land's End
Pants, 65% poly med slack Land's End
Pants, ski lt, eleastic waist
I ususally carry two of everything with something different about the two, usually thickness. I carry a third if it's real light. Ski pants are super light and would be a great backup in the rain.
Another possible alternate would have been a tough pair of shorts. It just seemed too cold at the outset.
T shirt, poly lt wt (2)
T shirt, poly med wt (1) Patag
Critical items. You can wear these poly T shirts all the time and wash them quickly one at a time.
When you're shopping for these poly shirts, try them all out. Get those that don't smell bad on you and dont feel gross. Wash them in the sink with a little detergent, laundering almost absurd.
Shirt, poly LS turtle med, EMS
Shirt, poly LS lt Patag (lost)
I left the light LS somewhere. It'll be a problem only if I go farther north. Maybe my friends will find it and send it west. These long sleeve shirts are different weights, the turtle being heavier. The two together would be extremely warm. I haven't had to put them both on yet, but up north I would.
Shirt, blend LS dress, collar (2)
One is probably enough and I may ditch one. A good shirt can make you look decent and can get you away from the skate bum look pretty quickly. Use poly blend, never 100% cotton.
Underwear:
Long john, poly lt Patag
Long john, poly v lt Lifa
The Lifas are really nice ski wear. They are so light you can wear them when it's warm and you wont overheat. Good for pyjamas. I need to replace mine, the elastic in the waist is shot.
Uwear, poly brief, lt (2) Patag
Uwear, poly boxr, lt Patag
These poly undershorts are nice for travel because they wash out in the sink with a little detergent or shampoo and dry right off. Keep washing out one or two items a night, socks, uwear, T shirts, and rarely do a whole load.
Uwear, fleece boxr, hvy Mysterioso
These are liners for a wetsuit for winter surfing. For use in cold air they add a huge amount of warmth. They could double as a bathing suit if I needed it.
Uwear brief cotton (2) Jockey
Uwear T shirt cotton (1) Jockey
Cotton is only good for comfort. It is terrible for washing on the road, warmth, or wrinkling. They can help cool you down if it gets hot and arid.
Socks, poly lt (2 pr)
Socks, poly med Wig Wam
Socks blend lt, dress (2 pr)
Gloves, fleece med
Gloves, wool lt
Facemask, fleece hvy
Another thing that adds huge warmth for no weight or space. When I was in New York, it snowed and got down to 10 degrees. I had the fleece boxers, facemask, and layers of shirts, but no big jacket. I could have got my down jacket, but the bulk wasn't worth it, and I was plenty warm with the layers of light gear.
Cap, wool blend ski hat w facemask opening
My ski cap is a bit weak, since the facemask opening puts a hole in the ski hat stovepipe. Since I have a separate facemask, it doesn't matter. I can don very warm headgear. I'd recommend a fleece hat with an attached facemask, like the one I had in my surf articles, which I lost on the NY subway.
Timberland boots, Land's End 65% poly pants, Patagonia shell jacket
Boots, ankle high, med Timberland
These are nice for distance skating but are kind of grabby on the brake. Very comfortable and stand up to rain and light snow. Slightly loose fit makes for more air, thus warmth. Heavy snow or cold would need thicker and higher top.
Shoes, skate, worn, repaired DC
I put a bunch of shoe goo on my old DC shoes. It was better than risking being uncomfortable in new shoes.
Jacket, fleece med Patag
Jacket, shell lt Patag
These are multi use and look pretty nice, although mine are somewhat drab colors. I'd like to get a jacket that looks more colorful in my pictures. I guess it shows the low profile, incognito skate tourist look I'm adopting.
I have no heavy jacket, or even a medium shell on this trip. It's been cold almost every day and I have been comfortable, using layers. I would like a third jacket for variety or color, but that's it.
Shell jacket is pretty versatile, tight pores, light but warm and windproof, and stands up to light rain and snow.
Poncho/tarp, nylon Totes
Totes nylon poncho, lightweight rain gear
Packed: Gear
3.24.09 Skate and travel gear inventory, with comments. This is a description of the gear specific to skateboarding, blogging, and other travel needs.
Gear, skate:
Knee pad Triple 8 (1)
Elbow pad Triple 8 (1)
Glove wrist guard Harbinger (1)
I take one out of each pair. Lots of protection can be had, saves wgt.
Helmet, bike style, Full Force
Skate shoulder strap
Really useful, carry board no hands. Keeps hands warm away from cold, wet board.
Tools: skate
I carry a small travel bag with a few essential tools for working on my board, clothes, and other gear.
Wrench, adjustable 4"
Light, LED style, v lt
Allen wrench (2)
Box cutter, sm
Scrwdrvr, short flat/phlps comb
This is a short blade that flips around for phillips and flat blade
Punch for wheel removal
Tools, other gear:
Scrwdrvr, short greenie
Safety pins sm, v sm
Pin, needles
Thread roll for sewing (2)
Binder clips
Have all kinds of uses as clamps and fasteners, as well as paper clips for a good sized stack.
Paper clip
Twist ties
Tape, cloth, a few pieces
Many quick repairs on clothes can be done with pins, clips, and tape. When I get time, I'll sew up rips, hems, and holes.
Wipes, cloth
Box cutter, sm
Alcohol cleaning fluid (sm bottle)
Phone/pda:
T Mobile Dash (HTC) phone and handheld computer with near full internet capability. Handles word processing and spreadsheet financial and budget records. I'll discuss the phone and computer setup for travel separately.
Case, belt clip
Cable, charger
Battery, spare
Micro SD card (2)
Reader, USB, a small holder that the SD pushes into for transfer to a computer.
These flash memory cards are great. I can back up a lot and have data in case phone is lost. I keep them in another part of my luggage, away from the phone.
Parts: skate
Screw, truck attach, long (4)
Nuts for truck scrws (5)
Bearing (2)
Nut, axle (2)
You need to bring a lot of hardware. Nuts and bolts shake loose. So far, my board is rusty enough, bolts tight, everything has held on.
Notebook, letter size
Address sheets
This printed copy of addresses and other useful information is a good backup to the computer files in my phone/pda. I keep them in my notebook which goes in another part of my luggage away from the phone.
Pen, pencil
Eyeglasses
Guitar:
My tour guitar is a student model Martin. It's not particularly expensive or irreplaceable, so I'm not afraid to bring it along with me and ride on skateboards with it. It is very light and small, but still has a good tone and is loud. The case has big shoulder straps and is easy to carry along with my other pack. It's fairly easy to skate loaded up with guitar and pack.
Picks
Music, sheet, (4 packets)
The music is on letter sz paper, clipped into packets with binder clips. Some music is reduced to fit better.
Guitar strap
Strings, extra
Boards used for Skate Training and Tour project
October 2008 - March 2009. Skateboard as Dolly to Storage.
March - July 2009. Tour across US and on west coast.
8.15.09 During the training part of the tour I often used different boards than the Gravity BE 40 that I took on the tour. Since I was using long skateboards to haul loads, on some trips I used a bigger board, or a beat up board for rain or snow.
One thing to note is that before the training project, my boards were set up like street boards with hard, small wheels for sliding and grinding. I put soft wheels on all the boards except for the Budro rain board. In one of the first training diary entries I noted how I changed the set up on the BE 40.
10.27.08 Set up the Brad Edwards for this series of visits to storage that I've got planned. I cleaned up some bearings, put them in 66mm spare soft wheels that I haven't used in ages, and switched my small hard wheels for the big softies. Rolled them to test, seems pretty nice. Should be easy to wheel loads over cracks and bumps. And the trip back oughta be a blast.
Packed: Boards
8.15.09 The board that was actually "packed" was the Gravity BE 40. I had considered the Sector 9 Phoenix and was saving that board for the tour, using the BE 40 a lot in training. The selection of the tour board actually took place around the 10th or 11th of March. In this journal entry I was reflecting on how I wound up using the board I did.
3.25.09 Here is a discussion of the boards I used in the training dolly storage trips and how and why my tour board ended up not being the one I expected.
This list is a recap of the specs, setup, and condition of the four longboards used in the training portion of this tour. Recall that training program involved numerous trips from Manhattan to Queens on the subway with a load carried on the skateboard, a half mile walk pushing the load over the overpass to storage, and then a long distance skate back with no load. This went on for months over dozens of trips.
Basic specs: Gravity Brad Edwards 40" street longboard.
Setup: Street and hill carve hybrid. No flex. Loose trucks. More grip tape than is stock, but some bare wood.
Condition: Worn but fully useable.
Wheels: 66mm soft.
Trucks: Stock, Tracker B-2 (1) and Tracker Dart (1). Rather heavy with unspectactular turning or grinding performance.
Gravity 66mm soft wheels, Tracker trucks
Basic specs: Sector 9 Phoenix 45" street longboard.
Setup: Tiny bit of flex. Highly responsive, loose trucks. Full grip tape. Great for street and carving. Nose and tail both bounce well. Surprisingly good for ollies. Nose and tail pop well, with more vertical angle when nose is used as the tail.
Condition: Almost new, a few scrapes.
Trucks: Krux, cutaway. Light, broken in. Great for grinding.
Wheels: 66mm soft.
Combination of new board and old trucks very desirable.
Sector 9 Phoenix, soft wheel setup
Basic specs: Gravity 54" Classic all wood flat surfboard like longboard. 13 lbs. A bit of flex. Very nice ride and good turns if enough room. Great for walking the board. Could carry a load with room for a rider behind load. Good for carrying long furniture objects.
Wheels; 66mm soft.
Trucks: B2s in good shape.
Condition: Old, abused. Split developing. Holding up.
Basic specs: Gravity Jeff Budro 40" model. Park and trick type board. Quite symettrical with no surf feel at all. A good practice loangboard for street tricks. Very worn board and trucks, used only for rain or snow.
Wheels; Small and very hard. 62mm, 97 duro. Bearings have been hit by all weather.
Trucks: Gullwing. Rusty axels.
Condition: Very worn board and trucks. Tail in poor shape, delammed, has been cut down. Bolts and axles rusted, bearings very stiff. Used only for rain or snow.
Selecting the tour board
The first thing to say is, after the training period the Budro 40 and the Classic 54 were marked for storage. The Budro, hey it's nice to have a board that you see a snow bank and you ollie and axel plant right into it. But it didn't have a chance because it's been used in snow and rain so much it's shot. The 54 is great and on some kind of sponsored tour with car support and marked road routes, that's what I would use. I'd attach a bin or panier of some sort to the front and make the board carry most of the load of gear. But for this tour, it was way too big and heavy.
My original thought was to mostly use the BE 40 for the training and save wear and tear on the newer Phoenix 45, then take the Phoenix on tour. If I were going to push and walk a lot as I'd be doing on a long tour, I'd rather have a longer board. The Phoenix handles hills great and it's good for tricks too. It'll grind a long ways with the light smooth Krux trucks. At 45" it's easier to ollie than the 40s I have, because the Phoenix is so stiff and bouncy. I figured if I went into a park or around some curbs I could do more tricks with the Phee, including olly cross steps, where you need more board. For walking, 45 is a good length because you can definitely take two full steps and stand on the tip, then walk back comfortably and not cramped into baby steps. For a long time, I was sure which of the two I wanted to take across country.
It came down to a couple of practice runs right before I left New York. I had the two favorite boards at GMs and still kept choosing the BE, maybe because of the continuing wet weather. Maybe I was still babying the Phee. I started thinking that the Phoenix, while it is great to ride, was just big enough to be a pain to carry around and stow on trains and buses. The shoulder strap I rigged up helps, but it's a long and heavy load to carry along with my other gear.
I started thinking about how well the BE 40 had served in all those trips out to storage and back. It is a real warhorse and has held up to tremendous abuse. The ride compares pretty well to the Phee, although it definitely doesn't beat it. The BE carves well and takes hills well under big loads. It has enough length to take one step, not quite two. It's enough to use my alternating foot push style.
Other positive features had less to do with performance. The bottom graphic is worn off completely and both ends have been worn down from ollies and are taped up in spots. It's worn and not so big, so it doesn't attract too much attention. This is a very informal, improvised tour. The low profile look of the board is better when skating in rough areas, at night, in unknown places. Whether riding or carrying, it's pretty discrete. In a luggage rack or on a seat it isn't clumsy.
Another factor was the hardware. Maybe the BE had rusted just enough to lock on the deck bolts, because they seemed to never loosen much. This is very important because when you're riding for transport you hit cracks in the sidewalk and street, and it shakes the bolts like crazy. It can be dangerous if the hardware falls off in stressful use. I wasn't sure I trusted the hardware on the Phoenix, but I did trust it on the BE 40. What's more, the Phoenix has domed screws that bump out from the board, whereas the BE has flat head screws that are flush with the deck.
Were riding the only factor, I would prefer a bigger cruiser, like the Phoenix 45 or on a promotional tour, the Hardwood Classic 54.
I'm not exactly sure when it happened, but by the night before the Ft. Hamilton Pkwy ride on March 12th I had to have settled on the Gravity BE 40 as my tour board. The trip to storage after being blocked at the Verrazano narrows would have been a chance to switch, and I didn't even consider it, since I was trying to get rid of weight and not take any on.
Packed: Phone and Mobile Blog Technique
8.20.09 Having no laptop on the tour created a problem of how to blog the journal remotely. If I'd waited til I got to cafes I would have gotten very little work done. I kept diaries in text files in my phone, thumb typing a journal entry almost every day. Blogger allows you to email files up to a blog and it'll semi automatically post them, with no other format work needed. The blogs couldn't be edited very well this way, but it worked. Because of this method, the diaries in March and April often had multiple entries, which was the only way I could assign some order to the photos posted.
3.18.09 Blog technical comment- If anyone's noticing the organization and photo layout of this blog has become more scattered, there's a good reason. I have no computer and a phone is my only writing gear. Having a phone and not a laptop keeps the weight down, which has been a constant problem. I've had to do all the writing and posting from my T Mobile HTC Dash phone. The Dash is a smartphone Blackberry type device with a querty keyboard. For a phone computer it's really good. It handles all the text, spreadsheet, image, and video files needed to do this project. Only problem is it's real hard to edit and get the photos up in order, as the Blogger email feed tends to scramble the order. I figured out some workarounds and the posting seems acceptable.
When I pull up Blogger's web page text entry screen on the phone's web browser, the screen only holds 250 characters. So it's impractical to try to edit on the phone browser. However, a text file can be created and edited with a large amount of characters. To start a blog entry, I compose and edit the text in a text editor. I shoot some pictures and rename them, using a system with the date taken included in the name. I have one big journal file, and a small file for each entry. I keep the journal entry text files in folders along with the pictures from each post date. This method keeps copies on my phone, preserves the order by date, and also allows for some later editing by revising the text files.
The text file and photos can be uploaded via email to Blogger's Blogspot site. This is a nice feature and is what made phone blogging possible. One problem is the pictures don't come up in order. I developed a workaround which was to break the article into 3 separate emails, one for the lead pic, one for body pics and text, and one for closing pics, if there are any. Within the body, those pics and text will come up in a random order. But with the post sent in a 3 part structure, it comes up in a somewhat orderly readable fashion. To remove any randomness in the order of the posts, I would adjust the time posted, usually using 8:30 PM for the lead pic, 8:00 for the main body and journal entry, and 7:30 for the closing pic. The latest post would appear first in the line on the page. The system is crude, and also slow and clumsy to construct. Phone blogging isn't easy but you can't beat the weight factor of having your camera and computer weigh a few ounces.
Management and backup of the tour journal files: Traveling around with journals and photos introduces the possibility that all my work will be lost. I keep the files on a micro SD card, which is easy to back up. I have been backing it up onto another micro SD, which provides a layer of backup. The second card I keep in another part of my luggage. Posting the blog creates a backup of most of the material and there is also a record in the emails used to post the blog. Draft and unused materials could be mailed to a storage site, although I have not been doing this. There is quite a bit of safety in this mixed media journal keeping method.
The following entry from the original blog is an example of how I posted in three parts. When I transferred the journal to the Surface Motion tour pages, I reedited journals, adding pictures and clips, and didn't keep the multi post form, because it makes the contents cluttered.
Example three part post
Saturday, March 14, 2009 - Uneasy Exurb Skate
Posted by kosojohnso at 8:30 PM
Lead picture(s) and title.
Saturday, March 14, 2009 - Uneasy Exurb Skate - journal entry
Text file main body journal entry attached to email along with another pic.
3.14 Excellent skating conditions in the suburb, really an exurb of Philadelphia where I'm staying with friends. Beautiful winding roads, well paved, hilly, with almost endless loops, turnoffs, and bends. An endless longboard carve smorgasborg. No curbs, which a street skater might miss, but not a carver. One problem and it's a big one. You can skate a downhill curve around a bend and over a rise, but on or about the third road navigation feature, there'll be a car coming around it or over it, with good speed and not enough warning or visibility. It kind of throws a monkey wrench, a strange wrinkle of skill into skating it, having to concentrate so hard on the traffic, when it's really very sparse. Maybe the eqivalent is a perfect rock climbing wall where a chunk of rock falls down your route every ten minutes or so.
I checked out a hill which had a light at the top which kind of controlled the traffic. Carved and slalomed it a bunch of times and shot a couple of decent clips that ought to give you the feel of the quality of riding around here.
One other thing that is odd is all the background noise strewn about the panorama of general quietude. While I was skating, someone was running a power saw, which competed with my wheels for gnarly sound. Standing with the board, waiting for a lull in the power sawing I heard a diversity of intermittent sounds interspersed in a full circle around me. Sounds of barking dogs, cawing crows, and occasional exhortations, loud voices from humans, celebrating some TV sports event or other reason for suburban spontaneous exhuberance.
Posted by kosojohnso at 8:00 PM
Saturday, March 14, 2009 - Uneasy Exurb Skate - closing pic
Posted by kosojohnso at 7:45 PM
One more pic sent and posted separately by Blogger.
