HOW TO DO A SOTA ACTIVATION ON PIKES PEAK by BOB K0NR

 This post was updated on Aug 27, 2021, after most of the summit house construction was completed.

Perhaps this should be called The Slacker’s Guide to Activating Pikes Peak since I am going to describe the easy way to do a Summits On The Air (SOTA) activation on America’s Mountain. If you plan to hike up, you have my complete support but this post is not meant for you.

Pikes Peak (W0C/FR-004) is about 10 miles straight west of downtown Colorado Springs. See the Pikes Peak website for useful tourist information. At an elevation of 14,115 feet, the mountain towers over Colorado Springs and the other front-range cities. (You may see the elevation listed as 14,110 but it was revised upward in 2002 by the USGS.) This means that it has an excellent radio horizon to large populated areas. On VHF, it is possible to work stations in Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming and New Mexico. See VHF Distance From Pikes Peak  and Pikes Peak to Mt Sneffels. On HF, you’ll do even better.

Getting There

Access to the summit has three options: hike up, drive up via the Pikes Peak Highway or ride the Pikes Peak Cog Railway. Most people will probably choose the highway since the cog rail only gives you 30 to 40 minutes on the summit. (Normally, you return on the same train that takes you to the top. You can try to schedule two one-way trips but that is a challenge.)

After a few years of turmoil and construction, the summit of Pikes Peak is now back to operating normally. Well, almost back. The new summit house/visitors center is open and it is a beautiful new facility. The Cog Railway is also operational with brand new equipment. There is a new boardwalk that allows easy strolling on the summit and improved views near the edge of the summit. The parking area at the summit is still being finished up, so parking remains limited. You can drive to the summit but a sign will encourage you to stay only 30 minutes. (This will likely change, once the parking area is completed.)

Pikes Peak Highway

The highway is at a well-marked exit off Highway 24, west of Colorado Springs. There is a “toll” to use the highway (~$15 per person, check the Pikes Peak Highway website for the latest information and a $2 discount coupon.) The road is paved all of the way to the top and is usually in good shape. The only caution on driving up is that some people get freaked out by sections of the road that have steep drop-offs without guard rails. It is very safe but I know some folks just can’t handle it. The main caution driving down is to use low gear and stay off your brakes. There are plenty of signs reminding you to do this and during the summer there is a brake check station at Glen Cove where the rangers check the temperature of your brakes.

It takes about an hour to drive to the summit, assuming you don’t dawdle. It is best to drive up during the morning and avoid the afternoon thunderstorms.

On The Summit

The W0C Association Reference Manual (the SOTA rules for Colorado) used to suggest a “qualifying hike” of 100 vertical feet but this item has been removed from the manual. If you decide to do such a hike, I suggest you proceed down Barr Trail which is the main hiking trail coming up from the east side of the peak. Do not try to walk along the road, as the rangers will stop you. The trail starts on the east side of the summit house (towards Colorado Springs) and is marked with a sign. You have to cross over the cog rail tracks to get to it. (Please try to avoid getting run over by the train as it scares the tourists and makes a mess.)

The summit of Pikes is broad, flat and rocky, so pick out a spot away from the buildings for your SOTA adventure. There are quite a few radio transmitters on the peak so expect some interference. Since this is way above treeline, your antennas will have to be self-supporting. For VHF, giving a call on 146.52 MHz FM will usually get you a few contacts and sometimes a bit of a pileup. Be aware that on top of Pikes you are hearing everyone but they can’t always hear each other. It can get confusing. Another VHF simplex frequency worth trying is 146.58 MHz (The North America Adventure Frequency).   On the HF bands, pray for good ionospheric conditions and do your normal SOTA thing.

Your body and your brain will likely be moving a little slower at 14,000 feet due to the lack of oxygen. Don’t be surprised if you have trouble deciphering and logging callsigns. Take it slow and monitor your physical condition on the peak.

Bring warm, layered clothes, even in the summer, since Pikes Peak can have arctic conditions any time of the year. Keep a close eye on the weather since thunderstorms are quite common during the summer months. Lightning is a very real danger, so abandon the peak before the storms arrive.

73, Bob K0NR

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Improve your club by doing a membership survey BY DAN KB6NU

At a recent board meeting of our club, ARROW, the subject of doing a membership survey came up. My Rotary club does annual membership surveys, and I’m a big proponent of them. While we were discussing the topic, I did a quick internet search and came up with the following two links:

• Broken Arrow Amateur Radio Club 2018 Survey
• NPARC Amateur Radio Club Membership Survey

They’re both fairly similar, although the Broken Arrow survey asks more questions about members’ experiences and preferences.

If you’re considering a membership survey of your own, another resource that you might want to check out is the Rotary publication, Enhancing the Club Experience. Although written for Rotary clubs, there’s lots of good information in it.

For example, it contains eight pages of sample questions on the following topics:

• Satisfaction with the club and its activities.
• Club culture.
• Appropriateness and relevance of meetings.
• Satisfaction with club activities.
• Communication and responsiveness of the club.
• Value of club membership.

This PDF file has some good tips, too, on running the survey. For example, it say, “Keep responses confidential when discussing and analyzing them.” One way to do that might be using an online survey tool, such as the one used by the NPARC.

Now might be a good time to conduct a membership survey, especially now that clubs are starting to meet in person again. A lot of club activities were put on  hold over the last 18 months, but now as some are starting to emerge, conducting a membership survey might get your club re-started on the right foot. 

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A Heedless Aftermath by James Howard Kunstler

 For all the seeming power of the Deep State — a.k.a. the “Intel Community” — one really has to be impressed by its stupidity and desperation. It can’t keep secrets or cover its tracks. Anyone who was paying attention to the RussiaGate operation has seen the published evidence of all the lawless behavior it spawned and knows the names of all the players. Ditto, the effort to engineer the 2020 election and install an obviously senile puppet-stooge in the White House. And ditto the effort to manufacture the Covid-19 crisis by hijacking the public health apparatus of the federal government.

Yet, this Deep State rogue menace is stumbling badly now because it didn’t figure out the basic dynamic of the long emergency: that over-investments in complexity inexorably produce disorder and collapse. This includes the complexity of the Deep State itself, a sprawling enterprise choking on the immense stream of data it feeds on and the fumbling efforts of its all-too-human agents to weaponize all that. The question now is whether the Deep State will collapse — even perhaps get forcefully defeated by Americans who oppose it — before the entire country and all its support systems collapse.

Events are on the loose well beyond the Deep State’s control now. Its front man, “Joe Biden,” sealed his fate last week with the bungled exit from Afghanistan. Thirteen dead US soldiers may only be the preview of a Grand-Guignol to come as the victorious Islamic maniacs get to stage atrocities starring the thousands of Americans and other Westerners left behind. Why wouldn’t they? For decades, they’ve promised to defeat and humiliate their “infidel” enemies. Remember the video-recorded beheadings of Nicholas Berg, Daniel Pearl and many others? The roasting of the captured Syrian pilot in a steel cage?

There’s no need to even ask the rhetorical question: who planned and executed the buggered-up evacuation of Kabul? It is self-evident: the entire chain-of-command. This is finally galvanizing half the country not in thrall to the Deep State to move against it, and that’s what you’ll see in the weeks to come. They will get rid of this imposter “Joe Biden” — if the Deep State doesn’t try to do it first — and then they will “cancel” the Deep State’s attempt to manage any succession to the vacancy at the top.

Do you suppose that you will not be hearing any results of the Arizona election audit just because the endeavor went silent last week when three audit team members got sick with Covid? The process was not stopped or squashed. The report will show a gross and startling disparity between the results certified and the actual ballots counted. That will blow away the tatters of legitimacy “Joe Biden” has been wearing, revealing the larval, sightless creature hiding inside.

The CDC and its allied agencies have maxed-out on Americans willing to vax-up. The latest FDA switcheroo move to “approve” the not-yet-produced (or trialed) genetic therapy agent, “Comirnaty” was intended to fool the public into thinking that the current Pfizer-BioNTech “vaccine” was likewise approved. It is not approved. It is still being administered under the emergency use authorization. The quisling news media is lying about it. Anyway, the half of the country that declines to take a cocktail that fails to act as a true vaccine (i.e., preventing disease), and threatens to fatally attack the lining of their blood vessels… that large swathe of the public is good and goddam sick of being pushed around with mandates and threats.

We will not submit. We’re nearing the end of this medical reign of terror. The trouble is, the medical establishment won’t survive it. They’ve perverted and undermined what used to be called science — truth-driven inquiry into what’s real and what is not — and, anyway, the medical system had already poisoned itself with racketeering so outlandish and cruel that it makes the old Mafia look like a charity organization. Not only do Americans get a Covid virus whose development was funded and guided by America’s chief public health official, Tony Fauci, but if it puts them in the hospital, their doctors deny them treatment with efficacious medicines, and, if the patients happen to survive the ordeal, they’re hit up with million-dollar bills. This conduct exhibits a kind of sadism that goes beyond just adding insult to injury.

Half the country is also paying attention to the invasion of border-jumpers coming in from Mexico with the assistance of the Deep State. They’re also noticing “Joe Biden’s” failure to comply with the recent US Supreme Court decision that he must enforce the standing procedure to return “asylum-seekers” to Mexico to await any decision on their eligibility. Many of these migrants come from the farthest corners of the world, including places full of people who don’t like us or our country. How many of them are coming here to blow things up and shoot American citizens? Nobody knows. The Deep State doesn’t want to know and they don’t want you to find out.

Finally, there is the question of the financial system which, lately, has become the proxy for what used to be the productive US economy, its Potemkin false front. The various plans to spend about $8-trillion in non-existent money on more social experiments such as paying citizens to be idle, would have been enough to sink American money, the US dollar. Now that the world has witnessed the humiliating withdrawal of the US from our 20-year-long war in Afghanistan, the process will accelerate. The world sees that we can’t be depended on in any foreign crisis. They know we no longer produce things of value. What are we good for, exactly? Absurd ventures in gender confusion and race hustling? Drugs and pornography? Is that what stands behind the dollar?

Former (as of yesterday) Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller returned to YouTube yesterday. He represents exactly how pissed off that better half of the nation is, the half that refuses to bend over for the Deep State, the half that is looking to run it down and call it to account for attempting to destroy the country six ways to Sunday.

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THE QRP LABS QCX-MINI CW TRANSCEIVER by Scott (KN3A)

I have been a fan of QRP operating since I got licensed in 1983. The sticker in the picture is a joke a good friend who is not into CW or QRP, so I include it in my field pictures.

My interest in ham radio had reached a point I was getting away from the hobby. In 2020, I learned about Parks on the Air (POTA) and Summits on the Air (SOTA). I got hooked on activating parks and summits, and now I mostly do QRP CW, much like Thomas Witherspoon, K4SWL does.

Over the past year, I’ve been refining my antennas and radios in the field. I have different radios and antennas for different reasons, and to just mix it up a bit. Occasionally, I will take my IC-7100 or IC-7300 out into the field with my Bioenno 20aH battery, if I’m not planning to hike or go far from the parking lot, or if the bands are just not cooperating.

Back in November 2020 I had my left knee replaced so I had lots of down time and made an important purchase for field activities – an IC-705. It is fantastic and does everything I want it to do without a lot of wires. I’ve also owned and sold within the past 18 months a Yaesu FT-891 (which I sold when I got the IC-705) and had both the Xiegu G90 and X5105.  I would expect one day to get another FT-891 as it has amazing filtering and pulls in weak CW signals better than any radio I’ve owned. The G90 and X5105 are okay, however I was not impressed with the G90 from the start for out in the field. There were just too many wires in order to set up and use with my portable laptop computer if I was taking that along.

The X5105, which I had high expectations for, disappointed me in the fact that storing and using CW memory keying is not user friendly. The nice thing about that radio is, no microphone, no problem, I had some success using the 5105 and got great audio reports.

I’ve been looking ahead to my projected retirement and hopes of through hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2026. Although the IC-705 is an excellent field radio, all mode, VHF/UHF/D-Star/HF/6 meters, I already know for a 7 month hike from Georgia to Maine, it will just be too bulky in my backpack. I have heard really good things about the QCX-mini, however I’m an appliance operator and not good with kit building and soldering.

I saw there are options to purchase an assembled QCX-mini, so I decided to check out a 40 meter radio. It took about 2-1/2 weeks before it arrived at my QTH on Saturday afternoon. I hooked it up to one of my HF antennas in my yard  used for my IC-7300 that was resonant on 40 meters. I had to use my Heil headset in order to hear the audio, plugged into the 3.5 mm jack. I used my CWMorse paddle and tuned around the band. I called CQ several times before finally I heard WA0USA in Palm Beach, FL calling CQ. I called him and got a 579 report and he was a solid 599. We chatted for about 10 minutes, and he was running a kW while I was using 5 watts. It felt good to know that I was being heard.

Sunday morning I had time to go activate a local park (K-1418) before some afternoon commitments. I had also recently purchased a link dipole for 20/30/40 meters off eBay from N9SAB. I had tested this antenna out a couple of times last week, so I wanted to pair it with the QCX-mini. I went with little expectations about the little mini, so I also packed my IC 705 just in case I needed it to complete my 10 contacts to have a successful activation. To my surprise, I spotted myself on the POTA page, and in 45 minutes I had a total of 26 QSOs in my HAMRS log! It was amazing and I think I found the perfect combination for true lightweight, portable operations.

I was so impressed with this activation that last night I ordered the 20 meter QCX-mini! These can be ordered from qrp-labs.com and they have a lot of other kits available as well. The kit itself is $55, and I opted to have it assembled ($45) and purchased the enclosure ($20).

This little radio is very user-friendly. I was able to easily access the menus, customize it to my liking, including the paddle, preset frequencies, several stored CW memories, and was on the air calling CQ Saturday evening without seeking out the instructions.

I had mentioned previously about my disappointment with the Xiegu X5105 and not being able to easily store and recall memories. Not a problem at all with this little radio. I enabled the decoder feature just to test it out, and it decodes better than the G90 or X5105, including very weak signals. The size is a fraction of the size of the X5105 and total weight for everything, including the Bioenno 12v 3aH battery is less than 2 pounds and it all stores very nice.

These quick videos were taken this evening before storms hit; that’s why you will hear lawnmowers in the background. I wanted to first show a demo of the receive decoder and how well it decodes even weaker signals:

My biggest complaint about the X5105 was how the memory was next to impossible to use. I do a quick demo how to access a stored message and send it over the air. I also have it set to repeat every 6 seconds:

I did make a couple of changes to the radio setup. I did not like having to use the headset, so I went on Amazon and purchased a mini portable 3 watt mobile phone speaker line-in speaker with 3.5mm audio interface (affiliate link). That cost under $15 and works extremely well. It has a built in charger that plugs into a micro-USB to charge the battery when not in use. I also have a cell phone holder that fits perfectly on my Neewer stand I purchased several months ago for my IC 705, and it sits nice and firm on the table. I may not take that to the field if I’m doing a lot of hiking.

Here are some other details about the QCX-mini from their website:

The Optional enclosure is black anodized extruded aluminium, very sturdy and elegant. The enclosure size is 95 x 63 x 25mm without protrusions. The top and side panels are drilled and cut to match the QCX-mini with laser-etched lettering. The enclosure includes four self-adhesive feet.

Special portable-friendly features:

• Small size: 95 x 63 x 25mm enclosure (plus protusions)
• Low current consumption (for example 58mA receive current, with 12V supply and display backlight off)
• Low weight, 202 grams
• Sturdy extruded aluminium enclousre
• All-metal BNC short connector, bolted to enclosure

List of features: 

• Easy to build, two-board design, board with main circuit and connectors, display panel board with LCD; all-controls board-mounted on a press-out sub-board. No wiring, all controls and connectors are board-mounted
• Professional quality double-sided, through-hole plated, silk-screen printed PCBs
• Choice of single band, 80, 60, 40, 30, 20 or 17m
• Approximately 3-5W CW output (depending on supply voltage)
• 7-14V recommended supply voltage
• Class E power amplifier, transistors run cool…
• 7-element Low Pass Filter ensures regulatory compliance
• CW envelope shaping to remove key clicks
• High performance receiver with at least 50dB of unwanted sideband cancellation
• 200Hz CW filter with no ringing
• Si5351A Synthesized VFO with rotary encoder tuning
• 16 x 2 yellow/green LCD screen
• Iambic keyer or straight key option included in the firmware
• Simple Digital Signal Processing assisted CW decoder, displayed real-time on-screen
• On-screen S-meter
• On-screen real time clock (not battery backed up)
• Full or semi QSK operation using fast solid-state transmit/receive switching
• Frequency presets, VFO A/B Split operation, RIT, configurable CW Offset
• Configurable sidetone frequency and volume
• Connectors: 2.1mm power barrel connector, 3.5mm keyer jack, 3.5mm stereo earphone jack, 3.5mm stereo jack for PTT, 3.5mm stereo jack for CAT control,  BNC RF output
• Built-in test signal generator and alignment tools to complete simple set-up adjustments
• Built-in test equipment: voltmeter, RF power meter, frequency counter, signal generator
• Beacon mode, supporting automatic CW, FSKCW or WSPR operation
• GPS interface for reference frequency calibration and time-keeping (for WSPR beacon)
• CAT control interface
• Optional 50W PA kit
• Optional aluminium extruded cut/drilled/laser-etched black anodized enclosure

Just a quick note on the link dipole. It is well made and I had a 1:1 SWR on the CW part of the band, which is perfect. I did put the IC 705 to work when I attempted to work a couple of SSB stations on POTA, and at 7.235 the SWR was only about 1.3:1, so minimal loss. Check out the N9SAB antennas on his eBay site. His shipping is very quick. I took a picture of the balun with the included choke in the package I purchased, and the second picture is the link between the 20 and 40 meters. It works great.

I mentioned my goal about hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2026. I’m sure there will be other multi band mini size radios available by then and I’m hopeful QCX will have one in 5 years for me to use. My goal is to activate summits along the way while taking breaks from the hiking, or at night before calling it an evening. Since I’ll be on the A.T. I’ll also have lots of opportunity to activate POTA as well. Most thru hikers are not hams and they are always concerned about no cell phone coverage. I won’t have that issue and I’m confident I’ll be able to be in touch with other hams throughout the journey.

Thank you once again Tom for allowing me to post on QRPer. I think I finally have a QRP radio that you have not tested or purchased yet. I hope your readers find this short article useful.

73

Scott – KN3A 

Overpaid, Insecure, And Unintelligent — This Is Who You Leave Your Kids With And Who Most Kids Will Therefore Emulate

Overpaid, Insecure, And Unintelligent — This Is Who You Leave Your Kids With And Who Most Kids Will Therefore Emulate: There is a fascinating trend taking place among parents. They are starting to realize who they are leaving their children in the hands of. Sure there have always been PTA meetings and parent teacher conferences. There have been open houses and days for parents to come in and volunteer at school. There have been sports leagues and field trips and volunteer activities for you to see a teacher in action and to see how they are at their job and as a person. But if there wasn’t genuine philosophical conflict, there was no way to truly feel them out. 2020 … Continue reading →

Summits on the Air

Corvallis American Legion Post #91’s amateur radio club (KG7SPL) is sponsoring the first annual Montana Summit to Summit Rendezvous and Antennas on the Green.

12 pm, Friday, September 3rd to 12 pm, Sunday, September 5th

This event is the brain child of club president W7MRC.

KG7SPL members will be setting up a to chase activators around the world.
Other KG7SPL members will be activating summits here in Western Montana.

Some members will be setting up there antennas at the post’s station in Corvallis and others will set up at home.

It is this quarter’s training exercise for KG7SPL.

Spot yourself and we will try to contact you.

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The Pandemic Within a Pandemic

The Pandemic Within a Pandemic: Modern Medicine Isn’t Going To Tell You What Is Really Causing All The Deaths. When The Public Realizes Vaccination Is Futile, The Public May Confront Themselves With The Real Cause Of The Pandemic. It is heartbreaking to hear of people all over the world dying needlessly.  But not because the masses chose to vaccinate or not vaccinate themselves against a mutated coronavirus with RNA/DNA vaccines, but because of a hidden epidemic that co-exists in the background of the worldwide pandemic that is now in progress.  It is the failure of modern medicine to recognize this epidemic-within-an-epidemic that is causing more … Continue reading →

12 Tips for Packing Light on an Extended Motorcycle Trip by Heather Lea

 What I’ve learned over the past seven years of moto camping and long-distance riding is that you pretty much pack the same amount of gear for three days as for three months: tools, camping stuff, rain gear, off-bike clothing, first aid kit, camera, etc. As for food, you can only fit a few days’ worth at a time, anyway, so even that doesn’t change much. The bottom line is it all adds up.

But for extended road trips—and by that, I mean a few months or even years—where I see riders bulking up is in the type of gear they bring along. One simple piece of advice: buy backpacking gear. After all, what user group needs to be more ultra-light than those who carry everything on their back?

When my husband, Dave, and I set off on our round-the-world trip, we already owned a lot of lightweight gear from past mountain and ski expeditions; our rain jackets weighed a few ounces, and even our camp stove, bowls, and cups were all contained in one pot and weighed just 2 pounds.

Despite meticulous planning and packing, we still ended up with almost 30 pounds of extra weight between us.

What I packed at first.

What Dave packed.

After a few weeks on the road, we sent a lot of items home. The feeling of a lighter bike was noticeable, although, for the next 20 months or so, we still rode with more than 80 pounds of gear each—more in places where we carried spare parts and tires because moto shops were few and far between. (This is where shorter trips make a difference—I’ll usually bring less tech gear and clothes only for one season.)

My overloaded bike the first few weeks of our trip.

In Baja, we realized we had far too much ger and off-loaded 30 pounds between us.

Every rider has non-essential stuff they’re unwilling to part with. For me, it was my 6-pound laptop, and Dave carried about 20 extra pounds of camera gear. The truth is, to go ultra-light, you’ll be compromising either safety or pleasure, and most of us can get away with that for only so long.

We soon learned. Lighter-packed bikes for Year Two.

For many reasons, soft bags are the way to go. They cinch down with less stuff, so, as you’re rolling along, consuming food, you can make your bags smaller.

The lightweight traveler should always factor in bulk as well as weight. You may look at the cost of an ultra-light sleeping bag and think, “I can put $400 of gas in my bike and ride through most of Central America for that price.” The difference—and you’ll feel it after the first sandy road in Baja—is you’re getting a good-quality bag that weighs 19 ounces and packs down to the size of a football, instead of something that, although much cheaper, can weigh more than 5 pounds, and doesn’t even fit in your panniers when rolled up.

Some true diehards out there can ride for a month with a tarp and a match, but that’s not for this Girl Scout.

Don’t be miserable. Do be safe.

12 Tips for Packing Lighter and Smaller

Use Stuff Sacks for Everything Your tent will come in its own sack, but you can compress it much smaller inside a stuff sack. Same with your sleeping bag and even clothing. I strongly suggest something waterproof—there will be mornings when you need to shove a wet tent inside your bags, and you don’t want it to make everything else damp. Also, look for sacks with straps to cinch everything down as much as possible, and keep it down.

Spread the WeightMaybe you’ve got everything whittled down to 20 pounds, but if you lash it all down on your passenger seat, you’re top-heavy, and that makes a difference in how your bike rides. It’s more money, yes, but consider side cases and a tank bag instead, so you can get that weight lower and spread around. Also, be sure to pack heavy items, like tools and spare parts, as low as possible. Tool rolls are a great investment.

Don’t Double UpIf you’re riding with others, make a gear list, and see if you’re doubling up on things like tools or camping stoves. You may be able to delete bulk and weight by sharing communal items.

Ditch Some ComfortAt the start of our trip, we had two small camping chairs that folded up smaller than a loaf of bread. But we soon found that almost everywhere we camped had something to sit on, even if it was a rock or log. We sent them home and deleted five pounds just like that. I’m also prone to packing too many clothes, so I gave up an extra pair of jeans, some T-shirts, and socks and underwear. That meant doing laundry more often, but it was worth having smaller, lighter luggage. Besides, after some time on the road, you realize none of this matters.

Shrink Your TowelFor long-distance trips, it’s hard to go without a towel unless you spend every night in a hotel. Also, you may like swimming en route. Regular bath towels are bulky and heavy. Check out these antimicrobial camp towels for something that packs down to micro-size.

Camp KitchenHere’s another situation where you’ll lose weight heading to a backpacking store. For simple meal prep, you can’t beat a Jetboil. Sporks are a great way to combine fork and spoon, and they’re usually made from lightweight materials like plastic, bamboo, or resin. You can also ditch bringing an eating knife and just use a multitool.

Are You a Tool? Be honest with yourself; can you really fix most mechanical things that could go wrong on your bike? If not, there’s no need to bring a bunch of heavy tools you’ll never use. I would, however, recommend you at least know how to change a tire or travel with someone who does. The BeadPro is a valuable investment, and, in my husband’s words, it replaced “two tire levers and a lot of swearing.”

Buy as You Go In most places you’ll travel, you can purchase small containers of things like shampoo, skin lotion, and toothpaste, so there’s no need to stock up on Costco-sized shower gels or toothpaste. Where possible, head to the travel aisle, where you can get mini-sized basics that can be replaced along the way. It does create more waste and costs more over time, so weigh your priorities here. Consider bringing less bug repellent and sunscreen, too. For the most part, you’re riding all day and don’t need that goo all over you festering inside your riding suit. When stopped for the day, apply what you need, and that should get you sorted until the next morning when you’ll cover up with gear. I found we used far less of this stuff than we thought, and I switched to travel-sized containers.

Pillow TalkI have an inflatable pillow that packs down small like a deck of cards. I don’t love it; the pillow slides off my sleeping mat all the time and is just another thing I have to fiddle with when I’m tired and need a good night’s sleep. I recommend just using a stuff sack and filling it with your down jacket, which makes it nice and cushy or use other clothing to make it as high or shallow as you want.

It’s a Cinch I mentioned earlier that I like to run with soft bags so they can be compressed. The same is true for a duffel bag I carry on the passenger seat, which is pliable. I used RokStraps to cinch it all down and keep it there. Try to pry yourself away from bungee cords. I see them lying all over the road; they never stay attached, and you can’t adjust them well for varying-height loads.

Bring Dual-purpose GearSporks were mentioned above. If you’re willing, you can use something versatile like a heated jacket for staying warm. (My heated jacket is butt-ugly, as is the liner in my riding jacket, so I pack an extra puffy jacket that packs small.) You can also minimize camera gear by buying a good phone, though if excellent photography is your priority, a phone may not cut it.

Bear SafetyI laugh every time I see the bear vault I carried in my pannier while riding in Alaska. It’s huge and bulbous, but it was all we knew at the time for something that kept our food contained and away from animals. Bear sacks are a much better solution and fold away when not needed.