Each day, there has been a complication involving gear. I’ll begin, though, with a confession: I have a significant problem with over-packing. On any given trip, I generally bring home several items of clothing that go straight back into the dresser, unworn. This trip is likely to be no different. Part of the reason is weather, not just the threat of rain, but also the first-hand knowledge that you can be sweltering in a t-shirt in the afternoon but then need long sleeves when the sun goes down. The other part of the reason is my duffel, which isn’t huge, but which is definitely large enough to encourage “There’s room; I might as well take some more clothes.”
Driving to Buffalo on Friday, I was probably two hours out of Springfield when I realized that I forgot to bring my water bottles. Not an insurmountable obstacle, but a pain, especially since I have two perfectly good insulated bottles in the cupboard at home; I didn’t need more. I set aside time on Saturday morning to go to Dick’s Sporting Goods, thinking I’d be able to pick up some cheap plastic bottles, say, $5 a piece. Nope; they didn’t have any like that, so I ended up buying two insulated Camelbaks, identical to the ones I left behind.
The next gear mishap was my inflatable pillow, which is also serves as the bag that holds my sleeping pad. It has served me well for at least two years, but now has decided that it will no longer hold air. No problem, I thought: I knew that Monday’s route went right past an REI. I’ll just pop in and pick up a cheap camping pillow. Silly me. I had forgotten that REI stands for Ridiculously Expensive Inventory; the cheapest pillow was $36; I think the most expensive was north of $60. I decided that I would continue to roll up a towel.
And then, yesterday, when I got in to camp, I discovered that a small tear in the side of my duffel had grown into a rip, no doubt as the result of being over-packed. The bag was on its last legs anyway, but it’s going to be touch-and-go to make it to Albany before it gives way. Amazingly, none of the tour supply trucks have duct tape, just painters tape. I’m really averse to buying a whole roll of duct tape that will join the two rolls I already have on my workbench at home, when all I need is three foot-long strips. So I decided to use the painters tape and see if it holds.
My final gear mishap came this morning when I failed to set aside my gloves for todays ride, and didn’t realize until my gear was already stowed deep inside the transport truck. Riding bare-handed wasn’t a problem… and when I arrived in Seneca Falls, the painters tape was still holding. Photo below.
Rideworthy 