Author: Bob Harrison

Evening colors

Originally uploaded by StatrixBob

Evening colors

I spent this past weekend living at Club^H^H^H^HTent Hubba Hubba. While not as risque as Club Hubba Hubba, my MSR Hubba Hubba tent worked flawlessly this weekend while I was camping at Bellows AFS.

I’ve got no military connections so normally I wouldn’t be allowed on base. Fortunately for me a friend of mine is a retired navy officer (actually I know a few) so when the call went out for a camping party I was on board. I hadn’t purchased my Hubba Hubba specifically for this exercise, but it sure was worth having.
Let me say this about Bellows. It’s beautiful. Because it’s a military base it is really quite spic and span. Everything is groomed, trimmed, cleaned, and tip top all the way around. But that’s not really the appeal. Sure it’s great to have a super campsite, but I’m sure camping sites in war zones are tidied up too. No, what makes it really super is that here’s the great camp site right smack dab in my back yard, assuming, of course, that Waimanalo can be considered my back yard. In some ways it can as it is right over the mountains from where I live.
It’s a good twenty-five mile ride from home, but a nice one, especially if you leave in the morning while it’s cool. I didn’t see this one the way in as it was later in the day, but to get an idea of the backdrop, here’s what it looked like just after sunrise as I rode out on Sunday.

As for my tent, it’s roomy for one person which is a big plus. Remember the Hubba Hubba is marketed as a two person tent, and it could be done if you have no fear of intimacy. Still I followed the advice I was given and went for a double. I was able to fit all my gear inside and organized well enough to access it all and still had plenty of room to stretch out.
When I arrived at the site a couple of friends where there already. They’d hauled my gear out in their car so I was free to ride unencumbered. Thanks guys! They asked if wanted help setting up my tent but I declined; I wanted to go solo. One of the guys actually time me putting it up, this being only the second time I’d done it. It took seven minutes from start to finish and I was chatting with them the whole time. In other words it’s darn easy. I expect if I were really going for it, say to beat a rain shower, it could be done very quickly.
Ventilation in the tent was really good. I staked out one side of each vestibule for privacy and rolled up the other side. That gave me the privacy I desired but still allowed for ventilation through each door (one for each side). I slept well, not too hot, not too cold, just right.
Finally, and this is important, the netted interior did a great job keeping out the creepy-crawlies. Bellows, being fairly dry and planted with ironwood trees as a small, okay big, centipede population. There are also some fire ants around, but those are easy to avoid provided you don’t set up camp right on top of them. The centipedes though are another matter. They are quite prehistoric looking, quite large, and quite capable of inflicting a painful sting. My Hubba Hubba did the job right and none got through. I have, of course, no proof that one even tried. I shudder when I think of them getting in, but the tent was great. I slept unscathed.
I got my Hubba Hubba through Amazon, but they are available at a number of places online. I don’t know if they are sold in any local shops. I ordered the footprint as well. I might suggest that they really ought to packaged together for one price but I’m not going to quibble. The tent is perfect for my purposes and I can’t wait to use it again, and again, and…

I’ve been riding my new Ergon PC2 pedals for a couple of weeks now since I mentioned them. As I noted they are quite a bit larger than what I’ve been riding and for a flat peddle guy larger is mostly better. Here are some of my thoughts…
They are big. Noticeably big. I’ll try to get a couple of images of them on my Friday and amend this post in a bit. Even so I haven’t had any trouble with them based on their size.
They are very comfortable to ride. I can’t say I really notice a huge difference over my Grip Kings in terms of ergonomics, at least not now that I’ve had them on for a while. I did notice a difference the first day I rode with them though. They must have changed my position a bit because at first I noticed a little knee pain which worried me. Now it seems likely that I was just having a bit of unrelated knee pain that first day as it shortly went away. Since then I’ve had no trouble.
I really like their ability to grip my sandals. I ride almost exclusively in Teva Hurricane sandals and while I can’t say I’ve ever had much trouble with the Grip Kings when it’s dry, wet weather is less somewhat less salubrious. The gripping surface on the Ergon pedals does a great job. I haven’t ridden them in downpours yet, but in light rain I’ve had much less slippage.
The biggest complaint I have has to do their construction. Because they have been designed to sit as close to the crank as possible they require the use of an Allen wrench to attach. Unfortunately it seems that the material isn’t metal and is some sort of plastic. I managed to come close to stripping one of the pedals. Indeed I may have done that and if so I’m going to have some real trouble when I try to take another trip. That’s not happening for a bit and I’ve had other things on my mind so I’ve left well enough alone, but I’m going to have to look into it in the next month or two. It’s always something.
Still with proper care, something I often seem incapable of, they are great pedals and, now that I know the trouble, I’d have no qualms about ordering another set.

Aloha

Hubba Hubba with fly

Originally uploaded by StatrixBob

Here’s my new tent setup as a test prior to next weekend’s camping trip. So far so good.

Yes, I’m afraid to say I’ve gone and purchased something else for my bike. Actually isn’t not so much an addition as a substitution. I’ve been using MKS Grip Kings for a while now and absolutely love them.
Here they are…

But a lot of the fun of cycling is in experimenting with new things, tools, techniques, routes, what have you. So I decided to try the new Ergon PC2 flat pedals. I ride flats so they are right up my alley to begin with…

They have a lot of benefits, at least according Ergon. There are a couple of reviews out there too which convinced me to at least give ’em a try.
Now we sit back and wait for them to arrive…
Aloha!

My Friday came back from Eugene last week. I’d actually been told it was going to take two weeks because their fabricator was out sick and then, the next day, got the shipping notice. The reason appears to be the fact that they didn’t repair the stud. Instead the replaced the entire rear triangle. That means I really have a brand new frame, or an almost new frame as the main beam did get to go across Iowa.
The hardest part of shipping my bike back was finding a box that could hold it and not cost me a lot in extra shipping costs. It was just a couple of inches to big for most the standard sort of boxes I could find and I finally had to build my own:

Yep, it’s an old, old computer box I’ve had around for way too long. It looks like I was right to hold on to it. It had nice thick cardboard and handled being cut down and reassembled quite well.
In fact it handled it so well that that the Bike Friday folks shipped it back to me when they returned my frame. I’d actually been hoping for one of their nice boxes, and they are nice, but it seems mine was just fine. Considering they didn’t charge me a dime for the repair, or the prior own, I’m definitely okay with their reusing my box. Indeed I’m really okay with their reusing my reused box in any case. I’d brag about being green, but being cheap is often just as good and had the same results.
As for my Friday, I spent the weekend rebuilding it. I replaced the rear brake, derailleur, chain, and cables (again), but other everything else was in good enough shape to go back on. I do have a new cassette but since I couldn’t find a new chainring locally I decided I’d hole off and replace them both at the same time. Neither really needs replacement immediately, though I’m seeing some wear on the chainring, so I should be fine while I dredge up an appropriate replacement.
Aloha!