Basically, I'll probably soon have nothing left to write about, because the number of interesting observations is limited. I remember the exact same thing happened last time with my description of the USA — people demanded juicy facts, but where are you supposed to get them?
Therefore, it would be reasonable to save the descriptions of things and insert them into different posts. But that's not very convenient for those who want to read strictly about gear and clothes, and even less convenient for people who don't want to read about stuff at all.
As you know, before the trip I bought a bunch of cycling clothes and other things, so now I will share my impressions with links.
Acid-colored cycling jersey Brooks Adrenaline Nightlife
The jersey is thin, don't be fooled by the photo. The sizing is large – I often wear XXL, but here even a simple L sits very loosely on me. No real complaints though – it reflects perfectly in the dark, the fabric is soft, pleasant to the touch, and at the same time wicks sweat away perfectly. Doing any sport nowadays without high-tech synthetics is stupidity and torture. This specific jersey is for joggers, but it works fine for a bike too.
Deuter Trans Alpine 30 liter backpack.
I already wrote about it, but didn't take it with me on the trip – didn't know how to secure it. I didn't have a top rack bike bag, so the sleeping bag and mat were there. Now, when I have an idea of how it all works, it's clear to me that I could have taken the backpack with me and secured it on top of the sleeping bag using the car bungee cords I bought at Depo.
My nano-pants Montane FeatherLite Pant .
These pants only protect from the wind, not so much from rain and cold. They say cyclists need to protect their knees and therefore wear this kind of stuff if it's below 20 degrees outside. Hell knows, but I put them on exactly once, to go into the Blue Mosque in Istanbul (you can't wear shorts in a mosque). On the other hand, folded up they take up about as much space as a man's fist. Riding in them is uncomfortable because they don't stretch. At the moment, the usefulness of these pants seems questionable to me.
My famous nano-jacket Montane FeatherLite Velo Jacket
The jacket, on the contrary, I liked very much. When folded, it again takes up the space of a man's fist, weighs a hundred grams. Protects from rain averagely, from the wind – perfectly, wicks sweat away well too. When it's chilly outside but you're pedaling hard, it hits the spot. Plus, you can be seen from miles away (not joking) – it glows like a road worker's vest.
The only "but" – dirt is too easily visible on yellow, so I still recommend the black one (I hope it glows too).
Combined cycling liners+shorts Endura Hummvee Baggy Shorts inc Liner.
A clever thing – inside there are padded cycling liners, and outside there are durable shorts with a bunch of pockets. The shorts can be unfastened and fastened – they're on clever snap buttons. All this for one price. I hardly ever unfastened the shorts – they're comfortable as is. The fact that they have zip-open ventilation, I only remembered halfway through the trip – which is a pity, it's a good feature. Overall very satisfied, the only issue is with the sizing – the XXL padded liners are a bit too big for me, but the shorts fit perfectly. Meaning I couldn't have bought a perfectly comfortable set anyway, so I have to put up with it. Padded cycling liners are a must have for any cyclist. Riding without them for more than 50 km a day is a perversion.
Brake pads Fibrax Pads V-Brake
So far I'm happy – they brake better than the old simple ones, due to the fact that they sit flush along the whole length. Also, they have a cartridge system – meaning the pads themselves can be replaced relatively cheaply and easily, you only have to splurge on the holders once. The only "but" – I did a poor job replacing them myself, had to ask a bike mechanic.
Helmet MET Estro Helmet
Despite the fact that my helmet is size 58-61 cm, it's still a tiny bit small on me. Fortunately, if you break the rear fastener a little, it fits – at the cost of reduced safety, because a helmet must fit very snugly. So I'm in two minds – sell/gift this helmet and buy a new one, or compromise my health. A helmet is very important! It can literally save your life. If you ride on the highway or at high speed no matter where, definitely buy one.
Waterproof socks SealSkinz Waterproof Mid-Light Socks
Backpack Deuter Speedlite 10 Backpack
Durable, comfortable, with a chest strap. Two complaints – 10 liters is just too little, right now I'd grab a 15. The second is more serious – the top chest strap doesn't attach very securely, and because of that I misplaced it somewhere and can't find it. It was indispensable on the trip – I walked everywhere with it, it held the necessary or newly bought knick-knacks.
Holds 70 kg, looks good. No complaints – the panniers attached without any problems, except maybe the tubing is a tiny bit too thick. Normally racks aren't designed for such weight, but the price matches – you can buy a pathetic rack from "Maxima" (which, truth be told, has other flaws besides flimsiness) three or four times cheaper.
A "pannier" style bike bag. Funny, but I often only know the English terms. In a way, I love linguistics and languages, so terms are usually important to me, albeit without fanaticism. In Russian, cycling gear is often called whatever comes to mind (in English too, quite often). This bothers me – I don't understand what is meant, why it's needed, and how it works.
Anyway, such a bike bag (I think it's called a "camel" in Russian) fastens to the side of the rack; there are options for the front wheel too. Which means you can load something else useful on top: I had my sleeping bag and mat, sometimes groceries (see next part). The nicest thing is that the bag attaches with sturdy plastic clips at the top – very simply and quickly. But on the inner side at the bottom – with fabric straps and a buckle, which is inconvenient. There are also bags with ultra-fast mounting systems of various standards for a compatible specialized rack – a great thing, although it costs some money. Why is this important? Because at the entrance to the ferry, as you remember, there was a metal detector, and the bags had to be taken off, in a hurry at that. I bought these specific bags because I liked how they looked. And even though they come with a drybag, meaning a rain cover, you have to put it on and take it off. So, if I were buying bags now, I'd screw the looks and buy waterproof ones right away, especially since they were the same price.
My bags, by the way, are small, 15 liters, nothing like Maris's behemoths. And he also had a separate one on top, plus a large backpack, plus he usually carried about 4 bottles of water. Iron man.