My Coast to Coast Bike Ride Across the North America
Bike: Marin Headlands 2 with Shimano GRX 800 groupset and hydraulic brakes (chainring and cassette replaced)
— When I bought this bike in 2022, I was not thinking about this coast-to-coast trip. No direct mount of cargo bags to the front fork (see Front rack below) would have persuaded me to consider other tour bikes. But retrospectively, did what it was supposed to do on my trip: It did not break.
Chain: SH XT / Ultegra HG701
Cassette: SH XT M8000, 11s, 11-46t
Chainring: Wolf Tooth 36t 110bcd GRX Asymmetric 4-Bolt 1x
Front wheel: Marin 700c
Rear wheel: Factory DT G540/Bitex BX106 12×142 CL TA HG Road 700c
Tires: Pirelli Cinturato Gravel M, 700 x 42, Tubeless,
— These parts didn’t come with the bike when I bought it. I must credit my bike shop (Montlake Bicycle Shop, Seattle) for their recommendations of these parts for this trip. Not a single part needed to be replaced during the trip.
Pump: Lezyne Micro Drive HP Pump LED0127-SILGLO-WITGAU Air Bleed System 160PSI maximum pressure 300mm 6.8oz
— This is a great pump with a pressure gauge and a foot peg. The thread chuck screws on the valve to secure the air flow (no air leak when pumping). But I once crewed it on too hard and made the tubeless valve rotate and broke its seal.
Bike computer: Garmin 1030
— I could use this for navigation, but I didn’t. I used this on the trip mainly to monitor my heart beat rate and to record the actual route I rode each day, which could be different from the planned route (see article Routes). I used RwGPS on my cell phone to navigate (in fact, just monitored my location on the map without navigation on to save power).
Front rack: Old Man Mountain Elkhorn, Short version, aluminum, 1.43 lbs. Load 25lbs, axel mount
— For some reason I didn’t like any handlebar bag. To balance to weight in the back, I needed to carry something in the front. I cannot mount any cargo bag directly to the carbon front fork of my bike. My only option was to have an axel mount front rack. This was not ideal. It added weight more than I hoped for and it had to be dismounted to fix a flat of the front tire because of its axel mount. In the future, I would force myself to adapt a handlebar bag and not to use this front rack.
Front cargo cage: Blackburn OUTPOST CARGO CAGE, 0.28 lb, weight capacity 11 lb
Cargo Bag: Blackburn Outpost Elite (6.5L)
— There was no problem to mount the cargo cages on the front rack. But the default two straps were not enough to secure the bags on to the cages if the bags were full. I had to use additional straps or gear ties to secure the top part. They cannot be quickly taken off and mounted back because of the straps.
Rear rack: Tubus Logo Classic, Steel, 1.38lbs, weight Capacity 57.3lbs, tire clearance 29 x 2.35″
— I chose this mainly for the reason of lower mount bars that extend further back so my heels would not touch the panniers. The top cargo platform can be a little wider.
Rear panniers: Ortlieb Gravel-Pack Panniers
— They are very popular. Simple to use might be their best virtual. I wish there were external pockets for me to put things I want to reach easily but do not care if get wet. The bags are not as sturdy as I thought. One time I tried to squeeze through two large rocks and one bag scratched against one rock that I barely noticed. Later I found a tiny hole on the bag.
Top tube bag: Apidura Expedition Bolt-On Top Tube Pack Waterproof
— I wish the zipper could be easier to operate. It was almost impossible to open or close it using one hand.
Front trunk bag: VSANAM
— It holds a lot for easy reach: first aids bag, camping knife and utensils, napkins, snacks, charging plugs and cables, its waterproof cover, etc. It is pain in neck to mount because three velcro straps must go underneath the rack top and between the rack and the bottom of the bag to make it stay firmly. A side pocket is handy. The top elastic string cannot hold anything tight because it does not have much strength. But you can attach small things (e.g., a hand sanitizer) to it.
Shoes: Lake MX 168
— Comfortable peddling and walking. But I still prefer softer sandals right after the ride every day.
Sleeping bag: ECOOPRO Warm Weather Sleeping Bag – Portable, Waterproof, Compact Lightweight
— I was concerned of hot summer nights in the Midwest and chose this warm weather sleeping bag. It turned out that I did not have a single hot night but had to deal with many cold nights (in the lower 40s F). This thin sleeping bag could not keep me warm without extra clothes.
Sleeping pad:
- Sea to Summit Ether Light XT Insulated Air Mummy Sleeping Pad
- Switchback foam ins-R
— Sea to Summit worked fine for about 20 days on the trip and then started to leak. I patched the leak and found three more soon after. They all occurred at similar locations: near dot welds or pinholes. I mailed it back and got Switchback foam ins-R for the rest of the trip. After the trip, I gave Sea to Summit a one-star review and contacted Sea to Summit on this. They immediately sent me a replacement. Switchback foam ins-R is worry free, but it was not as comfortable as Sea to Summit with full air.
Tent: Hyke&Byke Zion 1, 3-season 4lb&12.8oz, packed size 16.5″ x 5.5″, floor dimensions 37″ x 88″
— I like a plenty of room in my tent, thus this one. It is easy to set up and take down. Some of its reviews complained about the poor ventilation that leads to dew insight. I did experience that in cold nights when I zipped up the fly. Another potential issue is that at a hot night when you don’t want to put up the fly, you are totally exposed. The transparent mesh starts from the bottom. I saw other tents have the bottom part of the mesh nontransparent, giving you partial privacy if you care.
Stove: Soto WindMaster Stove with 4Flex Pot Support
— Worked like a charm. The only issue was the igniter stopped working on the trip. I use a cigarette lighter I brought.
Cookset: Snow Peak Trek 1400 Titanium 1.4L pot with handle; frypan with handle
— For boiling water, no issue. To cook, you’d have to stir constantly, or the bottom would burn.
Camera: GoPro13
— This is a big disappointment. Many images I took have fisheye effects. I didn’t and don’t have time to fix them through additional editing. The voice control often didn’t work because of the wind or traffic noise. Video recording drains the battery quickly (less than two hours). I ended up using it mostly for single photos. Many times I wanted to capture something interesting (i.e., an unusual road sign) at about 15 feet from me. It appeared tiny on the image. I mounted it on my helmet and adjusted its position and angle so it would capture images as I saw them. It was fine only when I look straight forward. When I turned my head slightly sideway, the images would be different from what I expected. If I wanted to make sure I had a good shot of something, I would have to stop and use my cell phone.
Power bank: SABANI Portable Charger 35000mAh Power Bank – Portable Battery 4 Built in Cables, 22.5W
— What I like this power bank the most is its 4 build-in cables (iOS, Type C, USB A, Micro) that can charge multiple devices simultaneously. I used it to charge my cell phone, Carmin computer, and GoPro camera at camping nights. Once fully charged, it can charge them once per day for three days.
Rain jacket: EddieBauer
— Used it to keep me warm more than to keep me dry. It is easy to fold and strapped on top of my tent bag on the rear rack.
Clothes:
For cycling: two pairs of bibs and jerseys, two pairs of socks, one pair of gloves, one pair of full-finger gloves, one pair of arm warmers and one pair of leg warmers, a helmet, a pair of sunglasses, a sweatgutter, a handkerchief, a skull cap
For camping and others: a pair of shorts, a T-shirt, a silk long-sleeve shirt, a pair of silk long pants, a thin long-sleeve sweat shirt, a pair of warm socks, a pair of sweatpants, a pair of brief underwear, a thin hoodie, a short-sleeve shirt (the only “formal” cloth).
Other useful stuff:
Wet wipes: To clean your body after a ride without shower or washing water.
Zip-lock bags: To store snacks (cherry tomatoes, mixed nuts, hard-boiled eggs, etc.) and trash on the road. I tried to use bags that came with food (e.g., muffins, tortillas) as trash bags but when they ran out, I used zip-lock bags I brought.
A small bottle of hand sanitizer: You want to use it after using a vault toilet without a wall-mounted sanitizer.
Laundry clippers: To hang your cycling clothes on tree branches to dry after a ride and your towel after a shower or wash. To tight opened snack bags if you don’t eat all of them once. I used small metal ones.
Dog Doger: To temper chasing dogs. It emits low-frequency sound that human can’t hear but dogs can, and they don’t like it. But I found out that it was not effective on small dogs.
Brought to the trip but not used (excluding first aids and spare parts):
Poop shelve – I didn’t do any dispersed camping.
Water filter – Again, I didn’t do any dispersed camping. In the campsite without running water, and on the road when I need water, there was not any river or lake nearby.
Portable speaker – I do not listen to music when I ride. I brought this to keep bears away, but I was never in a bear country
Bear spray and bear bag hanging rope – Our routes and camping sites were not in bear countries. I did use my bear bag to fend my food from other critters (racoons, squirls).
Cycling gloves – My handlebar warps are very thick with a lot of cushions. I brought them just in case I needed them. I did wear full-fingered gloves in cold mornings (two pairs together in some days!).
Extra dry bag – To replace the one I used for camping gears in case it broke. It didn’t.
Silk long pants – During my training, I found out that at a hot night or after a sweaty ride without shower or even water to clean, what kept me from having a good sleep was the sticky feeling of my sweaty legs when they touched each other. A pair of thin silk long pants solved the problem by keeping my sweaty legs from directly touching each other. During the trip, however, I didn’t have such a problem because all hot days were in the semi-desert areas of eastern WA, where temperature dropped quickly after sunset. And most campsites I used provided running water if not showers.
Skull cap: To keep me warm at cold nights. The hoodie was good enough.
Can opener: I got a P-38 foldable one. Tiny. But I didn’t get any canned food on the trip.
Used but mailed back on the trip:
Sheet: This was to serve two purposes – to be used as a camping liner and to separate my sleeping pad from the tent floor to reduce the noise generated by their rubbing against each other. It was extra and unnecessary.
Chidong Zhang's WA2MA Bike Trip 
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