*GALFROMDOWNUNDER'S GEAR* Stuff for staying on top of it

POCKET ROCKET PRO PETITE WITH COMPACT CRANK - for unloaded touring/touring with the BF TravelTrailer

This model is the li'l sistuh of the Pocket Rocket Pro, the Friday favored by many of the faster fold. I switched the standard 53-39 double chainrings to 50-34 - this is known as a compact crank - to offer a lowered gear range for tackling the hills of Italia. I also bugged Tim Link at BF to modify the Capreo cassette from 9-26 to 9-28* to give a gear range of 24"-111", a great, wide touring range without going to a triple chainring. Set up like this, my Friday offered lower gears than CC's standard issue Bianchi (lowest gear 30"). The clever TA Carmina cranks themselves did not have to be changed, only the 'spider' and the rings.

t proved useful for doing the Todi 14-22% Challenge, pictured below and see Day 7.

The bike was a great climber and descender - or was it me?

* This is a non-standard, 'I just want it OK?' modification and is generally not offered by BF. The standard offering with the above compact crank offers a lowest gear of around 26" - still low enough for most fit riders.

Visit www.bikefriday.com/gearing

POCKET CRUSOE with TRIPLE CHAINRING and Capreo 9-34 cassette
- for loaded touring with panniers and/or trailer on mixed terrain. You may not be able to twist Bike Friday's arm to make your 9-25 Capreo a 9-34 anymore - but they have other options available to you.

Read about the Galfromdownunder Crusoe

SOME GAL AIRPORT/PACKING TIPS

The Bike Friday drill: arrive at airport with Bike Friday in suitcase in one hand, duffel/big backpack in the other, check both. You probably have a daypack on your back with a laptop in it. At destination, take bike out of case, assemble, rig up trailer, put big backpack in suitcase, hitch bike and suitcase together and ride away.

More folding and packing tips under www.bikefriday.com/airport and www.bikefriday.com/foldingpacking and also search the YAK archives

• Leave the suitcase unlocked, and don't go meddling with the design by removing locks etc. When TSA say 'is it unlocked'? the truthful answer should be "YES".
• Stick a piece of paper on top of the packed bike in a ziplock bag or clear sleeve that says: THIS BIKE-IN-SUITCASE IS DIFFICULT TO RE-PACK WITHOUT BREAKING SOMETHING. For some reason this seems to work a charm.
  
• Don't ask to be present. You'll just annoy them. How would you like a job that never gets you to the gate lounge? Just cross fingers and get your butt on the plane.
• The new suitcase is nice and deep but heavier - if you take it, the TravelTrailer wheels alone weigh 3.5 lbs, so be prepared to spread the load between your other checked bag and your carry ons.
• Helmet WILL fit in a rear corner of the case on top of the wheel depending on what you're packing.
• Detours Hi tail seat post bag WILL squash down and in fact provide padding like the crush protector does between the lid of the case and the bike.
• You could also try putting two crush protectors in the case. That always made sense to me and they're cheap.
• Make sure you put those plastic tubes around the rear stays to stop the loose front wheel grinding down on the paintwork of the frame. Or put bubble in between. I have a nice spot of bare metal where I neglected to do this, in my minimalist haste.
• I like to put the soft bag in the bottom of the case as a kind of 'liner' - and it's always handy to have with you i case you have to deal with mass transit Nazis. You could also use it to pad the front wheel from the frame in lieu of bubble wrap and plastic tubes in the previous tip, but being big, black and ominous, it might encourage the TSA to rummage more than is necessary.
• DO use that little piece of tube to protect the head tube from grinding up your case.
• DO use a small arch of old tire or BF clear plastic tubing to protect the big chainring from grinding into the side of your case. You might have a bit of a task actually cutting a section of tire to use - metal tire beading is incredibly tough.
• I always carry one of the split-handlebar packing tubes in the soft bag to slip on the sharp end of the stem when its quickfolded, to prevent it scratching the frame

MAC POWERBOOK G4 12"

I use this little machine, bought on eBay in 2005, for all my 'full monty media work including publishing my book, DVD movies etc. I might have to upgrade it at some point as my work gets more movie-oriented, but it's holding up pretty well.

I use it in conjunction with my digital camera to make handlebar epics, read about that here.

For road warriors, it's very important to create a bootable clone backup nightly, in case of disaster. For this I use a Lacie 60gb Pocket Drive and an inexpensive piece of software called Super Duper. If my machine dies, I can plug the drive into another Mac and continue without missing a beat. Assuming I can find a space Mac of course ... when my machine is repaired, I can restore it from the clone.

I usually try to borrow someone's LCD projector when I go present my movies, rather than lug one around, even though there are some pretty small oones nowadays (for 2 grand upward). For this you need to carry an Apple VGA Adaptor. At a pinch you can plug your laptop into a TV, which has the advantage of using the TV sound system - for that you need the Apple Mini DVI to Video Adaptor and a bunch of those yellow, red, white and what have your RCA plugs to connect everything.

JBL ON TOUR SPEAKER

This little speaker produces amazing sound for its size. It plugs into the side of my laptop and I feel is superior to most other speakers I have tested including the Altec Lansing InMotion and regular computer speakers. I keep it in the bag my Thompson Elite seatpost came in, and use it with the power adaptor rather than batteries. It pumps out sufficient volume to show my DVD movies in a reasonable size room, as long as it is fairly quiet. Under $100 from places like Radio Shack.

BLACKBERRY 7130c for phone, email and internet browsing

This device really does free you from the shackles of a swivel chair. If I have to check emails I'd much rather do it at a rest stop on top of a grassy knoll than in my uncarpeted cubicle. The reduced keyboard 'learns' words as you type and as emails come in, and is 95% accurate. If you pause slightly after each letter of a 'new' word it seems to digest it rather than trying to immediately turn 'guy' into 'hit', say. I had the characteristic full keyboard version, which Blackberries are known for, but found it exhausting hunting and pecking for each and every letter.

I chose Cingular (now AT&T) because I could get coverage on the south east of the Big Island where I have my postage stamp sized piece of land. If you are in a main city then T-mobile is cheaper and offers more for your money, but less coverage.

The voice plan is similar to most cellphones, $40 a month for 650 minutes and 5000 night and weekend. If you head overseas you can pay $5.99 a month extra and get charged around a dollar a minute or so for calls. Hardly a bargain in this day and age of Skype and cheap calling cards, but it's an OK emergency resource.

The data plan is $30 a month unlimited anywhere in the States. I consider this a bargain, considering how much work I have done on it. My literary agent says "I save an hour a day and closed my biggest deal this year on my Crackberry". Unless you plan to use it overseas for a year or more and pay a fixed monthly cap of $80, it flips to roaming mode and charges you 2 cents a kilobyte. Keeping it off most of the time so that incoming voicemails did not rack up phone charges, and switching off images left me with a $15 data bill for 10 days in Italy, over and above the $30 monthly fee. Not too bad.

Downsides: It does not sync reliably with a Mac, I have found. It only syncs a portion of my address book, as the program that does it (PocketMac) can't handle long comments in address fields, I was told. I'll wait. And I have not worked out if and when I can use it as a modem. Windows users, you win again.

It's not the latest model - the Pear - which has camera and removable SD media. That would indeed be handy for taking shots of customers and then uploading them to the Gallery on my grassy knoll.

All in all a useful gadget to stay connected with the Bike Fridayt community - 24/7.

DEFEET ARM SKINZ www.defeet.com

I like to keep my arms covered from the sun and first spotted these CoolMax arm 'warmers' on BF Club of HI leader Jeri El-Swaify - she's wearing the same ones on the cover of the 2007 catalog - and immediately coveted them.

I've a standard pink pair and a CoolMax 'lite' white pair. DeFeet claims they don't offer full sun protection, so suncreen is still required. Streamlined and cool, sometimes they just beat wearing a flapping shirt. About $20.

The only other top I might wear in the sun is a Terry SPF 30 long sleeve jersey, which is somewhat unflattering and not widely available. I am waiting for manufacturers to start making some flattering - not girrrrly or hikey bikey - long sleeves sun protection jerseys.

TERRY BICYCLES PRESTA (and other models) TANK www.terrybicycles.com

Girls, this top is my mobile office. The three cycling pockets in the back give you one for the phone/Crackberry, oone for the camera (on a lanyard) and the middle one for your clean, white handkerchief and/or chapstick. I have two, they can be worn under and over things, formal or casual, and I do not leave home without them. About $55.

Just be warned that the sizes in Terry clothing runs small. The S just fits me bordering on asphyxiation, the XS ... anyone wanna buy two XS I can't use for their cabbage patch doll?

CROTCH-GUARD Chamois Oil: www.crotchguard.com

I was unlucky to fall victim to a persistent diaper rash after getting wet on Route 66. Since then I've been using this unobscurely-named product described by the maker thus:

A silky, smooth oil
Matches the skin's natural lipids
Absorbs easily
Reduces friction
Creates an anti-bacterial barrier
Starts the healing process
Great cooling effect
No messy hands-easy to carry

I prefer this light antibacterial oil so much more than the pasty white goops that in my view, only makes your chamois streamier and harder to breathe. Just make sure you get those shorts off the moment you come in from your ride! A little pricey at $19.95 a small bottle; I'm using my first bottle sparingly ...

USANA SENSE SPF 15+ FOR FACE www.usana.com

I'm a bit sensitive in the skin department and was waiting a long time for a sun protection moisturizer sans parabens, diazodinyal urea and other predictable preservatives. I put this on my face once each day and I never experience any kind of tanning let alone burning, no matter what it's like on the road. Yet my legs, slathered with regular sunscreen, seem to go brown. I blogged about this product a while back.

DETOURS LARGE HI-TAIL SEAT POST BAG detours.us

David Lam of www.bfold.com, our dealer in NYC, swapped my smaller Detours bag for this one. Quick release trunk bags are the way to go for light bikes on day rides like these. The small one is just too small, unless all you want is to carry a tube, a tire lever and a chapstick in style. Available from Bike Friday.

CHUCK HARRIS HELMET MIRROR $12 direct or from Austin Cycling Association

I was never into helmet mirrors until I bought one from the Austin Cycling Association. It's hand made from spokes and recycled parts by Chuck Harris, who lives out in the wilds of somewhere. It stays firmly in position and has a nice big mirror so you can see who's drafting you - all of 'em! Contact Steve Coyle of the ACA to see if they'll part with any of these rare birds, or give you the address of decidedly unwired Chuck.

While I'm on this picture, these Oakley Fives polarized sunglasses offer decent coverage. The lenses have so far not popped out, unlike the Oakley Half Jackets I owned prior, which is why I'm not into removeable lenses - who could be bothered with all that fingerprinty clipping and unclipping? Coverage is important - I have a tale of UV-induced damage to the whites of my eyes when I lived in Costa Rica, due to insufficient protection.

VICTORINOX ROLLING BACKPACK DUFFLE 26"

This bag is pretty brilliant. Ultralight, big enough but at 26", not too big. Can be wrestled onto your back and carried, if push comes to shove. A standard 22" carry on doesn't give me enough room to carry anything, and I hate wrestling with it in the aisle anyway. I check everything at the counter except my computer in its daypack.

It also just fits in the BF TravelCase when I tow the thing - very important for true door-to-door independence if you need it.

Not sure if it's still available - I got mine from TJ Maxx for a song, and it was hard to track down on the web, although I found it here.

BROOKSTONE XPRESSCHECK TOURING BACKPACK www.brookstone.com

I continue to search for the perfect telecommuter's backpack - one that holds your hardware, software, sleepwear, meeting wear, HAS A WATER BOTTLE HOLDER and doesn't shout 'I'd rather be hiking'.

This one comes pretty close - it won't clash too horribly with your Prada suit and there's even a secret sleeve you can cram your rain jacket into. It has a computer sleeve at the front plus these little pockets making it easier to load and unload our schwag at the X-ray machine. It's could be a teensy bit more capacious, and could have another zippered opening on top, but it's not bad. The top handle tore away from the bag within a week as the manufacturer used that inferior grade of webbing - you know, the kind that makes it hard to pull through a slider - but it has a 1 year warranty extendable by 2 years for $15, so I walked into a store and just replaced it. About $100.

GORE BIKE WEAR LEG WARMERS www.gorebikewear.com
(regular, not windstopper)

These legwarmers are the best bar none. Even though I did not need them in Italy, I take them wherever I go. They tend to be a teensy bit looser than your average spray-on leg warmer but the performance is nothing short of outstanding - perhaps the slightly looser fit maintains a layer of warm air. The elastic actually hangs onto you, unlike some legwarmers which fall down if your thighs are smaller in diameter than Lance's. I have a pair of Pearl Izumi legwarmers that have NO grip whatsoever - what is THAT all about? These also have nice reflective zippered stripes at the ankle ... I wear leg warmers pulled up over my shorts to avoid irritation and chafing from the grip on my skin, and that's where they stay. I would rate these as must-haves alongside my 25 year old Assos Roubaix jacket (sadly on its last legs). About $40.

PANASONIC LUMIX FX9 DIGITAL CAMERA

After being repaired a couple of times post Route66, this camera stiill produces pretty good results, although things have marched on since it came out as the first of its kind with image stabilization. Read about how I use it.

The most important point here is to always wear it on a lanyard around your neck, with the camera body slipped in your jersey pocket or a waistpack for fast access. If you drop it down a ravine don't say I didn't tell you ...