Just got off the phone with my brazilian girlfriend who makes the equivalent of 500 USD per month.  Food has gone up alot just in the last few months because the fields are being switched from food crops to sugar cane to make feedstock for ethanol.  There are whole nations where the average wage is 500 USD per month or lower.  Cleo will get by because I will help her if she gets in trouble but what about the rest of the people? 

I can only help the rest of the people by getting your lunatic anti-human green policies booted out.   Our societies are not yet geared up for biofuels.   It is not a situation where you can just flip a light switch and have things magically switch from total petroleum basis to total biofuels.  I can see that this environMENTAList commodity  debacle that is occuring is about to come to a head.

We really need the Double breasted Deep Throated Super Gay Green MMGW religious adherent to go extinct.    You NJF MSG’s better watch out.  You are getting what you wished for and it is not pretty.  You should be ashamed for what you are doing to some very good sweet people.  People I know.  If I had my way your punishment would be to suffer the consequences of your beliefs.

If you have ever used FCKEditor you know its far better than the default TinyMCE editor that comes with WordPress.  Want to make a table in TinyMCE ?  Sorry you’ll have to do HTML code in a window that does not allow you to cut or paste.  Highly inconvenient !!! 

 Want to do full screen editing?  Just click on the monitor icon and you get full screen capability.  No dealing with crappy iframe insert that rolls randomly with mouse wheel…and then does not because the main frame rolls!

You can download the plugin here.

You can see the coders webpage with short instructions and more descriptions here.

I feel better already.

unDemocrats say the following pairs of things:

unDemocrats better prepare themselves to be the next Gray Davis.   They are heading dead on that course!  The oil is going to hit the fan promptly. unDemocrats are luddites who don’t mind you suffering for lack of energy.  They think they see an opportunity to get better control of you.  When you are impoverished by paying greater oil prices you will not be able to stir up trouble for them.   You think they are fighting "big oil companies" ?  Think again.  They are driving the oil companies product price up.  I call that an ally not an opponent.  If they can work people into positions of power at the oil companies you are going to find your life alot harder. The unDemocrats were the party of slavery.  Let me correct that.  They ARE the party of slavery.  They never miss a chance to try to take self determination away from you. 

When I was learning portuguese I found that it helped to listen to catchy music. The technique is to select a song you really love and listen to it alot.  That way I engaged that part of my mind that repeats catchy tunes endlessly whether I like it or not.  In english songs this drives me absolutely crazy.  However when I use it with portuguese it allows for an effortless learning technique.  Currently I am teaching english to my Brazilian girlfriend.  After she said the singer spoke to quickly I recorded me speaking the lines of the song 1 by 1 for her.   Because of the nature of portuguese speakers habits of pronounciation the recordings are optimized for a portuguese speaker.  I repeat the words where a portuguese speaker has trouble that arise from rules of portuguese pronounciation conflicting english ones.  See if you like the learning technique. The original song is here so you can listen with music at full speed.  Entire song spoken slowly              

I wanted to do some longer length recording and quickly found out that Sound Recorder that comes as part of Windows only goes to 60 seconds duration.  After a quick search I found a program called Audacity.  It does a good job and exports as an mp3 if you add a lame plugin for it.

Open source is changing the world.  You sappy global warming goofs would like to think you are saving the world.  You could only wish to have an effect while open source is forging a new paradigm. 

The libtard NJF MSG’s poo poo coast oil drilling.  No matter that even the Norwegian socialist pussys do ocean drilling.  As part of their argument the posit that gee golly there is only 1 million barrels per day capacity.  My response?  Well then Mr EcoTard…..The environment has so little to worry about by your words.  Thus you should have no fear of oceanic drilling right? I think they know there is more than what they are positing.

BikerTony included what appears to be a comprehensive of his biking equipment on his now defunct website.  I am recreating it here now because I may want to use it in the future. Others may also.

The list is only approximate since I did not write all the details down when I started this trip.

   The Ride

    The bike was custom build by my friend in Vancouver

1. Titanium frame by Airborne (not sure which model)

2. Marzocchi 2001 Z2 Atom Race front fork

3. Sram X.O. shifters and derailers

4. Thompson stem

5. Rockshox suspension seat post  (not sure which model)

6. Race Face crank and bottom bracket (not sure which model)

7. LP carbon fiber handle bar (not sure which model)

8. Selle Italia Gel Saddle (not sure which model)

9. Azonic rims with Shimano XT hubs

10. Sram cassette and chain (not sure which model)

11. Chris King NoThreadSet

12. Shimano PD M324 pedals

13. Shimano XT V brakes

14. Avocet Cross 2 semi slicks size 1.9

15. Axiom Odyssee Tubular Alloy Rear Rack

16. Delta shock treatment low rider front rack

17. 2 generic water bottle cages and water bottles

18. 2 Mr. Tuffy tire liners

The Luggage

1. 2 Ortlieb Back Roller Classic for the rear                                                                                

2. 2 Ortlieb Back Roller Classic for the front

3. Ortlieb Ultimate 3 Classic handle bar bag

4. MEC Bag of Fundy Dry Bag

Tools and Spares

1. Topeak Alien multi tool
2. Quick release headlight                                                                
3. Blackburn mini pump
4. Phil Wood grease tube
5. Bicycle tube patch kit
6. Wheel truing tool
7. Bottom bracket tool (just the socket)
8. Cassette tool (just the socket)
9. Leatherman Squirt mini tool
10. Assortments of nuts and bolts
11. Various different sizes of Allen keys                              
12. Locktight liquid                                                        
13. Screw driver
14. Different sizes of cable ties
15. Duct Tape
16. Spare brake and shifter cables
17. Spare brake pads
18. Spare set of Off-Road tires (Panaracer Mach SS and SK size 1.95 for the rough roads)
19. 2 spare tube with extra long Schrader valve

   Camping Stuff

1. Marmot Nutshell tent
2. Therm-A-Rest Ultralite regular sleeping pad
3. MSR Whisperlite International stove
4. Katadyn Mini water filter
5. Evernew titanium 1 liter pot
6. Western Mountaineering Apache Super Dry Loft sleeping bag
7. Integral silk sleeping bag liner
8. MSR Dromedary bag 6 liter

   Clothing

1. Patagonia Stretch Element jacket
2. Patagonia Stretch Element pants
3. Patagonia R1 Flash pullover
4. Patagonia Dragonfly jacket
5. Patagonia Capilene mid weight long johns
6. Patagonia Capilene mid weight long sleeves
7. Marmot Windshirt
8. Sierra Design quick dry wind proof pants
9. 2 Patagonia quick dry t-shirts
10. 2 Nike quick dry tank tops
11. 2 pair of Sugoi athletic shorts
12. 5 pair of cheap underwear
13. 4 pairs of DeFeet cycling socks
14. Rocky Mountain Gore-Tex socks
15. Ocean Research lobster style light Gore-Tex gloves
16. MEC lobster style insulated waterproof gloves
17. Teva sandals
18. Sidi Dominator 4 Mega cycling shoes
19. Pair of shoes I bought at MEC that I can’t remember

   My Camera

1. Canon S-400 with 1 Gig memory card

   Food

1. Breakfast: 1 melon or papaya…etc, 2 banana, 2 apple and a large sandwich

2. 8-10 am snack: 1-2 bananas, 1-2 apples and a sandwich

3. Lunch: All-You-Can-Eat buffet if I can find one, normally that is the best meal of the day in Brazil. If not, same as the morning snack.

4. Supper: Steaks in Argentina if I could withstood my hunger till after 8.00 pm. Lots of ice cream in Argentina.

5. On average I consumed the following per day

6. 4-5 bananas per day

7. 4-5 apples per day

8. 2 full 1 liter water bottles and what ever juice, pop, etc…. I can find along the way.

9. 2 large sandwich, steaks, buffet or what ever I could buy

10. Mix dry fruits and nuts

11. I usually stop for 1 big meal at a restaurant once a day

   Luxury Item

1. Garmin Gecko 201 GPS

2. Suunto Observer Multi Function Wrist Watch

   Stuff That Doesn’t Work

1. Marzocchi 2001 Atom Race Fork → I really had no choice in this matter. I was running out of time in Vancouver. I needed something quick. It was the easiest fork to service of all the forks I was looking at. Vancouver is not the place to look for touring equipment for your bike. The main problem with this fork is that the front end shakes very bad with front panniers and handle bar bag. At the beginning of this trip, I was actually quite scare a few times. The front wheel started to shake when you are cruising down the hill at 65km/hr with a fully loaded bike just doesn’t appeal to me that much. I know it has to be the fork because I had the same panniers mounted on a Cannondale with Headshok. And there were very little shake then. The major caused of this problem has to be the 80mm of travel on the Atom Race. Together with front panniers and handle bar bag, it makes a very unstable situation. I know that the Atom Race was not design for this. But Marzocchi has the reputation of making the stiffest fork on the market. So I am quite disappointed. But I have gotten used to it now. I had to re-learn how to pedal when I am out of the saddle. How to hold the handle bar when going down hill on rough and paved road. But I will not be changing this fork anytime soon because it does have some redeeming quality for my needs. I put over 14000 km on this fork already. I had not done any service on it at all. But it still rides as smooth as when I started. I will live with this until it dies, then I would switch over to something around 40mm of travel with either elastomer or oil bath with spring.

2. Azonic rims with Shimano XT hubs. These were the deep aerodynamic rims which needed extra long Schrader valve tubes. The rims and hubs were given to me free of charge, so it was a good deal. I had many punctures that I never written down as stats that I thought was caused by the rim, but the real caused was the cheap rim liner. So I had to give some points back to the Azonic rims. But the thing that really pissed me off was that because I needed these special extra long valve tubes and I cannot find them anywhere in South America. I had to keep using the same tube which I had from the beginning of this trip. And some of the tubes had over 20 patches on them. I could get new ones if I stayed and wait for it to be special order. But I didn’t want to wait. Anyway, my front hub lasted 7791 km. The front axle inside the hub was shear in half. I guess all the shaking from my front fork put a lot more extra pressure on the hubs. But still these Shimano XT hubs should be tougher than that. So I bought a new wheel since the rim was always pissing me off. The rear rim lasted about 8630.5 km. It started to split a the point where the rim are join together.

3. Axiom Odyssee Tubular Alloy Rear Rack. It was cheap and it looked semi tough. So I bought it. But the rack felt apart around 12000 km. This wasn’t my first choice, so I wasn’t too surprised that it bit the dust.

4. Nelles Maps. I had the Andes and Argentina maps from Nelles. If my life were depended on them, I would be dead right now. Most of the distances were wrong. Cities that existed on these maps doesn’t exist in real life. Major roads that were in service for more than 4 years doesn’t show up. The reference system was a joke. They list primary highway, secondary highway, etc…..But with this map, the little local highway could be this nice smooth paved road and the primary highway could be this gravel super rough road that stretches for the next 4000 km. Not very useful at all for planning how far I want to go. The list goes on and on. I will never buy these maps again.

5. Shimano XT V-Brakes. They lasted for about 14000 km. I thought that they should last longer as I do not use the brake that much as a tourer.

6. Patagonia Stretch Element Jacket. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the products from this company. But this jacket just didn’t live up to expectation. The first real downpour that I was in. I got soaked and wet in about 4 hours. I have the Stretch Element Pants and they kept me dry. I email Patagonia about the problem and they reply with a bunch of bullshit about how I was supposed to layer and crap like that. Or they were not design for what I was doing. And they try to explain to me like a child how the upper body sweats more than the lower. Come on please, I wasn’t born yesterday. If the jacket wasn’t design for what I was doing then what was it design for!! I am a bike tourer, which means I pace myself for 6-10 hour ride everyday. I do not go all out and sweat like a pig. If this thing couldn’t keep me dry in the rain in the Patagonia, then it’s crap in my book.

7. Suunto Observer Watch. These are very good watches except for one thing. These watches stinks up the whole household if you wear them in the sun all day. Which made these watches ineffective because I didn’t want to wear them and have them stinking up my hands. 

8. Topeak Alien Multi Tool. It is a good tool for emergency. But it is useless if you want to do some serious work. I will be getting rid of it and going back to my old way of loose Allen keys, separate chain tool, etc……..

9. Sram X.O. Shifter. This is a great shifter except that they are just crapped in the rain without the proper gloves. I had problem finding quality bike gloves in South America. And I had so much problem shifting when riding in the rain.

10. Teva Sandals. These sandals were very comfortable. But the big problem was that they stink like there was no tomorrow. Forget about the anti-stinking material that they use. It doesn’t work, it starts stinking after about 3 weeks of usage. I bought cheapo sandals from Peru that still doesn’t stink after 6 months of use.    

Stuff That  Works

1. Chris King NoThreadSet. This thing cost arm and a leg, but they are well worth it. Definitely money well spent. One of those rare buy and forget item. It just works and never needs to be service. Well, not at 14000 km anyway. I will probably send it back to Chris King for an overhaul after Africa. I have all the confidence in the world that it will last that much longer.

2. Thompson Stem. Not the most expensive stem out there. You put it on and the handle bar doesn’t spin. Enough said. Plus it looks so pretty.

3. Rockshox suspension seat post. I think this was a bargain. I originally wanted the more expensive USE seat post. But this has proven to be more than adequate. Still working perfectly after 14000 km without any service.

4. Avocet Cross 2 SL semi slicks. I love these tires. I used the 1.9 size because it can handle more weight and better handling in rougher roads. I only had 5 flats through the tire. All the other who knows how many flats were all caused by the rim. These tires were rated at 80 psi, but I always had them running at 90 psi without any problems. They are foldable for easy storage. They corner great going down all the suicide turns on the roads of Chile. They are acceptable in a downpour. The only complaint I have is that they still sucked on gravel/dirt roads. But then again, I don’t think they were ever design for that.

5. Airborne Titanium Frame. I am not sure what model it is. I bought it at Ebay for about $600.00 U.S.(I think??), which is a very reasonable price for a titanium frame. And so far, I had no problem what so ever related to the frame. I guess I had to get run over by a truck to find out how tough this frame really is!

6. Delta Shock Treatment Low Rider Front Rack. I didn’t think much of this rack when I bought it. There weren’t that many front racks out there that suits my needs. But after 14000 km, I have new found respect for this rack. I had put extra C-clamps for reinforcement for my own peace of mind. But maybe that was not necessary. It is still going strong at the moment. But I will buy a replacement for me as I can never trust aluminum. 

7. Marmot Nutshell Tent. This tent was quick to pitch and freestanding. It withstood a fierce rain and wind storm in the Patagonia. What more can I ask for.

8. Ortlieb Back Roller Classic Panniers And Ultimate 3 Classic Handle Bar Bag. My older Back Roller Classic was not made as well as my new ones. The 2 bolts at either end of the Pannier broke on both panniers. This was caused by the weak construction method of using rivets. I email Ortlieb about the problem, and they wanted to send me a new bolt kit. That was just too much trouble for me, I could replace them myself with screws in about 5 minutes. But the new ones uses screws, so I don’t expect anything to go wrong with those. Otherwise, these are the best panniers that I had ever used. My clothes are always dry and these bags are as tough as nail.

9. Western Mountaineering Apache Super Dry Loft Sleeping Bag. This bag is compact, warm, easy maintenance, and semi-waterproof.

   My Wish List

1. Phil Wood hubs with Mavic Rims

Using the internet wayback machine I managed to find more material.   Click here to search the Internet WayBack Machine for BikerTony Stuff.

The results:

Mar 22, 2004 *
Apr 07, 2004
Apr 07, 2004 *
May 26, 2004 *
Jun 05, 2004 *
Jun 08, 2004
Jun 14, 2004
Jul 25, 2004 *
Jul 28, 2004
Aug 28, 2004 *
Sep 02, 2004 *
Sep 25, 2004 *
Sep 28, 2004 *
Oct 09, 2004 *
Dec 03, 2004 *
Dec 14, 2004 *
Jan 23, 2005
Feb 03, 2005 *
Feb 06, 2005
Feb 11, 2005
Mar 07, 2005 *
Apr 05, 2005
May 29, 2005
May 31, 2005
Jun 11, 2005
Aug 09, 2005
Oct 01, 2005 *

Jan 16, 2006 *
Feb 07, 2006
Mar 30, 2006
Jun 26, 2006 *
Aug 03, 2006 *
Aug 27, 2006 *
Oct 04, 2006 *
Nov 09, 2006 *
Nov 16, 2006
Dec 05, 2006 *
Dec 05, 2006 *
Mar 11, 2007
Apr 06, 2007

Alot of really good photos.   I have always wanted to do a ride like this. 

The Fourth Law of Conservation

You can not escape me

I speak all languages

I am the voice of all joy

and I am the voice of all reason

including the voice of your doubt

Your bargains validated by my swift heart

Your lies laid bare by my boney thin digits

I underlie all things and no matter where you go

I preceed you with a wall pushed forward with light

I laugh when you think to threaten me

I slip away slithy when you think to control me

And in the end I’ll twist the universe to bend you back to my ways

And if you’ll not be my friend, my lover or ally

You will in the minimum respect me

And when you fully respect me

I will give you blue eyes to see in the dark