Loud music

Things I do when I'm not biking or photographing (I'm the gum chewing bear on bass):

Atlantic Canada - Ze bicycle (Surly LHT)

I'd been looking for a steel touring frame with 26" wheels for a while. They were few and even when the surly frames came out, the cost of building it would be almost the same as a complete Bruce Gordon Rock & Road or some other custom bike. Then came the Surly Long Haul Trucker complete. All I had to do is convince myself that the "color isn't so bad in real". Yeah right, it's still ugly but at that price, the LHT is one of the best bang for the buck so buying an expensive bike and staying home looking at the expensive paint job was no longer an excuse.

I made a few changes from the stock LHT. The saddle was replaced by a Brooks B17 and the handlebar by a Nitto Noodle. Narrow bars were a problem with my other bike so I went with 46cm. The wide bars also give more control on soft terrain and the Nitton Noodles are flat behind the brake hood, which I find more comfortable. Finally, I added Paul Thumbies, which transform the bar-end shifters into thumb shifters. There are a few reasons for these. Even though I love drop bars in fast descents and against strong wind, I rarely ride in the drops. The Thumbies-mounted shifters are better protected from knocks and last, the cable routing doesn't get in the way of the front rack shelf as it does with barcons. The disadvantage would be trouble with bar-bag quick-release system. I'm now using a bag on the shelf so this isn't a concern.

Other additions or changes were a Topeak Modula XL bottle cage for 1.5L bottles, SKS P50 fenders and Schwalbe Marathon XR tire in 2.0" size. I prefer heavier and trouble free tires and I went a little overboard with size. I bought them for the Anticosti island but I ended doing very little riding there. I plan on riding even more on dirt roads in the future so all is not lost.

Atlantic Canada - Gulf of St-Lawrence

The photographs from my latest bicycle tour are online! As usual, you can naviguate with the arrows keys on your keyboard. For the largest image display available, press F11 and click on the image on the right.


Atlantic Canada - Gulf of St-Lawrence

A few sample images...

Route Verte pictures

Some new photographs from the Route Verte:

Route Verte #4 and #1

Couscous: made for cyclotourists

Couscous is a close relative to pasta and perfect for bike touring, hiking or canoe-camping. Some advantages over pasta or rice are...

• Fast and easy: add an equal part of boiling water, cover, let it sit for 5 minutes and voilà!
• Packs smaller than many types of pasta
• No draining so no risk of spilling and no water is lost.
• Blends perfectly with other foods
• Absorbs liquids

Add a bit olive oil, diced veggies (or fruits for breakfast) and a bit of seasonning for a complete meal. It fits with nearly anything. My favorite is with shrimps.

Photo gear on a bike

I have difficulties parting with my big SLR camera and multiple lenses on bike trips. So, far, I've carried it in a handlebar bag (Arkel small bag) and put extra lenses and accessories in the panniers. Not very practical. there are larger handlebar bag but they're too flimsy or heavy and expensive. Off the bike, they aren't the most comfortable either, especially on hiking trails. That meant I carried a small backpack for hikes. I figured why use a handlebar bag and carry a backpack when I can just use the backpack as bar bag? Well, I just did and it works great so far.

All you need is a front rack with a platform. Here's a Surly Nice Rack. It's nice indeed, and massive. Those who like big racks will love it.


A photo bag or backpack with small clip straps, depending on your bag. I use a Lowepro Orion Trekker. It has both photo and non-photo compartment. Pretty handy. No rain cover though.

There's clip so the bag can be closed with the zipper. I use it to secure the bag to the rack:

The waist strap is clipped between the top and down tubes. MAKE SURE THE EXTRA STRAP LENGTH IS TUCKED AWAY AND OUT OF THE WHEEL!!!

The shoulder straps are looped trought the bag's top handle so they stay out of the wheel and form a nice loop for one more attachment point:


I might add some extra padding under the bag, either inside the bag or over the rack, because I don't like the photo gear banging on the rack with each bump.

Voilà!

New site

The new borealphoto has arrived! Short of a few tweaks, the "new site" is now online. What's new exactly? Here's a quick rundown:

• Site is hosted at Smugmug, an extremely powerful photo hosting website.
  
• Visitors can buy prints and downloads. Prints are made from the full-size jpegs uploaded.
  
• Keyboard navigation. In any gallery, use the arrow keys to navigate from photo to photo. This is something I've wanted since I've had a website.
• The "lightbox". In any gallery, click on the large photo on the right to trigger the lightbox. You can navigate using arrow keys.
• Stretchy. The number of thumbnails and size of images are displayed accrding to your browser's window size. For the largest size available, reduce the number of toolbars and press F11. Use the lightbox as well!
• Maps. I just looooove playing with maps so past and future bike trips will be mapped with routes, infos and photos. A map with the location of some non-biking photos was added as well. More will come.
  

Among the adjustments that still need to be done is the "recent photos" page. The last upload shows up last so until I find a fix, you'll have to click on the ">>" the get to the last page and see the latest photo upload.