I've been car free for almost two years now. Use my bicycle (Surly Long Haul Trucker) to get around and do all my shopping. Is anyone else living car free? How are you preparing for emergency survival gear to carry on your bicycle?
I have a sweet bike rack. It won't hold a lot, but enough to get me through a 2-3 days is necessary. Bikes are great for when gas gets too high or scarce and you need to transport supplies etc. One of those kids trailer-thingys would help with transporting large supplies. I dunno if anyone makes a trailer for bikes (other than the ones meant for kids). Have all the tools necessary to work on your bike in a tool pouch. Spare chains, inner tubes, and tires are a must. Have a pair of platforms, even if you use egg beaters or other clip ins. Trying to do anything besides bike in bike shoes sucks.
Bikes at Work Bicycle Trailer ... I'm planning on buying this 8-foot bicycle trailer: Model 96A Bike Trailer - For Carrying Lumber, Ladders, Furniture, Groceries, etc. - Bikes At Work I want to get the 8-foot trailer, because I can convert it to either the 64-inch: Model 64A Bike Trailer - For Carrying Groceries, Lumber, Furniture etc. - Bikes At Work or the 32-inch trailer: Model 32A Bike Cart - For Carrying Groceries, Small Animals, etc. - Bikes At Work Then, when I need to, I can easily convert back to the 8-foot trailer whenever I need the extra length ...
I plan on getting the B.O.B. Ibex for bicycle camping, and the Bikeworks eight foot trailer for around-town, hauling groceries, especially handy for stocking up on heavy stuff, and for hauling lumber and garden supplies (rocks, bricks, soil, manure .... )
Anywhere there is hills a bike is worthless unless you are in good enough shape plus are taking HGH(i.e. Barry Bonds)..............................
I tend to disagree... Bicycles are good any where but it depends on how you use them... in vietnam charlie used bikes to move large/heavy loads over great distances on the Ho Chi Mien trail (including mountains)... he didn't ride them but pushed them instead... balancing a load on a bike takes less effort than moving a wheel barrow with the same weight... a second point is that unless you where born way back when we had to walk up hills both ways every hill has a downside in many scenarios a bike is an asset... that bieng said my old decrepit body would have issues with me if i tried to ride it up a steep hill let alone a series of steep hills... but it would whip me back in shape pretty fast...
It may require a bit of sweat and grunt work It may require a bit of sweat and grunt work, but that is why most mountain bikes have a gazillion gears these days. Another option is to have a dog team to pull you up hill......but what do you do with a team of six or eight mastiffs on the down hill run perched on your handlebar and back panniers??? : O I suppose they can run ahead to sniff out ambushes and IEDs
All I can Imagine is someone with mastiff crotch up in their grill not a position I want to be in............ah not on my life. and I'm like witch doctor I'm so broke down right now there is no way i could get a bike uphill. I'll give it hell trying but...........yeah.