“I was never a cyclist. Merely a person with a bicycle.”
You may have noticed by now that Kevin and I both carry sticks with us which serve three purposes: to scare off dogs, to play with the GoPro, and most importantly, to use as a kickstand. The kickstand thing is pretty self explanatory, but what you may not realize is that you also need a break because if not the bike will just slide out and fall. Kevin, being the practical thinker he is, made us each brakes once he realized why our kick stands were so finicky.
Mine is made from a piece of an old tube. Actually, old tubes are extremely useful for all kinds of things, such as handle bar tape (that’s what mine now are).
Kevin’s brake is made from a strong rubber band (well, that’s what it looks like to me, Kevin said it’s actually an o-ring he found at the side of the road).
We carry our sticks on the outside of our packs so they are very easy to access.
And they stand up great, even fully loaded!
This is one of those ingenious things I never would have thought of on my own, but at least half of the world touring cyclists we have met carry sticks as well (mostly for dogs, also for kickstand) so it seems to be a pretty common thing.
Since the blog is always a few weeks behind (due to inconsistent internet) feel free to find me on Facebook or on Instagram at @awanderingphoto where I give small updates and post recent pictures when I get wifi! Also, if you haven’t already noticed I’ve been slowly remodeling the site as we are now “The Wandering Nomads.” Make sure to check out The Nomads section, The Trip section, and The Solo Women section since those are the ones I have had time to update so far!