Cracking me up

One of the mail order stores that we have used since our first cycling tour is Campmor (www.campmor.com). Bob still owns that Campmor rain jacket that he wore on the first tour. The jacket has plenty of miles on it and plenty of miles still in it. It must really like traveling with us.

I was browsing through the catalog looking to see what we might need for this trip. A 6-person tent with standing room would be great. Crawling out of the short door from the tent gets more and more difficult for me. I remember on one of our shakedown trips with the group that one guy brought along the “party” tent. He managed to carry it for the three day weekend and did so without complaint. Having a tent with head room made him a popular guy.

We have a delightful tent and will survive with it. I don’t really want to camp, especially in bear country. I don’t really want to do century rides either, so our faithful tent will be coming with us. It’s always handy for those places with out-of-business hotels or bad weather.

So, the tent is settled. I still looked at every tent just in case somebody has produced a tent with 6 foot ceilings that weighs only 3 pounds. I didn’t find one. But, what I did find as I continued flipping pages was the lightweight, expedition thong. Is this the same as a tent? Is it a three season thong? Freestanding? What is a heavy thong? Have you seen one? This particular one only weighs a tad more than half an ounce. Sure wouldn’t take up much space in a pannier and wouldn’t add a lot of weight. And since it is a performance thong, it must make the wearer go faster. Now, if they made a lightweight, performance thong that was padded for bicycling, then it might be something to consider. Change any pair of shorts into bicycling shorts. Wear this padded thong. Most appropriately, the thong had a pull-down menu to show sizes and colors.

Well, I have my eye on the portable fan. Better keep paging through the catalog.