[Bump from Hallowe’en ’06] A long time ago our pal Dave E told us about a neat way to do a canoe outing and we’ve been doing it ever since. It’s called the Solo Nexus. You spot a bike down at where you’ll end your canoeing. Then you drive back upstream and canoe down to the bike. You spot the canoe then ride back to the car, put bike in car, drive downstream and go pick up the canoe. Then you’re done! Basically, it’s a self-shuttle.
There’s also a Double Nexus variant where you go for a paddle and a buddy goes for a bike ride. You meet up at some point and swap modes. Then you ride back to the start and he paddles back. You can do it with running/hiking instead of biking, of course, if you like, or instead of canoeing!
Here are pics from my fall canoe solo nexus that are linked to little video clips I took along the way. I made up a jiffy helmet cam and it worked pretty good. I just whittled a piece of board and tied and taped it to a helmet then duct-taped a digicam that can take sound-vids to that. Took 10 minutes to make.
OK, my first videographer effort is a bit rough but what the hey. I’m surprised it all worked as good as it did. I even found a shareware vid-editor free to demo test that I used to downsize the clips.
I also have been testing out a new set-up for my old MB1 mt-bike. I put a suspension-stem and sus-post on it. Man, they really smooth out the modest roots and rocks on my local trails. Also, regular mtb tires were proving too slow and noisy for the pavement half of my rides. (Most of my rides are half pavement, going to and from.) So I’m trying a cheapy set of tires that have semi smooth center areas with knobs on the sides. Man, they are fast on the road! They slip a little in the thick wet muddy leaves, but heck, wouldn’t anything?
My old canoe is still perfect for our mellow rivers. It’s a kevlar C1, about 25 lbs, 17 feet approx. Fast yet stable and oh so light and easy to carry around.
Enjoy the trip! : )
Here’s the river. Clicking on the pic activates the first-leg canoe video (10mb)…
Here’s the river, seen from above on the bike trail. Clicking it activates the return-leg bike ride video (6mb). It starts out loud, don’t be afraid…
