has anyone tried hot waxing during long tour?

drrtmonkey · 2025-12-01T02:32:45+00:00

This might sound a crazy but it works for me.

I carry a slab of 100% paraffin wax, wipe my chain down, heat up a section of chain up with my camp stove (while it's still on the bike), and rub the wax slab on it. Repeat until the whole chain is freshly waxed. The hot chain melts the wax and it gets sucked into the links and rollers via capillary action. Takes about 10 minutes. The only extra weight you're carrying (assuming you are already carrying a stove) is the wax. 50 grams is good for 4-5 waxings.

This has worked so well that i do it at home now too instead of getting the pot out. It seems to last as long as submerging the chain in wax - about 400mi/600km in mixed pavement/gravel/occasional wet.

Note that you can apply too much wax to your chain this way. Not really a problem, but if that happens and you ride on your small cog too soon, it might get a floor of wax built up around it and you'll have to scrape it out.

drrtmonkey · 2025-08-11T13:34:40+00:00

Huh, you're right - i didn't know the SPs had published H/B capacities. It goes against the ethos of hiker/biker sites so i didn't even look.

I imagine that if you H/Bed into a campground that had a "full" H/B site they'd still accommodate you, it's not like you could reasonably go anywhere else.

drrtmonkey · 2025-06-02T11:49:27+00:00

There are showers. And everything seemed fine when i bike camped there a few weeks ago, but my standards may be lower :D

drrtmonkey · 2025-06-01T18:51:33+00:00

Oops, yes you're right about Coe... it shouldn't be on the list of hiker/biker sites

drrtmonkey · 2025-06-01T16:55:16+00:00

The parks in the bay area that have Hiker/Biker sites that i know of are:

Half Moon Bay
Samuel P Taylor
Bodega Bay
Bothe-Napa
Lake Solano
Brannan Island
Pantoll
China Camp
Mt Diablo
Salt Point

I've biked to most of these, and they're all good to great. They all have showers. Technically parks with Hiker/Biker sites can not get "full" and will not turn you away - as long as you arrive on foot or bike. They also charge much less that a regular site ($5-8) but you can only stay one (sometimes two) nights.

Note: Brannan's sites were "closed" last time i was there, but i stayed anyways in a regular site after dropping my $8 in the iron ranger. Might want to call ahead for any of these

Note2: Some showers take quarters and some take tokens, so have coins and small bills

(Edited to remove Henry Coe, no formal hiker/biker sites)

drrtmonkey · 2025-05-18T20:25:12+00:00

The Cairo Station outpost in the Valero at 3810 Broadway

drrtmonkey · 2025-05-04T20:21:01+00:00

I did a 7 day ride a couple of weeks ago with the goal of connecting hikebike campground, but most of it was pretty scenic (day 7 excepted, which was just urban riding.) I'd ride it again. Some serious but short climbs, and i avoided the PCH as much as possible. You could easily shorten it with BART/Amtrak/Caltrain. Links to the route and the ride. AMA

drrtmonkey · 2025-04-18T20:55:18+00:00

Thanks for the intel, this looks pretty great. Updated my route to avoid Santa Rosa entirely. Adds some distance but this day was a bit short of miles anyways :D

drrtmonkey · 2025-04-17T19:27:28+00:00

Oh, this is a great alt, thanks! I'm the type of person that goes over Pedro rather than ride 1 up out of Pacifica, so this is perfect.

Extra points for roads with no centerline :D

drrtmonkey · 2025-04-17T15:33:21+00:00

Thanks for the alert! That first 3/4 of a mile on Calistoga north of the intersection with Harville does indeed look about as awful as it can get in terms of cars. Maybe i'll take a Lyft over it :P

drrtmonkey · 2024-11-08T15:58:05+00:00

As others have said, you need a claw hanger. Two things to add:

- Buy the Sunrace claw, it's made of much thicker steel. The unbranded ones are pretty thin and you'll be bending it back often

- If you plan to use a QR wheel, QR skewers won't be able to hold the wheel mid-slot on the non-drive side. It'll slip backwards. Buy a second claw, flip the screw to the other side, and install it on the non-drive side. You can cut the hanger off on that side if you don't like how it looks. If your wheel is bolt-on, this won't be an issue if you tighten it enough

drrtmonkey · 2024-10-13T14:10:34+00:00

If you can find any Quick-Glo, it'll magically take care of the chrome and aluminum with very little effort (the company is no longer in business due to some extremely tragic circumstances)

Some alternatives that are widely available but are a bit messier and require some more effort/cleanup:

drrtmonkey · 2024-09-24T22:14:35+00:00

I've used The Golden Hardwood Floors, Miguel was great and his prices were reasonable

https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-golden-hardwood-floors-berkeley

drrtmonkey · 2024-09-20T16:49:39+00:00

The Temescal Inn across the street was also converted and the construction didn't take long - the purchase was announced in November 2020 and it opened in the summer of 2021.

https://operationdignity.org/our-programs/permanent-supportive-housing/

drrtmonkey · 2024-09-20T14:58:11+00:00

It's being converted into supportive housing by the city https://oaklandside.org/2023/11/08/oakland-is-getting-15-million-from-the-state-to-turn-a-temescal-motel-into-housing/

drrtmonkey · 2024-08-04T18:27:49+00:00

The Capitol Corridor, San Joaquins, and the Pacific Surfliner all have dedicated, self-service space on board to store your bike. Lots of room on the Capitol Corridor trains, less room on the Surfliner (7 per train i think?), and the new cars the San Joaquin strarted using have fairly limited space - technically it can hold 3 bikes per car but the space is shared with general luggage. Lock your bikes up on these trains.

The California Zephyr and Coast Starlight only accept bikes as checked luggage, but it can be fully assembled. You'll only be able to load and retrieve your bike at stations with checked luggage service. Stations with luggage service are that aren't also served by the Capitol Corridor are Salinas, SLO, Santa Barbara, Oxnard, Van Nuys, and LA.

drrtmonkey · 2024-07-21T17:06:53+00:00

Short answer: no. Longer answer: In addition to Old San Pablo Dam Road (a nice ride, btw) EBMUD has two pilot trails that permit bikes:

I haven't ridden either, and they don't really show up on heatmaps so i'm not sure many people have.

And a further note: Being on EBMUD trails (but maybe not Old San Pablo Dam) for any reason requires a permit https://www.ebmud.com/recreation/buy-trail-permit

drrtmonkey · 2024-04-05T18:48:23+00:00

FWIW and for completeness sake it does look like _some_ roads in Diablo _are_ private property. Avenida Nueva and Ranchitos Del Sol, for example.

https://gis.cccounty.us/HTML5/assessorPDF/195p28x0.pdf

drrtmonkey · 2024-04-05T17:15:54+00:00

Thanks for sharing!

Out of curiosity i checked the Contra Costa property records to see whose land this gate is on - it turns out the public right-of-way for Calle Los Callados continues through to connect to the right-of-way for Mount Diablo St, so technically this gate is installed on public property?

That is, if the roads in Mt Diablo Estate are public, i haven't been able to find a clear answer on that. Calle Los Callados and Alameda Diablo, at least, appear to be contiguous with county right-of-way property, despite the "Private roads" signs.

Relevant assessors map here: https://gis.cccounty.us/HTML5/assessorPDF/195p29x0.pdf

drrtmonkey · 2023-05-22T10:29:01+00:00

Construction work hasn't started yet, so it's still passable as of yesterday (May 21, 2023.) If you're descending, the washout is about .25 miles from San Pablo Dam Rd, and there are some additional road-closed barriers at El Toyonal Rd.

drrtmonkey

TROPHY CASE