The Pragmatic Cyclist

Welcome to The Pragmatic Cyclist

  • Navigation is one of the first things I needed, especially help finding good rides close to home. For Couch-to-Bike-Camping I had to overcome a lot of years working from a chair, and my physical fitness had deteriorated. I found this app called Komoot which seems to be a bit of an underdog here in the […]

  • My choice of tool bag for 2024 might be controversial: After exhaustive research, and reading many reviews, I settled on the Ziploc 120 Snack. I shopped for tools and tool kits, believe me. There’s all manner of cool, light, bikepacking tool setups out there from OneUp, Bontrager, Crank Bros, Park Tool, Mineral Designs (RIP). It’s […]

  • One of the things I think it makes sense to buy first, even if you aren’t doing multi-day trips, is a phone mount. Phones work quite well for a bunch of tasks including discovering routes and trails, navigation, and obviously finding services and communicating with other folks while riding. These days they can even substitute […]

  • Many of the mid-range mass produced bikes these days don’t come with pedals, I gather because pedals and compatible shoes have become a personal choice for a lot of folks. I went pragmatic with this piece of gear as well, cannibalizing pedals I had purchased several years ago for my old Cannondale road racing bike. […]

  • One of the most studied topics, somehow, in the backpacking and bikepacking internet is how to make a good cup of coffee, so here I just have to pile on. But I haven’t seen anyone mention this miracle, Copper Cow Coffee’s Latte Creamers. I am a dedicated cream-and-sugar guy, and for me it has to […]

  • From my first few overnights I learned travel on the bike can demand a lot of water – not only do you have to stay hydrated riding throughout the day, but boiling water for dehydrated backpacking meals is the fundamental cooking method. With my 1980s cycling background I found myself going pretty old-school here, putting […]

  • The summer has flown since I started my Couch to Camping 2024 effort, and at this point I am happy to say my first week-long self supported ride is coming in 24 days. Since March I have slowly researched and accumulated gear, trying to stay within a budget. So in celebration of the first long […]

  • It was summer of 1988. I was still a teen. I was struggling this old Cannondale up and down the hills in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. My cousin L. and I had decided to do a supported five hundred mile trip from Boston to Niagra Falls. I think we were not […]