This blog is by Chris Bennett, a 60+ year old who enjoys bikepacking, cycling, running and triathlons.
A Civil Engineer by training, I worked for 30+ years in developing countries in the transportation sector. This meant lots of travel so I get to train in very interesting – and not so interesting – places.
Originally Canadian, we lived from 2003-9 in Washington D.C. while I worked for the World Bank. I’ve got stories from my World Bank adventures here.
Washington D.C. is a great city to train in, with many clubs and places to escape the city. If you have to live in a large city in America, this is a hard place to beat. I started triathlons while living in D.C. I completed my goal of an Ironman race on every continent with Ironman Brazil, and then started focusing on ultra-endurance bikepacking races. A recurring running injury has put paid to any more triathlons.
This site, as well as www.lpcb.org has my trip journals from various adventures. The latter also has all my technical publications and papers if you are a glutton for punishment.
My race – and life – support is through my long-suffering wife Lis Pedersen. Originally Danish, we met in New Zealand where she was my nurse in hospital. I may have got a bad knee, but that was a small price to pay for a wonderful wife. She is a self-appointed ambassador extolling the virtues of New Zealand to anyone who will listen.
Contacts:
Christopher R. Bennett and Lis Pedersen
e-m: chris[at]lpcb . org
Phone: +64 27 846 2004
Chris Bennett's Bikepacking and Triathlon Blog 
Chris: I am an avid cyclist and small plane pilot. Most of my rides are short, leisurely tours, but I do compete in some criteriums and have signed up for a 200 mile, 1 day ride this summer (Seattle to Portland, or STP). The last time I did STP, my bike was damaged by the airlines on the trip home (cardboard box packing job) so I’m considering a Reach Racing frame nd hard suitcase as a good traveling solution. The new frames have a slightly different geometry than yours, but the basic layout and wheel size are the same. You mentioned that you wouldn’t use the Reach for another Ironman length bike ride again, but that is half as far as I am planning to ride this summer. The STP course is not very hilly – it follows the Columbia river and other valleys most of the way, but it is a long ride. I’ll be in a 6 man pace line, but my fellow riders live on the west coast. I am the only east coaster joining the group. What are your thoughts about the suitability of the Reach for this ride as opposed to a full sized bike with S&S couplers for travel, or a full sized carbon frame with a larger hard box for long airline flights? One of the key attractions of the Reach for me is the ability to toss it into a small plane for short trips to the beach or other destinations where I’d like to do shorter day rides. Maybe I need 2 more bikes…
Gary Lanthrum
Manassas, VA
Nice blog! I am training for my first ironman now, thanks for the tips. You can follow me at swimbikerunrepeat.wordpress.com. I look forward to future post
Hi Chris, found your site via bikepacking.net
I am a fellow Kiwi who is a little more than obsessed with the Tour Divide.
My partner and I toured the GDMBR two years ago.
Good luck with your race. Enjoy the “adventure”
I am very keen to hear your reports about the event.
Cheering for you from Christchurch.
Cheers, Scott
Thanks Scott!
It’s a great route and I still fondly recall (well, not really fondly) my tour of it 9 years ago. This year does seem like an ‘epic’ year with all the snow so we will see how it goes!
Chris,
Nice blog
I am on Ironman number 3 of all the continents and admit to being pretty bad as well.
IM number 1 2010 WA -12.38
IM number 2 2011 Roth – 13 plus (disaster!)
IM number 3 2012 S.Africa
Aiming to go from 12.30 to 10.59 in S.Africa if the body will allow
Plan a cycle round the world as next challenge in stages.
Great effort
Nice to meet another ‘around the world’ Ironman. You’ll find IM S.A. to be a good race and that sort of time should be very doable. Just be sure to get your biking strength up and you’ll do well. You must be younger than me – these days a 14+ h is a disaster 🙂
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Hi Chris
Thanks for your great post on powering your electronics using a dynamo hub.
From you great article I got a hold of somebody who really understands USB pass through power banks and they ran some lab type tests.
Check this out!
https://www.modernoutpost.com/portable-solar/dont-pass-pass-charging/
I am a fan of keeping the power bank and USB converter separate so when battery failure eventually occurs it is easy to replace.
Take care and good luck on your next adventure.
Paul. Nice to hear from you! Hope you are still keeping up with your various adventures as well.
I’ve come to the same conclusion as you that it is best to have separate batteries. Borne out of a couple of failures of my Luxos U. That is a really great resource so thanks for sharing. I’ve just ordered one 🙂
All the best.