Tuesday, July 15, 2003
cool gear
Last thursday I gave into the temptation of retail therapy and gadget-mania.
I went looking for a small sized day pack to take on the trip. Hilary has a Lowe Alpine PAX10 which she got free with her backpack but I wanted to make sure we had different day packs so if we were only going to take one somewhere we'd have a choice of features. I particularly wanted a small pack (not your 30litre mini-monster) with comfortable straps and some external mesh pockets for holding drinks bottles. Unfortunately, these don't seem to be very common.
And then I notice it. Up there on the wall just within fingertip reach for a 6'2"er is a small grey pack with external mash pockets. Looks promising. I turn to the sales assistant and almost ask "Can I have a look at that pack?" before I realise she's a 4' midget and this request would appear a little mean coming from me.
In my hands is a Vaude cycling pack: a small narrow-profile 15litres pack, 2 mesh bottle holders, fitted straps, two small external pockets, a keyclip, an internal pouch for a water bladder, all the necessary holes and guides for the hydration system, a pocket for a waterproof cover and a pull-out cycle helmet holder (which could be repurposed for holding something else). Oh, and a price tag of 60 euro but I couldn't resist, so I bought it.
The Vaude website is basically a shell so maybe I'll post pictures of it up here sometime. When I'm really bored. Tonight we're going to write some checklists for what we'll need to take.
I went looking for a small sized day pack to take on the trip. Hilary has a Lowe Alpine PAX10 which she got free with her backpack but I wanted to make sure we had different day packs so if we were only going to take one somewhere we'd have a choice of features. I particularly wanted a small pack (not your 30litre mini-monster) with comfortable straps and some external mesh pockets for holding drinks bottles. Unfortunately, these don't seem to be very common.
And then I notice it. Up there on the wall just within fingertip reach for a 6'2"er is a small grey pack with external mash pockets. Looks promising. I turn to the sales assistant and almost ask "Can I have a look at that pack?" before I realise she's a 4' midget and this request would appear a little mean coming from me.
In my hands is a Vaude cycling pack: a small narrow-profile 15litres pack, 2 mesh bottle holders, fitted straps, two small external pockets, a keyclip, an internal pouch for a water bladder, all the necessary holes and guides for the hydration system, a pocket for a waterproof cover and a pull-out cycle helmet holder (which could be repurposed for holding something else). Oh, and a price tag of 60 euro but I couldn't resist, so I bought it.
The Vaude website is basically a shell so maybe I'll post pictures of it up here sometime. When I'm really bored. Tonight we're going to write some checklists for what we'll need to take.
