Cycling Around Lake Baikal in Winter: Gear Choices

Yesterday I introduced the Lake Baikal Winter Circumnavigation Expedition 2010.

What kind of gear is required to ride 1800 kilometers over 43 days on ice in an average daytime temperature of -20 Centigrade? Before their departure, the team posted a summary of their equipment choices. They are on Kona Unit 29er mountain bike frames, with a variety of modifications and careful gear choices for the rugged frozen conditions of their journey.

From blog posts they wrote before departure on the Axiom website, I gleaned that they are running on Nokian Gazza Extreme studded tires, and taking a modified single speed approach to their drive-trains:

One of the unique features about our bikes that people are often curious about is the 2-speed single speed drive-train. We will be using a double chain-ring up front (34 and 32 teeth) with a single-speed cassette hub in the back with two cogs on it. (18 and 20 teeth) The chain is tensioned with adjustable sliders in the frame and there are no derailleurs. It is a standard single-speed drive-train with the exception that we have two gears to choose from. By dropping the wheel out of the frame using the quick release, we can manually move the chain from the 34/18 combination to the 32/20 combination without adjusting chain tension. In this way we have two gear choices to deal with the various terrain challenges that we may encounter.

To keep themselves from freezing, they are gearing up in:

• Smart Wool 100% Merino Wool base layer tops and bottoms
• Smart Wool 100% Merino Wool extra-thick socks
• Sherpa Adventure Gear Polartec fleece jacket
• Sherpa Adventure Gear Primaloft pants and jacket
• Hard shell windproof pant
• Insulated Shell mittens
• Windstopper Pro Balaclava (face mask)
• Ski goggles

And at the key bicycle-rider interface between feet and pedals?

We examined the systems in use by mid-west winter cyclists and Alaskan Iditabike participants, discussed the pros and cons of various shoe and pedal systems, and eventually decided that for our needs a warm winter boot matched to a flat pedal with power straps is the safest choice. Although it would be nice to use an SPD-type pedal, the risks of mechanical failure as well as the difficulty of mounting a cleat to a winter boot made us decide to keep things simple. We will be doing a lot of walking, and any hole through the sole of the shoe allows cold and moisture to penetrate the inside of the boot. The boot of choice? The Kamik Cody rated to -78 degrees Celsius.

The pedal system was a little trickier. Due to the large size of the boot we wanted to use a platform pedal, but the power straps are designed to work with standard-size pedals. With a lot of grinding with a bench grinder and Dremel tool we managed to clear away enough of the pedal body to attach the extra-long power strap mounting hardware. This system should give us plenty of contact with the pedal and provide decent efficiency while still being simple and reliable. In the photo you can see the silver areas where we had to grind away the pedal body to custom fit the power straps. The grind marks in the center are from having to angle the Dremel tool inside the pedal body to clear an area for the bolts to pass through the pedal cage.

To prepare the bikes for the trek, they had to problem-solve the fact that normal bicycle grease freezes around -15 Centigrade.

We have changed the grease in every bearing assembly on the bike: bottom brackets, hubs, pedals, headsets, and freehub bodies. Instead of a standard bicycle or automotive grease, we are using specially formulated grease that comes highly recommended by many Alaskan winter cyclists – Lubriplate Mag-1 Extreme Temperature grease rated to -50 degrees Celsius. This should keep our bearing assemblies running smooth and friction free even in the coldest temperatures.

If you skim this Russian article you can see a few more gear photos – they are using Axiom racks and bags, and it looks like they are using Solio solar chargers, some kind of Manfrotto handlebar mount for GPS units, and some traditional gear for stoves and camping.

One purpose of the expedition is to bring attention to environmental efforts in the Lake Baikal watershed.  Learn more about the organizations for which they are fund raising on this page of their website.

Roll on, guys!