As anyone who has read Roll’in With My Hommies, How To Bicycle Tour Anywhere With Only 2 Panniers knows, Pandemic The Magic Bicycle is a close personnel friend of Houdini’s. Pandemic The Magic Bicycle ran into Houdini at the Spokes Bar for a talk about bicycle touring anywhere with only 2 panniers.
So Houdini, you are into bondage, are you an S and M freak or something? What’s with all the straps you got on the outside of your back rack?
Houdini:
Take it easy Pandemic, I only got into bondage because I was afraid of being too weighted down with unnecessary equipment. By the way, I love your rohloff equipped Thorn Raven…Oh la la. And, like your 2 pannier bicycle touring set up, my escape artist act has been spoken of as a very efficient use of space… of course, you can forgo a bulky cook set and put an MSR int’l whisper lite stove inside one large pot. You just have to pick the right pot. MSR Pot or cheap pot like the one you might already have is a great use of pannier space. Please don’t tell anyone Pandemic but I do get off on back rack bondage. Thanks for letting me know that your sea to summit light dry sack tore very easy, I agree those light weight Ortlieb dry bags are a lot tougher.
Pandemic the Magic Bicycle:
Houdini we have known each other since 2009, you and we have stuck together through continuous bicycle touring in 18 countries. Can I talk to you about some personnel stuff, I been having some issues….with change. It’s hard to talk about because it has happens quite a bit. My Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires keep getting changed from front to back due to uneven wear. On the bright side, I have cycled/boat/cycled the same Schwalbe tires from N. Oz to the Turkey/Iran border. Punctures? Hardly any, unlike you Houdini I don’t mess with that kind of necessary bondage. Funny enough, I have only used one small patch kit, although, I did have to replace the glue twice. Yo, Houdini, did you know that glue evaporates inside panniers. What’s up with that, did you have something to do with it?
Houdini:
Whatever Pandemic, how’s your rohloff doing? What makes you think you are magic anyway, you got a screw loose or something?
Pandemic the Magic Bicycle:
Stay inside the box will y’ah. Screw loose? N’ah man, I have only snapped one rack bolt in all this time, that’s why I carry only a small tools and spares bag and no extra bicycle parts. When the bolt snapped, I stole a bolt off of a bottle cage and repaired the back rack until I could buy the right bolt. I also have one handmade allen key multi-tool and one rohloff/pedal wrench. My hardly used and not missed leatherman multi-tool used to live in a small pannier under the saddle, a brooks B-17 standard, women’s. This was taken so I no longer want any small panniers bags on the exterior of my frame. Thanks to a puzzling contortionist packing technique that I sure you can understand Houdini, bicycle touring anywhere with only 2 panniers is definitely possible.
Houdini:
Pop a wheely Pandemic and stay in touch as you continue pedaling to Capetown. You are in Cyprus aren’t you? Which route will you take?
Pandemic The Magic:
Excuse me for a minute, I am not feeling well; my logistics just puked on my air sickness. The ferry boats to Egypt from Cyprus and EU to Egypt have been cancelled. They still run, summer only to Israel. Due to airsickness, flying is not an option. Syria visa? Pedal/Boat/Pedal to Morocco? I haven’t decided yet, for now, I’m just wait’in on a man.