Reddit mentions of Petzl E97 PM Tikka Plus 2 Headlamp, Mystic Gray

Lookin' good!

A couple of things I'd say -

• Look for a better headlamp. You'll use it every year (and whenever you go camping), so get a nice one. Spending a little money here is ok.
  
  
• Get some industrial quality particulate filters. These look kinda lame, but they will save you from weeks of feeling like a 3-pack a day smoker post-burn. Get a cool dust mask cover to put over it if you'd like or a bandana.
  
  
• Chap stick!
  
  

I like your minimalist approach - if you ever intend to tour Europe then you'd be very welcome joining our little gang. We're like a rolling alternative community, not hard-core bike-tourists, and not hard-core activists either - just a bunch of people of differing ages (15-50) who each do their share in making the tour a success.

I've been touring with this ever-changing group since 2002, it's a different route every year, last year was from Barcelona, across the Sth of France and on to Venice in the space of 2 months.

In all my years of touring, I've never seen my weight fluctuate much. Touring is an incredibly efficient way of seeing the country, you'd easily lose far more weight if you were to walk with a backpack. Over a few month-long tour you'l lose some weight, and that'll be replaced by muscle, but as you get fitter that extra muscle tightens up into a more efficient mass.

Be careful at the start of your tour as it's very easy to fill the gap caused by solitude with crappy food, it's incredibly tempting, but you'll feel like shit for eating it and your morale will take a hit. Until you get used to touring, your body will constantly complain that it's starving. I've been leading tour groups for years and see this phenomenon in even the fittest people. There's very little you can do except eat your way through it, eventually your body gets used to how much energy your using, it sees there's plenty of leftover energy, and it no longer tells you it's starving (scumbag body!).

Whatever you do, don't even think for one second that you'll be able to survive on ramen! All that exercise is taking a toll on your body and if you don't get enough of the good stuff your health will suffer. I like to have at least one meal per day completely raw - get a bottle of good hemp oil (or whichever nutritious oil you prefer) and make some awesome salds for lunch. It saves you having to light your gas, but most importantly is that now is the time for in-season fruits and vegetables. A good diet will make you feel pretty invincible!


Last summer, I was constantly needing space for carrying food for our group so I resorted to strapping a basket on top of my panniers. Before I bought a SON dynamo I used a solar panel and this kept the contents of the basket in the shade. This meant I could carry just-bought farmer's products without my panniers getting filthy, and without the produce being battered and bruised to shit. Once you've been touring a week or two the excess weight becomes irrelevant. We were picking up so much food that we could invite random bike-tourers to join us for meals!

Anyways, it seems you have a great light so there's no need for the IQ2!

Just make sure you have a good head torch too as it makes everything so much easier.

Stealth camping works a little differently in Europe than it does in the US. I've flown over the US a couple of times and remember looking down at a patchwork of endless fields that stretched over the horizons. In Europe there's nothing but village after village of drunken farmers who are more than happy to have their new drinking buddy camp out in their barn/field. I suppose things are very different in the US.

Make sure that the soldered spot is well weatherproofed! The last thing you want is moisture seeping in through the cable and into the body of the ewerk. Electrical tape won't cut it. Ideally you should get some adhesive heat-shrink tubing that's been UV stabilised. Heck, if you can solder then you probably already know this!

Alright, enough! Best of luck and see you on your blog! :o)

I have a Petzl Tikka 2 Plus which is light weight and stays put. The light is sufficient if the area where you are running has some ambient light (street lights, etc) but I find it pretty dim if you are running on a dark trail in the woods, admittedly, maybe it's my eyes.

I recently upgraded to a Black Diamond Icon which I love. It's MUCH brighter (about 3 times as bright on the highest setting), although it's also a bit heavier. The Tikka is a single unit with batteries built into the light, the Icon has a battery pack in back (3 AA batteries). Despite being heavier it's well balanced and stays put, especially if you add the strap over the crown of the head (the strap is in the packaging but not attached when you open the box, careful not to throw it out by accident). The Icon is also compatible with the NRG Rechargable Battery Pack which will save a bundle on battery costs.

So if he's running on the street in a city neighborhood at night the Tikka will probably work fine, if he's out there running through the woods I'd get him something brighter like the Icon. Good luck.