This is one hell-uva tent. I had a Kelty Riverbend 3 for a long time. Great tent, small, pack-able, long enough for my 6'2" frame, and big enough for two people comfortably. I hated the rain-fly. No matter what you do, they stick together like glue. A real PITA when it's raining and you're trying to pitch a tent. The vestibule is real small. Needless to say, my son just got a great tent.

You probably already notice a trend here, the number 3. Tents are rated for 1, 2, 3, or more people. The problem is, they rate it for sleeping side-by-side with no additional gear in the tent. On top of that they are assuming you are using mummy bags, and are of average size. I hate mummy bags. Too confining. So when I camp by myself... I take both mummy bags and zip them together to make one large comfortable bag.

The new tent. Tons of room! I fill the length of the tent and have side room to spare. What I like most about this tent is the size of the vestibule area a whopping 30.1 ft². This is where you can store all of your wet, muddy, stinky ass gear. The whole tent comes in at 7 - 8 lbs depending on what you take with you. As you can see, it is a tunnel tent design.

Hilleberg uses short poles, very easy to get into a Touratech pannier. To pitch, you only need four stakes, but the tent comes with 22 pro-pegs for all of the tie down points and guy lines (I wish the attached guy lines came with retro-reflective lines weaved in them, I'll have to upgrade via REI). What is trick about these tents, is the fact that when you pitch it, the rain-fly and inner tent are all one. No pitching the tent first, then getting totally soaked as you attach a separate rain-fly. Brilliant! I also bought the footprint for the tent, I believe in protecting my investment. Visit Hilleberg for more information, or drop by and take a look at the tents or catalog.

Yes, we sell the tents at South Sound BMW.

Below is the Ortlieb bag

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Well did a little at the 10th Annual Snow Camp this year. This was a shake down for future camping rides with the wife. So I had all of the gear I needed for two people.

The JetBoil is a great device. I got the one that comes with French coffee press attachments. I then bought a small kit that gives you a tripod base for the fuel can to give the unit more stabilization and a metal ring that allows for larger pots or pans when you are not using the JetBoil cup.

I had ground up some coffee before leaving, the coffee came out great. REAL coffee! It was a pleasant change from freeze dried Taster's Choice. Prior to making coffee I had boiled some water for a breakfast MRE. Eggs, ham, red and green bell peppers. These MRE's come in pouches that act as their own utensil. You just pour the required amount of boiled water in and let them sit for a few minutes. The eggs are still as bad as I remembered them from another lifetime.

All-in-all, I think for what I need the JetBoil is perfect. Small compact unit where everything and all of it's accessories all fit into the one canister. The neoprene wrap around the cooking can keeps the contents hot for a long time. Quick and easy ignition from the Piezo button makes it all worth while.

I bought this pump because after all of the reading and research I've done on the internet, this unit has the best valve connector. The valve connector is all metal with a lever that releases the portion that catches onto the Schrader valve threads and holds tight. The valve connector is the reason for this pump to work as well as it does and better than the others on the market. The box is solidly constructed and it is a fairly small unit. I also bought the "in-line" pressure gauge. The gauge is connected to the pump and allows you to get a reading after you have run the pump for a while. The needle fluctuates horribly as you are running the machine (to be expected due to the pump itself), but once you turn it off you get a solid reading. The gauge can also be used as a stand alone gauge.

The Zega panniers on my bike make getting to the rear tire valve a pain, plus the closeness of the spoke pattern make it difficult. So I plan on getting some of those right angle adaptors (only to be used while filling, not meant to be a permanent fixture) to make filling easier.

NEWS FLASH! BestRest has improved their CyclePump. The newer version sports a longer hose (double the length of what you see above) and has incorporated collapsible feet on the bottom of the unit. This keeps the unit above and out of the dirt when filling. It is still suggested however to use the supplied "red" nylon carrying case as an air filter. Yes, if you are in a sandy, silty environment... keep the pump unit in the bag and run it!

With this and my Slime brand tire plugs, I'm ready for any (AAA can't get to me disasters).

TouraTech's NEW 2006 catalog has a pump very similar (they stole BestRest design) with the exception that they fitted an air gauge in the metal box. This is all fine and dandy, I don't know about the valve connector, I am going to assume it is of the average variety and not the quality of the Best Rest CyclePump. Time will tell.

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I picked up a few do-dads for our camping comfort.

Princeton Tec Headlight:
Got this unit from Sportsmans Warehouse down the street from us. It has three white LED bulbs that vary through three different intensities. It also sports two different speeds of flashing lights for emergency use. If you have to do anything at night in the woods, this is the thing to have. Setting up my tent in pitch black was easy and I was able to use both hands. Hope I never have to use it for bike repairs in the night, but glad I have it.

Gerber Camp Axe:
Picked this little number up at Sportsmans Warehouse also. Nice small camp axe with a knife in the handle. The knife is held in via magnets. Looks like people loose them, because I see they sell these small knives separately. A must have companion, wish it were lighter, but it's OK in the panniers. The nice thing about this is the axe head can be used to plant your tent pegs. Much nicer than looking around for the perfect rock.