Kahtoola Microspikes

Sophie brought these for me from Germany a few days ago and I could lay my hands on them on Friday (7th April, 2017) when we met at our club. I have yet to use them, so writing a review right now is not possible. I want to write down the whys and hows first. And then write a review, if at all I get a chance to use them during my forthcoming Roopkund trek. I got them for €65 (each € costs Rs 71 now which is approximately Rs 4500). In Indian Amazon it would have cost me Rs 11,000.

Roopkund trek in May/June involves some amount of walking through snow. The trekking agency mentioned that they would provide "microspikes" if necessary. That was the first time I learnt the term. As I subsequently discovered these are like snow chains that drivers put on their tyres while driving in serious snow. Apparently it gives them good traction. In fact in Raid de Himalaya carrying this in your boot is obligatory. While snow chains for cars are just chains, microspikes, as the name suggests have spikes with the chain. They are somewhat less technical than crampons and meant principally for hikers, not mountaineers.

After some amount of googling, I realised that Kahtoola, an American company, makes the best microspikes in the world. With no traction under the boot in Chadar I had a few falls and the first one of them cost me a hairline fracture on my wrist from which I am yet to recover after more than a year. So I know how important it is to have traction under the boots when you are walking on snow or ice. Of course Roopkund will neither have smooth ice like a frozen river nor will I be wearing gumboots like in Chadar. But if the hiking agency itself is suggesting microspikes, I might as well explore the options of getting my own equipment. Because one never knows what quality of equipment I will get from them. And if things go right for me, I see myself going for more such treks in future where I will need this sort of traction.

After a lot of thinking this way and that, I asked Sophie to find out if any shop in Gelsenkerchen might have these things so that Mampu could buy them and bring them over from her Germany trip.  She will be coming back just a couple of days before I leave for Roopkund. After some back and forth conversation, it was decided that since Sophie was coming to Calcutta in a few days she would buy them right away online. If they didn't arrive before her departure she would send them to Mampu during her stay in Germany and she could bring them over for me. Otherwise she herself would bring. 

She asked me for size and I said medium. She asked for colour and I said red :-) The other option is black. The trigger was pulled. 

The item arrived in Sophie's house in two days, much to her surprise. And after a few days she came to Calcutta and here I am with my latest toy. 

My First Impression

The microspikes come in a small pouch. They have very thoughtfully given a white band kind of space on it for you to write your name with a marker pen :-) The pouch with the equipment does not weigh too much but it is made of apparently strong synthetic cloth which hopefully will be durable enough for the well made spikes (there will be 24 of them inside). The website says 338 gm for the medium size. Of course at 16,000 feet even 3 gms more would feel like a lot of weight but I think I should be able to manage this additional weight in my sac. The size of the tote bag with the spikes inside is, according to their website, about 5"x3"x2". You could actually put the bag in your pocket also. By the way, on the Kahtoola website the pouch is priced at $10 !!! In captain Haddock's language "ten thousand blistering barnacles". The pouch is made in Taiwan, if that helps ;-)

The first time I put the spikes on at CRC (I was wearing my Quechua Forclaz 500), I found the rubber harness to be a little hard to stretch. But that became easier with each subsequent attempt. The  wonderfully informative Kahtoola website has a video on how to wear them. It's pretty intuitive and easy. But it took me some time to find out which side is front and which one back. The easiest way to remember this is to remember that the brand name should be on your toes so that someone looking at it from the front can read it and the size mark (M for me) is engraved on the heel side.

Talking about size, the Kahtoola website is very user friendly and has all the information about size. I realised that as per their suggestion I could either go for small or medium. Then I found it is mentioned that in such cases where you are between two sizes you have to decide what type of shoes you will be putting them on. If on sneakers then go for the smaller size. If on hiking boots then go for the bigger size. That's the reason why I chose size M for me. They were fine on the hiking boot. I will check them out on my Timberland which is as good as a pair of sneakers.

As I found, there are some eight spikes towards the front of the foot which remain under the front foot (from the ball of your foot up to the bridge). Under the heel there are four spikes. These two are linked by chains that run under the bridge of the foot. The spikes are made of heat treated stainless steel. The chains are stainless steel too. I believe the model that I got is the latest one which has a few minor improvements that make it more durable. Good for me. 

One thing that the website talks about with pride and many reviewers mention it too is that the design of the spikes is such that the snowballing effect is minimised. That is, snow does not get a chance to accumulate under the feet and make the feet more slippery.

Talking about reviews, this youtube video review might make your jaws drop :-)

Proof of the pudding is in the eating. I have to eat the pudding in the high Himalayas and then give an opinion. 

Comments After Roopkund Trek (June 2017)

We had to wear the microspikes before we started for the Roopkund push at 3:45 am from Bhogwa Basa. Everyone in our group was given Kahtoola, leaving me much impressed by India Hikes' attention to detail and choosing the world's best equipment. Trek The Himalaya had given very local, hand made kind of microspikes to its trekkers.

I was a little apprehensive about wearing them right away because we would encounter snow only after some distance from the camp. I was worried that it will not only potentially spoil the spikes, the risk of slipping on the rocky trail was also high. But soon enough I realised my apprehensions were not well founded.

I do not know what to say about the microspikes in terms of criticism or appreciation because I have never worn anything else to be able to do any comparison. It is wrong however to think that Kahtoola does not lead to snowballing. Snowballs were indeed forming under the foot and I was shaking them off with my trek pole. Being thin the poles weren't quite up to the job though.

I did slip my footing a few times, particularly during the downhill climb back to the camp. But that was perhaps due to my inability to stamp into the snow with my heel really hard. It was the altitude that left me energy sapped. I didn't have much strength in my legs. Also I think I was stamping the wrong way, in the sense, I was using the absolute back tip of the heel. I think I should have used more the ball of the heel than the edge.

I will check it out on some later Himalayan descent.

Do I think I would have been better off with them on Chadar? I think so. Do I want to go to Chadar again with the microspikes? Perhaps yes. But after a few years. And if I do I want to have a better pair of gumboots. 

Pearl Izumi Elite Riding Gloves

My Pearl Izumi Elite riding gloves have finally arrived. Bought it off ebay. It took such a long time to arrive. About 19 days. Apparently imported from the US. But I found the price is the same as I would pay if I were in the US. 

It has just arrived this evening by DHL courier. So I am yet to test it properly. Just wore it on my palms to check the fit. They fit snug despite being size L. From day one I was feeling the need to get a pair of riding gloves, particularly when riding the road cycle. My palms sweat profusely. Perhaps more because of the synthetic tape. But a pair of gloves seemed rather essential.

I chose the half-finger type gloves rather than full fingered ones because I thought those would be too warm for summer use in Calcutta.

After using the PI bib shorts, I realised it pays to invest in good gear. So went for these. They are expensive, with gel padding on the palm. I am hoping they will make cycling a little more comfortable and keep my palms dry.

First Use Impressions - 26th January, 2017

Today I went for a 50 km long ride around Calcutta on the Hero MTB. So it was a perfect occasion to test the gloves. If I had to describe my reactions in brief it would be: no great shakes. I am not saying it's a waste of money. My palms never sweated during those 50 odd kilometers or even if they did I did not realise it. The fingers above the area covered by the gloves did sweat though. I did not get those impressions of the grooves on the handle on my palm - something that typically happens after a longish ride. These are two major positives. But what I mean by no great shakes is, wearing these do not translate into any discernible, immediate comfort, like the bib shorts do. The gel padding did not make the handle bar any softer or more comfortable. At least I did not feel any cushioning effect.

But the fact that my palms did not sweat is great. Actually the palms did sweat. But I guess the fabric and ventilation system ensured that it was soaked up and evaporated quickly. So the breathability of the gloves must be good.

I must add that these were tested on the MTB type bike where you hold the handle in a certain way, that's totally different from the way you hold the handle of a road bike. I have to test it out on the road bike soon and give a more comprehensive report.

I must confess, I am a noob when it comes to cycling gloves. These are my first cycling gloves. So I am not comparing them against anything. I cannot tell you if they are better than X or worse than Y. As I go along the way, I am sure I will be using many more gloves. My review would perhaps mature more after that.

Pearl Izumi Cycling Bib

I remember my first sports shoe purchase. I bought a pair of grey Power Joggers from the Lake Market Bata. Before this we used to wear very basic canvas keds with a thin layer of rubber sole for running and other sporting activities. After the purchase I decided to wear the new pair of shoes from the shop to home and oh my God - what a feeling !!! It was like walking on soft cloud. I felt like floating home. It was a totally out of this world feeling. I had no idea sports shoes felt this good. I learnt to respect and spend money on good sports shoes ever since. 

The next such feeling came when I first bought a set of four Michelin tyres for my Esteem. These were my first upgrade from the usual Indian tyres that I was used to. The road felt like covered with silk and again I was like floating. I have never bought any other set of Indian tyres.

This morning the third such life changing experience happened when I first went out cycling wearing my Pearl Izumi bib shorts. Oh boy what an experience !!! I had no idea a cycle ride could be this comfortable. I just did not feel the saddle under my bums. I ended up cycling some 36 kms in two and a half hours, going up to and coming back from Bobby's house in Salt Lake's AE block. 

No I do not go out like this :-)

My nephew brought this for me from the US the other day for $80 off Amazon. It's a pair of Pearl Izumi Attack bib shorts. It has what are known as chamois padding that makes the saddle very comfortable. The normal burning sensation that I have always felt since childhood while sitting on the saddle was totally taken care of from the moment I sat on the bike. I think it even smothered the shocks a little too and helped with my average speed marginally. I am more than certain this will make the road bike more comfortable. This morning I had gone out with my Hero MTB.

These are cycling bibs as opposed to just simple cycling shorts. In the sense there are shoulder straps or suspenders to keep the shorts in place and not let them slide down. The upper part is perforated to make summer rides more comfortable. The fabric feels good on the body but the chamois takes the cake. It is the ultimate in cycling comfort, I can say without any hesitation. I chose size small for a good snug fit. And it has fitted my small frame perfectly. But with the next pair I might want to experiment with size medium.

As I see it, my life can now be divided into two parts. Cycling till date without padded shorts and from now on with padded shorts. There is a heaven and hell difference. 

Of course these have to be worn like underwear. You wear it straight on the naked skin. If you wear a brief underneath then the entire purpose of wearing it is apparently defeated, Therefore after every ride this will need a good wash. So it would have been better to have a few more. Today I literally wore it like an underwear. I wore my blue Nike full sleeve dri fit T on top over the suspenders. And below I wore the blue Kappa track pants because it was cold. 

The edge of the two legs have thin silicone lining for better grip on the thighs. Mine were sitting a little too tightly perhaps and when I took them off there was a  depression mark on the two thighs. It was itching a little too. I guess one has to get used to them.



Obviously one 36 km ride in Calcutta's winter is not enough to pass a judgement on this. It is comfortable no doubt. But I have to see how durable it is too. So I will take a relook at the review after a few months.

Merida Slider Cycling Helmet

Yesterday my cycling helmet arrived (along with two bottle cages) from Extreme Adventure Sports, a sister concern of Nikita Distributor of Pune. The helmet is a Merida Brand Slider Helmet in size 53-58 cm and colour matt black (with obnoxious white and green stickers). Against the MRP of Rs 2490, I got it at the dealer's price of Rs 1644.34 (plus 6 per cent CST), which is quite a steal. 

This is my first cycling helmet, hence it may not be the best review to trust if you are an unsuspecting reader wanting to buy a cycling helmet. I will just write down my first impressions about the helmet. The first thing one notices about it is its extreme light weight. Possibly mentally I am comparing it against my motorcycling helmet. 

I have no idea about its strength but according to the accompanying literature, it conforms to the following standards - "EN 1078 European standard for cyclists, skateboarders and inline skaters" and also "89/686/EWG: Guidelines for personal protection equipment". It comes with CE markings. So I can assume that this helmet is legal protection in Europe. 

Clip for adjusting the Y below the ear

Now comes the question of fit. The helmet fits me very nicely. I think I have a larger than normal size of head. This helmet is fine for me. The helmet's size around the head can be adjusted by turning the  plastic fitting knob on the back. I think this system is called "ring fit". The chin strap can also be adjusted at two points - below the ear to adjust the size of the Y (this does not affect the fit) and under the chin to tighten it. The clip that is used for adjusting the strap below the ears are very smartly designed and different from anything I have used so far. The quality of the strap material is also very nice and soft. But it's white, which makes it prone to get dirty. 

The inner foam cushion can apparently be taken off and hand washed. I will do that once it gets really dirty. In motorcycle helmets it is not advisable to wash the inside too frequently. I am sure the same would apply for cycling helmets also.

I wore it for a 36 km ride this morning and it was fine. Never felt it was there, particularly after I adjusted the ear's Y.

Apparently Merida helmets are manufactured by Moon helmets of China. At one point of time that used to be a major issue with me but nowadays I do not care any more about that really. Everything is made in China. Also Chinese products these days are much better made than they used to be.

Addition on November 30, 2018

I did not use the helmet hood for riding my road bike Merida Scultura 200. But now that I have a Surly LHT, I wanted to put the hood on. Also the shape of the helmet without the hood does not look nice in selfies.

But for the life of me I couldn't understand how one fitted the hood to the helmet. The black hood had come with the helmet. Never used it because I didn't want to. But now it seemed I cannot even if I want to. I searched the internet up and down, googling every possible combination of words to find some clue but no luck there.

Finally last evening I had that Archimedes moment when I discovered two tabs on the sides of the forehead. You simply prise them open with your nail and two tiny holes come out on either side of the temple. That is where you fit the hood. I shall now wear the hood. It looks much better with the hood on. Road helmets don't come with a hood. Making a mountain helmets into a road one by not putting the hood on is a stupid thing to do.

Frankly when I bought the helmet I had no clue about what type of helmet I was getting for myself.

Petzl Tikkina

At our hotel in Leh

I had bought this headlamp before the Chadar Trek in 2016 from Amazon for Rs 1600. I haven't used it much ever since except at home for doing certain odd things and for the odd road trip to Rajasthan. But the Chadar trek itself is a pretty tough testing ground and it passed with full marks.

At the price, which is very low for a product from a well established brand, it is an excellent choice if your requirement does not include night time walking. This is a basic flashlight for using at night in the camp - for looking for things in the tent, eating in the mess tent, going to the loo after dinner etc. 

It is not meant for long walks because the beam is neither too long nor very wide. But, for keeping it handy in the camp even when you go to sleep it is ideal. In Chadar I used to often just keep it on, aimed at the tent's ceiling, to overcome the boredom of the night inside the tent.

It consumes very less battery. So you can keep it on instead of constantly worrying about battery running out and keep switching on and off. The original unit came with pre-loaded batteries. They are still going strong. 

The unit is very light and you hardly feel its presence on your forehead. The unit can also be kept at various angles to either help see things in your sack or the path to the toilet. The headband is of good quality and not itchy. The unit can be used in two intensity modes. It has one switch which is used to serially switch the unit on, dim and switch off. The small problem here is that if you are on the dimmer mode, you need to switch it off first and then go to the stronger light mode.

Our guide at Chadar, Tashi Skelzang liked the unit very much and asked me to give it to him for his hikes to the Stok Kangri where you need to walk in the dark. He said this would do fine for him despite the beam being officially not very wide. I told him since I had got quite attached to it by then, I wouldn't give this particular unit but would buy a new one for him and send it to Leh. Unfortunately that has yet to happen (It happened before the Roopkund trip in May 2017 when Sujan personally carried it to Leh for me. Tashi was ecstatic after getting it. I am deeply indebted to him for what he did for me in Chadar.)  

If I have to find a fault with the unit it is the non-intuitive way in which it has to be opened to insert the batteries. But if I can work it out you can too :-) Someone might say the unit is not rechargeable. I am glad that it is not. In a remote location if the battery runs out you cannot recharge it. It is best that this feature is left out. Of course you can always use rechargeable batteries. It takes three AAA batteries.

Incidentally Petzl is the name of the brand, after its French founder. Tikkina is the name of the model. They have many other models of flashlights and headlamps and other mountaineering equipment. This I think is the most basic one. But it serves my purpose just fine. I take it along even during my self drive trips.

Some Addition After Roopkund Trek (June 2017)

As the battery goes down the unit gets dimmer. I did not realise this was happening. But after I changed the batteries, I realised the light became much stronger. But this was after the early morning Roopkund push :-)

I was researching other headlamps with stronger and wider beams and realised the unit has a few shortcomings. A. It does not have any lock to ensure that the unit is not accidentally switched on inside your bag. The unit also does not have any red or green or blinking feature. These are apparently used as distress signals. The unit cannot be USB charged.

The clear advantage of this unit against its more expensive brothers is that it takes rechargeable batteries. I will perhaps get a stronger light sooner or later like a Black Diamond Storm but this unit will always remain my favourite.

Firmware Update on 5D Mk II

Today I updated the firmware in my 5D Mk II. A very simple process really. Made even easier by this video here.

First of all you take a fully charged battery so that when the update is happening there is no power outage. But frankly it takes less than 3 minutes. So even if you have a half charged battery you are fine. You also need to format the card.

Transcend TS RDF8K USB 3.0 Card Reader

After that you download the new firmware - in my case I was updating from 2.1.1 to 2.1.2 which is available in this website - into your computer. Next is to add the formatted card to the card reader and copy the update file into the card. In fact to do this I had to buy a new CF card reader from Amazon. It's a Transcend that I got for Rs 1100.

Next you eject the card from the computer and put it into your camera. Go to menu and there is a place for firmware update. It's very intuitive after that. Just keep pressing set on the camera and you are done. Forgot to mention that the camera should be in any of the creative modes like M or TV or AV mode for this. Otherwise you cannot find the firmware update icon in the menu.

After the update you need to switch off the camera. Take the battery out and reinsert after at least 2 seconds. The update is complete.

After writing this much I went ahead and updated my 450D and 7D also :-) Exactly the same procedure. Good utilisation of the new card reader. I wonder when it will be used next. Because I download the camera files straight from the camera to the computer. That way, the file name arrangement happens in a very systematic way.

Cat Eye Velo 7

I had picked up the Cat Eye Velo 7 the other day from Amazon for what I thought was a throw away price of Rs 1100. It arrived yesterday. Just unpacked it today from the basic packaging. No high marks for packaging. Of course the unit did not break in transit but they should have put a bubble wrap around the inner box. They just dumped the blister pack inside a cardboard box and plastered it with plastic tape. 

This unit is for my MTB Hero. Visually I cannot see how this is different from the Velo 9, which I had got for my Red Roadie. I think Velo 9 has a useless additional feature over it, showing how much CO2 emission I helped reduce etc. 

The unit has come pre-loaded with the battery and the clock is on. I have to work it all out once again, which I shall do shortly. Basically two things to work out. How to set the clock and how to set the wheel size.

Here is a very basic image taken immediately after unboxing. 

Opening Day. Opening Show

There are three main parts here. One is the unit. I am yet to even take off the cover cellophane sticker. The other is the mounting bracket, wire and sensor in one unit. The third part is the magnet. They have also given some zip ties. 

After writing this much I set the time and wheel size etc. Changing the time is not easy. I used this video to do it. Although the language is totally alien to me, it's easy to understand what he is doing. See here . Setting the other things like miles or km, 12 hr or 24 hr and wheel size (if it is a standard wheel size) is very simple. It is even possible to key in the exact circumference of the wheel. But I didn't try to find that out. Accurately measuring the wheel's circumference is not easy. 

For those who might be interested, here is the manual for all it's worth. It is not as bad some of the other brands. I could do everything except set the clock. See here

The Difference Between Velo 9 and Velo 7

I just checked the real difference between the two. Well, as the name suggests Velo 7 has seven features while Velo 9 has seven plus two equals nine features. What are those additional features? Velo 9 can calculate your calories burnt and it can calculate the carbon offset. I think both are pretty useless features. At least I never check these. Not that I don't value calories expenditure and carbon offset etc. But the point is, if the unit does not know my weight how does it know my calories spent? It might be an indicative figure but certainly not accurate. Carbon offset is also vague because the unit does not know what car I drive, whether diesel or petrol, how many CC, at what speed I would have driven the car over the same route etc. Again it might be indicative but I wonder if any one in real life use these figures for any real purpose.

The 7 cost me Rs 1100 and the 9 Rs 1500. Substantial difference to pay for two useless features.

The seven features (Cat Eye calls it "function") are

1. Current speed
2. Average speed
3. Maximum speed
4. Trip distance
5. Total distance
6. Total time
7. Elapsed time

One issue with the Velo (7 or 9) is that it cannot be switched off. But then someone commented on a forum that LCD screens don't consume much battery in any case and it doesn't matter if it is left on forever. It's like a digital watch. You don't switch off a watch really. Do you? The logic sounds plausible. Mine is a Timex Ironman and it indeed is always on :-)

Setting Up - 25th January, 2017

Tonight I set up the Velo 7 on the bike. Initially the sensor wasn't working. I realised that the sensor and magnet need to be within 5 mm of each other. That's mentioned in the manual. In my initial attempt it was certainly spaced more than that. So I had to take off the sensor and re-align it closer to the magnet by turning it more inside the fork.

The main unit sits on a bracket that does not stick very well on the handlebar. They give a 3M both side sticker. But the bottom of the bracket is not designed well to sit snug on a round tube, even with a 3M sticker. I used two zip ties strongly. Hope it stays aligned.

For a change I placed the unit on the left side of the handlebar.