Well, not quite. While I am looking for a bit of onboard power on my bike, it’s kind of impractical to be tethered to one of these.

Chief Joseph Dam, Columbia River, Washington* – Image credit: Wikimedia
A few posts ago I wrote that my ride was not going to be about how many tech gadgets I could bring with me [linkie]. I have to admit that I’ve found there’s a fine line, though, between bringing just what you need and going full Navin Johnson.
But I do want bright reliable LED lights front and rear without the hassle of carrying extra batteries and keeping up with them and enough auxiliary power to recharge small electronic devices, like my iPhone and Bad Elf GPS unit [linkie] on the fly. So I added to my bike build one of Schmidt’s P-238 filled hubs.
…heh, just kidding about the plutonium part…
You can read real facts (and probably more than you ever wanted to know) about the Schmidt dynamo hubs here [linkie]. The big thing for me is that the hub sounds bulletproof. I just need it to last about ten weeks without any issues. It sounds, though, like it will still be functioning after I’m not.
To pull off power to charge electronics I had one of these included in the build.
Yes, it’s an honest-to-gosh USB port on a bicycle. Swiss-made, too, by a company called Supernova. There’s more information here [linkie]. The little rubber cap hanging open in the photo covers the port, which delivers cleanly regulated 5 volt power at 500 milliamps. That just happens to be the spec power for USB 2. The only catch is that I have to be riding at least 12 kilometers/about eight miles per hour. Something about “engaging the flux capacitor,” probably.
But enough about tech. In the next post we’ll talk about why my ride is different from this guy’s [linkie], and how I intend to keep it that way.
David Edgren
* I have to admit that having the bike built in the Pacific Northwest, where pretty much everything runs off hydro power, put me in a “if they can do it, I can do it too” frame of mind. I love wild rivers as much as the next guy, but the hydro dams up here are, by and large, magnificent pieces of civil engineering.
Smart move going with the Schmidt. It’s the one to get when failure is an unacceptable outcome.
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Oh yeah you do not want to be that other guy, Dumb sob is not drinking enough water. From experience you will be needing to drink 2 liters–or more–of water an hour in the summer in North FLA plus or minis 1/2 liter of an oral hydration solution. Also do not forget the sweet and salty snack.
As far as power get a 15000-20000mAh Portable Power Bank USB Battery Charger. Use it to recharger you devices and use the bike power to recharge it.
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There are electrolyte tablets that may be more convenient than powder for our trip. If you’re perspiring and hydrating enough, as indicated above, you’ll most likely need to add electrolytes to avoid issues that will take you off the bike and land you in the restroom.
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Oh, that beautiful hub. Will you be running Dynamo lighting or USB rechargeable battery lights? How are you attaching the lights (if any)?
It will be a pleasure browsing this site and enjoying the planning and attention to detail. Your route looks wonderful.
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