Best of Pedalshift 295: Making Your Tent Stealthier
The Pedalshift Project: Bicycle Travel Adventures
Release Date: 10/16/2025
The 2025 Holiday Spectacular
The Pedalshift Project: Bicycle Travel Adventures
Shifty the Elf returns for the annual holiday spectacular! 2025 was... a year. And as Shifty and I pack up for Seattle, there's a bunch of things we're going through and boxing up as we bid adieu to the year! Happy Holidays and see you in 2026!
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Honolulu and Seattle
The Pedalshift Project: Bicycle Travel Adventures
A walk along Elliot Bay to discuss the short trip to Honolulu and more on the transition to Seattle and all the bikey adventures to come. Honolulu and Seattle A walk along Elliot Bay Honolulu thoughts More Seattle impressions N+1 thoughts on bikes
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Pedalshift's New Basecamp
The Pedalshift Project: Bicycle Travel Adventures
Big news for the show: The Pedalshift Project is setting up camp in a new city! This episode breaks down what that means for future tours, how this opens up brand-new riding possibilities, and why the destination may be a bit of a surprise and also not a surprise at all. My new home: Seattle! Why? This move is all about geography, access, and expanding the Pedalshift touring sandbox. Seattle places world-class touring terrain right outside the door and increases the show’s ability to cover more routes, more often. And yes—this is a return to the broader PNW. Think of it as a new...
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Best of Pedalshift 291: Working Remotely on Bike Adventures
The Pedalshift Project: Bicycle Travel Adventures
It used to be that a bike adventure meant taking paid time off or quitting your job. Now that remote work is a reality for many of us, there’s a new option. But is bike travel while working remotely right for you? Originally podcast July 28, 2022.
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Thanksgiving Eve Live
The Pedalshift Project: Bicycle Travel Adventures
A repodcast of our Thanksgiving Eve live show: following up on your comments on the state of bicycle touring, plus a bunch of great questions in an Ask Me Anything segment! Followup: Is Bicycle Touring in Decline? More emails on this than any topic in a while. Some selected thoughts from listeners: Regarding ACA Multiple listeners: Could ACA be losing older members in its attempts to expand into younger audiences, but worse… might not be succeeding on either front? It’s hard to do both, and that’s the challenge… you need to find what drives your constituencies and sometimes you...
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Is Bicycle Touring in Decline?
The Pedalshift Project: Bicycle Travel Adventures
Bicycle touring numbers feel like they’re down—fewer loaded panniers on the road, Adventure Cycling Association facing major financial headwinds, and a lot of long-time tourers quietly aging out. But is touring actually in decline, or is it just shifting into something that looks different—like bikepacking, gravel, and shorter, more flexible trips? In this episode I dig into Adventure Cycling’s recent membership and financial update, talk through generational and economic trends, and explore whether we’re seeing the end of an era… or just the end of one version of it. Is Bicycle...
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Bike Adventure Goals Scorecard
The Pedalshift Project: Bicycle Travel Adventures
Way back in January - and what feels like ten years ago to me - I set out a bunch of bicycle adventure goals for me in 2025. In a challenging year, I wasn't sure how I'd measure up but as I always like to do, I gave the goals a once over to see how I did. So on this episode we give it a scorecard treatment, but also a sneak preview of the final piece of 2025 adventuring that manages to check one of the boxes! 2025 Bike Adventure Goals Scorecard Celebrating plans already made, and taking care of yourself Sort of? A big ebike trip – maybe two. Taking the bike on a ride only the ebike can do…...
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Best of Pedalshift 249: Solo Touring Women
The Pedalshift Project: Bicycle Travel Adventures
A chat with Sylva Florence, an experienced bicycle tourist and author of many things (including her blog The Sylva Lining) on touring as a solo woman, how people who want to be allies to solo women touring can do that without being creepy, and some of her favorite adventures. .
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The Ultralight Challenge
The Pedalshift Project: Bicycle Travel Adventures
What if you could tour with just what fits in a single dry bag? No panniers. Just the essentials. On this episode, we take this as a challenge - borrowing from the ultralight backpacking folks, we cut off our toothbrush handles and weigh every gram for the ultralight bikepacking challenge! “What if you could tour with just what fits in your handlebar bag? No panniers. No rack. Just the essentials.” Why: curiosity, simplicity, nimble handling, testing limits for overnighters or credit card touring. Rules: one mid-size drybag (say 10–12L). No extra frame or seat bags. Trip assumptions:...
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A Game of Chance Revisited
The Pedalshift Project: Bicycle Travel Adventures
We're bringing back one of the wackiest ideas in Pedalshift history — the Game of Chance! Using random number generators and the excellent Adventure Cycling Association routes, it's an unpredictable coast-to-coast bike tour from the Pacific to the Atlantic. When every turn is determined by chance the results are... surprisingly awesome? In This Episode: Revisiting the “Game of Chance” touring experiment from 2021 Using randomness to pick routes across ACA’s national network Riding (and re-riding) the Pacific Coast, Northern Tier, Lewis & Clark, TransAm, and more ...
info_outlineStealth camping is a great skill to develop and a fantastic option to have for emergencies or maybe even your main overnight plan on a bike tour. But what if your tent is so bright it can be seen from miles away? On this episode, we talk about what worked for my last tent and what I’m trying on my newer one. Originally podcast September 8, 2022.
Making a Tent Stealthier
The old tent – ALPS Mountaineering Zephyr 2
Spray panting the tarp
Tarp was orange so it needed full coverage
Used a matte forest green
Took 3 full cans to cover (more than I expected)
Then covered with a waterproofing spray (think KIWI brand)
Tarp worked like a charm – water beaded off just like before
Was stiffer and heavier than before
Tarp has finally failed at the zippers so it needs to be replaced
Color has also worn off over time, although it still is predominantly well covered
The newer tent -ALPS Mountaineering Zephyr 2 (again)
New tent is blue and very light gray, tarp is mostly the light gray
Better than orange, but still needs stealthification
Redditor recommended Rit dying
I was a bit skeptical but decided to go for it
Got 2 dark forest greens and 1 chocolate brown that was designed for nylon
A lot of boiling water (9 gallons!) and a big bin
Let it get in there overnight and…
It sort of worked. It’s super brown on one side, but perhaps predictably the back of the tarp, not the water repellant side
So, dye job is not recommended
Before, during and after shots:
What am I going to do?
I have one tarp that is forest green but not terribly suitable for heavy rain
I have another tarp that is very light gray and perfect for rain
The reverse side is dark brown and not suitable for anything but dry weather
I’m bringing *both* tarps for my next tour
I can see where a brown tarp and a green tarp could help depending on where I’m tucked in
I need to know I have a good rain option
I don’t always need to be stealth
The lineup
No need for stealth? Use the new tarp in the normal position regardless of weather
Stealth and dry? Use green tarp for tent and brown side out tarp for the bike (or maybe vice versa)
Stealth and rain? Use the green tarp over the proper-side-out gray tarp. This is the least likely scenario in a way… if it’s really storming would people be out?
Takeaways
Folks, best bet is to get a tent with a slealthy tarp. They are weirdly hard to come by
Dye? Not recommended
Spray paint? Effective, but with its flaws.