Today’s post is a Hero Kit Review! The Hero Kit is an all in one bicycling kit. There are several different kits, but the one I’m reviewing today is the Mountain Biking Hero Kit.
In full disclosure, Hero Kit reached out to me to see if I was interested in trying out their product. They initially were going to send me a road cycling kit, but I mentioned I was going mountain biking and always have more concerns about getting in a jam out in the wild. When you are road biking, you are often in a situation where someone can come pick you up. Not so when you are out on the trail!
Add in a knife and you are good to go!
Here is everything that comes in the kit:
- 12 Function Multi Tool with Chain tool
- Extremely sturdy Bike Tire Levers with tire patch kit sneakily embedded INSIDE the tire lever (good use of space)
- 24 Page, waterproof Field Repair Instruction Manual with lots of helpful pictures
- 9 Speed KMC Replacement Chain Link AND 10 Speed KMC Replacement Chain Link
- Tyvek Tire Boot (torn tire patch)
- Frame Bolt and a Cleat Bolt
- Multi Use “Tushy” wipe
- Duct Tape (NOT to be used on tushies)
- Gear Cable
- 2 Zip Ties (which my cats have already absconded and hidden, since I foolishly didn’t put things away after checking it out)
- ICE (In Case of Emergency) Card (super important when they find your body)
This retails for about $40, which is pretty fair. I priced out all the parts seperately (using Performance Bike and BikeParts.com as price guides) and again, it’s a fair deal. You save a few dollars and you gain in convenience.
Also, I will mention that all the parts are extremely high quality. I often see corners skimped and a tire level will be super chintzy or the booklet will turn to mush if it comes near water. Not so. This thing is HEFTY and durable.
It is also perfectly sized to fit in a rear jersey pocket or in an under-seat bike bag. Very convenient.
This would make an adorable stocking stuffer for a beloved cyclist in your family. Not only is it a great gift idea, it can buy you some more peace of mind knowing they have all the right tools to get back home in the kit.
Hero Kit also has revved up version of their Mountain Biking kit (aptly named the SUPER Hero Mountain Biking kit) to include all the mentioned above, plus a pump, extra tube, a cool under-the-seat bike bag to put it all in and a few other good to haves. The Super Hero kit is less stocking stuff, though, and more ‘main present’, as it retails for about $75 and has a LOT more stuff. When breaking out the costs of all the items together, though, it’s definitely still a good deal.
The SUPER extras that you get if you upgrade to the Super Hero Mountain Biking Kit!
The difference between the Hero road biking kit and mountain biking kit is that it has an emergency rain poncho and a different type of tire patch, and does not have the gear cable. The road kit also comes in a Super Hero Road Biking Kit version as well.
You can learn more about Hero Kit and their vast range of other kits at their site, HeroKit.com.
The other weekend I went mountain biking in Idyllwild, a mountain community in Southern California. I’ve always seen the sign for Idyllwild while driving to Las Vegas, and now, finally, got to see what this place was about!
There are hundreds of single track trails criss crossing the mountain side, alone with some easily bike-able fire access roads. The Lat/Long of the entry point to all these trails is 33.73386, -116.75074.
GIGANTIC PINE CONES!
Beautiful Views
Nice clean single track riding
TREEEEES (which are fairly sparse in SoCal)
Big boulders
Easy, chill, lovely trail
Starry, Starry Night (my new cam is awesome and can take star pics)
While driving down the mountain, we saw a car that had gone OVER the cliff side getting pulled back up. SCARY!!
Sick of trying to get to your energy gel/goo and getting it all over your hands and having that icky sticky wrapper after you are done?
Well, there is a solution for that!
The Hydrapak Soft Flask, which comes in a 5 oz and an 8 oz size. And thanks to Hydrapak, I have two to give away!
Two lucky winners will be chosen at random.
My trail bike got a flat. Nothing new for anyone that has a bike, except this is the first time I’ve had a flat for the rear tire of the trail bike. Long time readers with amazing memory will recall that I stole this bike from a friend who was neglecting it (for the price of helping remove black widows).
Imagine my surprise of opening up the tire to check the tube to find DUCT TAPE INSIDE THE TIRE WALL. The rim tape had pretty much busted (although it was left in there) and whoever opened up the tire last had tried to use duct tape instead. I messaged my friend and he played ignorant but he got the bike NEW so… not sure what happened there. OK I just messaged him, he says he thinks he took it to a bike shop at some point. asl;kfj
By the way, the duct tape must have done a decent enough job because I’ve had the bike for over a year with no major problems. BUT on the CONVERSE, there was a HUGE hole in the tube (not even patchable), so the duct tape didn’t protect the tube well enough (and it was from rubbing on the inside of the tire, I believe).
I’ll be honest – it’s been awhile since I’ve been on my bike. Over two months, maybe three, I lost count. So after being a lazy bum for a few days, I got off the lazy bum and hit the trails.
Specifically, I went up to the Santa Monica Mountains and spent two hours biking all over the place, getting fantastically covered in dirt. I only walked up two hills: the first one I didn’t gear down for in time because I didn’t see it (blind turn) and the second was more ridiculous than the hobbits’ journey into Mordor. It went up and up and up forever and forever and forever. At some point I was “enjoying the view” (catching my breath) and some trail bikers were coming DOWN the path. I pretended I got off my bike to let them have full access to the path (LIES).
Also when almost at the top, I frightened some people into turning back by describing what their return would be like, if they chose to return the same way they were coming. I told them to take surface streets back. FEAR OF GOD AND HILL.
Here are some photos from my lovely ride.
Rode and Rode and got to this destination.
Rode and Rode some more and got to THIS destination (then took surface streets back)
This is what a “forest” looks like in SoCal
I look kind of cool in this picture
OK I look really dorky in this pic but you can see the jersey better. HOW COOL IS THIS JERSEY
My butt is so sore…
After sadly realizing that I need yet another Road ID due to the fact that the emergency contact on my current one will probably just let me die if they were contacted for an emergency, I ordered a Road ID slim. The thing I liked most about the slim was that I didn’t feel obligated to put a person’s name and contact info on it – I can just update that on the Road ID website and if that contact turns debatable, I can just update it electronically.
Road ID Comparison
Also, check out how much thinner/sleeker the slim is, which I kind of like. The Elite has a metal clasp which is kind of nice, but the slim just slides right on. I suspect I can adjust the size, but haven’t tried yet. The Elite usually came in just one size (perhaps it’s changed in the past few years) and you adjusted it. The Slim had you choose small/medium/large. I got a medium and it fits pretty good. The band is stretchy.
My first Road ID was black but I decided after that to get brightly colored bands. I mean, the point is that when you are lying on the road, mangled and bloody and unable to talk for yourself, they will notice the damn bracelet, right?? So as you can see, I had orange before and got bright green this time.
I also dig that all your medical info and critical info is text to voice available for emergency responders. I totally feel safer wearing one of these, honestly.
Do you have a Road ID? If so, which one?
I had posted about this on the Thrown Chain Facebook a few days ago but figured photo evidence could always be fun.
Handle bars – optimal bra drying racks
Ladies backed me up on this, but perhaps dudes need some more info. You see, dudes, bras are hella expensive and super delicate. So you can’t be putting them in the dryer; they need to be hung up. And don’t ask how often (or how NOT often) chicks wash their bras. I DO wash my sports bras almost immediately…almost. Depending on how much I sweat and how soon I might need to wear it again, and if it’s a FAVORITE sports bra, but I digress…
So you need to hang up the bras in a way that helps retain the shape so they don’t get all wonky. Also, we gals get super addicted to like, 2 bras out of the 293847 we might or might not own. So we only want to wear those two, over and over. So hanging them up also puts them in the immediate ‘ohhh there is my favorite bra, I’ll grab it right now and wear it today’ spotlight when we stumble out of bed in the morning and get ready for work/school/whatever.
So there you have it. Whether or not you wanted to know, a bike’s handle bars make for great bra drying racks.
Have you heard of parkour? It’s essentially free style running/jumping/gymnastic craziness all over an urban environment. It’s pretty intense to watch. Here’s a vid:
I’ve watched some of the training videos; I can run, jump, but this back flip stuff? Hell no. I’m one of the least flexible humans ever; another reason why cycling is such a great sport, no need to be all bendy and flexible. OK Well yes you need to stay not-tense and kind of bendy but you know what I mean.
Like cycling, parkour is pretty male dominated. Percentage wise, there are obviously a lot more women engaged with cycling than with parkour. I Youtube’d (is that a verb now?) for parkour videos with women and found this one where a chick gives it a whirl. She does a decent job (nothing crazy but shows how it can be accessible to the general population).
Kind of cracks me up that she is scampering around on icy streets. I’d have to think that parkour + ice = recipe for disaster.
Have you ever done this parkour thing? I bet I can find a gym in Los Angeles that specializes in in it. That is the plus side of Los Angeles – you can find just about anything you want here (and things you never wanted to know exists).
While tooling around the North Shore in Massachusetts, I stumbled across a really cute concept.
The owners of a small butcher shop were raising money for a bike ride charity by selling bike shaped pasta.
Pasta for a good cause
Bicycle Pasta Close Up
If you need to carb load for a bike ride, why not carb load on bike shaped pasta? Would it endow you with extra cycling powers??
Sadly, I was still trying to eat low carb that day so no pasta for me. But I thought it was cute enough of the owners of the shoppe to do this so wanted to share. 
While wandering around my beloved hometown of Boston on Saturday, I noticed two things.
1. There are now bike lanes in Boston (!)
2. You can now RENT bikes as a form of public transportation in Boston via a service called Hubway (!!)
I dreamed of being a bike messenger in Boston while working in the Financial district, but Dad forbade it. Considering he saw one get killed by a truck in front of him once, I could understand. Still, bike messengers in the 90′s in Boston were soooooooo SEXY and COOL.
So my dreams of being a bike messenger never came to fruition, but at least I run a biking related blog?
Moving on..
Hubway is a ride share program in Boston. Pricing consists of two parts: Access to Hubway, and then additional pricing on how long you have the bike.
Hubway details
Sleek green and silver Hubway bikes
Co Branded Hubway Bikes – Google sponsored? LOL
What’s really cool is that Boston partnered with a bunch of places for subsidized helmets, including CVS, Walgreens, and uhmm…hospitals. LOL
Hubway Locations
Boston is a walking city. I hope with something like this it will become more of a biking city, but with the hit-and-run taxi cabs, Boston is a bit scary to bike around. Also, it teems with tourists in the summer and Bostonians never abide by the traffic lights and just wander everywhere. I’m guilty of doing this as well.
I saw two people renting from the Hubway while I was looking at all the details and taking pics, so that is promising. Next time I’m back in Boston, I’m going to sign up for the service and give it a try.
At the very least, we all know that Boston runs, bikes, walks and waltzes thanks to Dunkin Donuts.
God Bless Dunkies Iced Coffee
