The next thing to go were my standard Lizard Skin grips. These are great grips, perfect for mountain biking. But when you ride for hours, and are more in randonneuring mode than enduro more, having a little extra something to rest the palm of you hand on helps a lot. So I replaced the Lizard Skins with some Ergon grips. It made a huge difference. I got the GA-3, which have the smallest additional flare to them. But this is plenty. Between these and front suspension, hand and wrist fatigue is much less of a factor.
And though not technically gear, I’m experimenting with unpadded gloves. I found a pair of leather gloves made by Cuero. Super expensive for riding gloves, but they feel great. Extra bonus: they smell like a baseball glove.
I also added a small bell to the handlebars for mixed-use paths. Most people walking, running, and even cycling have something pumping noise into their ears. On crowded paths, like those near Placerville and the entire American River Parkway between Folsom and Sacramento, it’s not enough just to call out “On your left.” I’ve found nothing works like a bell for piercing through whatever personal sonic barriers other users employ to make their walk/run/ride more enjoyable.
At one point, I mounted a GoPro on my handlebars, but didn’t like the way they swing with the bars. Even with motion dampening there’s too much side to side movement on a handlebar mount, at least at slow speeds. (I also with a chest strap, but hate that image frame where you’re looking at the rider’s arms on each side. I’m still working out the GoPro thing.)
Finally, I added an iPhone mount for navigation. I found carrying the phone in a pocket wasn’t enough. A lot of times the turns in the road and the transitions between paths are not as clearly marked as they might be. It is much easier looking at the phone already mounted on the handlebars than to dig it out of my pocket every time I had a question. Having the phone out there also made it easier to take more photos.
The mount I ended up with is made by Quad Lock. They have a plastic and an aluminum version. I started with plastic, then upgraded. I have bounced this thing over every kind of terrain and it holds great.