Here's a photo of my rig at Boulton Creek Trading Post in Canada June 9th, 2012....
...I wish I could have gotten into the race, but I guess it
was meant to be.
That storm front sat there for 4-5 days.
Nasty! How did you get out of the situation?
I got caught in a terrible windstorm earlier this year, hitched a ride back to my truck, and drove to "camp" at Motel 6 that night. The pickle that I was in wasn`t as dangerous as yours, but I know how you feel having to throw in the towel.
Nasty! How did you get out of the situation?
I got caught in a terrible windstorm earlier this year, hitched a ride back to my truck, and drove to "camp" at Motel 6 that night. The pickle that I was in wasn`t as dangerous as yours, but I know how you feel having to throw in the towel.
If I would have some dry clothes I would have pushed on.
I was at the camp store and a camper that had enough of the weather had packed it in and was heading to Canmore and they gave me a ride.
I thought about drying my gear out in Canmore and trying a restart or get a ride back to the store, but this storm was there for almost 5 days and with all that happened it just took the wind out of my sail. (no pun on yours)
Had a great, but cut short because of knee pain, weekend in North GA. Thanks to Dave Muse for the awesome route. I also stole lots of info from other bike packing setups and nailed the equipment. It was perfect. The only thing I might could change is move the water from my back to a custom frame pack, but even that is a maybe as the bike right now handles SO awesome.
1st solo trip on the Colorado trail - Waterton canyon to Buffalo creek.
JPaks frame bag, I highly recommend Joe who custom made this frame pack at a very reasonable price.
Relevate Designs seat bag.
Sleeping bag is a fleece bag from REI, didn't need much else since the low was 60 degrees.
Tent is Sierra Designs lightyear
Sleeping pad is 2.5' big agnes (awesome)
Total weight on the bike was right at 10 lbs. and weight on my back was about 15 lbs. I kept all food and water on my back.
Last edited by Pete Otis Towns; 07-05-2012 at 09:16 PM.
Without rules, we all might as well be up in a tree flinging our crap at each other. Red Foreman - That 70's show.
It was a small load. Trip was 110 miles or so, but had to pack a tent in case Denali made weather that it likes to make. I wouldn't go out there without that set up, but on this trip it was bluebird all through the night. My post is more of a joke compared to the rigs you guys have posted up. I do 100+ and longer days in 1 long uncomfortable day if I do them.
"Having lack of self-preservation makes biking more fun."
I just completed my first overnighter. I did almost 60 miles of the Bay Circuit Trail north of Boston. I wrote up a trip report here.
The bike is one of those mail-order Chinese Carbon 29ers that have been discussed in the MTBR's version of War And Peace (3444 posts with 616,739 views!) You can see the particulars of my build here.
Gear
tarp, paracord, stakes, long underwear top, 40 degree bag, therm-a-rest pad, raincoat, first aid, food (cold: bars, sesame noodles in a bag for dinner, pbj sandwiches), iphone, bike tools, water, bb pistol (mostly for noise), lighter/matches, compass, map, bug spray, Dr. Bronners soap, toothpaste/toothbrush, TP, a few wipes, bandanas and...2 beers.
Setup
Bike: '94 Gary Fisher hoo koo e koo w/rigid fork, WTB Mutano 2.4 up front, Kenda Lopes 55 2.35 in the back. I was very pleased with this tire setup.
Bags/Racks: old Blackburn aluminum rear rack, Nashbar rear paniers, under seat bag, water bottle cages on frame and fork (1 liter bottled water containers work great in these cages and are cheaper than bike bottles)
Wore a Camelback Rogue (1.5l).
How it gets packed
All bike tools go in my Camelback along with snacks and the bb pistol, sleeping pad under the bars. The remainder is balanced between the paniers and the tarp bungied across the top of the rack (bungie used to hang panier as a bear bag at night). In the end I brought more water and food than I needed. I could have stayed out two nights with this set up.
Not the lightest ride, but I go with what I've got. Plus this GF frame is one tough nut - perfect application for it. I actually thought this would be harder than it was. I was up and down between 7500' and 9000' with more than a few steep rocky climbs but only had to walk it twice - and those sections were pretty short.
For those contemplating this for the first time, I can't encourage it enough. I don't have specialized equipment or a particularly light bike, but I keep the gear as light as I can. Just keep it simple, start small and go for it!
Yes the Contrail. Set it up in the back yard with the carbon pole and thought the wind was going to blow it over. I then got an aluminum pole from a cheap tent I use and it works great. I made the handle bar bag to fit the tent and pole.
I also made the frame bag and the other handle bar bag. The seat bag is from a guy in Boulder, CO that makes them. The backpack is an Osprey Atmos 35.
Memories of front entry puptents when I was a kid have kept me away from Contrail, but the combination of weight, packed size (which is where the Moment goes awry), and price have me rethinking things. Does the tunnel entrance bother you? Are you able to get into a bag from the side or do you have to sit in the dirt and crawl in (to a sleepingbag) from the end?
Memories of front entry puptents when I was a kid have kept me away from Contrail, but the combination of weight, packed size (which is where the Moment goes awry), and price have me rethinking things. Does the tunnel entrance bother you? Are you able to get into a bag from the side or do you have to sit in the dirt and crawl in (to a sleepingbag) from the end?
Love mine. Wanted the Moment, but I'm a drop bar Fargo rider, so it complicates possible attachment locations and the Contrail just packs down smaller. Even after many emails back and forth with Henry Shires.
There is enough room in there to get into a bag from the side. Not luxurious, but enough space to get in on top of the bag, open it up and slide in.
I can sleep with my 4 year old in mine. 42" wide at the entry.
next time it gets setup i'll take a pic with a bag and pad in it.
i had no issues with the standard pole they sell.
it could be a little stiffer for when you cinch everything down into storm pitch, but it works well enough. i have read that you can rig it with a tree or a stick...
Yes the Contrail works great for me. I was worried about the size also, but it is large enough to enter head first and sit at the door end. It is large enough to move around in and enter the sleeping bag without any problems. Much better than those little triangle tents.
Thanks for the info, guys. Good to hear there`s enough room to get in to a bag from the side and even better to hear there`s enough space to turn around after crawling in head first.
Still, I sure wish the Moment were shorter. If you guys haven`t been on Shires`s site recently, he has a new one called the Notch, which is side entry, slightly heavier than Contrail, and packs to 16 OAL. It uses two poles though, and costs more than either Moment or Contrail. It also uses struts for the triangular end vents, but they must be removeable for it to pack four inches shorter than the moment- I`ll have to watch the setup video to see for sure. I wonder if he`ll redesign the Moment with removeable struts so it`ll pack up as well as the Notch? When I get ready to write a check, I`ll probably call or email and see what the man says.
Thanks for the info, guys. Good to hear there`s enough room to get in to a bag from the side and even better to hear there`s enough space to turn around after crawling in head first.
Still, I sure wish the Moment were shorter. If you guys haven`t been on Shires`s site recently, he has a new one called the Notch, which is side entry, slightly heavier than Contrail, and packs to 16 OAL. It uses two poles though, and costs more than either Moment or Contrail. It also uses struts for the triangular end vents, but they must be removeable for it to pack four inches shorter than the moment- I`ll have to watch the setup video to see for sure. I wonder if he`ll redesign the Moment with removeable struts so it`ll pack up as well as the Notch? When I get ready to write a check, I`ll probably call or email and see what the man says.
I do believe you can remove the struts from the moment, but they are a pain to do.
I do believe you can remove the struts from the moment, but they are a pain to do.
from an email from Henry Shires when I was comparing the Moment to the Contrail:
The Moment arch pole folds to 20" and strut ends fold to 18". The struts can be removed--we insert them through slits in the rear sleeves--and the pole can of course be store separately.
From what I know of the Contrail, installing the struts each time you pitch would be a PITA, and defeat the whole point of getting the Moment, which pitches fast.
In the end, I could have gone Moment, as it would fit low under my front bag, sliding under the drops. But I'm happy enough with the Contrail. Aside from needing more time to be in it out in the woods.
I have the Contrail TT and, so far, it works well. I haven't tested in high winds or in the rain yet, though. It is very large for a 1 person tent and I had no problem inside the tent moving around. There is plenty of room for my pad and bag and to set all my gear next to me inside the tent and still have room. Getting in and out requires just a little maneuvering but, if you move the tent pole a bit to one side, it is really easy (just make sure to move it back after getting in/out). It also packs down reasonably small to fit under my bars. I am debating adding stakes/guy lines to the sides to give it more stability in bad weather, though that would a little weight.
Could someone please show a close up of the bottle holders on those forks???
I don't have any good detail shots of mine, but I can just tell you I used hose clamps and cut up sections of old tubes to keep from scraping up the paint (and helps the clamps "stick" better). Works great! With 1 litre bottles on there, I also had to tie some paracord sections to hold to tops close to the fork or they can bounce out of the cage (I was just using/reusing store bought water bottles as they are cheap and I can refill - an actualy large bike bottle might fit better). Very simple and effective.
I got a lot of information also from bikepacking.net. This link takes you to a page with details on a bunch of peoples' gear setups, including detailed shots. Extremely helpful!
This is not mine, but I have had the pleasure of meeting Tom and Sarah. Anyway I thought this might be of interest given that is a good write-up in my view of touring with a Surly Big Dummy.
My current "off-road" touring setup is a 2008 Giant XTC 2 which until recently was pulling a BoB Ibex trailer. I have now sold the BoB and replaced it with an Extrawheel Voyager. I have yet to use the Voyager in combo with the XTC 2. It is currently being pulled by my Surly Long Haul Trucker on road duties.
I only called in for lunch. Found it too close to Nannup. I am thinking of doing the Manjimup to Jarrahdale next month as still to complete the newish sections.
S24O bikepacking yesterday. Only about half my gear turned up on time so I had to ad-hoc my way through the rest of it. Worked pretty well. Didn't need cooking gear because there was this really good cafe about 15 mi from the finish. The tent was nice and is reasonably light, but I'll probably buy a smaller tent for just bikepacking (this is the one that my gf and I use when we go car camping - at 5 lbs it's still reasonably light though).
Old inner tube ftw :P. The two straps were enough, but the inner tube was my "spare" strap and came in handy more than once with stabilizing the bike while loading it, or holding it against a pole or tree, etc. Even if I get fancy gear, that's probably going to stay as part of my kit.
FWIW, the frame bag is actually empty; I had some spare tools in there and a camera, but everything I needed for the actual overnight stay was strapped to the handlebars. I also had a backpack that was also mostly empty. I had both in case I felt like the weight distribution wasn't good, so I could move it around if I thought I should.
How does your Mom feel about you stealing her sewing machine to make the bags?
Borrowed, stolen, what's the difference between family, right?
She did ask me how many needles I broke in the process.
I've got to go mow her lawn this week, and I intend to return the sewing machine when I do. I'll show off the results of my work at the same time and see how she feels about it then.
Be respectful to the disrespectful, wise to the unwise, caring to the uncaring, courteous to the uncourteous. My Riding Blog
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