I've gone bikepacking before, but never with a rackless system, and not on anything really rough. So when my buddy pinged me to do a singletrack bikepacking trip here in Maryland for a 3-day weekend, it took a little convincing and the promise from other friends that I could borrow some of their bikepacks.
One friend loaned me his Revelate Terrapin seatpack and handlebar Harness, while another loaned me the Gas Tank. I bit the bullet and coughed up the dough for the Jones SpaceFrame pack, after having no success trying to fit other framepacks into the center. I also figured it would be a great bare bones pack for this bike, even if I didn't fall headlong into the whole bikepacking thing.
Jones SpaceFrame in Bikepacking Mode by
Ricky deLeyos, on Flickr
The plan was to ride from his house in downtown Frederick, up to the Watershed, then meander by Camp David, hitting as much singletrack as we could until we ultimately hit Michaux in Pennsylvania, some 55+ miles away. I had no idea what route he intended; I was just along for the ride.
Bikepacking by
Ricky deLeyos, on Flickr
As we started on Friday evening after work, it was hot, with the traditional Mid-Atlantic mugginess making it a slightly unpleasant experience from the start. About 7 miles in, and nearing the top of the mountain, my rear Avid BB-7 brakes started to make that "
cha-chung-cha-chung!" sound that could only mean one thing: the brake pads were so thin that the spreader pin was starting to hit the rotor, i.e., the brake was useless.
Somewhat embarrassingly, I haven't put many miles on this beauty of a bike since I got my
fat bike, so I just assumed that all was well with it and didn't really bother to give it a once over. Bikepacking was going to be the Jones' new calling, but I totally forgot to check the brake pads! :madman:
When we hit the rocky singletrack, downhills weren't completely scary or out of control, but they definitely had a lot of pucker moments, relying mostly on the front pads and very little of the rear. There were a few times I had to stop and pull out more straps to tighten down the loads. Things waggled, and I was finding out over each boulder dropped, root hit, and micro-jumps what needed to be cinched and where.
Big Rock by Joe W, on Flickr
After setting up camp and while eating dinner, he asked me if I wanted to continue, or amend the label of the trip to "S24O Gear Test". With the gnats buzzing all around me, wiping the pouring sweat out of my eyes with my near-cramped hand from the braking-deathclutch, it took me all of a minute to decide this weekend wouldn't be
epic adventure I thought it would be. He laughed and said it was cool because he really just wanted to check the trail-worthiness of his homemade packs before he really got out there.
Testing the Sturdiness of Homemade Bikepacks by
Ricky deLeyos, on Flickr
When we got up the next day, of course he led me down and up the hardest trails he could think of (that didn't require a full face helmet) before getting back to his house. It was the price I had to pay for cutting the weekend and the mileage way shorter than planned. It was worth it. The alternative was suicide, especially after my front brakes decided they were done too!