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Had a nice 70 mile mixed surface route last weekend that a friend of mine drew up for me. It was fun riding new stuff without knowing what to expect. Have a century planned for tomorrow, weather looks variable, should be funAttachment 330624Attachment 330625Attachment 330626
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Just played around with the new Strava route updates now that I am a cough cough subscriber (still stings a little hah) . Color me impressed, as someone said earlier the heatmap combination really allows you to tune a route.Quote:
Originally Posted by Peruvian
Gonna finally get a bike-packable setup going and looking for opinions on a Karate Monkey vs Krampus.
I'm leaning towards Krampus. Thoughts?
I have a Karate Monkey. Its a great bike but the 27.5+ tires are really slow. Im looking to switch them out for a set of 29” wheels and narrower tires. I cant speak on the krampus but people love them. It seems like 29+ tire options are dwindling.Quote:
Originally Posted by joetron
Waiting on a sprained ankle to heal before I start camping with it.
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Still not supposed to drive to recreate here so the gravel monster keeps getting picked before the mtb. Did a long ride from the house yesterday - 125 miles, 13k climb. About 90 miles were off road with pavement sprinkled in to join different segments and never more than 10 consecutive miles. 3 or 4 pretty big hike-a-bikes in there too for good measure. Attachment 330783Attachment 330784Attachment 330785Attachment 330786Attachment 330787Attachment 330788Attachment 330789
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^^^animal
125 mi is insane on that bike, good work
Question for you gravel enthusiasts... I have a cheapish bike I currently use (well used to...) for commuting https://www.polygonbikes.com/shop/bi...strattos-s3-2/ . If I were to throw some gravel tires on it just for some adventures how miserable will I be? No disk brakes are an immediate problem I see, but anything wrong with gearing/geo that I wouldn't know about? I'm a pretty avid MTBer with a nice bike so I get component/groupset downsides, just curious if there's anything else besides tires that would make this an immediate no go. N+1 may eventually apply bike not in the cards right now.
34/28 for a low gear might limit some climbs but otherwise it seems fine. I say throw the biggest tires that will fit on and give it a go.
Seriously.Quote:
Originally Posted by east or bust
I'm over here complaining about doing 70mi on skinny ass 42s. 125mi with 13k up on basically a singlespeed mountain bike with curlys. I gotta step my game up big time.
What gearing are you running on that thing? Looks fun!Quote:
Originally Posted by springsproject
Just when you start to think you’re fit...Quote:
Originally Posted by Whiteroom_Guardian
VERY solid there springsproject. I like there is another ss nut in this thread. whereabouts is that ride? beautiful.Quote:
Originally Posted by springsproject
I found the limit of the Resolute 650x42s. Playing with fire with a light supple skinwall tires when getting into legit MTB terrain. Yesterday I should have had the Thunder Berts on. Flatted the rear while walking (see: down climbing) some stupid steep bouldery horse trail that no one should be on without a real MTB. Perfect bounce onto a point of quartz or something as the bike had no weight on it.
I actually think the Resolutes are awesome the more I ride them, but my rides have been mostly pavement/country roads/fire roads. Anything rougher than that is just too much.
I think the compromise is to get a 700c wheelset for most of my riding and if I want to do some actual bikepacking stuff with little pavement I will run the 650 wheels with the Berts.
If anyone is holding a 700c wheelset for sale that happens to be 15 TA front 12x142 TA rear let me know.
38 x 18Quote:
Originally Posted by Toddball
Most of it is in Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park just north of Glasgow.Quote:
Originally Posted by chaka
Quote:
Originally Posted by Whiteroom_Guardian
https://www.the-house.com/bike-wheel...iscount%3ADESC
From today in the Shire
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Thought the snow was gone, not quite. Had to cut it short by about 5 mi due to snow drifts as far as the eye could see. Still a great ride, about 50mi and 5k vert all on dirt/gravel. Starting to get harder and harder to grab any other bike out of the quiver.
First bikepacking Trip on the Kokopelli trail this weekend. Kinda got my ass kicked. We didn’t stash any water... so carrying up to 7 liters of water at a time was harder than anticipated. Day 1 we got caught in some bad thunder storms out on the plains that turned everything to mud and made for a 12 hour day on the bike (instead of a hopeful 7 hour day). Day 2 featured 8000 feet of climbing and on tired legs and wet shoes. Broke a Shimano XT pedal in the descent toward rose hill, which was the biggest accomplishment of the trip. Day 3 easy pedal and cruise down sand flats for an early finish.
I need to figure out how work on this bikepacking fitness... ifs just different than normal bike rides. A long day on the bike is one thing, waking up again after sleeping in a tent than doing it again... not sure how to train for that.
Thanks for sharing. What bike did you ride? Water is only readily available from the river for filtering, correct? Sometimes small tributaries flow, but very unreliable?Quote:
Originally Posted by Tailwind
Sunday cruise Attachment 331143
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I have a Pivot Mach 4 SL currently. It’s feels fancier than I would want for regular use like this. But planing on the Colorado Trail in July and it’s good for covering ground.
Water seems unpredictable. MTB project has a source they listed as ‘the most reliable on the trail’ that was dry. There were a few random small springs that we found that helped piece things together. At one point there is about a 40 mile section with 7500 feet of climbing without water access. Technical terrain with some pitches in excess 20 percent grades so not easy riding.
Colorado River is easy for the first half and there are some springs for the last 30 miles... it’s just the section in between. It’s mentally pretty taxing running through ‘do I have enough water to stay hydrated overnight if I don’t reach x by nightfall?”
Quote:
Originally Posted by Whiteroom_Guardian
Interesting to see Scotch broom in its native habitat. Washington State decided to introduce that stuff along our highways back in the day to control erosion since it was easy to grow and spread. Now its a major invasive species problem.Quote:
Originally Posted by springsproject
Thursday overnighter up the Rattlesnake outside of Missoula. 8 miles up to camp, which was 20 miles total from the house. Critters stole a sock, my gloves and nibbled on my seat and helmet straps.
Next morning I finished the other 7 miles to the end, then returned to town and home, about 34 total. It was a nice shakeout ride.
Ran into a guy on the ride up that warned me about a black bear 400 yards ahead. I didn't see it as I pressed on, but did find a fresh track the next morning. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...1b6cb536f0.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6043f9fb79.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...c4f67a3d7a.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...64238d3b5b.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6a9d499233.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...db68b61c3a.jpg
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Did my first century today. 50/50 dirt/gravel and pavement. I'm roasted. If it was a sunny day I never would have made it. Doing that on a 700c road bike would have been way easier.