Bike Touring Rig

Now that's a rig

I'm going to be cycling from Canada to Ventura via the the Pacific Coast this summer.  This endeavor is commonly known as "bike touring".  One of the things that appeals to me about bike touring, is that you don't take a whole lot of stuff with you. But you do need a few basic things. Like a bike. Preferably (although not necessarily) a touring bike. Something that is durable, easy to work on in the middle of nowhere, and able to hold everything you would need for an extended tour like a tent, sleeping bag and stuff for cooking in camp . Next, you add some racks, panniers (French for "rubber bags that hold things"), fenders, kickstand (yes, kickstand), lights etc.... and you have what I have been referring to as "a rig". Some people name their bikes. I have not. I just refer to it as the "Touring Rig". Even the name sounds heavy. For the benefit of those still reading, I'll go through my rig and it's accouterments:

The Bike

The options for a touring bike range from converting an old road bike you pick up on Craig's List for $200 (Yugo), to a $10K+ custom bike (Range Rover). I went with a Chevy. After quite a bit of research, I was all set on a Surly (Long Haul Trucker) and then REI put their equivalent brand (Novara Randonee) on sale for 25% off. Being a frugal guy, it was an easy decision to go with the REI bike.

The bike

So what would the frame on this bike be made out of you ask? Carbon? Aluminum? Titanium? Nope, nope and nope. STEEL. That's right, the same stuff your old Schwinn Varsity was made out of (alloyed with a little chromium and molybdenum for good measure). Sure, it's heavier than the high tech materials used on even basic mountain and road bikes today. But, it can take the heavy load, rides smoother than other materials, and might be repairable if it needs welding while on trip. Most small towns have someone who can weld.

Storage

Probably going to need a little more room than this

One could not load up a touring bike with way too much stuff unless there was somewhere to store everything, right?  My approach is to use a set of panniers on the front and back of the bike and a handlebar bag on,...... well, the handlebars.

Panniers, and handlebar bag

The bags are all waterproof (the panniers are basically a dry bag with some mounting hardware on one side) which is great if I ever want to take a spin through a car wash or I get into some rain while on the road. The handlebar bag also doubles as my "man purse" so I can take all my valuables (iPhone, cash, credit cards etc....) with me when i go into a store for supplies.

Front view

Handlebar bag in man purse mode

Other stuff

I've added a few pics of some of the other things I've researched/obsessed about before adding to the bike. The coolest might be the Goal Zero solar charger that provides a simple way to keep my iPhone (and to a lesser extent) my iPad charged. The double kickstand gets honorable mention.

Works great as long as there is sun....

Headlight mounted on modified wine cork

Kickstand

Brooks B-17 leather saddle

It handles surprising well when fully loaded - just need to watch out for crosswinds as I have the side profile similar to a sheet of plywood.......  I plan to take it out for a weekend test tour sometime soon.

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Pedaling from Durango to Moab - Day 7

August 16th

Route: Geyser Pass to Moab
Mileage: ~36 miles
Elevation gained: ~2200 ft.
Crashes: none
Regrets: none!

We woke up to a great sunrise.

Today was more about going down than going up. After clearing the pass, we were mostly descending over 7,000 ft. Into Moab. Nice.
Joe and Brice chose to ride "the whole enchilada" while the rest of us took the standard way down...... Trying to keep the injury tally at one...... That meant we split up right after we left the hut - we would meet back up with them in town.

Scenery was still mighty swell

Notice those blue skies?

Once we cleared the pass, it was a fast ride down on a gravel road. The better road meant we were getting closer to civilization.

Happy cows and Moab in the distance

A bunch more descending, and a little uphill grinding on pavement brought us to the Kokopelli trail. Our timing couldn't have been better because Joe and Brice dropped in from The Burro Pass to Hazard Trail option at the same time. Turns out it was a great route that we all would have liked. Oh well. Next time.

Jason bummed we didn't take Burro Pass

The group at start of Kokopelli Trail

Brice and Joe quickly split off to tackle the Porcupine Rim Trail and we continued down Kokopelli. Our ride was fun while it lasted (only a mile or 2 of single track), then it was back to speedy dirt roads. Scenery more than made up for the lack of single track.

Now it was getting warm....

By the time we hit Moab it was 102! We rested in the shade for awhile and then headed back over to the Peace Tree Cafe for a well earned lunch!

Somehow we made it back to Moab!

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Pedaling from Durango to Moab - Day 6

August 15th

Route: Paradox Valley to Geyser Pass
Mileage: 23 miles
Elevation gained: 5,400 ft!
Mud encounters: ...... Yes
Lost riders: none!
Wildlife encounters: deer, turkey, elk and Cooter*
* more detail to follow

Rolling out of Paradox Valley

Today we started out with a pretty big climb right off the bat. The good news is that it got us out of the valley quickly.... The bad news was that the climbing was steep and on a road that had suffered some damage from the recent rains. But after being out for 6 days we were in good cycling shape and it really was just another day pedaling through some beautiful country.

Jason and Brice topping out on the first climb

All seemed good. Minimal clouds, good road and we were getting back into the high country. Then, the mud came back. And it was stickier than before, so pushing your bike was not always an option if your tires could not rotate...... So we had a couple of less than fun hours pushing, carrying and scraping on our bikes.

Manti-Lasal roughly translates to "white man scraping mud"

Once we hit Buckeye Reservoir, the roads became sandier and our tires much happier. We stoped at the reservoir to filter some water, and could see a thunderstorm building right where we were heading. Nice.

Water stop

We'll be heading that-o-way

We continued to climb, and then we were in Utah.

As we continued to climb, we got a little more rain - but the roads were in good shape and it kept things a nice temperature.

Looks like we're on "Ponderosa Land"

Hoss, Adam and Little Joe

A few miles after we entered the Redd Ranch land, we located a spring (sorta close to where the map said it would be....) and stopped to get some fresh water. Nice place for a stop. John even had time to eat one of his cheese and mayonnaise sandwiches.

Bob loading up on some spring water

This is when we met a most interesting character. He was an older guy in flannel and overalls, and rolled up in a quad runner to fill his water jugs. He lives alone on the Redd Ranch land in a primitive cabin with no water or electricity (we surmised he did some work for/with ranch) Friendly guy. He offered us some cherries (which unfortunately had gone bad a few weeks ago - but we appreciated the gesture nonetheless). We also discovered that he ate a lot of squirrel and turkey, and relied on 2 of his "squirrel cats" to help fill the squirrel pipeline. The best part was when he showed us how call turkeys using a cigarrette box (Camels only) and a bic lighter. Having used a fancy turkey call when I was a kid (hunting with my grandpa), I was amazed at how well it sounded!
We never caught his name, but "Cooter" seemed to fit.
A bunch more uphill and some careful routefinding delivered us to our last hut - and no one got lost!

Geyser Pass hut

Great views to the west

Surrounded by aspens

Big tire strategy session

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Pedaling from Durango to Moab - Day 5

August 14th

Route: Wedding Bell Hut to Paradox Valley
Mileage: ~33 milesElevation Gain: 3,100 ft.
Engagement with mud: frequent
Mud scraping sticks used: yes

Ominous start

The clouds that had been following us around for the last few days finally did some raining last night. 8 hours worth. Enough to wash out sections of the dirt roads we were on and shit like that. So today was going to be one where we couldn't just go charging out the door...... Measure twice, cut once. That kind of an approach. No one wanted a quick drop into the Dolores River. Or a vertical uranium mine shaft.Rather than leave early, we actually delayed our departure to allow some of the rain to drain, and to discuss our options. And load up on salted nut rolls. And bacon.By 8, the skies had started to show some patches of blue, and things looked OK. it was time to see how this was going to go.

All smiles.......

Adios Wedding Bell hut

It went pretty well. Some stretches were fine. Some were not. We all spent some time stopping to scrape mud out of the drivetrain, tires, brakes and whatnot. There were moments of darkness, but somehow the shared experience made it bearable. Didn't set any speed records, but had a lot of laughs.

INCOMING!!

2 down, 1 still moving

Jason getting his money's worth.... Check out that front derailer!

By around noon, the worst was behind us and we were up on a Mesa looking forward to dropping down into Paradox Valley.

Drying out after a steamy climb

Brice and Joe and the route sheet before heading down the "catch um up trail"

The rest of us booked down to HWY 90

While stopped at the (currently closed) Bedrock store, John used his world class people skills (he's a natural) to get access to a farmers water spigot so we could fill our water bottles and hose some of the mud off the bikes.

Closed? I wanted some f#%ing ice cream!

Then it was some easy riding on a series of dirt roads to our hut for the night.

Bob is all smiles as we near the hut

John enjoying the pavement - notice his "mud stick" on his rear rack

Pedaling in Paradox Valley

Near one of the beautiful ranches in the valley

Paradox Valley

Paradox Valley hut

The colorful drying tree

Beer and bike maintenance. Hut life

For the first time in several nights, we went to bed under clear skies. Maybe the rain was done?

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