Bike Touring/ bikepacking?
05-04-21, 12:58 AM
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Bike Touring/ bikepacking?
I am not really sure what the correct term is but I was wondering if I would be able to go bikepacking with my verve2?I would install racks of course. I don’t plan on going any time soon I would have to build my endurance up but the idea appeals to me. I don’t want to invest on another bike and like the idea that I would be training on the bike that I would make the trip with. I really want to do the trans American bike trail one day. I just can’t believe that people do this. I have a lot of weight to lose almost 60 maybe more but I am hoping that I can do it when I am not carrying that baggage.
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05-04-21, 06:20 AM
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Yes, absolutely, and it doesn't matter much what you call it.
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05-04-21, 09:07 AM
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Well it did at one point but people have bastardized the term to the point of it being meaningless. It also makes it difficult to determine what people what do. People are also doing really stupid things with the bikepacking gear...like carrying way too much stuff way too high...that makes for a very unstable bike. That acceptable for a mountain bike where the need of clearance outweighs the need for stability. But putting a huge load high up on a twitchy road bike that was never meant to carry much more than a rider and a couple of water bottles is just silly.
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Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
05-04-21, 09:34 AM
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I am not really sure what the correct term is but I was wondering if I would be able to go bikepacking with my verve2?I would install racks of course. I don’t plan on going any time soon I would have to build my endurance up but the idea appeals to me. I don’t want to invest on another bike and like the idea that I would be training on the bike that I would make the trip with. I really want to do the trans American bike trail one day. I just can’t believe that people do this. I have a lot of weight to lose almost 60 maybe more but I am hoping that I can do it when I am not carrying that baggage.
On the plus side, your Verve seems to be tailor made for touring. It is long...it has 18.5” chainstays...and appears to have a very stable geometry. That’s ideal for using traditional panniers. The flat handlebars are not ideal...too few hand positions...but that can be fixed with either a different bar or with barends. I’d suggest 2 racks (front and rear) and 4 panniers with the front 2 being loaded with about 60% of the weight and carried on a low rider rack. That improves handling although it seems counterintuitive. Your tent and sleeping bag go on the rear rack.
Packing with panniers is relatively straight forward with small dense stuff going in small front bags. Food and camp kitchen are usually the heaviest items you carry but they are also small. Light bulky stuff goes in the rear bags (clothes with ride clothes on one side and other clothes on the other).
Bikepacking’s specialized gear works very well for rough riding as it is attached to the bike a bit better and doesn’t tend to bounce around. They are good bags if you want to ride in rough conditions but less so for smooth road riding. The load is carried higher which makes the bike less stable. The bags are limited in size, shape, and utility. You end up with bizarre packing arrangements where your stove may be in one bag and your fuel may be at the bottom of another one. Items kind of get put where they fit without regard to any kind of organization. I often end up unpacking and repacking bags just to make dinner or breakfast.
The bags are also difficult to deal with if you have to transport the bike or carry it up something. The bags are more difficult to remove (because they are more securely attached) and they are odd shapes which makes carrying them difficult. I like using them for jeep roads, dirt roads, and single track. They work well there. But I only use them for shorter trips as well. I don’t know if I could stand the pounding of an off-road trip for weeks at a time. I can go for weeks with a traditional touring bike with traditional touring gear.
Finally, as to “when”, I would say “now”. Don’t wait until some date in the future or some huge trip or until you’ve lost weight to some level. Even after saying what I said above about gear, don’t wait until you have the perfect setup. The longer you wait, the less likely you’ll ever do it. The most difficult part of any bicycle tour is getting out the front door. Saying “I can’t because...” is the easiest path to take and it only leads to regrets.
Go! Now!
__________________
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
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05-04-21, 10:43 AM
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“Touring” is the term you are looking for. Bikepacking is a subset of touring that (was) meant using a mountain bike to go touring in remote locations on rugged routes. People have taken to calling all bicycle touring “bikepacking”. Misusing the term makes it difficult to determine what you want to do. For your application, “touring” would be the better term.
On the plus side, your Verve seems to be tailor made for touring. It is long...it has 18.5” chainstays...and appears to have a very stable geometry. That’s ideal for using traditional panniers. The flat handlebars are not ideal...too few hand positions...but that can be fixed with either a different bar or with barends. I’d suggest 2 racks (front and rear) and 4 panniers with the front 2 being loaded with about 60% of the weight and carried on a low rider rack. That improves handling although it seems counterintuitive. Your tent and sleeping bag go on the rear rack.
Packing with panniers is relatively straight forward with small dense stuff going in small front bags. Food and camp kitchen are usually the heaviest items you carry but they are also small. Light bulky stuff goes in the rear bags (clothes with ride clothes on one side and other clothes on the other).
Bikepacking’s specialized gear works very well for rough riding as it is attached to the bike a bit better and doesn’t tend to bounce around. They are good bags if you want to ride in rough conditions but less so for smooth road riding. The load is carried higher which makes the bike less stable. The bags are limited in size, shape, and utility. You end up with bizarre packing arrangements where your stove may be in one bag and your fuel may be at the bottom of another one. Items kind of get put where they fit without regard to any kind of organization. I often end up unpacking and repacking bags just to make dinner or breakfast.
The bags are also difficult to deal with if you have to transport the bike or carry it up something. The bags are more difficult to remove (because they are more securely attached) and they are odd shapes which makes carrying them difficult. I like using them for jeep roads, dirt roads, and single track. They work well there. But I only use them for shorter trips as well. I don’t know if I could stand the pounding of an off-road trip for weeks at a time. I can go for weeks with a traditional touring bike with traditional touring gear.
Finally, as to “when”, I would say “now”. Don’t wait until some date in the future or some huge trip or until you’ve lost weight to some level. Even after saying what I said above about gear, don’t wait until you have the perfect setup. The longer you wait, the less likely you’ll ever do it. The most difficult part of any bicycle tour is getting out the front door. Saying “I can’t because...” is the easiest path to take and it only leads to regrets.
Go! Now!
On the plus side, your Verve seems to be tailor made for touring. It is long...it has 18.5” chainstays...and appears to have a very stable geometry. That’s ideal for using traditional panniers. The flat handlebars are not ideal...too few hand positions...but that can be fixed with either a different bar or with barends. I’d suggest 2 racks (front and rear) and 4 panniers with the front 2 being loaded with about 60% of the weight and carried on a low rider rack. That improves handling although it seems counterintuitive. Your tent and sleeping bag go on the rear rack.
Packing with panniers is relatively straight forward with small dense stuff going in small front bags. Food and camp kitchen are usually the heaviest items you carry but they are also small. Light bulky stuff goes in the rear bags (clothes with ride clothes on one side and other clothes on the other).
Bikepacking’s specialized gear works very well for rough riding as it is attached to the bike a bit better and doesn’t tend to bounce around. They are good bags if you want to ride in rough conditions but less so for smooth road riding. The load is carried higher which makes the bike less stable. The bags are limited in size, shape, and utility. You end up with bizarre packing arrangements where your stove may be in one bag and your fuel may be at the bottom of another one. Items kind of get put where they fit without regard to any kind of organization. I often end up unpacking and repacking bags just to make dinner or breakfast.
The bags are also difficult to deal with if you have to transport the bike or carry it up something. The bags are more difficult to remove (because they are more securely attached) and they are odd shapes which makes carrying them difficult. I like using them for jeep roads, dirt roads, and single track. They work well there. But I only use them for shorter trips as well. I don’t know if I could stand the pounding of an off-road trip for weeks at a time. I can go for weeks with a traditional touring bike with traditional touring gear.
Finally, as to “when”, I would say “now”. Don’t wait until some date in the future or some huge trip or until you’ve lost weight to some level. Even after saying what I said above about gear, don’t wait until you have the perfect setup. The longer you wait, the less likely you’ll ever do it. The most difficult part of any bicycle tour is getting out the front door. Saying “I can’t because...” is the easiest path to take and it only leads to regrets.
Go! Now!
05-05-21, 09:33 AM
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Thank you for all that info. I would love to go but I would need to do a shorter one first and see how well I do. I live in Michigan and was thinking of maybe doing a bike ride to Ohio as I have friends there I can visit. I only put it off because I haven’t rode bikes for that long and I genuinely don’t think I can physically do more then 40 miles a day and even then I would be miserable. I feel like when I can do 40 miles and feel good is when I should go because then I could physically do more and maybe enjoy the adventure more because I wouldn’t be huffing and puffing in pain the whole time. But I really appreciate everyone for the info. I will train for this and gradually increase my miles.
I understand that the most frightening part of starting a tour is that first pedal push. I suffer from that problem myself. The first 4 to 7 days of a tour are the days I have doubts. I think about turning around and going home all the time for the first few days. It’s a struggle to keep pushing on. Home is a particularly strong siren song. I spent a particularly cold night (22°F) on the shores of Lake Erie in a 40°F sleeping bag. I was only 40 miles from my truck and it would have be simple to just turn around and drive back home. Thankfully, a bird swooped down and grabbed my keys from off a picnic table and carried them off into the trees. The only way to go was forward at least another 1000 miles to where my wife was going to meet me for a weekend.
And, to be honest, I did eventually abandon the tour. I planned on going completely around Lake Erie (Pokin’ Around the Poconos). At Pittsburgh, I let my doubts get the better of me and I abandoned the trip with about 500 miles to go. I still regret that descision. I had lots of fun on the ride...it was equally as painful...but the tour still feels like a failure.
By all means, train. But don’t let the need for training prevent you from applying that training. A tour is just a bike ride with a little more logistics. I worked in research and development for decades. One of the best bits of advice I ever got was “you can always talk yourself out of an experiment”. I know tons of researchers who have done just that. “It’s too complex”; “It won’t work”; “It’s too simple”; etc. I also know tons of people who would “like to tour” but... As the great Pee Wee Herman said, “Everyone I know has a big but. C'mon, Simone, let's talk about *your* big but.” Most people can’t get past that “big but”. My general answer when I hear that “big but” (implied or stated) is “I’m old and fat, what’s your excuse?”
I haven’t done a century in more than 25 years but I used to use a strategy to get through them. You can ride 10 miles pretty comfortably, right? Break your rides into 10 mile chunks. A 100 mile ride is just ten 10 mile rides. A 40 mile ride is just four 10 mile rides.
Here’s another strategy. Pick a location near you. Something where you know the area. Ride out 40 miles, camp and then get up and ride another 40 miles the next day. Now turn around and ride back home. Same route, two days out, two days back. You’ve just trained for a tour. Do that for a week and you’ve toured 280 miles. Do it for a month and you’ve toured for 1000 miles. Same idea as the century ride, just more days.
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Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
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05-06-21, 11:18 AM
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05-24-21, 11:50 AM
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I'm doing exactly what you're suggesting over the next month. This weekend my wife and I are doing our 1st ever tour. 44 miles out. Stay in a B&B. Shower, rehydrate, eat dinner, sleep. Then back on the trail next morning for 44 miles back.
It's a test run for our big trip (GAP/C&O from Pittsburgh to Wash DC) in mid-June. Again we're going to be credit card touring (staying in B&B, cabins, etc) so no need for us to carry camping/cooking gear. Just 335 miles of 2 wheeled fun. But do yourself a favor...Don't wait 5 years like I did. Get started right away.
We both are riding stock Trek FX-2 hybrids. I'm the real Clyde so I'll be carrying the new Ortleib back roller classics (thanks to REI member sale) while she just rocks a handlebar bag. Even though it's just overnight we're packing change of everything plus rain gear, etc that we'll be taking with us in June. That way I'll get an accurate idea of what I'll be hauling while we can still make adjustments. Good luck and get going!
It's a test run for our big trip (GAP/C&O from Pittsburgh to Wash DC) in mid-June. Again we're going to be credit card touring (staying in B&B, cabins, etc) so no need for us to carry camping/cooking gear. Just 335 miles of 2 wheeled fun. But do yourself a favor...Don't wait 5 years like I did. Get started right away.
We both are riding stock Trek FX-2 hybrids. I'm the real Clyde so I'll be carrying the new Ortleib back roller classics (thanks to REI member sale) while she just rocks a handlebar bag. Even though it's just overnight we're packing change of everything plus rain gear, etc that we'll be taking with us in June. That way I'll get an accurate idea of what I'll be hauling while we can still make adjustments. Good luck and get going!
05-24-21, 12:35 PM
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...Here’s another strategy. Pick a location near you. Something where you know the area. Ride out 40 miles, camp and then get up and ride another 40 miles the next day. Now turn around and ride back home. Same route, two days out, two days back. You’ve just trained for a tour. Do that for a week and you’ve toured 280 miles. Do it for a month and you’ve toured for 1000 miles. Same idea as the century ride, just more days.
I don't make long rides but I ride though a state park often and find bicycle touring campers along the way. Most are on training runs for one or two nights checking out their gear. I have been very interested, and they willing, to show me the changes they have made in thier bike style, setups, sleeping and tentage, or a new set of bars they just switched to. They all have the same mind set. Getting ready for a big one.
It's all fun. Lets not forget to take our time and enjoy this bicycle stuff as we go along...
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05-27-21, 06:59 AM
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So I did I to 21 mile ride the other day collapsed twice from exhaustion because I didn’t fuel up properly. I hadn’t eaten for like 20+ hours that day and for some reason I decided to go biking. So that’s a good lesson for me lol. Other then feeling like I was gonna die and being dizzy for the last couple miles the bike ride was great. It’s so weird it just came out of nowhere. Sure I was hungry but I didn’t think anything was wrong then boom I felt extremely nauseous and dizzy. Luckily I was really close to my home
