Trueblood

I am continuing my bike touring gear research and am wondering if folks carry extra paracord when they tour for...tarps, hanging food, etc. If so, how much do you bring on the road?

I went down a paracord rabbit hole on youtube.This guy from the UK is not a bike touring person, but more of a bushcraft advocate. He talks about Atwood ropes in this 4 minute video - Atwood rope is made in the USA, but also available in the UK. He goes beyond paracord to talk about nano cord, also made by Atwood.

On the Outdoor Gear Review channel on youtube, there is this about micro cord - He says he uses it for tarps, among other things. I have watched other reviews on his channel, mainly about tents.

Has anyone tried micro or nano cord? The micro cord has a tensile strength of 100 lbs, the nano, 35 lbs. It sounds like the micro would definitely work, but...would the nano be good for extra tent guylines? Is 35 pound strength enough. The price is certainly right, a spool of 125 ft of the micro is $5.99, as is a nano spool of 300 ft. They take up a lot less room than 550 paracord and are certainly lighter. Looks like Atwood has competitive prices on 550 as well. Here is the link for micro - https://atwoodrope.com/collections/micro-cord

No, i don't work for Atwood, but am considering.....a couple of spools of micro and nano, unless there is a reason to carry the much heavier 550. Does one need 550 lb strength for touring?

gauvins

I carry 2mm paracord. 20M. Just in case. Prosaic uses such as clothesline.

nun

Yep me too. I carry the cord in a small nylon bag with a carabiner so that I can easily hang my food bag if necessary.

Doug64

I carry about 50' of 4 mm nylon cord. It's primary use is for a clothes line, and hanging our food pannier in trees. However, para-cord could also be used.

zandoval 

Tourist in MSN

I have no idea what micro or nano is.

I just checked the label of what I had, I bought a spool of Atwood Rope 1/16 inch years ago. Have used up most of it for a variety of things. I think my clothesline is 25 feet long, have a dozen wire clothespins threaded onto it. In the photo, not using all 25 feet, but sometimes you want that much.



That 1/16 inch cord also works well on a small tarp, but a tarp that is 10 X 10 or bigger, I would want something stronger.

For hanging food I use something stronger. Paracord for a solo trip where I might have up to 12 pounds of food. I have two lines and one pulley, below.



Photo below is the same as above but camera not zoomed in.



But for a trip with multiple people that has to hold up over a week worth of food, I use a couple pulleys and good rope, like the photo below. Not sure what that is, I think it is thinner than quarter inch, but not by much.



I am not sure how many different clotheslines are in the photo below, only one of them is mine. This was on an ACA trip, a dozen people in the group. Lesson learned, do not put up your clothesline before you do your laundry, when you come back to hang your clothes on it, it will already be full of other peoples stuff.

robobike316 

I keep both the nano and micro cord around for various things.I don't use them for tarps and tents because the thin diameter is harder to work with.I have a hard time tying and untying knots in the then stuff. If you are a bike touring weight weenie, then sure, I would use those, very good quality rope. It will save some space and weight in the panniers.They are certainly worth experimenting with for certain tasks, I'm sure you will find a use. I believe they also make something called utility cord which is thicker than the micro or nano and ridiculously strong.

Trueblood

ok, great, all good stuff. To robo's point, working with thinner cord could be a challenge, especially if not using a workable knot. Learning additional knots is on my list. Looks like the Atwood 1/16 utility rope is 110 lb strength, 300ft for $5.99 - https://atwoodrope.com/collections/1...-x-300ft-black . I am leaning towards the micro with 100 lb test or the utility rope, don't really want to carry 60 ft of 550.

And yes, a couple of carabiners for hanging food, per Tourist's suggestion are a good idea.

Thanks all!

Tourist in MSN

That looks like what I use for a variety of light duty things, including clothesline. My first spool was blue and white, second spool is black and yellow. But that line is too thin for food hanging, it is so small that it could tear your hands up if you had much weight on it.

I was a scout leader and only one other in my district was faster at tying the six basic Boy Scout knots than I was. That said, I usually use a tautline or bowline, less often a square knot or clove hitch. Almost nothing else. The tautline I almost always tie it with a slip knot for faster removal. You do not need to know much more than that.

Tourist in MSN

My previous photo also had two rescue pulleys, they cost a lot more now than when I bought mine decades ago. If you are curious how I used them, photo below. One line over the tree branch, then the other line was how I pulled the food up, but again this was for a heavy sack of many days worth of food for more than one person. Thus, two pulleys for better mechanical advantage.



I clearly did not realize my lens was dirty for the photo below.



A lot of critters will try to get at your food.

Trueblood

So for hanging food, it is a good idea to carry some 550? I wonder if doubling thinner rope would work for hanging food. I would not be hanging 35 lbs.

Actually, in viewing the Outdoor Gear Review youtube video above he mentions using micro to hang a bear bag.

Tourist in MSN

I am not researching your different ropes so I do not know what 550 is, but I can say if a rope is too thin, it is very hard to grasp it to pull on a food line to hoist it up in the air. I have used paracord for something that is no heavier than about 10 to 12 pounds. I get a better grip on a thicker line. Using multiple lines might tangle or otherwise complicate things.

I previously posted this photo:



In that photo I am using two paracord lines, one carabiner, and one pulley wheel on that carabiner. And if you are keeping track of your knots, a couple bowlines.

I do not know where you are going, but it is common in most USA campgrounds to not have a good tree to hang foods from. So, don't assume that you can always find a good place to hang your food.

I usually can find a good spot when canoeing or backpacking in Minnesota, but that is not bike touring. And where I canoe or backpack, bears are common, thus food storage that keeps your food away from bears is important, but that is usually less important in bike touring. Many of the campgrounds that I have been in on bike tours where bears were common had storage boxes for food. I have never used lines to hoist my food up high on a bike tour, but I only camp in designated campgrounds.

I got an Ursack a couple years ago, that is a kevlar sack that a bear or other critter can't get into as long as you follow the directions for knot tying. A bear can crush anything in the bag, but they can't eat anything, so they do not get trained to look for them. I use a dry bag in it to minimize food odor. I try to hang that up high, as I do not want a bear to crush my food. But, I have tied that on a low tree where I could not find a good food hanging tree. In this photo it is only chest high.



Mine is white, but I think they only sell black ones now. Mine is the 15 liter size, so I can get almost all my food for a nine day trip into it.

I have done 15 day kayak trips, but those trips were in a place where there were no bears. I did not bother to hang my drybags of food on those trips. Did not bring any ropes and pulleys.

Trueblood

550 cord is a standard 550 pound strength paracord. I will start with what I would think to be lower impact touring, Erie Canal, C&O/GAP, and other rail trails. I think of them as lower impact as there is no major climbing. Are bears a concern on the C&O? I read different things. There are certainly more bears around in general in the burbs in the northeast than their used to be.

Raccoons are probably more of an issue.

bark_eater 

String theory is a deep rabbit hole. Best to buy a bunch of paracord and solve whatever problems come along with something that handles well and is non precious, so that if you need a bit if string you can cut some off your stash with out checking a spreadsheet. And if your learning knots and rigging, its less of a deal to problem solve with a knife.

A little field experience will show where paracord is not optimum, because of its stretch. Horizontal Bear bag and tarp ridgelines come to mind. For that kind of application Zing-it arborist line is nice. Its thick enough not to cheese wire your hands and has a friction coating so it holds knots better. I got mine from West Marine, but its on Amazon, ect, ect..

staehpj1

I have sometimes hung pretty heavy loads even with real thin spectra line. It is a pain because it cuts into the branch and also your hands. There is a trick if you do it though. You have to support the weight as it goes up with a hand as far as you can and then with whatever is handy. Hopefully you can find a stick or something to push the weight up as you pull the line with the other hand. It is easier if there are two people.

I don't think I have ever hung 35 pounds on a thin line though. On the typical bike tour I seldom have more than a couple days of food at a time. Even when backpacking I try to limit the food I carry to 4 or maybe at the very most 5 days. I try to keep it to 4 days at 2-2.5 pounds per day these days so not more than 10 pounds of food plus some toilettries and stuff.. Canoe camping I have carried much more, but I am not that worried about carrying some heavier cord in that case.

Regardless of the weight or the cord type, helping the weight along as far as you can helps keep cutting into the branch and hands to a minimum. This is true for any part of a hang that id over a branch. It helps to a lesser extent even over pulleys and biners.

djb

Paracord, micro cord, nano cord?

It would appear that this topic has caused some dischord.

All I can say is that whatever light cord I have for a clothesline in my bike camping stuff, it could be longer, but never get around to fishing around for something longer until I am at a campground and think about it again.

Tourist in MSN

Absolutely.

As far as I know I have only had a bear in my campsite twice, both times were on a canoe trip in the wilderness. (I have only seen the bear twice.)

Twice in developed campgrounds where my food was in a dry bag in my tent vestibule, the critters trying to get to my food woke me up. Fortunately, no damage to my dry bags or the food, but that is the reason that I am bringing my Ursack on my next bike tour, as it will keep out the racoons, chipmunks, ravens, etc. And hopefully the dry bag that I put inside the Ursack will minimize odor enough that I do not even think about it.

Ursack is not cheap, I do not think I would buy one just for bike touring, but since I have one for canoeing, I might as well use it on my next bike tour. I do not expect any bear on my next bike tour, but I always expect that small critters will be opportunists. I have read enough stories on this forum over the years of critters eating through dry bags, dragging panniers out of a campsite, etc.

These guys do not do much damage but just about anything else can if you are not careful.

indyfabz

I have heard of bear sittings on both the GAP and C&O.

I was once camping in bear country in NJ. With the blessing of a ranger, I put all my attractants in a nearby shower room. A raccoon still tried to run off with an empty pannier. Either it was being a jerk or it smelled traces of a very aromatic bagel from earlier.

Pratt

I use paracord. I have thinner stuff, but the handling issue out weighs the weight issue. Also, as mentioned above, it is cheap so if I have to cut it, or abandon a piece it doesn't hurt my cheap bone. Learning a few knots increases its utility. I use bow knots, bowlines, clove hitches, and taut line hitches most of all.
One use is helping to anchor the tent in windy conditions.

drlogik 

I have yet to go on my fist bike tour, although I am equipping now (new Disk Trucker), but for the last 45+ years of backpacking in remote wilderness areas I take 550 paracord. I've been buying from Atwood for a number of years and got some of their apocalypse cord when it first came out. Remarkable stuff. When back packing I take a 50 foot strand and a 25 foot strand. The 50 footer is for bear hangs and 25 footer is orange for clotheslines, guyline, strapping for my pack, etc.

ExtremeSquared

I like arborist throw line. It's made from braided spectra so its strength to weight ratio is high. Doesn't tangle as easily as others in my opinion. I have found the 2mm basically unbreakable and lot of it takes up way less space and weight than 550.

https://www.amazon.com/NOTCH-AccuLin.../dp/B078FHCFHS

LeeG

I’d be inclined to use 3 mm approx 1/8” braided polyester line. Strong, easy to tie and untie, doesn’t stretch when wet like nylon.

https://defender.com/en_us/marlow-3-...-pro-minispool

You can get thin very high strength black kevlar line but I’d keep a hank of it for emergency repairs more than general use as thin line cuts your hands. Also kevlar doesn’t tie and untie as well and you can’t melt the ends to stop fraying.
1.1 mm line 200lbs breaking strength. You could daisy chain 20’ of that stuff and it’ll take up very little space.
https://www.emmakites.com/collection...29193084600425