Going Heavy
#1
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Going Heavy
Less is not more. Sometimes more is more and less will turn you into a parched mummy. Where are all the expedition touring pics?
#3
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20 litres of water in the bawb..........
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I have probably posted this photo at least a dozen times before here, most of you likely have seen it already. You crest a hill and suddenly you think that you can see forever.
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#5
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Some trips necessitate carrying lots of food and water, especially water. I find it interesting to see the gear folks use for either, but long ago decided to forgo any routes that required me carrying more than a few days of food or water and in practice typically limit it to 24 hours of water. There are some off road routes that tempt me to push my limit a bit, but I tend to resist or look for ways to cache, otherwise ressuply, or just not do that route. I do the same for backpacking where I limit it to 4 days of food give or take a bit and try real hard to manage frequent water resupply one way or another. I used to be willing to carry more, but as I age I am less and less willing to be a pack mule.
Still it is fun to look at how others are doing some of these impressive trips that require a lot of weight be carried.
Still it is fun to look at how others are doing some of these impressive trips that require a lot of weight be carried.
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I took this photo two days before the photo in post 4 above.
These photos from weeks later.
These photos from weeks later.
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Wearing my colors In North Dakota on July 4, 1999. Not an expedition in the sense of far away places, but it was nearly four months on the road going heavy. Seattle to Bar Harbor to Philly to Ocean City, NJ. Inside those bags are a Nkon 6006 with one lens and a Mamiya 645 with metered view finder, Power Grip (powered by five AA batteries) and three lenses. Don't forget the film. I would have rolls mailed to me and mail home the exposed rolls. The tent was over 5 lbs., and I carried one of the heavy metal pots that was my share of the group cooking gear. Never had to walk a hill though.
Better view later in the trip during a 90 mile + day in 90 degree + heat and humidity. We stopped at a school to bum water and ended up giving a talk to some students.
Better view later in the trip during a 90 mile + day in 90 degree + heat and humidity. We stopped at a school to bum water and ended up giving a talk to some students.
Last edited by indyfabz; 08-07-22 at 04:44 AM.
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How are we defining expedition touring?
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If there is a formal definition, I am unaware of it.
I would consider all of the following factors to be important:
I thought this was going to be the first grocery store I saw in more than a week, when still at home planning I had put this on my GPS so that I could find it. It was a km or two off of my route. But, I would not call the trip with the photo below to be part of an expedition, as I had spent three or four days at this point going through a national park with good roads and I think you do not have good roads where you are doing an expedition. Any two wheel drive car could have gotten to this grocery store.
In the case of the store above, I had found a grocery store the day before that was not on the maps I had reviewed at home, thus I had stocked up at that surprise store before I got to this one.
The trip that produced the photo below is not from an expedition, as we had a 4X4 truck hauling our food, water, and other stuff. And it was only four days. You have to look close at the photo below to see the switch backs in the road below.
On the photo above, even if you had gone ahead and cached water and food, you still would complete your trip in less than a week, short duration does not count as an expedition.
The term expedition or expedition bike is almost never used on this forum. But I have occasionally referred to my yellow bike in the photos in this thread as being my expedition bike, as I would trust that bike to go just about anywhere. I have however seen some photos on the internet of trips that I would consider expeditions on bikes that I would never consider using for such trips, including some bikes that look like campus commuters.
I am sure that everyone has a different definition of an expedition, my thoughts above are just my thoughts, nothing more.
I think Mev on this forum would have the most experience on this topic. Some of the trips he has mentioned on this forum sound like genuine expeditions.
I would consider all of the following factors to be important:
- Long duration, minimum of several weeks.
- Infrequent support or re-supply. If you can buy food in less than a week time, that is not really an expedition in my view. That said, I think that a separate trip to cache water would be acceptable.
- Remote area where support is minimal if there is an equipment failure or injury.
- A lack of good quality roads. I can think of some unpaved roads where a two wheel drive car could travel that would border on being expedition worthy, but overall I think 4X4 rated roads would usually be part of the definition.
- Some might consider minimal water resources to be part of such a definition, but I would not. I could easily see a trip that I would consider expedition worthy being in an area with good water access.
- And I think self contained has to be part of the definition. Vehicle support to carry supplies is not really an expedition.
- If you met the above criteria for remoteness and lack of support, I would consider such a group with a paid guide to be acceptable and still within the definition.
I thought this was going to be the first grocery store I saw in more than a week, when still at home planning I had put this on my GPS so that I could find it. It was a km or two off of my route. But, I would not call the trip with the photo below to be part of an expedition, as I had spent three or four days at this point going through a national park with good roads and I think you do not have good roads where you are doing an expedition. Any two wheel drive car could have gotten to this grocery store.
In the case of the store above, I had found a grocery store the day before that was not on the maps I had reviewed at home, thus I had stocked up at that surprise store before I got to this one.
The trip that produced the photo below is not from an expedition, as we had a 4X4 truck hauling our food, water, and other stuff. And it was only four days. You have to look close at the photo below to see the switch backs in the road below.
On the photo above, even if you had gone ahead and cached water and food, you still would complete your trip in less than a week, short duration does not count as an expedition.
The term expedition or expedition bike is almost never used on this forum. But I have occasionally referred to my yellow bike in the photos in this thread as being my expedition bike, as I would trust that bike to go just about anywhere. I have however seen some photos on the internet of trips that I would consider expeditions on bikes that I would never consider using for such trips, including some bikes that look like campus commuters.
I am sure that everyone has a different definition of an expedition, my thoughts above are just my thoughts, nothing more.
I think Mev on this forum would have the most experience on this topic. Some of the trips he has mentioned on this forum sound like genuine expeditions.
#13
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#14
Flying and Riding
The other factor to consider during 'expedition' rides, or even fairly remote rides in the US is to include a certain percentage of food/water (and gear) as the Oh S--t buffer in case you have a significant problem in a remote area. Crossing the Mohave Desert in July I carried roughly 4-5 gallons of water (depending on the day's route) which beside the weight took up a lot of space. Although I only drank/used 3-4 gallons per day, the extra could have made the difference between life/death in some areas.
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#16
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The other factor to consider during 'expedition' rides, or even fairly remote rides in the US is to include a certain percentage of food/water (and gear) as the Oh S--t buffer in case you have a significant problem in a remote area. Crossing the Mohave Desert in July I carried roughly 4-5 gallons of water (depending on the day's route) which beside the weight took up a lot of space. Although I only drank/used 3-4 gallons per day, the extra could have made the difference between life/death in some areas.
The photos of my yellow bike in the posts above, that frame is rated to carry 60 kg of stuff not counting weight of rider or bike itself. I have not had that much stuff on it, but I can say that it carried a lot of weight and felt very confident in doing so. The rims are Andra 30 CSS (the CSS braking surface is no longer made), the Rohloff hub provides the confidence that you won't bend a hanger or break a derailleur. It uses M6 rack bolts instead of M5 for extra strength. I would trust that bike to go anywhere that a bike with tires at 2.25 width can go. It is a heavy bike, but for difficult terrain where support is minimal, that is what you need. And that bike has the longest chainstays of any of my bikes at 466mm.
I know a guy that has the same model of bike that camps in the desert, he pulls a trailer just for the weight of water he has to carry. I however do not like hot weather for touring, I would rather not have to worry about lack of water, so I take trips where I do not have to worry about that. I have carried five liters of water at times, but I usually try to keep it to only the three liters in the bottles on the frame.
Like I said in a previous post above, some have done genuine expeditions on bikes that I would consider to be campus commuters, but why risk it?
At the time of the photo, I was using a bigger chainring as a bashguard, I have since bought a proper chainguard/bash guard for it.
The next tour I am contemplating will be on a bike that is much lighter, as it will be on pavement in USA where food and water should be readily available.
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