Fall Singletrack

Life and work has been a little crazy the past few weeks. Its nice to get back out on the trail and find your center. I was lucky enough to ride yesterday and today. I do love bikes.

Make sure you remember what's important to you ... and take time to get out even if its just for an hour or two.

Baa Baa Black Sheep!

We're making progress... here's an updated shot. I still need to get the cranks sorted out and dial the brakes in but VERY close.



So, the klunker inspired Black Sheep is finally here. Its a beautiful bike. I'm headed over to build her up at a friend's house later this afternoon. Itching to take her for a ride..

Cobbled together for a preview


Internally routed rear brake line


Jen Green head badge


James etched SIMPLIFY on the downtube... more subtle than my usual decal


Top tube & tank tube combo is just... sexy

The Shortest Bikepacking Trip on Record

I planned on doing a local bikepacking trip but the weather had other plans for me. The radar has looked something like this for the past couple of days.



I did pack everything so here's the gear:



A - Frame bag and gas tank from Epic Designs.
B - Mountain Laurel Designs Grace Duo Tarp
C - Thermarest ProLite 3 short sleeping pad
C#2 (should have been D) - Thermarest pillow
E - SealLine 10 liter dry sack. Already has Marmot Hydrogen sleeping bag & Mountain Laurel Designs Serenity net tent stuffed in it. I also had shorts and a capilene silk weight t-shirt in the dry bag.
F - Silnylon bag for dinner and breakfast.
G - Vintage Camelbak MULE bag & bladder.
H - Snowpeak 600... switch between this and BackpackingLight Trapper's Mug depending on the trip.
I - Fuel canister and Snowpeak TiMax stove
J - Snowpeak french press - luxury coffee on bike and kayak trips!
K - First Aid Kit
L - MSR towel, mirror, three small droppers with Bronners, sunblock & eye drops.
M - Old DAC tent poles re-purposed to serve as tarp poles.
N - Tent stakes (2 MSR Groundhogs, 4 MSR needle stakes, 4 Ti J-hooks)
O - Granite Gear zip up envelope that I keep all the miscellaneous small stuff in. Brunton Wind, Gerber LST knife, small aluminum whistle, Petzl e-Lite.
P - Simple tool kit: pump, chain break, ratcheting driver with a few different insert bits.
Q - MYOG Bear bag & line.
R - MYOG reflectix cozy for meals
S - Paper & pencil (pens always seem to fail)
T - Wet Ones
U - MSR HyperFlow water filter

Here's everything packed on the bike:



Its a tight fit getting everything packed using the Camelbak. You can see that I had to strap the sleeping pad and pillow to the back of the backpack which would be a real problem in the rain. There's also a little too much volume close to the seatpost with the dry bag. My leg hits the bag as I'm pedaling. This wouldn't be a problem on short trips but I can imagine it would be annoying on longer trips. I could solve all these problems by getting a seat bag from Epic Designs or by using a proper backpack like my modified GoLite Ion or MLD Burn.

Total weight for the setup ended up being around 8lbs on the bike and 7lbs in the Camelbak with 1L of water.