Introduction Thread

[99percentchimp]

Hi all,
Been backpacking, hiking, sea kayaking and climbing for several years (in the Rockies, Norway, Scotland and the Alps) but have been mountain biking more in recent years.
Hoping to combine the biking and love of the outdoors more in future esp. with the kids (they are just now getting into cycling).
Would love to get back to the Rockies (spent a few months in Montana and Wyoming when I was early 20's) so been really enjoying the threads here.... lots of postitive contributions/sharing - hope to make some contribution too.
Cheers chaps, Mark

[zenoiz]

Hi I'm Dirk, a Belgian transplanted into California many years ago, and a bit of a GPS/mtb geek (am half responsible for www.mtbguru.com). A few years ago I started dabbing somewhat in what could be called bikepacking, but I've been getting a bit more serious recently. I'm mainly jealous of the incredible routes in AZ and CO I read about here and I feel like CA needs some of that goodness too, so I'm currently in the process of trying to make up some.

Below a pic of a bike setup I recently tried out...

[Marshal]

Hi I'm Dirk, a Belgian transplanted into California many years ago, and a bit of a GPS/mtb geek (am half responsible for www.mtbguru.com). A few years ago I started dabbing somewhat in what could be called bikepacking, but I've been getting a bit more serious recently. I'm mainly jealous of the incredible routes in AZ and CO I read about here and I feel like CA needs some of that goodness too, so I'm currently in the process of trying to make up some.

Below a pic of a bike setup I recently tried out...

cool shadow pic, havent seen that one before

[K-man]

I'm K-man. I have a Venture Crew (Boy Scouts of America) and we're making a trip next summer to Kokopelli trail in CO. I need all the help I can get to get these kids into shape. So, glad I found this site. I started working in Grand Junction, CO on a 14 and 14 basis and this part of the country is making me not want to leave. Looking forward to communing with everyone about everything to do with Mountain Biking.

[joeydurango]

Guess I've been lurking around here anonymously for long enough.  I'm Joey, and I live in Durango, Colorado (hence the screen name).  Lived in Colorado Springs and rode with the crew out there for a few years (DJ, Csakany, Boyer, etc.), but moved out of the big city early this year.  I love long MTB rides and I love backpacking, and combining the two makes sense, but up until now I just haven't been willing to pull the trigger on even basic gear.  At this point I'm making my own as much as possible, will post pix when finished.

Been a bicycle mechanic almost as long as I can remember... everything from a shop rat to an international race team wrench.  I've enjoyed and will continue enjoying all the fine info on this site!  Thanks Scott for starting this and everyone else for posting such helpful and fun stuff.

[Idaho_Mdot]

Hey All,
I've been looking over this site for a month or so and thought I ought to introduce myself........
I live in Idaho and believe I found this site while searching for bikepacking information.  Great site and I feel I have already learned a bunch.

I've done some long distance bike touring many, many years ago.  Those frames have now been retired to single speeds.  I have also done a fair amount of back packing, mountain biking and lots of motorcycle adventure touring throughout the Northwest and parts of Canada.

My main sport of late has been triathlon and I have completed several Ironman full distance events.  So, lots of swim - bike - run - repeat!!  Living in Idaho and moto riding so much of the country around here I am super intrigued with long distance/endurance bike packing/training/off-road riding.

The Tour Divide Race has got my attention at the moment.  I love to train and really appreciate endurance events and the outdoors, plus I like gadgets and gear and the process/journey of epic adventures.  We shall see......

Again, great site and glad to have found it.  

[Solrider]

Hi everyone!  My name is Heidi and I've been lurking here for about a month.  I think I'm finally ready to take bikepacking seriously  so I figured I should log in and say hello.  After a 6 year hiatus from mountain biking I jumped in full steam ahead beginning of October to do TOWM and I'm back to loving it (even though I didn't finish). 

I like to make things difficult for myself so my triumphant return has been on my first 29er SS.  Its been a challenge to say the least but I'm feeling better after every ride.  My initial plan was to set up 1x9 but I've been enjoying the SS so I'm going to see how long I can hang with it.

I live in Phoenix, on the ghetto side of SOMO, you might see me out there doing intervals up Pima or trying to make it through the washes on DC.  I'm also a massage therapist certified in sports/stretching/kinesio taping/etc so discounts to any of my cycling friends.

I pretty much enjoy doing anything outdoors, I've been an avid hiker/camper/backpacker/overlander for years.  I guess thats what brought me to this site.  I enjoy some of the MTB races just to change things up a bit, but I'm never in-it-to-win-it, I'm always just out there having fun getting yelled at by the guys in spandex who ruined road racing for me except now they are on mountain bikes!    Rather than let them drive me away from the sport again, I toyed with doing some bike touring, but again on the road...meh seems boring.  Then I discovered this bikepacking thing, and well, here I am. 

That was kind of a long winded intro, but I just wanted to say hello and thanks for all the great info on this site.  If Santa brings me some updated backpacking gear this winter I hope to get out for a small adventure in January.

[LaurensDXC]

Hello everyone
I'm Laurens, one who's been passionate about mtb'ing for years now.I Live in Belgium, near Bruges. Started out an xc mtb'r but with my roadcycling past the big trips kinda appealed to me aswell. Did some big trips last year of a few hundred miles, and a few 1-day trips (+250kms), all these were self supported. Fell in love with bikepacking ;-) I also like hiking trips by foot, and did many. Mainly... doing things outside is gives me the energy.

Next year I'm planning some mtb challenges
1 from east to west of Belgium, 85% offroad selfsupported. 520km in 3 days.
2 http://www.grenzsteintrophy.de, 1250km, 40-50% offroad, in 9 days. Germany

Looking forward to meeting you guys

Laurens

[Chucky]

Hi all.  My name is Chuck Gulker (Dublin, Ohio....NW Columbus).  54 years young.  30 years as a systems designer for a large insurance company.  Background in endurance offroad running races, enjoy building telescopes, camping, and of course cycling.

Recently stumbled across this site.....wow.  It's given me tons of additional ideas.

I have 5 bikes (yes this puts me in the strange category with my family and co-workers).

2010 was a bike offroad adventure year for me:
www.flickr.com/photos/cgulker/collections.

My goals for next year is to increase my knowledge of GPS, purchase some more camping stuff, and ride even more adventures.

Now back to reading all these posts!

Chuck in Dublin, Ohio

[Area45]

Hi,

I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Errin (Alhambra,Ca). I'm new to bikepacking and MTBs in general. I've been riding brevets, but the idea of covering large amounts of distances off road has me drawn to this type of cycling. After seeing Ride The Divide I've become more and more focused on riding mixed terrain or all off road routes. I've got a Salsa Fargo and some gear that is constantly being refined.

I just recently did my first bikepacking trip to Catalina Island and I share my adventures, both on and off road at my blog www.FrontageRoads.com

[Thumby]

Hi folks!  JP Evans here, from McKinney, TX.  Riding 20 adult years now, I can't seem to knock the cyclo bug.  I'm always an offroader at heart, but most of my riding is on pavement these days, if only to train for tasty MTB adventures.  I'll be doing the Tour Divide this year and I have found this site immensely helpful as I put my kit together. 
Cheers!

[DenisVTT]

Hi:

My name is Denis. I'm originally from Champagne, France but I've been living in the US for about a quarter of a century now. I've been mountain biking seriously since about 2004. I love long, epic rides. I've done several 100-mile races (best finish was 3rd in the Shenandoah Mountain 100 in the Masters category), as well as the following multi-day rides, all self-supported:

- a 500-mile, 10-day crossing of the Massif Central in France
- the New Mexico portion of the Great Divide, from Antelope Wells to Cuba, NM
- a 17-day, 800-mile crossing of the Jura and Alps mountains in France
- a 500-mile, 10-day crossing of the Alps

Pics of various rides: http://picasaweb.google.com/dchazelle

[goyo]

My name is Greg Armstrong, aka Goyo, what they called me in Mexico (Goyo is the spanish version of Greg). I've been riding since I was a kid in LA, then my family moved to Tucson in '72 and the desert was a better place for adventure. Did a lot of motocross but switched to bikes after HS. I used to ride an old Schwinn 5 speed around Starr Pass in the early 80's, then got my first real MTB in '85, a green Diamond Back, with rollercam brakes. Many bikes later I'm down to just 2, a Motobecane road bike and my new joy, a Siren Song 29er. I bought the frame used from this forum and built it up from various sources. It's the first MTB that fits me well, and rides like a dream.

I moved to San Diego 2 years ago to join my fiance, but the biking there is great, so no worries, plus it's cooler in the summer, all last June it was 75 degrees every day!

I'm also an avid rock climber since 1976, having done routes all over the western US and Canada. Yosemite is a favorite, but Tucson, especially the Cochise Stronghold, is a close second.

I started flying sailplanes in 2004 out of El Tiro Gliderport and that has been incredible. My current best flight is Marana to Mt Lemmon to the Rincons to Mt Wrightson, leaving cloudbase at 16,000 ft for a beeline back to Marana, all without benefit of an engine. If you've never tried soaring, look up the Tucson Soaring Club, it's a great group of people, the club is an unbelievable bargain, and it's cooler at 12,000 ft in June. I tell all my friends, it's like riding a mountain bike up in the sky! I have a couple videos on Youtube under goyo4122.

I've been a professional musician since 1980, see my (outdated!) webpage at www.gregarmstrong.com. I have a Master's degree from UofA. Now I'm looking for a new career; not sure what I want to do yet. I considered Pharmacy, and did well in the science prereqs, but think I need something more engaging. In the meantime, adventure on!

[Konaunit]

Im new to bike packing i have posted a couple times on here tho, I have only bike packed once with my brother it was the first time to bikepack for both of us that trip was last august if anyone is interested there is video of it on Youtube title an august campout and its posted by pickngrinn anyway on to the reason im posting The trip went great until we went in for bed we packed a 2 person tent and only brought 1 tarp which didnt cover the entire tent on top of that it downpoured the entire night (i should have brought my adventure med kit bivy) other than that it was a good trip except we decided to be cheap and bought 25 dollar canvas topload bags instead of investing in some real gear we ended up having bruised shoulders by the end of the trip


                                Im planning another trip this spring hopefully i can plan a 100 mile trip the only one i did so far was 36 that i just mentioned Im glad my bad experience didnt ruin my enjoyment and interest of bikepacking lookin forward to the spring 2011

[ridebikeme]

Hi, I'm Jackie G and have been riding a bike for as long as I can remember. Oh! and by the way I'm 53, for those of you that it matters. I have worked in the bike industry for the past 19 years, and  own a small shop in remote Maine. AS you can imagine, Maine is an outdoor paradise, so after doing lots of backpacking, alpine skiing and snowboarding, snowshoeing... it was time to start riding my mtn bike in the winter as well. Started doing that in the early 90's, with chains and made studded tires for myself and customers before they were available.

I have worked on bike tours(road) as a mechanic for many years, which was also a great way to ride, see some different parts of the country and help me support myself as a small shop owner.  I've raced on the road, and now have other goals in mind.With that said, I'm looking to start doing more bikepacking trips and perhaps race those elusive ultradistance mtrn bike races.... So if anyone from New England is interested in traveling to some, please let me know!

Thanks for all of the great imput and allowing me to be a part fo this great group!




Jackie  aka Ridebikeme

[s8tannorm]

I've been lurking for longer than seems right, so I thought it was about time I said hello. I live in the middle of nowhere in Wales UK. I'm a mountain bike coach/guide and when I'm not teaching people how to jump off things, get round things and get over things, I pack a bike and head off into the mountains.

I wanted to introduce myself so I could mention the Welsh Ride Thing. It's a 3 day bikepacking event (the only one in the UK) held every May. I don't imagine many of you will be making the trip over any time soon but I thought some of you might find the blog interesting. You can find it at http://welshridething.blogspot.com/

Thanks and I'll join in now I've said hello.

[andyha]

Just wanted to drop in and say hello.

I have set up a facebook page "Bikepacking UK" dedicated to all aspect of this genre of cycling, if anyone wants to add to the page feel free.

Andy

[ClimberBoy]

Hey all...

New guy to the forum and bikepacking, thanks for everything here! Looking forward to the future...

Kevin Dirk

[ginegine]

Hello to all!

I'm Regine 21 years old and I live in Cebu...

[tartosuc]

HI all,
My name is Bernard, I live in Montreal , Quebec, canada.

i've been a mountain biker since '83, i ride everything from downhill to road and own bikes for all disciplines.

i've recently been interrested in bikepacking and found that site very helfull to give me ideas on how to get setup. In the past i did some road bike trip and enjoyed it but i'm a mountain biker at heart so i want to try it out in the wild.

I will start with a few bikepacking weekends this summer with my wife and my traildog named Balfa to test equipement and see how we like it(i'm sure i will, not sure for the wife..the dog just loves it anyways) and will plan longer trip in the future.

thanks