Introduction Thread

[martinsillo]

Hey people!

Martin, a Venezuelan reporting from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico....I ride a Pugsley year-round and today I got in the list for some custom porcelain rocket bags!!

Hoping to bring some nice reports from my first trips and experiences in this little place of the world 

great info in this place!

[fotooutdoors]

I've been lurking long enough that I figure I should introduce myself.  My name is Andrew.  I am fotooutdoors on forums.  I've spent a good portion of time wilderness canoeing, some backpacking, some bike touring, a bit of mountain biking and a ton of day hiking.

I love going somewhere by my own power, and not just in a loop (though those are fun as well), which is why bikepacking intrests me.  Plus, I just love being outside.

Currently, I live in Madison WI, which isn't amazing for getting out into wild areas.  I'm drawn west (worked at a camp on the Pikes Peak Massif for a summer and loved it), but both my wife's and my family are out east...time will tell where we end up.  Right now I'm mainly dreaming about bikepacking, but I hope to spend some time in the north of the state this year in addition to road-based bike trips and day mountain biking.

[Konaunit]

Just go on trips with what ya got because from what it sounds like with your situation you are stuck where you are at im sure you have great bikepacking terrain dude im from Western PA i havent even got barely any singletrack except for some races 

[rhythmtech]

Jared - St Louis, Missouri.  Just bought some OMM racks and Axiom bags and did a trial run loaded down on the Council Bluff loop and am currently planning to go much farther on the Ozark trail.  All of the posts and trail reports are definitely exciting. Thanks everyone for providing such a great resource to get started in bike packing.

[CDA 455]

Clemente from Idaho. Discovered this website via a link from MTBR.com

I rediscover cycling last year and I'm getting caught up on all the tech, etc. Being a backpacker to begin with, bikepacking should be a fun adventure to undertake!

[faastmoto]

Hello, I am Martin and new to this forum. I want to share my opinions on this forum site. Thanks!!

[BazB]

Hey everyone, big hello from me.. Baz. Cool spot to talk and think bike travel.
I live here in Canada. Love singletrack and getting back into riding that stuff again after a long absense .started with bikes on my ralleigh tomahawk at 4 and loved it ever since. liked the XC and got into that in the nineties when i lived in scotland, toured a few times over the years. i was in newzealand a bunch of years ago riding my bike and decided i wanted to go lightweight on a bike just like hiking. I dream of the bigger trips all the time. I'd love to run into folks as odd as me who like this kinda thing and maybe even make new friends. I'd love to do some longer singletrack tours or connect some routes up here in Canada or possibly in Scotland. The big missions here in Canada i think are ones that we can imagine possible. i did see a trip in the Chilcotins in BC the other day. awesome stuff!
anyhow nice to be here...enjoy the ride today wherever it takes you 
cheers
baz

[SlowDave]

Hi to everyone and thanks to Scott for helping me with my registration problem.  I have been riding mt bikes since they were called clunkers back in Marin.  I have done some touring in Ireland back in the early 90s.  I also did a lot of single handed sailing and greatly enjoyed several days alone at a time. 

I have a MS like condition and the only thing that keeps it at bay is daily exercise.  I work with a trainer and I either ride, run or hike everyday.  I am always searching out an adventure and recently I got the idea of riding up the course of stage four of the Tour of California, camping out before the roads close, and watching one of the final climbs of the race.  In planning that outing I came across this site.  You guys got it bad, I know from experience because I have it too.

My mt bike is a turn of the century Litespeed hardtail.  I use a rear rack on it and small panniers.  At times I use an Osprey Talon pack too.  I just picked up a 2lb 1oz sleeping bag from REI this morning that cost a whole $39 after applying my dividend.  We have tons of outdoor gear from the decades so I have a Black Diamond pyramid tent and a Serria Design clip flash tent, msr, butane and other stoves, water purifiers, gps and on and on.  Personally I like going light without a ton of stuff I might use.  Some water, a paper back to read, something to sleep in and maybe some TP and I'm set.

I love camping anywhere that isn't urban.  The desert is my favorite.  I love the dome of stars above that is only visible in the desert or at sea.  I have a little get away place, my fortified compound, east of Pie Town near Magdalena NM.  From there we have explored the Gila, Silver City area and down to the border in the Boot Heel.

One more thing, I hate snakes.  They are everwhere the last few days.  I ran over a rattler on my bike last Friday morning.  I didn't see it until my front wheel was going over it.  Later on Friday I saw three more rattlers and then yesterday my son and I were out riding and came across another rattler, a big cocky one.

Enough rambling.

Dave

[smokecigrate]

hi guys!!! im new to this site, i just got my diamond today after owning the instinct for a while

[mymilkexpired]

Whats up, I joined the forum to hopefully gather some knowledge and inspiration to make an attempt at the 2012 TD. I've been a long time road cyclist with an occasional fling for the dirt. Its been slowly turning into a much more serious passion over the last year which has sent me down the path to building a new mtn bike. MikeC is actually setting me up with some wheels!

If there are an Houston locals, I'd love to hookup for some excursions.

[SHOGUN]

hello everyone from bonnie scotland i have joined to find out more info about bikepacking i am into
backpacking,wild camping,hill walking and mountain biking..so i am looking to combine the two
i need to get some frame bags great site you have here atb Allan

[unsponsored]

Another rider from UK.  Bit of kit monster so bikepacking is a nice marriage of mountain biking and lightweight camping.

[murf]

Hello all , my name is Mike and I live in Florida i'm a father , husband, and an employee.... the left over time is for riding (which seems to get less and less) until recently the ideal ride for me was about 25 miles of roots , rocks and ledges but  I find myself wanting more . Now i dream of long winding roads in the middle of nowhere that seem to last for days. Anyway glad i found the site , looks like lots of good information.

[CrazyAboutUltras]

Hello, my name is Jeremy.
I am completely new to bikepacking. Have always been into backpacking since serving the military, and while living in CO.
I then moved back to TX and took up running. As with most things I do I have to go big. I got into running Ultra marathons, and multi-day runs. After a few years of this I became real tired of running. Since my last race I immediately hopped on a bike. I ride regularly on trail and road as much as possible.
I have recently become very into expedition type travel, overlanding if you will. This progressed into adventure motor bikes, and now I've discovered bikepacking. I am working on a simple rig. Will eventually sell the dirtbike to pay for the addiction  . I prefer to move under my own power anyways.
You may see me here and there as Jelwell1982 and CrazyAboutUltras

[RyanWriter]

What a great site! I'm Ryan, totally new to the whole bikepacking idea. I've been car free for most of my life, but the past few years I've had a car and have ridden less. I'm getting in better shape now, riding more, and looking at getting a decent MTB to continue my efforts with a plan to build up to actual bikepacking trips and eventually some of the ultra events. I'd like to try the AZT and tour divide, but we'll see once I get there.

[bekologist]

Hi all,

 Beck here from the Northwest. I'm an all-road rider on skinnier tires type of guy, started out on an early mountain bike doing what passed for bikepacking in the 1980's and have morphed my riding into more all road mixed surface all conditions riding. I will be setting up a rigid off road 26" classic stumpjumper reissue mountain bike for bikepacking to compliment my 700c setup (-coz I'm moving someplace sandy!).

Here's a photo of my travelers check camping at Hawk Camp in the Marin Headlands outside of San Francisco last year, and a photo bike camping on a Trek 520 out in the Cascade mountains of Washington from a few years ago.

I've got a few outdoorsy videos up, mostly biking, at you tube.  bikeologist.

[seat_boy]

Hey all,

Eric Daume here from just outside Columbus, Ohio (I'm seat_boy here and on mtbr due to the fact that I design seats for Honda, although at 39, I'm not so boyish anymore). I've been mountain biking since 1990. I haven't done any off road bikepacking--not much around here--but I've done some road touring and I'm trying to get into the lightweight mindset. I'

Here's me on my Fargo on a three day loop around Central Ohio last summer:



And here's my Crosscheck during an S24O a few weekends back:


I just picked up a Motobecane Ti 29er frame, which I'm thinking might make a nice combo with a Fargo gen 2 fork.

Eric

[forgivenick]

Hi all you bikepacking adventurers!

Nick here from San Diego.
Started mtbing in the late eighties when my dad bought me a 24" quality mtb that matched his. Those 24" wheels and 21 speeds got me into all kinds of adventures from about age 9 to 14.  Even took it on multiple overnight trips with the boy scout troop I was a part of then.  We camped at the beach in Carlsbad or at Lilac Oaks campground in Valley Center.  Although it was road riding, it was a long distance for us boys and I was hooked. Did a bunch of Sierra Nevada 50+ mile backpacking trips with those same kids and my dad.  My love for bikes and backpacking started early.  Bought my first 26" mtb with my hard earned cash when I was 14 or 15 and didn't listen to the advice of friends and family when they said I should save for a car or at least gas money.  I wanted a great bike to ride. That one was the Mongoose Hilltopper, I still have the frame hanging in my garage, it was my first converted to singlespeed rig.  Years passed, the Mongoose collected dust in my late teen years, then I volunteered in Hawaii and shipped it with me.  Rode it all around Volcano National Park and had an awesome long ride down to the coast where lava poured into the ocean.  Climbed back up, ran out of water and had to hitch a ride home.  Got a GT Outpost in 2000. First mtb with full suspension.  Did lots of upgrades, took it to college with me in the redwood forests of northern CA.  Realized after a couple years of thrashing it that I needed a AM/FR rig. Bought a Haro X6, like a Santa Cruz Bullit pretty much. Loved it.  It was a heavy beast of a bike.  Moved back down to San Diego, married my wife and bought a Titus Motolite.  Realized on this bike that I wanted to do endurance racing and anything involving long, long rides.  This year, I wanted something that can go the distance and yet will need minimum maintenance (read as "rigid ss 29er"). Enter El Mariachi with Fargo fork. One week on the bike and I love it already.  Can't wait to plan a bikepacking trip in the San Diego mountains somewhere this fall.  Any ideas?  Btw, Seat Boy, good to see you here.  I always enjoy your posts on mtbr.

[mmeiser]

Eric Daume here from just outside Columbus, Ohio (I'm seat_boy here and on mtbr due to the fact that I design seats for Honda, although at 39, I'm not so boyish anymore). I've been mountain biking since 1990. I haven't done any off road bikepacking--not much around here--but I've done some road touring and I'm trying to get into the lightweight mindset.

OK, that's three bikepackers I know in the Ohio area.

I'm in SE michigan, but work in Ohio. One of my favorite places to ride is the Loudonville / Mohican Wilderness area east of Columbus. There's some 25-50 miles of singletrack there. Some of the best singletrack in the midwest and home of the Mohican 100. Haven't even ridden it all. I like to ride down, do some of the trail, camp at some of the superb trailside campsites. S24O / 48 hour rides.

I dream one day of having enough midwest bikepackers to do a meetup.

[davedivided]

I must confess that i haven't bike packed since the 70's.  How's that for a layoff.  I have actively backpacked recently, I have participated in alpine climbing and ski mountaineering also recently.  I ride my Pugsley every day near my home here in Golden.  I am putting together a bike pack rig, mostly out of stuff scavenged from my climbing gear.  So I will get there, I am particularly interested in winter packing since that has been my legacy activity.

Regarding cycling in general, I lived and worked in Northern California for 25 years, from the Sierra to San Francisco there aren't many backroads that I have not ridden, raced on at least twice.  I worked at Palo Alto bike and was employed at Avocet in Menlo Park when product development began to mean more that hiring Italians to design and build your stuff for you, to sell to gullible americans who would buy anything with a strange sounding name. 

By reading posts on this forum I am learning how much we have progressed in our love of biking in the rough since running into Joe Breeze occasionally on Mt. Tam.  Pretty cool.  I have to admit that I thought that this whole mountain bike thing was never gonna stick.  I asked Tom Ritchie about it once when I passed his house on Alpine road with the Jobst ride one Sunday and he suggested that there were certainly places that we could not get to with our Clement Del Mundo's.  Seems that he was right.  Now my only bike has tires emblazoned with the strange sounding name "Larry"?