Introduction Thread

[eyecandyandy]

Hey, I'm a cyclist from the Seattle area.  Before I even knew bike-packing existed I knew it was what I wanted to do.  More recently I've stitched up a custom frame pack and ordered up two bags from Epic Designs.  Now I roll around in the Northwest mountains on multi-day trips on my Stumpjumper FSR and still get to enjoy the singletrack!

Looking forward to putting a tour map up for Washington and maybe even BC!  I'm stoked to catch up on all the posts here and pitch in what I can!

[montejw360]

Hey, I'm a cyclist from the Seattle area.

Hey Andy,
I'm from Bellingham.  I'm interested in some of your routes, if they're not secrets.  I'm trying to put together some trips for this summer/fall in the WA Cascades.  I guess BC would be cool too.

Monte

[eyecandyandy]

I'm from Bellingham.  I'm interested in some of your routes, if they're not secrets.  I'm trying to put together some trips for this summer/fall in the WA Cascades.  I guess BC would be cool too.

Hey, Monte.  I think I got a note or two from you on MTBR (I'm nweurosport over there).  I'd love to get out with you and Skookum a few times this summer.  I'm constantly poring over maps of the area - determined to find a great route.

I just moved to Puyallup so I'm right on the toes of Ranier.  My BC maps are coming in the mail this week.  I'm going to try to match up routes from the http://www.bcbikerace.com/ so I can cross Vancouver Island and then come down into Whistler.

Catch you on the boards.   

[Majcolo]

Hello, I'm Mark Johnson. I am a long time Colorado resident temporarily in exile in Alabama. I started doing one day epics and week long tours in Colorado and Utah in 1991. Sadly, a career detour and subsequent health issues took me off the bike. I'm back riding again (man it's humid down here) and will do my first single day epic in five years in a couple weeks. Moving east was like losing a limb, but the upside is I have a whole new region to explore on the bike until I can get back home.

Thanks for putting up this site; it's phenomenal.

[eyecandyandy]

I'm back riding again (man it's humid down here) and will do my first single day epic in five years in a couple weeks. Moving east was like losing a limb, but the upside is I have a whole new region to explore on the bike until I can get back home.

Glad to hear you're back on your feet.  Looking forward to hearing more!

[CF3]

WOW!!! cool site. i've been mountainbike-packing with my buddies since the late 80's, i knew there had to be others dudes out there doing the same thing. We used to go with space blankets and energy bars(LOL). i've since up'd my game with better gear and over the years learned some hard lessons. it's great to see all the different set-ups. I wish this site was around 10 years ago, it could have saved me a lot of heartbreak and aggravation.  KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.

[psc38]

hey,

I found this site today and have already spent more than a few hours going through the info. Anyway, I'm from New Zealand but currently living in Queensland Australia. I've been a keen MTBer for many years but I'm planning a big trip for next year and bikepacking seems the way to go. I'm getting my bike setup sorted at the moment, a OMM Sherpa rack is on its way!

The travel plans at the moment are to explore my local area a bit more on the bike and head south to Tasmania in October for a solo mission on the Tasmania trail, then next year I'm off to Scotland and over to mainland europe.

I'll post my setup photos when I get the bike sorted.

cu

Paul

[cavscout]

Hey All,

Great forum.  We love every chance to spend time in the saddle here in the East.

[Mezagog]

Hey, Monte.  I think I got a note or two from you on MTBR (I'm nweurosport over there).  I'd love to get out with you and Skookum a few times this summer.  I'm constantly poring over maps of the area - determined to find a great route.

I just moved to Puyallup so I'm right on the toes of Ranier.  My BC maps are coming in the mail this week.  I'm going to try to match up routes from the http://www.bcbikerace.com/ so I can cross Vancouver Island and then come down into Whistler.

Catch you on the boards.   

Also one thing that most people don't realize is that there are times when Mt. Rainer opens all trails to Mountain Bikers for a week.  When I was still living in Bremerton I would plan and map out a three day epic on Mt. Rainier, but with Family and working at a Downtown Seattle Hospital I was never able to make it happen.  I have been told that Baker does the same thing, but could never get confirmation on that.  Living in the Central Valley California I am seriously missing the PNW.  Totally different riding and socially.


So Cavscout by your screen name I'm to assume that your either active or a vet.  Either way from one vet to another.  Thank you for your service.

Later guys.

[montejw360]

Also one thing that most people don't realize is that there are times when Mt. Rainer opens all trails to Mountain Bikers for a week.

Man, I'd love to hit that up.  I've never heard of it, was/is it regularly scheduled, or at the Park Ranger's whim?

[Mezagog]

Man, I'd love to hit that up.  I've never heard of it, was/is it regularly scheduled, or at the Park Ranger's whim?

Combination of the two.  I used to work with a Nurse who's husband was one of the senior rangers at Mt. Rainier and I got on one of my tangents on how we can be more friendly than hikers, then thats one she had informed me of the program.  I am still looking for the schedule, I know it made the move I just haven't seen it lately.  The use a formula based on the amount of projected hikers and mountain climbers and when their "slow" times are.  If memory serves the fee was like 15.00 to ride for the week.  That was of course on top of the vehicle entrance fee.  Both of course really weren't a problem for me as I am classified as a Disabled Vet so I would have been able to ride for free.

[montejw360]

I am still looking for the schedule....

I'd be interested in it if you find it.  I Googled it last night, couldn't find anything.

[Newfydog]

Hi I'm Doug, from Bend, Oregon.   Newfydog on several forums. 

I started bike touring in 1973 with a trip across Sweden and Norway.

My wife and I were among the early mt bikers to tour in the Moab area, and do a trip somewhere pretty much every year.  We are currently working on the Trans-Canada Trail. and have done 3200 km of medieval pilgrimmage trails, from Prague to Santiago.

Looks like a super site.

[bigbrown]

Hi!

I've been lurking for a while, lots of good info here.  I'm in Arizona and went on my first bikepacking trip this past weekend with my bf Will. We started out in Payson. Our goal was to get on to the Rim from Payson and then on to some of the lakes off of 300.  We were thinking, we'd take 3 days.  It did not pan out. 

Our first day, we failed to get on the Rim.  The trail we were trying to find was impossible to follow.  I guess a fire a few years back destroyed the area and they didn't come in and clear out the trees so the trail is pretty much gone. We were hiking our bikes for hours trying to figure it out.   It was the highline trail to myrtle tr off of control road, FR 199- sorry don't know the name of the area.  So the first night, we made our way over to Washington Park to camp, nice area.  We thought we could get to the rim through Washington park the next day.  Nope, lots of down trees and the trail was hard to follow, I think we were just on the wrong side of the river this day, but anyway we decided to make our way to Pine to get something to eat and figure something out.     

In Pine we started asking around.  Turns out there is a way to get on to the Rim through Pine, but it'll be a hike-a-bike.  How hard could it be?  We'll HARD.  We hiked up the Donahue tr.  Well, we're both stubborn people, so 4 hours later, we finally made it up to the rim and to the Milk Ranch Pt area.  Turns out there was just a fire up there and all of the roads were closed!  We didn't know that until we reached FR218 where it crosses the 300.  Oops..   Oh man, it was super nice up there, the views were amazing!!  Sadly, I was so exhausted that I got very few pictures.      We ended up scratching our plan for a 3rd day and headed into Strawberry for the night!  The two days of pushing/pulling/ navigating up and over trees just did me in.  I was tired and I was throwing in the towel.   

It seemed like every route we tried we encountered down trees.  It became frustrating!       

Overall though, i had a great time and cannot wait to do it again! We learned a lot and next time we'll do a better job of making sure the trails are passable.  Oh and in our two days we only got about 100 miles in but we did 10,000+ ft of climbing.    Thats about 9999 too many feet of climbing for me!  LOL 

Tiffany
aka tiffanyinanthem on mtbr.com

[DiDaDunlop]

Hello,

I'm Alexander. Living in the very flat Netherlands. Been MTB-in and camping for years. Internet made me check out the GDR site and it got me hooked on combining the two. Albeit on the road now (no long offroadroutes in the Netherlands) but Scandinavia and the UK are nearby..


Here's my current setup:

[lukey]

Hi, I'm Luke, and I live in Hamilton Ontario Canada.  I did my first bikepacking trips about 10-12 years ago.  After a long hiatus, I'm getting back into things during the past year. Really enjoying this site!

I just finished a 5 day trip and I have plans for a couple of other excursions to come.

[pharmvet]

What a great place to learn and apply some good information.

My name is Jason.  I have been biking since I was a kid (I'm 38 now), but only recently took up bikepacking.  Previously I was into ultralight backpacking and this has translated well into bikepacking. 

I am not a Colorado native, but have lived here for about 12 years.  A friend and I recently did our first multi-day trip on the Colorado Trail, from Kenosha Pass to Hwy 50 then returned on the GDMBR.  What a great trip!!  Whetted both of our appetites for more rides. 

There is so much good information on this website.  Thank you everyone for sharing your knowledge and experience.  Looking forward to many long rides to come.  Long Live Long Rides!!

[Pangaea]

Hi Everyone Im Pangaea Unsegregated.......I just want to thank the gods real quick for this cool site, and for mtn bikes and mtns too.......
  I have read alot of your posts and it is pretty sweet to just pop on here grab some inspiration from you guys and then head out on my own adventures. I will probably be posting some stuff once I figure out this technology stuff. Lets see I just moved to from Durango to Telluride, CO and have started work in the easy rider bike shop. Pretty happy about it, even if I have to eat Pb&J's the rest of my life to afford the rent here. .......
   I guess I have always had some fetish for the outdoors and have been mtn biking about 15 yrs. or so....Ive done a couple road tours across the country and I think thats when it hit me........"stop being retarded" said a tiny voice I reckognized as my own, "and learn how to do this on singletrack"...... so well I just listened and since then, Ive done numerous loops of considerable length on dirt. I did the CT this year in June, with plenty of waist deep snow in parts (that was fun), uhm I also just like doing a lot of making my own routes linking together singletrack near home to make it like 2 day journey stuff. ...........I also have a house but I rarely use it. I have lived in my old motorhome and then just tent camp most summers cuz....hmm....I dunno I think Im just part cave man or something. I hate being locked in houses. When I was younger I used to turn my T.v. around in the window and take my couch outside and watch outside in.....
   I also love the reports on the races some of you guys undertake. I think Id like to get in on one sooner or later, just so you all have at least one more guy to beat.......haha well nice to meet you all........Pangaea
 

[zenboy99]

Hello everyone, great website!  My name is Chad, I reside in Madison WI with my wife and two young children.  I started racing BMX and mountain bikes at a young age, mostly ride road races now all over the place (about 20-30/year) and have just gotten into 24 hour MTB races.

I have a bikepacking trip planned for September 10th along the Colorado Trail.  My wife wouldn't let us move to Colorado, so I'm getting this bike trip as a little present. This website has been a good resource of info for me and I'm sure I'll be posting threads with more questions as I go on.

[phil_rad]

Hi my name is Phillip Fogg,
I'm an ex Pat. living in germany. Came over here during the cold war(1987), met a girl, fell in love and well, I'm still here!
I started biking when I was a kid, around 1970. At nine my first bmx bike. At 16 I got my first motorcycle and bicycling took a back seat for a few years. In 1996 I bought a used Rockhopper and from then on I've never looked back. I've done numerous endurance races here in Germany.
As far as Bikepacking goes, I'm a greenhorn, never done it but I'm so intrigued by it that I'm collecting gear and getting ready for my first trip.
You all will think I'm nuts but I'm planning on doing the Tour Divide next year.  So I will be asking alot of questions about gear, training and othe TDR related stuff.
I really enjoy this website, thanks!

Happy Trails

Phil

P.S. phil_rad is my internet handle, the "rad" is German for bike or cycle.