Introduction Thread

[KittyOnMyFoot]

Neat! I didn't realize so many people were into this sort of thing. The wife and I are going on a bikepacking trip this evening, and I stumbled on this site while looking for some new equipment.

I grew up (and still live) by the Stanislaus National Forest in California, and have been riding therein ever since (I guess that's a bit over 30 years now). Like the original poster, the trip limits eventually hit a wall with the amount of daylight available at any given time, so I began spending nights along the trails. I prefer long-distance off-road riding, but will, on rare (three so far) occasions, hit the road. I'm not registered with any (other) cycling websites nor riding groups.

[Beaglesdadi]

Hi there, my name is Matt Rozar (beagledadi on MTBR) from Las Vegas. I recently decided to raid my bike crap in the garage in hopes of "frankenstien'ing" a bikepacking rig together...it worked! I did my first solo trip last weekend, what a blast, I'm hooked! I read through all the threads in the forums and looked at all the personal bike set-ups and got some really good ideas...thank you Scott for a great site 

http://forums.mtbr.com/nevada/2-5-days-bikepacking-733891.html

Matt

[alirawk]

Hello Everybody

My name is Ali, go by the handle alirawk here. Born in 1975. Just had my birthday two days ago, in fact. Bought a Salsa Fargo this year as a present to myself. Really new to the mountain biking world and bike-packing, but been riding two wheels for some three decades. Spent a few years on the motorized variety, but prefer my own human powered ones more.

Lifelong Los Angeles resident until a few years ago when I moved down to Irvine to do my PhD in Comparative Literature.

Grew up surfing, but had shoulder surgery a few years ago and just can't paddle for a damn anymore. Somehow though I can rock climb still, which is actually what I do as much as I can (or rather did till I got my Fargo). As a climber, I've well honed my addiction to gear. Apparently this sport allows me to further harness that inclination.

One of my favorite things about climbing is the awesomely supportive community invested in it. Already, the little bit of exposure I've had to the likes of people riding bikes through mountains has allowed me to enjoy a similar familiarity, certainly the wealth of information contained and knowledge freely shared on this site are terrific testaments to that. Scott thank you so much for setting up this site, and thanks to all who have participated to make it so useful and interesting.

I'm stoked to be able to explore new terrain. Likely with a pair of climbing shoes and some chalk tucked inside the pack somewhere just in case I come across that perfect virgin splitter in the middle of nowhere.

[davedivided]

Harness, good reference for a climber.

Welcome ride hard.

[Area54]

Hi, my name is Troy. I'm a career bike mechanic from Daisy Hill, Brisbane Australia.

Found this site while researching US trails. Been to the US 3 times for Park Tool Tech Summits in January (Ontario CA, Chicago and Long Beach CA) each time brought or borrowed a bike to ride. First year was just local trails around Glendora/Chino Hills CA, then last year rode around frozen Chicago for a few days, then shipped out to Tucson to stay with a mate for a week and ride Starr, Old Pueblo, parts of AZ trail and Fantasy Island. This year we did a lot of SoCal - Montana de Oro, Santa cruz mtns (Nisene marks and Soquel demo) Marin County, Laguna hills, Noble canyon, Malibu Creek. Next year would have liked to go to MN for Park, but not having much snow experience (coldest we get at home is around 42F) it might have been a challenge...

Have quite a few bikes in the shed, but here's the latest:



Built just prior to a trip down south along the Great Ocean Road.

[ImAFred]

Hi my name is Bryan, I'm from Las Vegas, NV and have just started to get interested in this form of Mtbiking it looks and sounds like a blast... Since I've joined the site I've already planned my first route bought a hammock, stove, new sleeping bag and I am looking into making my own bike bags .... I love it so cool.

[wheelmanron]

 Hello, Ron here. I am the service manager for a shop in MA, near the RI border. Have been a bicycle mechanic for over 20 years. Got my first mountain bike when I was 14. I grew up in a little farm town, so lots of woods to play in. Many miles of trails to explore. Old hunting routes, abandoned logging roads, old farm tractor paths, turn of the century cemetery sites, just cool stuff to explore. My first foray into what we call real bikebacking was in 1989, my first mtb race. Rode and camped on Saturday, raced and rode home on Sunday. Did that for a few years, then got tired of the racing scene, but kept riding to camp. Fast forward a couple of decades, got married, got my wife into hiking, backpacking and mountain biking. Then last week, she tried bikepacking for the first time. Now she understands my love for it! We are lucky we live near some power line trails, so we can be at a campsite within 45 minutes, and never far from home.

 I am trying to start a bikepacking group from the shop, but as most of our clientele falls into the (no offense) racer, bike path warrior or DUI cyclist category, it is not going well. Not to belittle any of my customers, it's just not something they want to do. 

 Thanks for reading.   

[couchmaster]

Hello, my name is Andy and I have a state problem, I'm from New Jersey, exit 6. I've been riding pretty consistently for about the last 6 years or so. My brother and I toured the Adirondack park loop from Adventure Cycling Association. We also did 2/3 of the Allegheny Mountains Loop this spring. The bikes used were Surly long haul trucker's, with panniers, and fully loaded. I recently acquired a Rohloff for my 1x1, which is also equipped with bags from Revelate Design. We camped in state forest about 75% of the time and campgrounds the rest. My tent is currently an MSR Hubba hubba, i also have a bivy sack, but it seems to make me a little claustrophobic. Anyway, hello all! 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

My name is Mathew and I'm on other forums(mtbr is the only other bike forum) as SuPrBuGmAn. I rediscovered my love for mountain bikes in 2009 and have been riding regularly ever since. For about a year, I've been contemplating a bikepacking trip and didn't think there were many places here in Florida to make a larger overnight ride. I found Naked Indians blog via mtbr which gave me some motivation and then started looking into panhandle alternatives. I'm finding more and more potential rides just waiting to be mapped and rode.

I just recently finished my first overnighter, posted a report here already. It was 83 miles, which was difficult for me, but I'm starting to understand this is just a few hours ride for some people on here

Anyway, thanks for the site.

[JerryW]

My name is Jerry and I'm 49. I've been lurking here for more than a year and recently started posting so I guess a formal introduction is in order. I've done some road touring and lightweight backpacking and now I'm ready to combine them.

The old way, 2006:


A little better, but still too much stuff, 2008:


The new way, 2011:


And, of course, thanks to Scott for this great site.

[cjdunn]

Chris Dunn here.  I just discovered this site and am enjoying the info.  I am an Arizona native (almost 50 years) currently living in Chino Valley, AZ.  I have done a lot of wilderness backpacking and have great backcountry skills but combining them with bikes never occurred to me. 

I recently started riding mtb's again after 20+ years away and have discovered that bikes and trails are a lot better and good info much easier to find.  I'm not fast but I seem to have pretty good endurance so started looking into endurance riding info and ended up here. 

A couple of weeks ago I decided to ride the entire Black Canyon Trail in AZ just to see what I could do.  11hrs and 68.5 miles later it didn't seem too tough.  Last weekend I rode a section of the AZT near Picket Post mtn. and just wanted to keep going. 

My wife caught me looking at this forum tonight and I had to admit to her that I like riding mtb's far and I might have to start bikepacking if she doesn't want to do shuttles for me. Bike touring on highways never seemed like a good idea.  Loading down a lightweight road machine and riding on roads with cars whizzing by and not going anywhere I could not have gone more comfortably in a car.  Mountain biking on trails seems to be just the right speed for me.  Slow enough to see the cool things along the way while challenging and fast enough to not get bored.

[Georg66]

Great side!
My name is George (official: Klaus-Georg) and I live in Heidelberg, Germany. Got to mountain-biking and bikepacking several years ago, after nearly 30 years of outdoor and longdistance activities (rock climbing and mountaineering, running, triathlon etc.). End of 2008, a friend told me about Tour Divide and since this time this THING was in my mind. And I couldn't get rid of it. And, I didn't really want to get rid of it :-)
Last year I learned about this site ... and am very happy to get lots of valuable information. And I am very happy to go for Tour Divide in June 2012 ...

Maritime Alps (France/Italy)


Fort Central (Colle di Tenda)

[sub-xero]

Hey guys!

I'm Andi and I have a long history of bikepacking. It started in the last millenium when I rode several times around 700 miles through Greece with some basic equipment and a tent. Afterwards, there was a break in bike adventures for a couple of years. Then I started concentrating more on my mountainbike abilities which resulted in crossing the Alps, which is the ultimate of mountainbiking for every European biker. Usually nobody tries this all by themselves and with a bivvy, but I did and it was quite special. Since then I try to accomplish this extreme adventure every year on different routes. In 2010 I started documenting my trips on a website and making simple documentation videos which I upload on my Youtube channel. (Click on "CC" for English subtitles.)
Anyway, it is great I have found this site because bikepacking is not very popular and there are few people out there you can exchange experiences with.







[Edit: added some pictures]

[ImAFred]

Welcome Andi! Nice pics.

[Funrover]

Hi, My name is Aaron. I live here in Colorado. I am new to the bikepacking entirely. I have done day trips and I love to camp and I want to combine the two. Thanks for this great site.

[fifeandy]

Hi,

My name is Andy and I live in Fife, Scotland.
I've been riding on the road for about 3 years now, and the thought of carrying gear with me was not my cup of tea.
However, since I heard about the TDR the desire to ride endless miles of dirt is slowly growing in my mind.
I've picked up some great info here so far, and will no doubt have to ask much more if a dream of a TD2013 start is to become reality.

[mattyp]

hi, i'm matt; originally from durango, co; now transplanted to southern california for medical school.  i've done a couple trips so far and really like the lightweight way to tour.  moving to oregon for clinicals this summer and hopefully a little more time to do some overnighters and tweak my kit. i've been riding mountain bikes for as long as i can remember (family first trip to moab in '86) and road for the last ~6 years.

[jgoodlet]

Hello fellow bikepackers!

Joshua Goodlett here. I'm originally from Chattanooga, TN but moved to Portland, OR just over a year ago. Came across this site while searching for more info on the Tour Divide, which I'll be doing this June.

I'm still adjusting to the Pacific Northwest weather - though I doubt I could ever go back to the absolutely horrific humid Summer's of the south. Riding as much as I can of whatever I can (road, gravel, dirt), rain or shine.

[gairym]

Howdy!

Name: Gairy.

Age: 36.

Location: English but living in Ardeche mountains of France (great riding!).

Experience: Been riding bikes all my life, Mountain Biking for 15+ years, Touring for 6, Road Biking for 2 and Bikepacking (unofficially - just throwing some bits in a bag) on/off for years.

Looking to/for: Ideas on routes, kit, and loads more from folks who've been doing it longer and further than me. Chatting with people who're interested into similar biking ideas and maybe even hook-up with a few folks for a trip somewhere/sometime???

Cheers, Gairy.

[blesnar]

Well hello there!  I am new to the forum though have been with this discipline for years now.  I first started with backpacking by foot though have grown tired of it 5 years in when I was 24 so my friends and I took the jump to bike packing which is not only a lot better and more enjoyable but very challenging in more aspects compared to backpacking.