If you go 2/10 that will get you the 36 tooth cassette in a nice clean package.

Not sure what the bolt spacing is on the 10 speed cranks.

The old standard for 9 speed cranks was a 4 bolt 64 mm. That's a little too big for the 20 tooth thus the chain jump.

There are 5 bolt 58 mm cranks that eliminates this issue. I have the Surly Mr Whirly http://surlybikes.com/parts/mr._whirly_crank/ but to be honest it has it's own issues. It's complex and heavy but the bearing can be lubed where a lot of them are sealed.

You could go 2x10 with a 9 speed crank and at least get 22x36 pretty hassle free.

Sucks that neither Sram nor Shimano wanted to make a decent 36 tooth 9 speed. Shimano did a heavy low end one but they both jumped on the 10 speed band wagon and want to force us that way.

Pretty sure you could use the Action tec with the DT hub.

You'll get there all in good time.

Tim

If you want to be able to spin, if you tend to spin rather then mash, you might want lower gears for bikepacking.

Several riders I know who have done the rides you are talking about are running 2x9 with a 20x36 granny.

Most have made the upgrade by using Action Tec cogs. http://www.actiontec.us/ti&steel.htm

As long as you have a steel freehub and not a Chris King or other soft metal one you can use one of these http://www.bikepacking.net/reviews/bike-components/actiontec-36-tooth-cog/ just drop one of the smaller loose cogs off of your cassette and put this on behind it.

To get the 20 on the front http://www.bikepacking.net/reviews/bike-components/actiontec-20-tooth-chainring/ if you have a standard 4 bolt crank you may have to use a file to remove some of the top of the crank hole (otherwise the chain tends to jump off).

I have done both the Coco and the 300 with 20x36 gears and it does help on some of the climbs. There are times when it's just to low and slow but you can always drop a cog when you need to. Then it is nice to have the really low resting gear.

As for the big ring, you will use it if you have it but not that much, and if you didn't have it you wouldn't miss it.

Hope that helps. I haven't done the CTR but I have done both of the AZ races. The Coco is a fun one, are you doing the stage race, it's more of a group experience with everyone camping together. Hopefully the AZT will be completed in the White Canyon area. This years course was a little convoluted due to the trail being incomplete and the old route had a construction blockage.

Best of luck

Tim

Might be a silly ? but did you delete all of the original stuff.

PITA with garmin stuff is that you have to delete things one piece at a time.

Topofusion is a great program.

Well I am no expert on the Oregon but in my experience with the Garmin Etrex line you don't want to convert the track to a route. But rather load the track into the track file. Then it doesn't come up as a bunch of waypoints but rather a continuous line. Just a guess that it's not a waypoint every 33ft but a track point. Every 33ft seems like a nice tight track.

Hope that helps maybe somebody else can make more sense out of describing the process.

Tim

Have you seen this http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,1732.0.html ?

Seems like you guys are in the same area or close to it anyway.

Where are you riding if it's not too rocky then maybe, I don't have any real experience with carbon wheels, I can't see using them in rocky terrain.

How about some of the light weight offerings from Stan's.

How much does the bike weigh now, how much does your kit weigh now, is there somewhere else you can cut the weight.

I have been going up to the Big Lake area for several years, while I am bummed to see it burn I also think that fire is an important part of the ecosystem. Though it's hard to tell for sure from the TV new footage I did see some green in the backgrounds. On shot of a guy felling a burning tree during mop up showed lots of trees still standing. Some shots showed the full on carnage others made it look patchy, here's hoping there is as much patchy as there is moon scape.

Eric have fun on the KMC ride lots of good stuff up there. I haven't gotten to do a KMC trip but I have ridden all of those trails in the summer during monsoon don't remember any mud.

I will agree with jhl99 on the 26" platform nothing wrong with 26 most of us have logged lots of miles on them. I would still stay away from racks if you have lightweight gear already you can always go low budget and just start strapping stuff on.

Redline makes good entry level bikes, Surly does as well but I have heard the Karate Monkey can be hard to convert to gears. I have a Kona steel frame 26" that has been a great bike can be run SS or easily converted to gears.

So good frame with cheap parts or a cheep bike altogether. Both make sense for the entry level just testing the waters bike. Yes if you get a good frame it will be worth keeping and make upgrades, but you can just as easily buy a whole new bike. One thing to know is that buying a complete bike is a much better deal then buying parts. You could easily spend as much on parts for the upgrade as you would for those same parts on a complete bike. To be honest you could go to Walmart and spend $199 for their 29er and get by just fine for a while just don't get too far into the woods to the point where you don't want to carry it out when it breaks.

Paxton nothing wrong with owning an old Sworks the original rockhopper and hardrocker where some of the first Mtb's out there. Now if somebody named there company hardhopper or rockrocker then they might have had good cause. Somebody should start a bike company called specialist designs they can't own every variation on a theme, well maybe they can. I tried to get the race promoter at Epic Rides to call them out on it but they are the cheapest producer of water bottles and he wouldn't rock that boat. Maybe Big Red should be donating all of the profits from the Epic to IMBA as they were using the term Epic Rides prior to them coming out with their bike.

I would agree that fit is very important. The thing you would notice right away at Walmart is that their bikes weigh about twice what a real bike should, also they have a little label on them not for off road use. They look like real bikes at first but if you look closely you will see that they are very cheaply made. Your local bike shop guy will be able quickly show you the various levels of components. Basically there's stuff that's good enough, good and tough, and tough and light. A good enough bike will likely start at close to $1000 new with Sram X 5 or Shimano SLX gear, better but a little more $ X 7-9 or XT is the tough stuff X0 and XTR level has you paying twice as much to shave a few grams and is not really worth it unless you are really racing hard.   

The only company Paxton listed that I don't like is the "Big Red S" Specialized as they saw fit to hassle Eric from Revelate when he used to be Epic. They thought that they owned the word Epic total BS IMO as that is a word that outdoorsy people were using long before they named a bike that. Eric is a supper chill guy who has had many epic adventures. He started a little company in his garage in AK making products for a small but slowly growing sub group of riders. I thought it was pretty lame to sick their fat cat lawyers on a cottage industry that was in no way competing with them. 

If you are a DIY kinda guy there are several threads out there about how to make everything to carry gear without racks. If not there are two main guys Eric from AK and Jeff Carousel Design Works out of CA. They are both very small and have a fairly long lead time but make great products. Jandd also makes bomber gear their stuff will last a lifetime but the selection is pretty limited and they don't really specialize in bikepacking.

Thanks that's what I thought but needed to hear it from someone who's not a salesman.

Tim

Welcome to the wonderful world of bikepacking or bikecamping or biketouring what ever you want to make out of it. I used to do a lot of rock climbing myself.

First off most any bike will work for starters a lot of bikepackers are riding 29 inch bikes these days. That's basically a mountain bike with larger rims and tires. Your average original mtb's were 26 inch wheels. I would say look for something used in the $500 range, I know that may sound pricey but it's easy to spend $2-3000 or more for a good quality light weight bike. It's good that you are into ultralight. For the most fun bikepacking on trails it really helps to go light. The current setups are typically rackless systems. Large seatpost bags, custom fitted frame bags, and any way that you can strap stuff on with out adding weight.

For the most part this site is about riding mtb's on trails using roads to connect different trails pavement when needed but mostly dirt, tho sometimes snow, and some even add boats to the mix. Check out the personal setups section to see how people are carrying gear. Also in the Ultra Race section you'll get an idea of what people are capable of.

For me bikepacking is all about the Arizona Trail http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,611.0.html

Hope that helps
Tim

Went to look at new laptops today trying to decide between PC and Mac.

The question is if I have a bunch of waypoint files stored on a PC using Garmin MapSouce can I easily transfer them to the Garmin BaseCamp program.

I may be answering my own question in that it seems like it should work as they say both programs use GPX files. But I need to be sure before pulling the plug on a big purchase.

Also any body care to comment on the sense of making the big switch from PC to Mac. Seems like there are some pro's and con's either way.

Thanks for any help

Tim

Personally I like the Time brand peddles, but weather you go with SPD or Egg Beaters they all make a platform style peddle that can be used without clipping in. Though none of the clip in flats offer the same kind of grip that the DH style flats (the ones with small teeth) do. I have a pair from Time that I have used with work boots when doing trail work even tho they are not super grippy they should work fine for easy stuff with the family. Lots of options for shoes that take clips but have good tread for hiking under normal circumstances you won't feel the cleat at all. I have only seen the flip over style peddle once, that guy liked them, seems like it would be a pain to have to make the toe flip before clipping in. Most of the clip platforms allow you to clip in on either side and the platform works on both sides as well.

Cold is a relative thing, too cold for people from Southern AZ is anything below 80. As long as it hasn't snowed a bunch it could be ok.

Mid Nov would be fine I should think. The thing to keep in mind is that they do best when the temps are high but they can't get over heated. So if it's a hot day look out right around sunset as that is when they get active. Also in the fall they have a super active gear up for hibernation period. But by that time of year things are too cold at night for them. The Gila Monster is not so much of a concern if you don't mess with them. Yes getting bit would be bad but to be honest you are lucky to have seen one. Lots of people ride for years with out ever seeing one. The scary thing with snakes is that if you scare one they're likely to strike with out that much warning. Yes they buzz but if it's dark and you stop to put a foot down right next to one they could bite. But the only rider I know that was bitten happened to be riding in tall grass and never even saw it.

I saw your post about a possible fall trip, on the Sierra race thread. I would say that if you come in Oct try to do the Coconino course, in Nov the 300 should be good to go.

Good luck Jill but this is way too late in the spring to ride the 300- the heat will kill you.

You thought is was hot the year it snowed at the start.

Good luck, Jill! The forecast looks pretty dang hot, but in reality, it probably won't be more than 5-10 degrees warmer than during the AZT300 in April. I hope the rocks and thorns are more friendly to your tires this time around!

It's not that much hotter today then it was during this years event, but the sun is way more intense. There's something about May clear blue skies and low low humidity it's like you can feel the sun cooking you. Also it warms up fast and stays warm for a lot longer. And while the hot days lead to warm nights and you might think great for night riding, now the snakes are out. And even though it's been cool by comparison it hasn't been cold at night so the ground has warmed up so the snakes are ready to go as soon as the sun sets.

So after getting in touch with Jill and making arrangements to get her to Parker Lake:

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — The U.S. Forest Service says the Arlene Fire burning five miles east of Lochiel in southern Arizona has burned 10,000 acres with zero containment.

Red flag warnings are out until 7 p.m. due to high winds and gusts and low relative humidity. Fire activity is expected to increase with these conditions.

Gusty winds on Monday pushed the human-caused fire northeast along the border with Mexico.

The fire spread quickly in dry grass and brush and overnight impacted the area surrounding some cabins at Parker Canyon Lake.

Firefighters protected two ranch homes and the cabins when winds shifted and pushed the fire north from Parker Canyon Lake into the Canelo Hills.

A precautionary evacuation of Parker Canyon Lake is in effect immediately until further notice.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.

Not looking good at this time, not sure how this will affect the trail for the future. Most likely no biggie for the trail big bummer for Jill's ITT. We had just agreed to meet at 5:30 to get her started but now it looks like we can't get to the start.

Last week would have been perfect for sure, looks like it's warming up now but I guess if someone wants to do a lot of night riding it should still be reasonable.

I saw Jill's post at Tucson MTB a while back and at that time I suggested she look at doing the Coco 250. Had I known how cool this spring was going to be I might not have. Most years late May would be scorching and I wouldn't think anyone would want to be out there.

The other issue a couple of weeks ago was the fire at Box canyon, a small section of the AZT there was burnt but that fire is out. Then there was also a fire at Picket Post I am not sure if the TH there is even open yet. Can't find any info on line though.  

Anyway I will shoot Jill a message and see what we can work out.

Tim

Not sure what Max had ordered but their Grilled Cranberry Chicken is great.

Like Scott said that part of it's always going to be tough. On the first tour when I rode around the canyon I had the Bob trailer and lots of food and I got to ride it all. The year I ended up with some crumbs of snack mix left over fortunately there was a bunch of snow so I had an excuse.

At some point someone is going to have to resupply at Jacob Lake and go back out to ride all of the single track.

Talked to Max he was getting dinner at the Lodge at Jacob Lake. We didn't get a chance to talk about the snow levels mostly getting things straight for the pick up. He'll be finishing up tomorrow and then waiting at the finish line for us to come and get him. One hell of a ride from the sounds of things.