The only constant environmental discouragement, Joey, was the regular 2pm-5pm rain.  Pretty sure you're already familiar with that....

Steve

That's not rain making the Rockies look like the Great Smokies... that's smoke.  We've had it bad the last week or so.  Today seems to be better, but... I'm sure wondering what the CT will look like overall, since it's 80% downwind from the big fires here.  Anyone been riding in Sargents, Salida, BV, Leadville area?

I just got back from a weekend in Crested Butte, and the BV area was just a tad hazy(if at all).  If I hadn't known there were any fires going on, I probably wouldn't've even thought about it.  I don't have any pictures to back up what I saw, but we camped at the Avalanche TH on CR306 outside of BV on Thursday evening, and as much as smoke makes me seem asthmatic, I woke up feeling great.

Wishing you guys/gals the best...  Good luck!

Steve

Where in Colorado are you located?

Perfect!  I didn't even see the flask.  You are on top of it.  Nice setup.  Are you carrying any spare parts for the bike?  I saw a couple of tools, but maybe I missed the parts?

Where do you keep the adult libations?  I really hope you have a cozy little spot for those.

Not sure which Fenix light I've got(I think it's the E11 LED), but it's small and it only uses 1 AA battery.  It's small, tough, and I love it.  Through my work, I've used lots of Surefires that use the CR123A batteries, and although they're awesome lights, I'd much rather have the AA batteries.  You can get AA's readily available almost anywhere, as opposed to a CR123A, which I think would be much harder to find on a tour.  Might mean the difference between carrying all your batteries with you, or being able to stop and stock back up on regular batteries.  Besides all that, most of my equipment runs on AA's, so interchangeability between devices is advantageous for me.

Good luck on the search.

Steve

Have you thought about some of the "Rails to Trails" routes?

I wore contacts on the CT last year, and though it was a total pain in the @$$, I really have no other choice with the vision problem I have.  Not to mention, being that they're RGP contacts, it's mandatory I take them out every night.  I don't know if anybody else on the forum wears them(RGP contacts), but if you ever get something in your eye it feels like somebody scraping a rusty butter knife on your cornea.  So, with the windy/dusty conditions that can arise on an extended tour, or any trail for that matter, I'd go with glasses.  I really didn't have too much of a problem keeping water around to wash up with on my trip, but I really have no idea what the water situation's like on the TD.  To combat the dust and crud, I used some WileyX transitions safety glasses with the removable foam edging like you'd find on goggles.  Worked pretty good.

Good luck.  Hopefully, this helped.

Steve

so glad someone asked this question. I've been debating between Porcelain Rocket and Revelate, but the price point seems to be driving me to Revelate. Is the extra money worth it to go PR?

It might depend on how fast you want to get the bags - last I'd heard (September 2012), Scott at PR was looking at a new approach to make his business even better, and not accepting any new projects until at least November, or something.  Even then, he mentioned he was only going to accept a limited number of orders when he starts back up again.

Good luck on your decision.  I've got some old Revelate pogies,  and they still work awesome.  My PR bags are worth every penny, too.

Steve

+1 for Scotty the hottie, mastermind at Porcelain Rocket. All my bags, save for the backpack are of his prowess. Nary a problem with the bags, unless it was from my own foolery, and even then he offered to replace it. He's a super cool dude, even though he's Canadian. For the longest time, I thought the only great things to come out of Canada were comedians, hockey players, some select supermodels, and maple syrup. Here's to Scott rounding out a classy, upper-echelon of Canada, and opening my eyes to the great north.

WOW! JayP what a great video on winter layers. Thank you for sharing your expertise.

Absolutely.  Many thanks for elaborating in video, jayP. 

So, what kind of seat do you use if you're not using the acclaimed cheese grader?  I know seats are a personal topic, I'm just curious.

First ascent, Eddie Bauer line. Has great down options. And usually can catch them on sale. Plus can get with or without hood. I have a bunch of gear from fA and love it.

+1 

Definitely good stuff.