The Vassagos are pretty popular for sure.  I have no dog in any of these bikes but for what you get with the money, that El Mar is hard to beat. 

Gonna be doing me some road touring/fly fishing next weekend with the wife and kid.  Try not to be too jealous.

ps.  Good God man, wear a mouthpiece or something!  You gonna have to sell your V-Dub van to pay for all that? 

Salsa El Mariachi comes to mind.  They have those amazing Black Cat looking dropouts.  I don't know though, coming from your background of a super lightweight carbon fiber bike and going to a heavier steel bike might be tough (mentally).  You could always drop the coin on the ti version.

Good luck with your search.  Let us know what you went with.  BTW, you still teaching in CO or did you move to Ohio?

Forgot to include a pic...

Ok, I'll try again.
Custom steel True Fabrication Hardtail 29er.  1 rigid SS one geared and front suspension.  I've used both on trips and I prefer the suspension and gears in the mountains.  Less overall fatigue.  But there is always that nagging feeling that something is gonna break.  I just don't have that thought with the rigid SS.

3 bottle mounts with full frame bag/seatpack/handlebar bag.  Trying to keep as much weight off the back as possible.  By doing that my butt doesn't hurt as bad the next day!

Sounds like a cool article.  I look forward to reading it as we all know how awesome you write.

Hardtail with front suspension mountain bike.

Travis Butler
Austin, TX

I've done a fair bit of sewing in my past, but as of lately my time has been pretty limited (work, baby, family, bike rides) so it's just not a project I'm ready to take on right now.  Luckily we have some great cottage industries in our type of adventures to support.

Email sent.

No issues with my knees hitting the gas tank. Mine is a medium and as I recall, the large is only longer.

I'm in the process of getting a new bike so my frame bag will be available. Maybe we should swap some details and see if my bag works for you. Its not very old and is like brand new. Send me an email if you're interested. donmeredith74 at gmail.com

Hey all,
  So I've always either borrowed a full frame bag or just used my Jannd Frame bag for multi days.  I know I want some type of frame bag that is of higer quality than the Jannd one I have now. 

Here is my delima and see if you can give me some insight.  I commute to work on my road bike because it's quite a long commute and very hilly so I use my road bike a lot.  Right now I use my rear seatpack to put my lunch and clothes in.  It works but everything is a TIGHT fit.  I'd like to use a frame bag to distribute the load a bit.  The Revelate Tangle bag seems right up my ally. 

On the other hand, I do about 3 to 4 bikepacking trips a year and this year I'm planning on completing the Colorado Trail so I'll be using my mountain bike for that.  I don't have a ton of cash laying around, but I do have enough to either build up a full frame bag, or get a Tangle Bag and a Gas Tank. 

2 Questions
1.  Has anyone had any issues with hitting their knees on the Gas Tank (and what about a mountain feedbag?)?

2.  If you have a Tangle bag, do you wish you would have just bought a full frame bag?

Just looking for some insight.

Thanks,
Travis

Nice.  Looks like I know what I'm eating my first night out!  I only wish they'd last 2 days!  I can see it now, 4 or 5 burrito's in my Wingnut.  Crap, now I'm hungry.

Totally random question but it is for a future trip so I thought I'd ask.  I've never eaten one and here great things.  What I want to know is how well they'll keep and for how long.  The trip will see daytime highs in the upper 60's.  Just wondering ya'lls thoughts.  I read the review of them on this site.

Thanks!

While I haven't I have ridden with someone who has and it worked quite well for him.  He had it strapped down really well.  An Old Man Mountain rack is pretty tough.  As long as the weight is fine then I don't see it being an issue.

It's haunted me for 2 years now.  I was a DNF'er in the 2nd race.  Haven't been able to make it work the past two summers.  I won't be toeing the line with the others next summer, but I will be attempting a thru ride of the CT next summer for sure. 

Fantastic post.  Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the update, Aaron.Yep!  And after Jeff Kerkove's picture of his "modified" touring shoes, I bet we see lots more hike-a-bike suited shoes next year.  Or maybe fewer bike racers... Hmmm, that seems unlikely.

This exact subject has been the source of many emails by a few of my friends that are attempting the CTR next year.  Too funny.

So Steve is from Austin?  I didn't know that.  There is a whole Austin crew that is on these boards.  Now we have someone to root for!

Any update this evening on Steve Lacey? Hope he checks these boards!

Steve!

We here at AMD in Austin are tracking and rootin' for ya!

Dood! Way to hang in all that weather. Impressive. 
Um, hopefully the ruthlessness stays with the biking, and away from the office? 

I have been all over this website (NOT DURING WORK, OF COURSE  ), and I had no idea of the scope of this race. I would have loved trying something like this when I used to mountain bike/hike avidly (well, more like hills - it was East Texas - but I still had a cool bike), back in my 20s. You are doing this in your, uh, Not20s! So that just adds to your awesome.

Rock on wit' yo' bad self! 

Stephanie
and the rest of your LSDC Peeps

Mike, my set-up is probably near the same as yours except I'm running a 5wt from Cabela's.   I'm jonesing to get out.  Luckily we have some good water down here around Austin in the Texas Hill Country. 

Your bike looks fat now that you aren't racing anymore.   Pretty soon you're gonna be pulling a trailer with a tent.

Riverfever, send me your contact info please.  If you're looking to make a little on the side cash, I may have some business for you. 

And yes, I know all about the pay scale for teachers!  But you know what, we also have 10 weeks off during the summer, every summer!

Yeah, one has to be careful with all that talk.  It can get as bad as looking at Dave and Lynda's site and trying to figure out what the hell all those charts and graphs mean.  I'm more a pretty picture kind of guy

Riverfever, I've never used anything but dry flies.  I'm going to try and learn more intermediate/advanced techniques this summer.  Running a hopper pattern?  Not a clue what that means. 

One other question.  Would something like this be a good rod for bikepacking purposes?
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20431-cat604905&id=0079718321237a&navCount=1&podId=0079718&parentId=cat604905&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=9IS&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat601233&hasJS=true

If so what weight/length would you recommend (small streams off singletrack trail/small beaver ponds).

And yes, I'm giddy with anticipation for this summer's adventure.  It may not be the multi day adventures I really wanted, but this is a fine substitue indeed.